Eerie and engrossing, this powerful story is about embracing darkness to find the light.
A high school senior must face the dark shadows of her past when a vacation turns into a real-world nightmare.
Nell is spending spring break on a private Florida island, sharing a rented house with her friends Harper and Dia, as well as Harry, Harper’s brother. Nell and Harper have been best friends since childhood, when Nell suffered from sleep paralysis and learned to keep the horrifying shadow in her room at bay by singing. But they’ve been drifting apart recently, especially once Harper started dating Gavin. This vacation is supposed to be a time to focus on their friendship, but when Gavin and his best friend, Christopher, show up, the trip goes sour. One bright spot is the arrival of Tris, whose dad owns the property; she immediately connects with Nell. Everyone becomes stuck on the island when an unnatural and dangerous haze blocks their way out. As the haze draws nearer and inexplicable phenomena occur, Nell uncovers hidden elements of the island’s history and realizes that she must embrace her rage. This unsettling tale successfully uses creepy horror elements to shed light on traumas, while queer romance and forgiving friendships add heart and hope. The deliciously claustrophobic secluded island setting ramps up the intensity and aids in making the story entirely gripping from start to finish. Tris reads Black; Dia is Cuban American, and Nell and the other central characters are coded white.
Eerie and engrossing, this powerful story is about embracing darkness to find the light. (author’s note, resources) (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: July 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780316568807
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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