A fun YA sci-fi story with a compelling cast of characters.
A rebellious teenager discovers a family secret that involves hopping between dimensions and confronts a dangerous killer in Accardo’s (Embraced, 2015, etc.) latest novel, the first in a series.
“Promise me that you’ll live your life in vivid color,” said Kori’s mom on her deathbed, and the teenage girl tries to live up to that request—in her own fashion. When readers first meet her, for example, she’s memorializing her mom with illegal graffiti in public displays of grief. After all, she can’t talk to her emotionally distant father, an army general who’s busy with his secret government work. It’s not unusual for soldiers to “babysit” her when her dad goes away; it is strange, though, when she’s attacked by a stranger named Dylan who claims to know her and who tells her, “In the end, though, you have to die. You always have to die.” He’s also looking for a very special girl named Ava, who may or may not exist. Kori soon learns that Dylan; her “babysitters,” Cade and Noah; and even her father are connected to a secret government project called Infinity that involves travel to other dimensions. Now, Kori isn’t just tasked with living her life in vivid color, but with simply surviving. Accardo delivers a lot of plot exposition in one big bundle, which momentarily slows the pace of the story. But aside from this minor bump, the book is an entertaining thrill ride with engaging characters. It also tackles some bigger themes, including the connections between family members (parents and children, brothers and sisters), grief, and the nature of the self, asking what remains constant about a person in multiple dimensions. Kori’s deep empathy and slight snarkiness add nice flavors to her point of view.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63375-497-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
Plenty of heat but not enough substance to keep the fire burning.
A romantically entangled stepbrother and stepsister in Los Angeles navigate their tumultuous history and take their relationship to new levels in this translated title by an Argentinian author.
Nick and Noah are madly in love: Their mutual attraction is established as the book opens with Noah’s 18th birthday party, during which she and Nick have an explicitly described sexual encounter behind the pool house. This fiery scene sets the stage for twists and turns in the lovers’ journey, including a separation when Noah is forced to go on a monthlong mother-daughter European tour. But reminders of their pasts (chronicled in the 2023 series opener, My Fault) threaten to undermine their stability. Nick’s wealthy estranged mother makes an unfortunate appearance, while Noah is haunted by the trauma of her father’s violent death. The blend of everyday complications (jealousy, parental disapproval) with frothy visions of high-society life is at once lacking in subtlety and intimately irresistible. The series initially gained popularity on Wattpad, and the novel follows the episodic structure typical of works on that site; sensual encounters occur at reliable intervals. Still, the characters and their milieu feel formulaic, and the writing is stilted. The differences between the two—Nick is five years older and has an office job; Noah has just finished high school—makes their suffocatingly possessive relationship feel particularly squirm-worthy. Nick and Noah and their families read white.
Plenty of heat but not enough substance to keep the fire burning. (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781728290768
Page Count: 450
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
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