Sixteen-year-old Ella was born in a lab, part of NuPet, a company that sells female companions that aren’t even considered...
In this thriller, a genetically modified girl known as a pet realizes that she and others like her won’t truly be free until they topple the company that created them.
Sixteen-year-old Ella was born in a lab, part of NuPet, a company that sells female companions that aren’t even considered human. Ella is free from former owner Congressman John Kimble but remains confined with other pets at a Canadian refugee center. She escapes the center to reunite with her love, Penn—the congressman’s son—and gets help from fellow liberated pet Missy. On their way to Connecticut, the girls stop by black markets, where free agent pets can find jobs. It’s there that Ella sees the horrible things pets have to do for men. She still wants to return to Penn but now plans to find damaging evidence against NuPet. She and Missy, however, are not prepared for what awaits them at one of the company’s kennels. The novel impressively builds momentum, constantly advancing the story with a number of anticipatory sequences. Readers, for example, won’t know what to expect once the girls reach the black market in Buffalo or when Ella climbs a trellis for access to a bedroom window at Kimble’s home. The kennel that Ella and Missy eventually infiltrate is also appropriately disturbing, filled with atrocities and an ominous “red door” where the worst, presumably, happens. Distrust becomes an ever present concern, from Seth, apparently accommodating but still a black market employee, to Missy, whose reason for coming to Ella’s aid isn’t exactly clear. The notion of men objectifying women remains unambiguous, but Birch (Perfected, 2015, etc.) touches upon other themes with subtlety and without partisanship, issues such as artificial insemination and abortion. Though Ella’s yearning to see Penn again is sentimental, the author fills her pages with spirited details from the girl’s memory: Penn “was the taste of chocolate on my lips. He was sweetness. He was heat.” The novel, the second in a series, sets up another sequel while managing to wrap up everything satisfactorily—but not before a few surprises.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-63375-127-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing.
For the second time in her life, Leo must choose between her family and true love.
Nineteen-year-old Princess Leonie Kolburg’s royal family is bankrupt. In order to salvage the fortune they accrued before humans fled the frozen Earth 170 years ago, Leonie’s father is forcing her to participate in the Valg Season, an elaborate set of matchmaking events held to facilitate the marriages of rich and royal teens. Leo grudgingly joins in even though she has other ideas: She’s invented a water filtration system that, if patented, could provide a steady income—that is if Leo’s calculating Aunt Freja, the Captain of the ship hosting the festivities, stops blocking her at every turn. Just as Leo is about to give up hope, her long-lost love, Elliot, suddenly appears onboard three years after Leo’s family forced her to break off their engagement. Donne (Brightly Burning, 2018) returns to space, this time examining the fascinatingly twisted world of the rich and famous. Leo and her peers are nuanced, deeply felt, and diverse in terms of sexuality but not race, which may be a function of the realities of wealth and power. The plot is fast paced although somewhat uneven: Most of the action resolves in the last quarter of the book, which makes the resolutions to drawn-out conflicts feel rushed.
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing. (Science fiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-94894-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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