Joyful and hopeful.
A skateboarder desperately wants to avoid the physical changes of young adulthood.
Pepper Mint loves skateboarding and her vampire dog, Shroom. She doesn’t love her mother’s pestering her to become a full vampire like her parents. Pepper doesn’t want to change, though she adores having strap-on wings. Human skaters falsely believe she has a physiological advantage (though she’s avoiding changing partly to avoid the increased strength that would make all her hard-won skills feel “irrelevant”). The B+ juice supplement that helps her minimize real blood consumption is classed as performance-enhancing, so she can’t compete. Instead of going full vamp at the vampire ball as her mother requested, Pepper sneaks off and befriends human waiter and art student Ana, who draws Pepper skating with her wings. Pepper’s half brother, Jeb, who’s always hustling, sees a business opportunity: turning Ana’s art into a vampire-themed skateboard brand. But the grind of the business wears Pepper down, damaging her trust in Jeb and growing closeness with Ana. Despite vast gulfs separating what they each want, the three eventually learn to support one another’s choices. Attractive panels in pale blue, pink, lavender, and white evoke the transgender flag, reinforcing the metaphor of delaying puberty to avoid becoming “crystallized” in one form. This affirming story questions and creatively redefines “coming of age” in ways that will speak to many readers. Black-haired Pepper has light skin, dark-skinned Jeb has Afro-textured hair, and Ana has medium-toned skin and light hair.
Joyful and hopeful. (Graphic paranormal. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781665970471
Page Count: 224
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Bloody brilliant!
A girl who can see ghosts takes on a deadly challenge.
Everyone knows the tale: Wealthy Count Bastien Saphir, aka Monsieur Le Bleu, married and murdered three unsuspecting women before the fourth got away. They say Le Bleu was still laughing as his last wife’s brothers cut off his head. A century later, Mallory Fontaine gives tours of House Saphir and knows more than anyone about the family and their history. Count Armand Saphir, heir to the estate, seeks out Mallory and her elder sister, Anaïs, to assist at the family’s country estate, where Le Bleu’s ghost has returned to threaten the inhabitants. Armand hopes that the Fontaine family’s reputation as gifted witches means they can aid in this exorcism. Unfortunately, the sisters aren’t entirely truthful about their magical talents; their mother was renowned for her elixirs and talismans, but Mallory and Anaïs don’t possess her powers and make a living selling fake charms and spells. Still, Mallory agrees, betting on her legitimate ability to talk to ghosts and her affinity with the macabre. But as the gory sacrifices add up, it seems there may be more than a ghost that’s haunting the estate. Meyer takes the classic French folktale “Bluebeard” and expertly sprinkles in ghosts and otherworldly creatures to create an eerie tale with a side of steamy romance. The characters are full-bodied, possessing either winsome or terrifying auras, while the setting beautifully conveys a bewitching ambiance. Mallory and Armand present white.
Bloody brilliant! (guide to monsters) (Supernatural mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781250320957
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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