Like reading bad television
Fifteen-year-old Rose Zarelli has every right to be angry, but she needs to figure out a way to control it, or she risks losing everything she loves.
Still reeling from the death of her father and, to a lesser degree, the departure of her college-bound brother, Rose quickly finds that high school is nothing like she hoped and everything like she feared. When her best friend, Tracy, disappears into the world of cheerleading and partying, and her mother shuts down because of her own grief, the unexpected attention of troubled Jamie seems like a dream come true, but Jamie’s jealous girlfriend is nothing short of a nightmare. The familiar story of smart girl meets bad boy is enhanced by Rose’s intelligent and authentic voice. Unfortunately the rest of the story reads more like an episode of Jersey Shore. Copious amounts of alcohol, a homecoming striptease and a catfight are only a sampling. Rose, who claims to have too much self-respect to participate in the bad behavior, has no problem sneaking around with Jamie. Even prom is compromised, as Jamie is jailed for buying with a fake ID. In the end, anger may be the least of Rose’s issues.
Like reading bad television . (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-373-21048-0
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 7, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
A rare second volume that surpasses the first, with, happily, more intrigue and passion still to come.
A heady blend of courtly double-crossing, Faerie lore, and toxic attraction swirls together in the sequel to The Cruel Prince (2018).
Five months after engineering a coup, human teen Jude is starting to feel the strain of secretly controlling King Cardan and running his Faerie kingdom. Jude’s self-loathing and anger at the traumatic events of her childhood (her Faerie “dad” killed her parents, and Faerie is not a particularly easy place even for the best-adjusted human) drive her ambition, which is tempered by her desire to make the world she loves and hates a little fairer. Much of the story revolves around plotting (the Queen of the Undersea wants the throne; Jude’s Faerie father wants power; Jude’s twin, Taryn, wants her Faerie betrothed by her side), but the underlying tension—sexual and political—between Jude and Cardan also takes some unexpected twists. Black’s writing is both contemporary and classic; her world is, at this point, intensely well-realized, so that some plot twists seem almost inevitable. Faerie is a strange place where immortal, multihued, multiformed denizens can’t lie but can twist everything; Jude—who can lie—is an outlier, and her first-person, present-tense narration reveals more than she would choose. With curly dark brown hair, Jude and Taryn are never identified by race in human terms.
A rare second volume that surpasses the first, with, happily, more intrigue and passion still to come. (map) (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-31035-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
A sexy thriller where the ultimate prize is finding and embracing the truth—even if it’s difficult to understand.
A young woman must unlearn everything she knows about her parents in order to find the truth.
River, the daughter of a Filipino father and a white mother, finds her world irrevocably changed when her mother goes missing and her father dies in a house fire during her senior year of high school. She’s left with an additional mystery after an anonymous person donates $2,000,000 to her GoFundMe fundraiser. Together with her best friend, Tawny, her ex, Noah, and her new love interest, Logan, all of whom are cued white, River dives into her parents’ pasts. However, as she investigates, she realizes that everyone has a secret—and no one can be trusted. In this fast-paced thriller, Harlow captures the complexities of human emotions from grief to love. Her characters are well developed, especially Logan, who has an ideal blend of depth and attractiveness. Tawny, who’s adopted, has experienced grief of her own. Together, the characters move the plot with increasing speed through jaw-dropping twists. Letters incorporated into the story present other points of view, bringing texture to the story and increasing readers’ uncertainty about whom to believe. Harlow skillfully weaves together a page-turning mystery that’s enhanced by River and Logan’s steamy and passionate relationship.
A sexy thriller where the ultimate prize is finding and embracing the truth—even if it’s difficult to understand. (Romantic thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593855942
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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