A strange but enrapturing read that may leave teenagers (and some adults) anticipating the next installment.
In Winn’s debut paranormal YA romance, a demonic force haunts a 16-year-old and threatens to destroy everyone she loves.
In the story’s opening scene, Mason “May” Krieg; her boyfriend, Cay; and the school heartthrob, Jack, are attempting to fulfill a school assignment by verifying local legends of graveyard hauntings and satanic rituals. The trio’s ghost hunt becomes real when Mason falls down a mine shaft, and an indistinguishable dark force knocks her unconscious. After she returns home from the nightmarish ordeal, the shadowy presence, which turns out to be a demon, continues to haunt her. To add insult to Mason’s injury, Cay confesses a secret that ends their relationship. However, Mason, like most heroines of this genre, is still desired by nearly every young man she meets. She’s a self-described “drama-dance nerd,” and what she lacks in conventional popularity and designer clothes, she makes up for with her sassy intelligence. As a result, she not only has to contend with a demon, but also with the leering advances of every male classmate. Several plot twists come Mason’s way, and she weathers the challenges with remarkable, if sometimes unbelievable, maturity. Like Stephenie Meyer’s Bella Swan, she’s unwittingly thrown into a paranormal conflict, and like Stephen King’s Carrie, she possesses frightening supernatural power within herself. Things become truly bizarre, though, when the demon, a Fabio-like being with leather pants and luxurious long hair, begins haunting her with sexually charged dreams. Readers may find the love-hate romance between Mason and sensitive jock Jack to be a guilty pleasure, even if it’s sometimes a little clichéd. That said, this novel isn’t recommended for younger teens, as it contains scenes of rape and violence. Other readers, however, will eagerly accept this fast-paced story of biblical demons and teenage lust.
A strange but enrapturing read that may leave teenagers (and some adults) anticipating the next installment.Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2014
ISBN: 978-1502827869
Page Count: 244
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Energetic, clever, and absorbing.
Ada Lovelace and Mary Godwin—better known today as Mary Shelley—combine forces to create a living automaton: a real boy.
It’s the year “18—mumble mumble,” the timeline smooshed together into an imagined year when both girls are in their late teens. Ada, the abandoned daughter of famous poet Lord Byron, is a mathematical genius who creates delicate clockwork automatons. Mary’s the daughter of the late, famed early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. She’s half in love with poet Percy Shelley, her father’s mentee, and wonders if she’ll ever succeed at writing. The girls become friends when their fae godmother arrives through a hidden door in the back of Mary’s wardrobe to school them both on powers they may have inherited. Lo and behold, with Mary’s help, Ada’s automaton becomes a living—and lovely—boy named Pan. When villains want something from the girls, they take off, along with Pan and Mary’s two half sisters, on a romp through Europe. The trio of authors responsible for this entertaining smashup series get better with every book they write. Readers don’t have to know the characters’ real-life backstories to enjoy this story; for those who do, the parallels are intriguing. The novel effortlessly and entertainingly combines “Cinderella,” Frankenstein, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pinocchio, and Hamilton, and the ending reminds readers not to underestimate quiet women.
Energetic, clever, and absorbing. (Historical fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-293007-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
Lush, angsty, queer horror.
When the monsters they imagine come to life, two boys fight for their lives—and each other.
Andrew Perrault, who’s from Australia, writes beautiful, macabre fairy tales. His roommate at his American boarding school, Wickwood Academy, is talented artist Thomas Rye, who brings his stories to vivid life in paint and charcoal. Andrew’s twin sister, Dove, is all but ignoring him, so he has plenty of time to focus on Thomas’ increasingly odd behavior. Thomas’ parents disappeared just before the new school year started, and Andrew noticed blood on his roommate’s sleeve on their first day back. When he follows Thomas into the forest one night, Andrew discovers him fighting one of the monsters that Thomas has drawn from these stories. The boys soon find themselves coping with vicious bullies by day and fighting monsters by night. At the same time, Andrew struggles to reconcile his feelings for Thomas with his growing awareness of his own asexuality. But when the sinister Antler King breaches Wickwood’s walls, Andrew realizes that he and Thomas may not survive their own creations. This novel, written in rich, extravagant prose, features frank portrayals of disordered eating, self-harm, bullying, and mental illness. Andrew grapples realistically with his sexual identity, and the story has ample genuinely creepy moments with the monsters. Andrew, Thomas, and Dove are white.
Lush, angsty, queer horror. (content warning) (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250895660
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
