by Diana Peterfreund ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 13, 2020
Witty, wicked fun.
With the headmaster’s killer behind bars, college prep is top priority at Blackbrook Academy—until another body makes an unwelcome appearance.
Plum is dismayed that Headmaster Boddy’s temporary replacement, a school board member from a pharmaceutical company with long-standing ties to Blackbrook, has boarded up the secret passages in Tudor House, preventing him from recovering his highly extracurricular project. Evading Rosa, a sharp-eyed new student, Plum solicits Scarlett’s help. But after school custodian Rusty Nayler’s body falls on them, their illicit activities are exposed. Already anxious about her practice-test scores, Scarlett learns that her escapades will carry consequences. Future tennis pro Peacock, also anxious, relies on a new life coach whose diet and meditation instructions are proffered in soothing messages. Ethnically diverse, the students are wealthy with the exception of scholarship student and townie Vaughn, who’s kept his connection to Blackbrook secret. Orchid’s mostly relieved that Vaughn knows her secret; despite his strange moods, their mutual attraction grows. For Mustard, conflicted, and Plum, perplexingly free of doubt, romance is more complicated. An attempt on a student’s life heightens the tension. The six narrators—hobbled by missteps and self-inflicted mistakes—find themselves sharing long-held secrets; even master manipulators Scarlett and Plum must trust one another. These flawed but occasionally endearing characters grow on readers. As the sly plot untwists, questions are answered and new ones posed until the cliffhanger ending.
Witty, wicked fun. (Mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3976-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2020
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New York Times Bestseller
by Leigh Bardugo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 2015
Cracking page-turner with a multiethnic band of misfits with differing sexual orientations who satisfyingly, believably jell...
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Our Verdict
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New York Times Bestseller
Adolescent criminals seek the haul of a lifetime in a fantasyland at the beginning of its industrial age.
The dangerous city of Ketterdam is governed by the Merchant Council, but in reality, large sectors of the city are given over to gangs who run the gambling dens and brothels. The underworld's rising star is 17-year-old Kaz Brekker, known as Dirtyhands for his brutal amorality. Kaz walks with chronic pain from an old injury, but that doesn't stop him from utterly destroying any rivals. When a councilman offers him an unimaginable reward to rescue a kidnapped foreign chemist—30 million kruge!—Kaz knows just the team he needs to assemble. There's Inej, an itinerant acrobat captured by slavers and sold to a brothel, now a spy for Kaz; the Grisha Nina, with the magical ability to calm and heal; Matthias the zealot, hunter of Grishas and caught in a hopeless spiral of love and vengeance with Nina; Wylan, the privileged boy with an engineer's skills; and Jesper, a sharpshooter who keeps flirting with Wylan. Bardugo broadens the universe she created in the Grisha Trilogy, sending her protagonists around countries that resemble post-Renaissance northern Europe, where technology develops in concert with the magic that's both coveted and despised. It’s a highly successful venture, leaving enough open questions to cause readers to eagerly await Volume 2.
Cracking page-turner with a multiethnic band of misfits with differing sexual orientations who satisfyingly, believably jell into a family . (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-62779-212-7
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2015
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BOOK TO SCREEN
by James Patterson & Emily Raymond ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 19, 2022
Thrill-seekers will be absorbed by this exciting story.
The lives of two girls named Hannah, living in different centuries on different continents, intersect.
Eighteen-year-old Hannah Dory is an English peasant living a harsh existence in 1347. Hannah Doe is a resident of Belman Psychiatric Hospital in 2023 New York City, brought in after being found on the street experiencing hallucinations and screaming something about a castle. Modern-day Hannah periodically enters a catatonic state, something the staff refer to as her “going to the castle.” Columbia psychology student Jordan Hassan is a new intern at Belman, and his interest is piqued by this girl no one knows much about. He decides to play detective and try to discover her history himself. Meanwhile, in the medieval England storyline, Hannah Dory tries to save her village from starvation by sneaking into the baron’s castle but finds herself swept up in a fight between the new baron and his rival. The book sustains a breakneck pace with short chapters and many cliffhangers that will keep readers’ interest. Patterson’s author’s note includes a list of mental health resources and describes his experience of working as an aide in a psychiatric hospital when he was a teenager. The narrative thoughtfully centers mental illness and touches on complex topics like suicide. Whiteness is the default; Jordan is cued as Muslim.
Thrill-seekers will be absorbed by this exciting story. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-41172-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
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