An unforgettable story of healing told through phenomenal poetry.
This page-turning novel in verse shows a 16-year-old Baltimore girl’s resilience after surviving a sexual assault by a powerful church leader.
Amina Conteh’s father credits her late mother, “a woman who knew her / rage was as powerful as her love,” for her fighting spirit, something he doesn’t always approve of. After Amina gets in trouble at school for standing up to a disrespectful classmate, he decides she’ll help out at church as punishment, which ultimately leads to Pastor Johnson’s raping her. Amina has an emotionally and physically fulfilling relationship with Deon, the pastor’s adored nephew. He and her best friend, Talia, a queer, fashion-conscious Dominican girl, provide relief from her strained relationship with her strict, highly religious father. But as she endures the aftermath of her trauma, Amina, the daughter of immigrants from Sierra Leone, finds that her relationships and confidence suffer. Interspersed throughout the stunning verse are journal entries, text messages, police interview transcripts, and news articles that highlight various people’s perspectives, intricately building suspense when the news breaks of another victim of Pastor Johnson. The expectations for women at Amina’s church are oppressive and sexist, though the Black church community provided Amina’s parents with comfort, adding complexity as she wrestles with whether to speak out. Amina’s emotional growth and experiences in therapy feel authentic, leading to a satisfying ending that is properly earned.
An unforgettable story of healing told through phenomenal poetry. (author’s note, resources) (Verse fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9781419762611
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance.
A Connecticut girl and her best friend devise a series of plans in order to achieve their goals: following a dream and winning back an ex.
Eighteen-year-old Audrey Barbour has a Master Plan: attend Blue Ridge Glass School in North Carolina and someday turn her Etsy shop, Golightly Glass, into a thriving business. But her uber-wealthy parents insist that she instead follow in their footsteps and go to business school. So Audrey decides to go find the tuition money she needs with help from her best friend, Henry Chen. Henry needs a favor, too: He hopes that fake dating Audrey will help him win back his ex-girlfriend, and he points out to a reluctant Audrey that this could make her crush, Griffin, notice her. While Audrey’s parents vacation in France for three weeks, the pair rent out the Barbour mansion on the Long Island Sound. Soon romantic chemistry grows alongside their business partnership. Despite the pair’s great preparation and an abundance of secondary characters with connections and talents to help pull off their increasingly ambitious ideas, plans go awry, leaving Audrey and Henry scrambling and second-guessing their choices. The pacing is even, but the characters often take a back seat to the whirlwind of activity that drives the plot, with the emphasis falling on each person’s practical skills and their role in keeping the action moving over their emotional bonds. Audrey is white, and Henry’s surname cues him as Chinese American.
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593904794
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A character-focused entry that will satisfy fans.
Romantic complications between a trained killer and one of her captors drive this sequel to Watch Me (2025).
Appealing to readers who prefer their romantic dramas to be light on action and heavy on long passages of banter, bitter sibling arguments, and tortured reflections, Mafi continues the tale of Rosabelle Wolff, the flaxen-haired assassin from the dystopic Reestablishment, and magnetic, “impossibly stunning” James Anderson, her nemesis-turned-lover who’s still trying to take down the regime. Now desperate to accomplish several secret missions, Rosa easily escapes from one of The New Republic’s prisons, where she was left in the series opener, and, dressed in “a little kid’s cat onesie,” eludes all pursuers except for James, who can seemingly find her at will. Enigmatic Rosa responds unpredictably to many human contacts—including with violence, temporary death (one of her abilities), or a sudden panic attack. Along with the central pair of rivals and lovers, James’ older brother, Aaron, shares the narration. Bestseller Mafi tucks in several subplots, including, notably, a cameo from Juliette Ferrars, the protagonist of the original Shatter Me series, who’s undergoing a scarily difficult pregnancy. Amid the slowly simmering rising action, the author delivers a revelation and a twist that set up a potential series climax. Some ethnic diversity is present in the supporting cast.
A character-focused entry that will satisfy fans. (Dystopian. 14-adult)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780063419056
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Storytide/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
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