Maura “Mo” Fitzgerald wakes up in a hospital room to face a handful of impossibilities—namely, that she has witnessed the...
A disrupted magical prophecy pits fate against choice in O’Rourke’s debut.
Maura “Mo” Fitzgerald wakes up in a hospital room to face a handful of impossibilities—namely, that she has witnessed the murder of her best friend, Verity Grey, and that said murder was committed by evil, supernatural creatures. Rocked out of complacency, Mo discovers that Verity was not only living a double life as a powerful magic user called an Arc, but had been the prophesied key for preventing a magical disaster on par with a nuclear meltdown. Mo isn’t fated—or qualified—to save the world, but she finds herself falling into Verity’s role as well as the arms of a mysterious, handsome Arc whom she suspects of having been romantically involved with Verity. She struggles with grieving, her family’s shady ties and a protective bodyguard, all the while trying to figure out whom she can trust in a destiny not meant for her. The romance is on the less-developed side, but the male lead makes up for it in dark charisma. While some of the plot twists are predictable, and the shadowy consortium of villains is ill-defined, the novel shines when Mo deals with the implications and ramifications of her role as a substitute for the chosen heroine.Pub Date: July 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-7582-6703-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
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
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