Thoroughly enjoyable and filled with surprising twists.
A teen witch enters a deadly competition to become a prince’s bride.
In Balmoore’s capital, Isle d’Eylau, Lovett Tamerlane survives by thievery. She’s a silkwitch, whose unique Wit enables her to unlock any door. Lovett keeps her identity hidden; if she hasn’t married one of the sorcerers known as Weavers—someone who harvests silkwitch hair to spin into magesilk—by her 21st birthday, she’ll be banished to the cloisters forever. One day, Lovett unknowingly targets a Weaver, Eliot Lear, who comes from a prominent political family. When he catches Lovett in the act of stealing, he makes her a proposition. In exchange for his not reporting her, she’ll enter the Vainglory and find out who killed his silkwitch sister, Ophelia, during last year’s competition. In the sinister Vainglory, ten silkwitch maidens compete to become the bride of Noé Alaire, son of the Weaver King. With a great deal of disdain for Eliot—but little choice over the matter—Lovett agrees to the deal. Her transformation into an appropriately socially adept contender for the prince’s affections is bumpy; she encounters adversaries at every turn, and her relationship with Eliot gets complicated. As Lovett gets closer to the truth, she finds herself in even more danger. Themes of class and gender politics appear throughout. The heartbeat of this engaging, slow-building story is Lovett, with her determination, fierceness, vulnerability, and brilliant powers of deduction. Main characters read white.
Thoroughly enjoyable and filled with surprising twists. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9780593572412
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
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
A worthy second-chance romance.
In this follow-up to 2021’s Better Than the Movies, a 20-year-old college freshman gets a second chance at his dreams.
After the death of his father and his mother’s subsequent physical and emotional disappearance, Wes Bennett left behind all of his plans and the girl he made them with to go home and take care of Sarah, his younger sister. But now, Sarah has graduated, his mom is back on her feet, and by some miracle, Wes has an offer to pitch for UCLA’s baseball team. Liz Buxbaum, the girl he’s always loved, works for the university’s athletic department, taking photos and video of the team for social media, which means that maybe he can have a second chance at love, too. But since Wes left, Liz has made every effort to protect herself from ever feeling that broken again; there’s no room for love, because she doesn’t believe in it anymore. Or she doesn’t want to. This second-chance sports romance includes fake dates, quippy and quirky best friends, real heartache, and the sweet ache of first love. The clever dialogue keeps readers from drowning in the main characters’ emotional push-and-pull. Reading the first novel isn’t necessary for appreciating this one, although knowing the full history between Wes and Liz will only add to the ache and longing readers feel from and for them. Main characters are cued white.
A worthy second-chance romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665947138
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
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