A warm, charming tale of a horror-loving film buff who’s stuck in a romantic comedy.
Hooking up with your ex-boyfriend’s girlfriend’s ex-girlfriend? Because reasons.
All Cleo wants to care about is getting into New York University to study film and make horror movies. She does not want to care that Daniel, her ex, cheated on her with girly girl Kiki. She is going to finish her screenplay, get into her dream college, and get the heck out of North Carolina. There is absolutely no need to fake-date Marianne, who is Kiki’s ex and Cleo’s next-door neighbor. Marianne and Cleo were besties back when they were kids, but ever since middle school, Cleo’s been in the artsy crowd and Marianne’s been popular. Maybe this faux relationship will torment Daniel and help Marianne win back Kiki, but it’s painful taking Marianne to homecoming. Gorgeous, funny Marianne, who’s like a Brazilian American “Kristen Stewart with her hair slicked back” and “James Dean bathed in vintage cinematography.” Marianne, who is funny, loves her family, and has anxiety. The slow-moving train wreck of Cleo’s senior year gains momentum and accelerates to the extent that some essential epiphanies are rushed. But Cleo’s filmmaker eye frames the entirety of her life like a classic movie, and the rushed ending fits in a world where she’s learned she’s not the director. In this multiracial setting, race is primarily mentioned only for characters who are not White; Cleo is implied White by default.
A warm, charming tale of a horror-loving film buff who’s stuck in a romantic comedy. (Romance. 13-17)Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9780063285873
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
Mafiosa Rosa is rarely likable, but this tough survivor takes control of her own life, determined not to be controlled,...
A shape-shifting Mafia capo insists on romance amid dark family mysteries.
The death of her sister and aunt in Arcadia Awakens (2012) have left Rosa Alcantara the head of a Sicilian Mafia clan. Her love affair with Alessandro, capo of the rival Carnevare family, makes both of them vulnerable to vicious members of their own families. It's bad enough that they lead different Cosa Nostra clans, but their magical abilities are at odds as well. The Alcantaras become giant snakes, while the Carnevares become panthers, leopards and lions. Rosa mostly ignores the family business while she investigates the brutal rape she endured a year and a half before. Her investigations reveal unsettling truths: Nothing in her pre-Mafia past, neither the rape nor the death of her father, is unrelated to Cosa Nostra. Her own family has engaged in heinous crimes against her and the rest of the Mafia. A climactic battle—partially described in a six-page cellphone conversation between Rosa and Alessandro—ties up a few loose ends and leaves the rest for the next volume.
Mafiosa Rosa is rarely likable, but this tough survivor takes control of her own life, determined not to be controlled, assaulted, lied to or—quite literally—devoured . (Paranormal romance. 14-16)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-200608-0
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 25, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2013
Interesting plot twists almost carry endless pages of Forbidden Love.
Real sexual tension apparently requires all the divine forces in the universe be arrayed against you, if this book is any guide.
Demigods and erstwhile lovers Helen and Lucas can never be together, because they're secretly first cousins. Just in case the couple realizes that relationships between cousins aren't considered incest in their home state of Massachusetts (or 24 other states in the union), Lucas's father explains that the future of the demigod species, nay, of the entire planet depends on the couple staying apart. Because! Of history! And magical things! And could Lucas just stop being so selfish? Lucas responds by pretending to hate Helen, following the standard tortured-angsty-boy recipe for staying away from his girlfriend. Poor Helen, meanwhile, is spending all her sleeping hours traveling the Underworld. She hopes to defeat the Furies and end the senseless feuding that has tormented the semi-divine Scions since the Trojan War, but she can't seem to make any headway in the blasted hellscape of the Underworld. Not to mention, her magical journeys are keeping her from REM sleep, thus probably killing her. At least she's met a hot new Scion in the Underworld to fill the vacancy Lucas left by being such a meanie.
Interesting plot twists almost carry endless pages of Forbidden Love. (Paranormal romance. 13-15)Pub Date: May 29, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-201201-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2012
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