A first in interspecies love stories? (Romance. 14-18)
Never say never.
He’s hot. He’s in a band. Every girl wants him. He has claws, wings, and a beak. He can also fly. When Pyke, the school’s first interspecies transfer student, walks through the doors of Vista View High, student-body chair Shiels, who normally has it all together, goes bonkers (a mild understatement). Pyke’s appearance invigorates everyone. He can catch a spiraling football pass like no one else. He can turn a school dance party into a whirling, orgiastic riot. He can turn Shiels’ nose the same tone of purple as his skin with some bump-and-grind dance moves. He can also make her question everything she has ever stood for. Cumyn’s latest (Tilt, 2011, etc.) is certainly good fun, full of fresh new devices (to say the least). However, not only is it hard to swallow, it’s also long-winded. Clocking in at over 400 pages, the plot twists and turns and expands over and over until it completely tries the most patient readers, whose willingness to suspend their disbelief for a story this ridiculous might lapse after the first 250 or so pages. That said, the book is full of hilarious one-liners, straight-on characterizations, some hot sexual tension, and a doofus, headstrong heroine who is all a-flutter and dead set on protecting her prehistoric honey. That makes up for a lot.
A first in interspecies love stories? (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: March 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3980-0
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
An aching story of love, loss, and learning to look forward.
This companion to 2021’s bestselling You’ve Reached Sam explores first love, grief, and what remains after saying goodbye.
Nearly a year after the death of Sam, his best friend and secret crush, Oliver, a gay first-year college student, sends Sam one final text—only to receive a reply from the stranger who now has Sam’s old number. What begins as an accidental exchange evolves into a warm and unexpected connection, told in self-reflective first-person prose interspersed with text conversations. The prose blends dreamy flashbacks with present-day scenes showing Oliver’s loneliness, juxtaposing vivid memories of love unspoken with the tentative beginning of something new. The scenes move fluidly across time, showing prom, Halloween, a spring bonfire, and quiet cafe moments, all of which underscore the intensity of Oliver’s love and longing, while his banter-filled messages and blossoming rapport with the stranger he’s texting with offer glimmers of healing. His grief is messy and nonlinear, and the story doesn’t rush his recovery. Thao’s writing is intimate and vulnerable, balancing humor and heartbreak with emotional honesty. Touchstones like white roses, playlists, and quiet nights on campus recur throughout, grounding Oliver’s journey in sensory detail. This poignant story offers a nuanced depiction of grieving and embracing romantic possibilities. In the earlier book, Oliver presented white, and Sam was cued Japanese American.
An aching story of love, loss, and learning to look forward. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9780593858479
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A dark, Poe-inspired thriller that lives up to the gothic master.
Tress would kill to find out why her parents disappeared.
In small-town Amontillado, Tress Montor had a seemingly normal life until her parents disappeared. That was seven years ago. Now living with her negligent grandfather at his questionable exotic animal attraction, the high school senior has become a pariah among her classmates. The one person who may know what happened is Felicity Turnado, who not only used to be best friends with Tress, but was the last one to see her parents alive. Told in alternating chapters from each girl’s perspective, this thriller starts off as a slow burn with longer chapters establishing their personalities; the nature of the closed-minded, predominantly White town; and the mysterious disappearance. When Tress, bent on truth and revenge, sets up an interrogation of Felicity reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado,” the story accelerates evenly with shorter, taut chapters delivering the final shocks. The narrative’s changing timeline, as each girl remembers events from the past, answers questions and raises intrigue in equal measure; their experiences are gritty reflections of teen life. And in the true spirit of Poe, a black cat, in this case a panther from the zoo, adds another level of creepiness with intermittent free-verse poems told from its perspective. A sudden, nail-biting ending leaves the door open for the next installment of this duology.
A dark, Poe-inspired thriller that lives up to the gothic master. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-298242-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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