Aguirre (The Shadow Warrior, 2019, etc.) writes compelling and accessible characters who fumble through complicated...
A fast-paced paranormal romance blends teen life with thrilling covert exploits.
Having traveled extensively with her journalist parents, Araceli Flores Harper is used to unusual experiences in far-flung locales. Senior year in exile at her great-aunt’s crumbling Victorian home in rural New York state promises to be dull by comparison, but nothing could have prepared Araceli for the strange, frightening, and dangerous aspects of her newest home. Araceli, whose mother is white and American and father is Mexican, discovers that the town’s deep-seated racism coupled with recent mysterious disappearances are keeping everyone in her ethnically and sexually diverse circle of new friends on edge. Digging into the details surrounding the town’s secretive government research facility just creates more questions—and risk—as Araceli struggles to find a connection between the ghosts of the past and the current conflict in which she’s embroiled. Despite juggling dance team tryouts, learning to drive, and investigating leads, Araceli finds time to establish a romantic pen-pal relationship with an enigmatic stranger. Add this to the ever growing list of bizarre phenomena that she must navigate, and readers may find themselves wondering what to focus on. Social consciousness is woven naturally into the story, leaving readers with something more substantial to think on after the book has ended.
Aguirre (The Shadow Warrior, 2019, etc.) writes compelling and accessible characters who fumble through complicated supernatural situations with humor and grit. (Supernatural thriller. 13-18)Pub Date: July 1, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-7653-9764-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Tor Teen
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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 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
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