A flirty, witchy escapade that delivers on its promise of cozy autumnal charm.
A secret curse sends teen witch Kat Hadley hurtling toward magical catastrophe and unexpected romance.
Every Samhain, or Halloween, the Hadley family is responsible for casting a protective spell over their small New England town of Mystic Hollow. The ritual needs to be performed by a couple whose “hearts that beat as one,” and, this year, with her parents heading to Florida to help her ailing grandfather and her older sister, Harriet, away at college Kat is responsible for carrying it out. But Kat’s magic rarely goes to plan, and she’s spent her life feeling invisible to boys. Her crushes generally end in heartbreak, and the only boy who seems to notice her is Zach Powell, her academic rival. When Kat learns that Harriet cast a well-intentioned curse years ago—preventing her from having a boyfriend until she meets her soulmate—the rift between the siblings destabilizes the town’s magic. As Halloween approaches, spells begin backfiring, supernatural creatures come to visit, and Kat gets tangled in chaos—both magical and very real. Calonita combines cozy fantasy, family drama, and rom-com hijinks in this story where Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic. The novel, which follows popular romance beats, is enhanced by humor, and the sibling conflict adds emotional texture to an otherwise lighthearted storyline. Redheaded Kat and other central cast members are cued white.
A flirty, witchy escapade that delivers on its promise of cozy autumnal charm. (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9780063517646
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Avon A/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2026
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 descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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