Too bent on keeping readers in the dark to allow for true mystery
The new girl in town teases apart a web of lies in the wake of her friend’s disappearance.
White teen Kacey Young ran away from a volatile relationship with her mother to a new home in Broken Falls, Wisconsin, with the father she never met, a kind stepmother, and two new siblings. But it’s best friends Bailey and Jade, both also white, who become Kacey’s close-knit circle. The girls text constantly, and Bailey shows up at Kacey’s house even if she declines to hang out. One night, the girls attempt a séance in a haunted barn, and something spooks Kacey’s little sister, Lauren, who tags along. That night sets off a domino effect: Lauren is traumatized, Bailey and Jade give Kacey the cold shoulder, and then Bailey disappears. Kacey begins to investigate, and the more clues she stumbles upon, the more the police suspect her involvement. Rumors swirl, and Kacey learns that Bailey left a foundation of lies in her wake—lies that put their entire friendship into question. Thomas seems to be aiming at a chilling exploration of how far a teenage girl will go for revenge, but she doesn’t succeed. Red herrings make for a frustrating mystery that comes together in a rush, with too little buildup to make the shocking reveal believable.
Too bent on keeping readers in the dark to allow for true mystery . (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: July 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-553-52149-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: April 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2017
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
A character-focused entry that will satisfy fans.
Romantic complications between a trained killer and one of her captors drive this sequel to Watch Me (2025).
Appealing to readers who prefer their romantic dramas to be light on action and heavy on long passages of banter, bitter sibling arguments, and tortured reflections, Mafi continues the tale of Rosabelle Wolff, the flaxen-haired assassin from the dystopic Reestablishment, and magnetic, “impossibly stunning” James Anderson, her nemesis-turned-lover who’s still trying to take down the regime. Now desperate to accomplish several secret missions, Rosa easily escapes from one of The New Republic’s prisons, where she was left in the series opener, and, dressed in “a little kid’s cat onesie,” eludes all pursuers except for James, who can seemingly find her at will. Enigmatic Rosa responds unpredictably to many human contacts—including with violence, temporary death (one of her abilities), or a sudden panic attack. Along with the central pair of rivals and lovers, James’ older brother, Aaron, shares the narration. Bestseller Mafi tucks in several subplots, including, notably, a cameo from Juliette Ferrars, the protagonist of the original Shatter Me series, who’s undergoing a scarily difficult pregnancy. Amid the slowly simmering rising action, the author delivers a revelation and a twist that set up a potential series climax. Some ethnic diversity is present in the supporting cast.
A character-focused entry that will satisfy fans. (Dystopian. 14-adult)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780063419056
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Storytide/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
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