A cut above the genre average.
Here’s a paranormal romance that doesn’t follow all the conventions of the genre but relies at least in part on imagination to feed the needs of readers seeking supernatural fun.
In this novel, the heroine has no difficulty with vampires, werewolves, mermen or ghosts. Instead, Skye appears to live within reality in the normal world, until strange things start happening to her on her 17th birthday. Of course, two handsome new boys have coincidentally appeared, both with the ability to make girls weak in the knees at a glance, but it’s Skye herself who seems to have some kind of supernatural ability. Her eyes turn from gray to shiny silver, and machinery explodes around her. Eventually readers learn that the boys—golden Devin and dark Asher—are angels, one a “guardian” and the other a rebel. Skye can’t avoid her strong attraction to Asher, but Devin pulls at her heart as well. Little does she know that she’s a very special girl, in great danger, with a life-changing choice to make. Davies layers on the suspense, delving ever further into the supernatural but keeping some realism in the story until the final confrontation (which may or may not set up a sequel). While angels are almost as thick on the ground these days as vampires, Devin and Asher achieve a modicum of originality, and Skye has enough spunk to please her audience.
A cut above the genre average. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-199065-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2011
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
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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