An addictive first installment that sets readers up for a series full of magic and romance.
When the Blood Guard revolted against the Sister Queens and the purging started, no witch was safe, until the Crimson Moth arrived and began smuggling them away.
Rune Winters has been hiding her magical abilities for two years, ever since the revolution that claimed the lives of her grandmother and so many others. Seen as “a darling of the New Republic” for her role as an informer, Rune spends her evenings at lavish events with the wealthy, collecting secrets about witch raids and arrests. Later, while disguised as the Crimson Moth, she uses this information to save lives. But now that she’s 18, Rune is expected to marry. If she must have a husband, she intends “to make the most strategic choice”—someone like Gideon Sharpe, her good friend Alex’s older brother and one of the Blood Guard’s most notorious witch hunters. Gideon has firsthand experience with witches; their “heinous acts” are why he hunts them and why he’s willing to get close to Rune and discover whether she’s really the Crimson Moth. What starts as a game of wits for each of them turns into a beautiful relationship that forces them to reconsider their earlier beliefs. Told in alternating viewpoints, this intriguing story explores questioning one’s beliefs and viewing the world through a different lens. The main characters are cued white.
An addictive first installment that sets readers up for a series full of magic and romance. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9781250866905
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
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
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.
In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.
Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250346797
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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BOOK REVIEW
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