A charming and illuminating romance filled with swoony, timeline-altering chemistry.
A time-loop story centering on Bollywood dance, emotional growth, and finding true love.
In this stand-alone companion to 2023’s Kismat Connection, Raina Iyer faces the most important weekend of her senior year of high school. She’s not just competing for the last time in nationals of a Bollywood dance competition and trying to secure her third championship title, she’s also determined to win the event scholarship and prove to her mother that she can successfully pursue a career in dance. But things go haywire from the beginning, tanking Raina’s performance: Aditya Kumar, her boyfriend of four years and dance team co-captain, unexpectedly breaks up with her, and later she sustains a head injury mid-dance. All seems lost, but when she wakes up the next morning, Raina discovers she’s got another chance at living through the same day. Devarajan’s sophomore novel is a delightful romp through the competitive dance world, replete with nerves, sabotage, and oodles of romance. Raina and Aditya’s interactions crackle with chemistry, as Indian American Raina tries and tries again to save their relationship—all while facing the scrutiny and commentary of various aunties. Romantic tension and a range of emotions are on display as the duo work through their issues with heartfelt conversations—and lots of kissing. Raina’s journey to self-realization is enjoyable, and readers will feel invested in her.
A charming and illuminating romance filled with swoony, timeline-altering chemistry. (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9781335009944
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance.
A Connecticut girl and her best friend devise a series of plans in order to achieve their goals: following a dream and winning back an ex.
Eighteen-year-old Audrey Barbour has a Master Plan: attend Blue Ridge Glass School in North Carolina and someday turn her Etsy shop, Golightly Glass, into a thriving business. But her uber-wealthy parents insist that she instead follow in their footsteps and go to business school. So Audrey decides to go find the tuition money she needs with help from her best friend, Henry Chen. Henry needs a favor, too: He hopes that fake dating Audrey will help him win back his ex-girlfriend, and he points out to a reluctant Audrey that this could make her crush, Griffin, notice her. While Audrey’s parents vacation in France for three weeks, the pair rent out the Barbour mansion on the Long Island Sound. Soon romantic chemistry grows alongside their business partnership. Despite the pair’s great preparation and an abundance of secondary characters with connections and talents to help pull off their increasingly ambitious ideas, plans go awry, leaving Audrey and Henry scrambling and second-guessing their choices. The pacing is even, but the characters often take a back seat to the whirlwind of activity that drives the plot, with the emphasis falling on each person’s practical skills and their role in keeping the action moving over their emotional bonds. Audrey is white, and Henry’s surname cues him as Chinese American.
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593904794
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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