A high fantasy romp with delightful characters and a sweetly compelling romance.
Legendary quester Ellinore is forced out of early retirement to complete one last quest to save her troublemaking twin brother, Zig.
Ellinore considers herself a fraud—the bards sing of her valorous beast slaying, but it’s all a ruse, perpetuated to win the gold her family needs. As she admits to herself, “I was an actor, and I was at my breaking point.” Seventeen-year-old Ellinore hoped to stop questing before anyone discovered her secret—especially nonbinary Princet Aven, who, despite their yearslong rivalry, she finds particularly cute. When, after a few tankards of mead, Zig makes an unbreakable bet with some mages, Ellinore must kill the Elder Beast—“the god-king of all creatures”—and retrieve its horn to save Zig’s life. Accustomed to questing alone, Ellinore isn’t pleased when both Zig and Aven tag along. With her tavern-loving brother and flirty nemesis in tow, she’s soon joined by Farrah, Aven’s annoyingly chirpy cousin and Ellinore’s ardent fan, as well as “bard-mage kid” Rylan. Ellinore sets out to do the impossible—while hiding the truth that Ellinore the Brave doesn’t really exist. The fairly generic fantasy world is a boon, allowing the quippy characters to shine while pleasantly making their way through an adventure that maintains suspense despite predictability. The romance between the white-presenting leads is charming, unfolding as Ellinore seeks her identity and battles imposter syndrome.
A high fantasy romp with delightful characters and a sweetly compelling romance. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781665950978
Page Count: 320
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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
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