An engaging urban fantasy with an important message.
Six years ago, the first Darkbeast emerged and destroyed part of downtown Shanghai.
Today, 18-year-old Sascia, a member of the Umbra Program’s team of young scientists who are researching the Dark, is the expert on Darkmoths, who appear only for her. During Sascia’s side hustle—conducting tours of the Maw, a Dark portal in Manhattan—she inadvertently lets through the first known Dark humanoid, a genderfluid elf named Nugau. Nugau tries to kill Sascia in retaliation for an event that has yet to occur in Sascia’s timeline. The two meet twice more at different times, the last meeting revealing a romance in Nugau’s past that’s yet to come for Sascia. Their timelines converge when Sascia enters the elves’ temporary world, a Dark-ravaged section of the Manhattan subway, and begins to realize why the Darkmoths (considered to be gods by the elves) have opened a rift between the Dark and Earth. The book’s resolution deftly addresses timely topics, such as war profiteering, climate change, and cycles of violence. The supporting characters, both elves and Sascia’s family members and friends at the Umbra, are well developed, but the book’s breakout character is Mooch, the lovable ancient leader of the Darkmoths, so named by Sascia because of its penchant for stealing her food. Sascia is Greek American, and the supporting cast brings additional ethnic diversity. In this world, queer identities are accepted without question.
An engaging urban fantasy with an important message. (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780593859377
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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