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
Unexamined toxic masculinity makes this romance anything but.
A girl’s strained relationships with two brothers causes strife in this trilogy opener by Argentinian author Ron that’s translated from Spanish.
In the small American town of Carsville, Kamila Hamilton was friends with her neighbors the Di Bianco brothers. Taylor was Kami’s constant, kind companion; older brother Thiago grew increasingly antagonistic. When she was 10 and a half and he was 12, Thiago coerced Kami into her first kiss. Following the revelation of a family secret, the Di Biancos moved away, but a restraining order against Thiago led them to return to their old home after eight years without contact. But 20-year-old Thiago’s new job as assistant basketball coach at the high school where Taylor is on the team and 17-year-old Kami is a cheerleader brings the white-presenting trio into close contact, leading to tense confrontations over past events. Thiago and Kami’s interactions are marked by antagonism and lust (Thiago: “Accumulated rage, bitterness, hatred, and arousal….I could have taken her then and there, not even thinking of the consequences”; Kami: “I felt like a small, defenseless animal being hunted by a beast”). The softer and more empathetic Taylor tries to smooth things over. Thiago’s abuse of power—he uses his role as coach to confront and bully Kami—is uncomfortable and feels like a misguided attempt by the pair to process their traumatic history, which Ron purposefully reveals, making this overall read more cringeworthy than romantic.
Unexamined toxic masculinity makes this romance anything but. (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781464234279
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
A familiar but heartfelt romance for easygoing readers.
In O’Gorman’s YA debut, two best friends try to fool people into thinking that they’re in love—and then discover a new facet of their relationship.
Sally Spitz is a frizzy-haired 17-year-old girl with a charming zeal for three things: Harry Potter (she’s a Gryffindor), Star Wars, and getting into Duke University. During her senior year of high school, she goes on a slew of miserable dates, set up by her mother and her own second-best–friend–turned-matchmaker, Lillian Hooker. Sally refuses to admit to anyone that she’s actually head over Converses in love with her longtime best friend, a boy named Baldwin Eugene Charles Kent, aka “Becks.” After a particularly awkward date, Sally devises a plan to end Lillian’s matchmaking attempts; specifically, she plans to hire someone to act as her fake boyfriend, or “F.B.F.” But before Sally can put her plan into action, a rumor circulates that Sally and Becks are already dating. Becks agrees to act as Sally’s F.B.F. in exchange for a box of Goobers and Sally’s doing his calculus homework for a month. Later, as they hold hands in the hall and “practice” make-out sessions in Becks’ bedroom, their friendship heads into unfamiliar territory. Over the course of this novel, O’Gorman presents an inviting and enjoyable account of lifelong friendship transforming into young love. Though the author’s reliance on familiar tropes may be comforting to a casual reader, it may frustrate those who may be looking for a more substantial and less predictable plot. A number of ancillary characters lack very much complexity, and the story, overall, would have benefited from an added twist or two. Even so, however, this remains a largely engaging and often endearing debut.
A familiar but heartfelt romance for easygoing readers.Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-759-7
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 7, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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