Slight Briticisms make the fact-finding all the more interesting as readers keep guessing in this gripping whodunit.
Sometimes lying is the only way to get to the truth for one teen in this British thriller.
As the niece of the most famous inmate in the country, the narrator, a first-year “uni” student, has changed her name to Louise Shepherd. But navigating her new identity is tricky when her latest friend is a budding investigative journalist and a computer-hacker classmate from her past turns up (on purpose?) in the same town. And then there’s young bartender Christian Webb, who has secrets of his own. Lou’s evenly paced narration is Hollywood-script–ready as readers learn bit by bit about her cousin who lies in a coma, her culpability in her uncle’s prison sentence and Christian’s connections to her family’s tragedies. As the story twists and turns even more with vigilante thugs and possible police coverups, Lou finds herself on the run and trying to prove Christian’s innocence. But she’s not sure whether proving his innocence is for him or her. And are her loyalties to her family or the one she now loves? Along with uncovering clues, Lou discovers that right and wrong become confused when feelings are involved.
Slight Briticisms make the fact-finding all the more interesting as readers keep guessing in this gripping whodunit. (Thriller. 14 & up)Pub Date: Dec. 9, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-74067-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
Green seamlessly bridges the gap between the present and the existential, and readers will need more than one box of tissues...
He’s in remission from the osteosarcoma that took one of his legs. She’s fighting the brown fluid in her lungs caused by tumors. Both know that their time is limited.
Sparks fly when Hazel Grace Lancaster spies Augustus “Gus” Waters checking her out across the room in a group-therapy session for teens living with cancer. He’s a gorgeous, confident, intelligent amputee who always loses video games because he tries to save everyone. She’s smart, snarky and 16; she goes to community college and jokingly calls Peter Van Houten, the author of her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, her only friend besides her parents. He asks her over, and they swap novels. He agrees to read the Van Houten and she agrees to read his—based on his favorite bloodbath-filled video game. The two become connected at the hip, and what follows is a smartly crafted intellectual explosion of a romance. From their trip to Amsterdam to meet the reclusive Van Houten to their hilariously flirty repartee, readers will swoon on nearly every page. Green’s signature style shines: His carefully structured dialogue and razor-sharp characters brim with genuine intellect, humor and desire. He takes on Big Questions that might feel heavy-handed in the words of any other author: What do oblivion and living mean? Then he deftly parries them with humor: “My nostalgia is so extreme that I am capable of missing a swing my butt never actually touched.” Dog-earing of pages will no doubt ensue.
Green seamlessly bridges the gap between the present and the existential, and readers will need more than one box of tissues to make it through Hazel and Gus’ poignant journey. (Fiction. 15 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 10, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-525-47881-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fluffy and fun fodder for romance fans.
High school seniors Easton and Harper strike a mutually beneficial agreement: His senior prank shenanigans stay under wraps, and she gets a date to prom.
It’s a dare gone wrong for hockey hotshot Easton: Ask his longtime crush, Maddie, to prom and get a “yes” or steal the rival high school’s mascot costume. After Maddie turns him down, Harper catches Easton wearing the rhino getup and making a run for it, and she offers him a deal: She’ll keep his secret and help him complete the prank if he agrees to take her to prom. She volunteered on the prom committee and bought her dream dress—all she needs now is a date. Neither of them expected feelings between them to grow or how difficult it would be to express them. Harper and Easton, who are cued white, are likable characters with good chemistry, and their tension-filled scenes lead to a satisfying, sweetly romantic ending. Though there are hints about pressures and stresses in their home lives, the lack of character development leaves these topics underexplored. Easton’s hockey career plays a small role; there are a few practices and discussions of his college scholarship, but readers expecting more sports content may be disappointed. Some of the language and phrasing Ney uses in her YA debut feels outdated or as if it’s trying so hard to sound like a teenager’s voice that it pulls readers out of the story.
Fluffy and fun fodder for romance fans. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2026
ISBN: 9798217117390
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
