For those who take their romance tumultuous and doomed.
Cleaving to the sensibility of the original, this love letter to Wuthering Heights is for fans of genuine Victorian Gothic.
On the Yorkshire moors–like Northern Plateau, city-born Hammel visits his landlord, perpetually angry and sadistic Damek. A dog bite forces Hammel to stay overnight. In his room, the ghost of long-dead Lina appears in a mirror. Racing back to his rented house, Hammel stays abed recovering while housekeeper Anna narrates what happened to Lina, Lina’s adopted brother, Damek, and herself “so long ago” in their childhood and teen years. This is the Land of Death, where vendetta is the law of the land: Any man killed must be avenged within a precise time period by a specific male relative, and then that killing must be avenged in kind, and so on. Generations-long strings of dictated murders devastate families and villages, yet vendetta is “the ground beneath us,” unquestionable, unchangeable and supposedly honorable. Damek and Lina’s family (unlike Anna’s) is exempt from vendetta due to royal blood, but Damek covets wealth, Lina might be a witch (punishable by death), and both crave vengeance when done wrong. Lina’s beauty is that of “superb pallor” and “dangerously bright” eyes; only stolid Anna keeps anything steady. Readers seeking the warm, solid core of Croggon’s Pellinor series won’t find it—Damek and Lina’s quasi-incestuous love is unbalanced and punishing—but Brontë devotees will swoon.
For those who take their romance tumultuous and doomed. (Gothic horror/fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7636-6009-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013
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
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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