Fandom fans and romance lovers will rejoice!
Hoping to connect with her crush through fandom, a Welsh girl ends up finding herself.
Sixteen-year-old Cerys has been nurturing feelings for her best friend, Jake; she worries that they’ll grow apart as they move on to different secondary schools. As a way to stay close and convince him that she’s “his dream girl,” Cerys decides to engage with the Of Wrath and Rune fandom—OWAR is Jake’s favorite fantasy TV and book series. She’s disappointed that Jake’s new friend, Max, is always around for their watch parties and con outings and hopes that chatting one-on-one with Jake in the OWAR Discord channel will further her romantic agenda. But somehow, the deeper their online conversations become, the less available Jake seems in person—it’s almost as if he’s two different people. Meanwhile, Cerys is trying to fit in with a group of cool girls at St. David’s, her new school in Cardiff, which means hiding her now-sincere appreciation for OWAR. She slowly comes to realize that she has a lot in common with Anissa, a shy girl in her art class, who also loves OWAR. At the same time, her Discord correspondence with @runicrascal is a source of emotional connection and vulnerability. This solid, well-paced book explores relatable subjects like learning to be true to oneself and finding friends who like the real you. The realistic dialogue and strong character development will keep readers turning the pages. Main characters read white.
Fandom fans and romance lovers will rejoice! (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9798217031498
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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 lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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