Poufy gowns and corsets in a futuristic setting make for an interesting spin on a perennially popular genre.
In the 22rd century, major corporate executives and their families re-create Versailles, complete with their own King.
Just under 100 years ago, Sonoma Inc. saved the world from starvation but demanded that France hand over its most treasured historical palace. Calling their establishment Sonoman-Versailles, its multicultural executives live there as if it were the Baroque era, but with bots to dress them in their period costumes and with the palace wired into a sophisticated computer system. Danica Grayson lives with her overbearing mother, who blackmails the King into naming Dani as his fiancee after the white 17-year-old sees him strangle a member of the court. Desperate to escape her fate, Dani strikes a deal with a drug dealer who promises her a new life for 5 million euros. To make the money, Dani works with him to sell the titular Glitter. The drug is so addicting that Dani can be sure of ever increasing profits from the courtiers. However, she must work with the dealer’s assistant, a green-eyed man with Asian features to whom Dani feels a compulsive attraction. As the plot thickens, Dani strategizes an escape, but that must wait until the next book. Pike creates an intriguing and imaginative world that mixes the future and the past, with enough suspense to keep pages turning and enough forbidden romance and florid descriptions to satisfy genre conventions.
Poufy gowns and corsets in a futuristic setting make for an interesting spin on a perennially popular genre. (Romantic thriller. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93370-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
A winning game of feelingsball.
A former football star, who never thought she’d play again after she came out as transgender, steps back onto the field for one last season to help her team win state.
Grace Woodhouse used to know where she belonged. She had Division I schools lined up to recruit her, but that was before what happened during playoffs last year, before she came out as trans, and before she quit the team. Although her single father and new friend group support her, Grace feels lost as her senior year begins. When one of her old teammates asks her to help him with his technique, she quickly realizes that he and the other captains are hoping for more than her expertise from the sidelines—they want her to rejoin the team. Grace can’t resist the opportunity to play again, but her return draws unwanted national attention that makes her question her future and who she wants to be. Flashback chapters written in the second-person present tense bring Grace’s past to life, which helps maintain momentum and makes her emotional journey feel more immersive. A heartfelt, goofy, and diverse cast of secondary characters surround Grace, who’s white, as she navigates self-doubt, friendship, complicated feelings for her ex-girlfriend, and what she wants to do after graduation. Overall, this coming-of-age sports narrative is honest, gentle, and hopeful.
A winning game of feelingsball. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 13, 2025
ISBN: 9781646145027
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Levine Querido
Review Posted Online: March 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
With a refreshingly original concept, this substantial fantasy, the first in a duology, is an undeniable page-turner
In Tiny Pretty Things co-author Clayton’s solo debut, beauty comes at a price.
On their joint 16th birthday, Camellia and her five sisters are sent out to restore beauty to Orléans, where everybody is born gray and ugly. They’ve been training for this their whole lives. As Belles, the sisters can use their magic to transform the citizens of Orléans from their original states. For the right price, Belles can grant any desired look. When Camellia secures the coveted spot of Her Majesty’s favorite, it seems as if her dreams have come true. As the most powerful, sought-out Belle, she is in charge of the royal family’s looks. However, the princess is insatiable in her quest for beauty and will do anything to get it—even if it means endangering the Belles and the kingdom—and Camellia may be the only one who can stop her. Not only that, but Camellia finds herself slowly uncovering the secrets of the Belles’ origin, and it’s not as pretty as she was taught. With wonderfully descriptive language, Clayton builds a grand and lavish world, carefully chipping away at the veneer to reveal its dark, sinister interior. In a world where anyone can change their skin color as often as they can change their hair color, race is fluid. Camellia is brown, and her sisters are various shades of brown and pale.
With a refreshingly original concept, this substantial fantasy, the first in a duology, is an undeniable page-turner (. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4847-2849-9
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Freeform/Disney
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
SEEN & HEARD
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