Dazzling.
A queer reimagining of “Snow-White and Rose-Red.”
Dark-skinned Ivory and pale-skinned Rosie (each named for her hair color) are 17-year-old twin daughters of the Circus Rose’s ringmistress. When the circus returns to their birthplace, Port’s End, Rosie’s and Ivory’s growth unfolds against a volatile backdrop that echoes contemporary politics: Recent regime and policy shifts result in aggressive behavior by the Brethren, whose church formerly occupied a position of political power. After tragedy strikes the circus, Ivory must shoulder ringmistress duties even as she attempts to discover who—or what—is behind the devastation. The present-tense, first-person narrative alternates between Rosie’s dreamy verse and Ivory’s looping prose as the sisters navigate new romances, professional challenges, and oppressive religious fanaticism on tour. Rosie is attracted to women but prefers the mysterious Bear above all while Ivory’s understanding of her own sexuality expands when she meets Tam, a black-haired, olive-skinned Fey magician who is “neither male nor female, like all Fey.” Tam’s pronouns, fe/fer/fers, are seamlessly integrated into the text. The twins have different fathers: Ivory’s is brown skinned while Rosie’s father is pale. The well-constructed fantasy world evokes elements of northern Europe and the United States during the Industrial Revolution, placing fluid Fey society and magic in an uneasy truce with established human monarchies and technologies. This creative exploration of chosen family, self-knowledge, love, and the tension between opposites is both timely and timeless.
Dazzling. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-63950-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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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