Read a comic instead.
Two heirs to a comics franchise find love and low-stakes drama in a small Nova Scotia town.
Quiet Miriam works in a down-and-out comic-book store to save money for college. Cute rebel Weldon walks in one day and buys a painting depicting the Marvel-esque TomorrowMen. Awkward sparks fizz between them, but it’s soon revealed that they’re the heirs to a years-old family dispute. Miriam’s grandfather helped create the TomorrowMen but signed a bad contract with his co-creator—Weldon’s grandfather. The two men spent the rest of their lives in a legal battle over the rights to their characters, which eventually resulted in Weldon’s father’s taking the creative helm and Miriam’s mother’s accepting a settlement. Even though the issue is largely settled, both teens still feel the need to exorcise their family demons, at least long enough to delay their happy ending for a few hundred pages. The family drama and resulting tension between Miriam and Weldon never feel substantial, with little risk involved for either of them; misunderstandings work mostly to beef up the plot and are tritely brushed aside in an underwhelming climax at Comic-Con. All major characters are white. The narration feels flat and strained throughout, with none of the rich color and movement that explodes out of the superhero genre that provides this story’s backdrop.
Read a comic instead. (Romance. 12-15)Pub Date: Feb. 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-62672-364-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 20, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
A 13th-century princess wants to be a warrior; the old tale's less forced than usual when set in the Mongol Empire with its legends of fighting women. Emmajin is Khubilai Khan's (fictional) oldest granddaughter, and she would rather be a soldier than a wife. Emmajin struggles to convince the Khan, but her desire is complicated by a growing attraction to the hairy visiting foreigner, Marco Polo. Emmajin's stubborn drive brings both her and Marco to combat and the novel's highlight: a lusciously described brutal engagement of cavalry, archers and elephants. Unlike much of the rest of Emmajin's tale, the battle and its profound emotional aftermath don't suffer from dry overdescription. Otherwise, Emmajin writes as if alien in her own home: She serves "Mongolian cheese," notices her cousins' "distinctive Mongolian male haircut" and rides with a "traditional Mongolian wooden saddle." With such a narrator, it's unsurprising that she finds exotic Christendom compelling, but it is a disappointment. Gorgeous cover art packages this blandly informative adventure, which is spiced with just enough blood and sexual tension to keep readers turning the pages. (Historical fiction. 12-13)
Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-385-73923-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2010
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Those obsessed with paranormals won't dislike anything here, but everyone else should give it a miss
Boy meets Girl. Boy turns out to have a deep—nay, otherworldly—connection to Girl despite being the loneliest member of a family of immortal, sexy, good-hearted monsters.
Newly-orphaned Brooklynite Kate Mercier is now living in Paris with her grandparents and sister. She's grateful for anything that breaks the constant tyranny of her depression, even the weird obsession she's developing with Vincent, a hot Parisian she's seen in her favorite café. Vincent is equally obsessed with Kate, but after a few dates his secret is revealed: Vincent is a revenant, driven by some mystical force to give his life to save others again and again, constantly reborn as an 18 year old with rippling "rock-hard abdominal muscles." Along with his revenant family (one father figure, several extremely sexy pseudo-brothers and a teenage girl to be Kate's friend), he rescues at-risk Parisians while fighting off the revenant's evil counterparts among the undead. Kate and Vincent are, of course, drawn to each other, miserable with despair when apart. When they are together, it takes all Vincent's willpower not to molest his beloved; readers of Twilight and its ilk know the drill. But wait! Evil is afoot, and perhaps it will spice up their love life!
Those obsessed with paranormals won't dislike anything here, but everyone else should give it a miss . (Paranormal romance. 12-14)Pub Date: May 10, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-200401-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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