A rewarding, passionate, and beautifully characterized duology closer.
The love between two of Saverio’s heroes is put to the ultimate test in Thiede’s exhilarating follow-up to This Vicious Grace (2022).
After defeating Crollo’s most recent Divorando, Finestra Alessa and Dante, her bodyguard-turned-lover whom she resurrected, look forward to moving on with their lives. But their battle with the scarabei—and Dante’s return to the living afterward—came with a price: Dante has become fully mortal, having lost his healing powers as a ghiotte, and Alessa has harnessed a harrowing ability to enter people’s minds. With the couple’s happily-ever-after remaining out of reach, Alessa’s nightmares and Dante’s troubling visions from Dea manifest when a friend, momentarily possessed, delivers an ominous message from the gods about another war to come. Dante; Alessa; Alessa’s twin brother, Adrick; and the team of Fonti who protected Saverio from the Divorando embark on a journey to find the other ghiotte—hiding in exile after centuries of persecution—and enlist their help to stop an even greater attack from Crollo during the next eclipse. Readers will fall deeper in love with Dante and Alessa, whose individual explorations of identity and self-love amid impending chaos are heart-wrenchingly honest. But it’s the portrayal of their growth as a pair—in a relationship that’s filled with endless flirty banter, mutual understanding, and acceptance of each other’s flaws—that is especially satisfying and wholesome. Characters vary in skin tone; there’s natural representation of queerness and disability.
A rewarding, passionate, and beautifully characterized duology closer. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781250794079
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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 worthy second-chance romance.
In this follow-up to 2021’s Better Than the Movies, a 20-year-old college freshman gets a second chance at his dreams.
After the death of his father and his mother’s subsequent physical and emotional disappearance, Wes Bennett left behind all of his plans and the girl he made them with to go home and take care of Sarah, his younger sister. But now, Sarah has graduated, his mom is back on her feet, and by some miracle, Wes has an offer to pitch for UCLA’s baseball team. Liz Buxbaum, the girl he’s always loved, works for the university’s athletic department, taking photos and video of the team for social media, which means that maybe he can have a second chance at love, too. But since Wes left, Liz has made every effort to protect herself from ever feeling that broken again; there’s no room for love, because she doesn’t believe in it anymore. Or she doesn’t want to. This second-chance sports romance includes fake dates, quippy and quirky best friends, real heartache, and the sweet ache of first love. The clever dialogue keeps readers from drowning in the main characters’ emotional push-and-pull. Reading the first novel isn’t necessary for appreciating this one, although knowing the full history between Wes and Liz will only add to the ache and longing readers feel from and for them. Main characters are cued white.
A worthy second-chance romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665947138
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
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