This quick-paced romance should thrill and engage readers with a penchant for history.
McGowan takes up the tale of love and espionage in the court of the first Queen Elizabeth where she left off in her debut, Maid of Secrets (2013).
The beautiful, ambitious, scheming Beatrice Knowles is a member of the same royal cadre of spies introduced in the last book. Desperate to rise above her station as the daughter of a dysfunctional and apparently penniless noble, Beatrice tries everything in her formidable arsenal of survival tools to better herself. Constantly engaged in a vicious power struggle with the indomitable monarch, Beatrice suffers many humiliations. Not least among these are the prevention of her carefully arranged marriage to the posh Lord Cavanaugh and a spontaneous royal visit to her family’s embarrassingly run-down estate. Having squashed her marriage plans, the queen orders Beatrice to use her feminine wiles to spy on the odious Alasdair MacLeod. The maid’s initial revulsion for the rugged Scottish nobleman turns to infatuation, and through many twists and turns of a plot almost as complex as the machinations of the political scene, she discovers that true love counts for more than wealth and status. McGowan’s formula combines fast-paced action untroubled by excess period detail, likable characters in the persons of Beatrice and her fellow maids, and a sentimental love affair
This quick-paced romance should thrill and engage readers with a penchant for history. (Historical fiction. 12-17)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4424-4141-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Vail captures the complexity of middle school social challenges, insightfully addressing the issues of friendships and...
Eighth-grader Truly’s foray into popularity spirals into a tempest of deceit and betrayal.
Upon turning 13, Truly is given a measure of technological freedom: a cellphone and access to social media. But this soon evolves into a quagmire of problems for Truly. When former BFF Natasha invites her to join the Popular Table during lunchtime and to collaborate on a school assignment, Truly is surprised but thrilled. However, Natasha’s overtures hide an ulterior motive. In the pursuit of popularity, Truly neglects her friendship with Hazel, who retaliates by plotting revenge utilizing social media. The Truly/Hazel dynamic is just one component of this interwoven story. Vail explores the motivations and private quandaries of the six characters who narrate the tale, from Jack, the quiet advocate for those excluded, to the socially conscious and manipulative Natasha, who yearns to be the most popular. With keen insight, Vail reveals the internal struggles with uncertainty and self-doubt that can plague young teens regardless of popularity status. Natasha’s schemes and Hazel’s misdeeds lead to a relentless barrage of bullying via social media for Truly. While a dramatic moment reveals the extent of Truly’s anguish, Vail concludes the tale with a resolution that is both realistic and hopeful.
Vail captures the complexity of middle school social challenges, insightfully addressing the issues of friendships and integrity. (Fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-670-01307-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one.
Teens become astronauts in record time for an inaugural space mission.
After losing his family to “the greatest flood Rome has ever known,” skilled white Italian swimmer Leo Danieli would never have expected that in his darkest moment he would be drafted by the European Space Agency to attend the International Space Training Camp, where teens will train to terraform and colonize Jupiter’s moon Europa for human settlement. California native Naomi Ardalan, a second-generation Iranian-American, has also been chosen for her expertise in science and technology. During a period of violent climate change worldwide, Earth’s governments are desperate to draft teens for a space mission for which they have only a few weeks in which to prepare. Twenty-four teen finalists, many orphaned by cataclysmic natural disasters, have been chosen from all over the world to compete for this space colonization mission. Warnings come to Leo and Naomi that there is a more sinister aspect to this mission, especially after things go tragically awry with other candidates during the training. The relationship that develops between Naomi and Leo feels forced, as if their meeting necessitates speedy deployment of a romantic cliché. The use of predictable plot devices, along with the fundamentally ludicrous premise, undermines any believability that would make a reader invest in such an elaborate space journey.
The shelves are already crowded with teens-training-for-space stories; there’s no need to make room for this one. (Science fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-265894-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2017
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