Witty, warm, and wickedly plotted.
A runaway princess, a city of glass and canals, and a Sapphic love triangle with teeth.
After Tuli, the man she loves, kills her sister, Arabeth, in a duel, 17-year-old Adeleine Ventris, Daughter-Heir of Gilnea, fakes her own death and flees her queendom. She has her face mirrorwoven by an enchanter, disguising her blue eyes and copper hair; the illusion can only be undone by true love’s kiss. Reinventing herself as Del, a traveling musician armed with nothing but her lute and two rules—avoid royalty and never fall in love—she arrives in the sun-drenched and rigidly socially stratified city-state of Salato, hoping to join the prestigious Guild of Bards. What she finds instead is a residency as court-bard to Clara, the young, newly widowed First of Salato, breathtakingly beautiful with her light brown skin and “cascading black curls.” Hazel-eyed, olive-skinned Nasca, Clara’s brilliant, dangerous sister-in-law, arranged the audition, and Del’s determination to keep her post drives her to help Clara navigate the political forces closing in on her throne. All the while, Nasca’s easy charm and bold proximity make Del’s second rule feel increasingly impossible to follow. Cser’s worldbuilding is lush and layered, with vividly described, Venetian-inspired Salato brought to life through details like gondolas and floating markets. Del’s voice—self-aware and often sharply funny—anchors the story. She’s torn between her two identities and her feelings for both Nasca, with her bold, electric pull, and Clara, with her quiet, treacherous gravity.
Witty, warm, and wickedly plotted. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781250460967
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
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
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.
In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.
Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250346797
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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