Ash’s transformation into an immortal in Blood and Salt (2015) continues to lead her into both danger and romance.
In the first installment Ash learned that her family is descended from cult members questing for (and occasionally obtaining) immortality. Ash was also briefly possessed by the spirit of an ancient immortal who was seeking revenge on the spirit of her former lover, Coronado. Unfortunately, Coronado’s spirit took up permanent residence in Ash’s love interest, Dane. During this chaotic time, Ash’s twin brother, Rhys, disappeared. Now, a year later, Rhys’ unique blood is being used to assassinate immortals. Ash’s quest to locate Rhys lacks urgency due to her preoccupation with her relationship with Dane—even as murders unfold around her. Meanwhile, Dane claims he can resist Coronado’s attempts to completely control his body, which will undoubtedly sound dubious to readers long before Ash grows suspicious. Overall, Ash’s pattern of ignoring multiple warning signs about the perilousness of her own situation merely slows the pace of the inevitable reveals without adding much suspense. And the narrative also lags as characters rarely display the volatile combination of love and jealousy that supposedly has motivated them to commit atrocities against one another for centuries. Ash is depicted as white on the cover, and the book appears to adhere to the white default.
The occasionally choppy narrative and underdeveloped relationships mark this for fans of Blood and Salt only. (Paranormal romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-399-16649-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
Categories: TEEN PARANORMAL & SUPERNATURAL | TEEN ROMANCE
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An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments.
17
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Lara Jean prepares for college and a wedding.
Korean-American Lara Jean is finally settled into a nice, complication-free relationship with her white boyfriend, Peter. But things don’t stay simple for long. When college acceptance letters roll in, Peter and Lara Jean discover they’re heading in different directions. As the two discuss the long-distance thing, Lara Jean’s widower father is making a major commitment: marrying the neighbor lady he’s been dating. The whirlwind of a wedding, college visits, prom, and the last few months of senior year provides an excellent backdrop for this final book about Lara Jean. The characters ping from event to event with emotions always at the forefront. Han further develops her cast, pushing them to new maturity and leaving few stones unturned. There’s only one problem here, and it’s what’s always held this series back from true greatness: Peter. Despite Han’s best efforts to flesh out Peter with abandonment issues and a crummy dad, he remains little more than a handsome jock. Frankly, Lara Jean and Peter may have cute teen chemistry, but Han's nuanced characterizations have often helped to subvert typical teen love-story tropes. This knowing subversion is frustratingly absent from the novel's denouement.
An emotionally engaging closer that fumbles in its final moments. (Romance. 14-17)Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4814-3048-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2017
Categories: TEEN FICTION | TEEN ROMANCE | TEEN SOCIAL THEMES
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Many teen novels touch on similar themes, but few do it so memorably.
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Two struggling teens develop an unlikely relationship in a moving exploration of grief, suicide and young love.
Violet, a writer and member of the popular crowd, has withdrawn from her friends and from school activities since her sister died in a car accident nine months earlier. Finch, known to his classmates as "Theodore Freak," is famously impulsive and eccentric. Following their meeting in the school bell tower, Finch makes it his mission to re-engage Violet with the world, partially through a school project that sends them to offbeat Indiana landmarks and partially through simple persistence. (Violet and Finch live, fortunately for all involved, in the sort of romantic universe where his throwing rocks at her window in the middle of the night comes off more charming than stalker-esque.) The teens alternate narration chapter by chapter, each in a unique and well-realized voice. Finch's self-destructive streak and suicidal impulses are never far from the surface, and the chapters he narrates are interspersed with facts about suicide methods and quotations from Virginia Woolf and poet Cesare Pavese. When the story inevitably turns tragic, a cast of carefully drawn side characters brings to life both the pain of loss and the possibility of moving forward, though some notes of hope are more believable than others.
Many teen novels touch on similar themes, but few do it so memorably. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-75588-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2014
Categories: TEEN ROMANCE | TEEN SOCIAL THEMES
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