Hilarious and sweet: a monster of a good time.
In Rivera’s debut, a teen pageant queen and a petulant special effects artist team up.
Seventeen-year-old Corie Nielson has won multiple titles, including Miss Teen Indiana, even though she struggles with remembering her commitments and being on time. Ever since she appeared in a commercial for a local restaurant she loves (her line: “Best Spuds. Life’s greater with a tater”), she’s harbored secret acting ambitions. A horrible day of forgetting obligations and disappointing her family leads to Corie’s accidentally rear-ending the car of surly classmate and SFX talent, Everett Robbins. Feeling down, Corie visits her great-grandmother Ingrid (a former Miss America and horror movie actor) for their weekly viewing of Midnight Frights, during which Corie learns about the upcoming Monster SFX Contest taking place around Halloween in Indianapolis. The prize—$2,000 and a guest appearance on the show—feels to Corie like a chance to pay homage to Ingrid while boosting her acting dreams. Realizing she has just “one potato-based acting credit” and Everett’s special effects skills could really help, Corie asks him to make her his “monstrous Eliza Doolittle.” Everett agrees, seeing an opportunity to expand his portfolio for his application to an SFX certificate program in California. Corie’s over-the-top enthusiasm for all things horror offers an amusing contrast to the glitzy glam of pageantry and enhances her evolving partnership with Everett. Their interactions are funny grumpy-sunshine bliss that unfolds into an endearing relationship of mutual support. Most characters are cued white.
Hilarious and sweet: a monster of a good time. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2025
ISBN: 9798890032935
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Somberly beautiful.
A girl goes in search of her missing sister and discovers a strange hidden world of dreams.
Corin, who’s 18 and dark-skinned, strives to protect her 12-year-old sister, Elly. But life as a thief is full of struggle, poverty, and loss, even without Corin’s avoidance of other relationships. Elly clings to the promise of fairy tales, like the one that says a princess lies sleeping in an underground castle after pricking her finger on a spindle. After the sisters fight and Elly runs off, Corin searches for her in Gyldan’s old network of tunnels—and finds the tale is true: Cursed Princess Amelia, golden-haired, with eyes like “sea glass” and porcelain skin, lies asleep, surrounded by flowers. Corin enters the princess’ dreamworld—the place “where your subconscious desires come to life.” She meets Briar Rose, Amelia’s alter ego, who experienced her share of sadness and wanted to fall asleep. Also in the dreamworld is green-skinned Malicine, the nonbinary demon who, despite having placed the curse of eternal slumber on Amelia, is mostly friendly. All three are running from things they can’t face, though the dreamworld may not give them a choice. Pham’s debut, a Sapphic reimagining of “Sleeping Beauty,” explores mental health and asks a lot of readers as it seesaws between emotional confrontations, time jumps, and scenes where one character inhabits the memories of another, all of which demand intense engagement. Still, the ending is earned as well as positive.
Somberly beautiful. (content note) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2026
ISBN: 9798217113026
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Kokila
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
SEEN & HEARD
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