An intriguing but ultimately lackluster whodunit.
Ten promising young Oklahomans board a yacht to celebrate their induction into a prestigious society—but not all will reach their destination alive.
Naya doesn’t fit in with the wealthy clique of inductees into the Yates Society, but she plans to do her best to enjoy the celebratory cruise to Bermuda anyway. Her fellow passengers include Étienne, her French boyfriend; Taylor, her best friend; Finn, Taylor’s boyfriend; Harvard-bound Amelia; young student teacher Mr. “Call Me Derek” Cunningham; swim team heartthrobs Brett and Gabe; Everly, who writes an online gossip column; and Yana, Naya’s former bestie. Newspaper intern Yana has her own secret motive for being there: An anonymous text tipped her off to a major scandal that she could break open. But when someone turns up dead, Yana’s desire shifts to finding the murderer aboard. The bodies pile up as the yacht encounters stormy waters. Naya and Yana have avoided each other for years, but they’ll have to team up if they want to survive. This locked-room murder mystery is weighed down by weak prose and wooden dialogue. Attempts at humor undermine the sinister subject matter and lend the story an uneven tone. Naya and Yana are well developed as individuals, but the other characters are defined solely by their unlikable traits. Naya is biracial (Black and white), and Yana is Thai American; both reflect on their experiences as the only non-white inductees.
An intriguing but ultimately lackluster whodunit. (Mystery. 13-18)Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9780593649305
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
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
A character-focused entry that will satisfy fans.
Romantic complications between a trained killer and one of her captors drive this sequel to Watch Me (2025).
Appealing to readers who prefer their romantic dramas to be light on action and heavy on long passages of banter, bitter sibling arguments, and tortured reflections, Mafi continues the tale of Rosabelle Wolff, the flaxen-haired assassin from the dystopic Reestablishment, and magnetic, “impossibly stunning” James Anderson, her nemesis-turned-lover who’s still trying to take down the regime. Now desperate to accomplish several secret missions, Rosa easily escapes from one of The New Republic’s prisons, where she was left in the series opener, and, dressed in “a little kid’s cat onesie,” eludes all pursuers except for James, who can seemingly find her at will. Enigmatic Rosa responds unpredictably to many human contacts—including with violence, temporary death (one of her abilities), or a sudden panic attack. Along with the central pair of rivals and lovers, James’ older brother, Aaron, shares the narration. Bestseller Mafi tucks in several subplots, including, notably, a cameo from Juliette Ferrars, the protagonist of the original Shatter Me series, who’s undergoing a scarily difficult pregnancy. Amid the slowly simmering rising action, the author delivers a revelation and a twist that set up a potential series climax. Some ethnic diversity is present in the supporting cast.
A character-focused entry that will satisfy fans. (Dystopian. 14-adult)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780063419056
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Storytide/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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