Get swept away.
It’s a longstanding axiom that things never work out between a pirate and a mermaid.
This has held true for most of the history of Boneyard, “a wild, unpredictable sea wracked with storms and shipwrecks”—even before the gaping Breach split open the seafloor, releasing sea monsters into the island-spotted waters. But 18-year-old Captain Rayleigh doesn’t need to be warned about Maren, whose personality is hotter than her red hair. Even when 17-year-old Maren is on land, where she has “starlight-white” hair and a pair of legs instead of a tail, she’s full of fire. But it turns out that the two young women have the same goal: collect the three keys of the Pirate Kings and reach the Sea Witch. Maren needs the keys to release her brother’s soul from the witch’s clutches, while Rayleigh wants to retrieve the heart of Red-Handed Roger, to pay her debt to the sea god and break the curse that binds her to Roger’s ship, the Revenant. As the pair reluctantly work together, they grow to see more of themselves in one another—grieving souls who just want to belong. Vedder’s worldbuilding is vast, exciting, and packed with action. The story contains many intriguing ideas; unfortunately, they go by too quickly to be fully savored. Still, the characters come to touching realizations about grief, and the slow-burn romance is fierce, just like the two leads. Tan-skinned Rayleigh has black hair, and Maren is pale-skinned.
Get swept away. (Fantasy romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781419788314
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
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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