Deliciously romantic and drenched in dark magic.
Former lovers reunite and uncover the sinister secrets of a traveling circus.
Time is running out for almost-19-year-old Esmeralda Montero. To stay in the Carnival Fantástico and earn enough to escape Costa Mayor, where she faces “a one-way ticket to the frontlines of war,” she must come out on top in the Running, a competition to determine the Carnival’s next brightest star. When Esmeralda finally receives an invitation to perform for the Running as La Paloma Blanca: Fortune Teller Extraordinaire, she’s determined to shine. She’s shocked to run into ex-boyfriend Ignacio Olivera, the son of the comandante who sent her to prison, with whom she has a complicated history. The cruelty of his tyrannical and murderous father, Héctor, compels Ignacio to defect from the army and expose his father’s corruption. While searching Héctor’s office for evidence, Ignacio finds flyers for the Carnival; on their reverse are mysterious letters written in the same ink Esmeralda used in her last letter to him, one that broke his heart. Esmeralda and Ignacio team up to help one another achieve their goals, soon realizing how much they need each other if they hope to survive and save their kingdom from threats they uncover. The leads’ second-chance romance simmers with passion and clever banter. Beneath her feisty exterior and his disciplined image, they long to feel special and worthy, feelings they validate in one another. Most characters in this early-20th-century, Latine-inspired world are brown-skinned.
Deliciously romantic and drenched in dark magic. (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Feb. 3, 2026
ISBN: 9798217024469
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Joy Revolution
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
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
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning.
Two teens train to be society-sanctioned killers in an otherwise immortal world.
On post-mortal Earth, humans live long (if not particularly passionate) lives without fear of disease, aging, or accidents. Operating independently of the governing AI (called the Thunderhead since it evolved from the cloud), scythes rely on 10 commandments, quotas, and their own moral codes to glean the population. After challenging Hon. Scythe Faraday, 16-year-olds Rowan Damisch and Citra Terranova reluctantly become his apprentices. Subjected to killcraft training, exposed to numerous executions, and discouraged from becoming allies or lovers, the two find themselves engaged in a fatal competition but equally determined to fight corruption and cruelty. The vivid and often violent action unfolds slowly, anchored in complex worldbuilding and propelled by political machinations and existential musings. Scythes’ journal entries accompany Rowan’s and Citra’s dual and dueling narratives, revealing both personal struggles and societal problems. The futuristic post–2042 MidMerican world is both dystopia and utopia, free of fear, unexpected death, and blatant racism—multiracial main characters discuss their diverse ethnic percentages rather than purity—but also lacking creativity, emotion, and purpose. Elegant and elegiac, brooding but imbued with gallows humor, Shusterman’s dark tale thrusts realistic, likable teens into a surreal situation and raises deep philosophic questions.
A thoughtful and thrilling story of life, death, and meaning. (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Nov. 29, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4424-7242-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2016
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