by Maxine Kaplan ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2018
Genuine high school drama, painfully inspiring for the #MeToo age
A once-popular prep school girl, blackmailed into working for a drug dealer, sleuths out the true criminals.
Kendall was once a member of the popular clique of mean girls, until she was caught having sex with her best friend’s ex at the end of junior year. Nobody blames Grant for the semi-public sex, but Kendall starts senior year ostracized: Her friends have shut her out, she’s being slut-shamed, and she’s even physically attacked at school. Someone’s hacked her Facebook account, making it look like she’s been spending time with a drug dealer. Mason, the young white man who provides Ecstasy to local teens, improbably blackmails Kendall into delivering his drugs. As the wealthy white girl encounters careless malevolence throughout her community, she rages against gender-biased social standards. The boys—college bros, dealers, nerds—all share a sense of entitlement when it comes to the girls’ bodies and behavior. Kendall begins by looking out for No. 1, but as she discovers her part in something far more vile than delivering Ecstasy, she considers putting herself on the line to do what’s right. Ultimately, the girls, while never holding hands and singing “Kumbaya,” do come together to fight against rape culture.
Genuine high school drama, painfully inspiring for the #MeToo age . (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4197-2858-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Feb. 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
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by Tomi Oyemakinde ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 26, 2023
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
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by Holly Black ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2018
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in.
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New York Times Bestseller
Black is back with another dark tale of Faerie, this one set in Faerie and launching a new trilogy.
Jude—broken, rebuilt, fueled by anger and a sense of powerlessness—has never recovered from watching her adoptive Faerie father murder her parents. Human Jude (whose brown hair curls and whose skin color is never described) both hates and loves Madoc, whose murderous nature is true to his Faerie self and who in his way loves her. Brought up among the Gentry, Jude has never felt at ease, but after a decade, Faerie has become her home despite the constant peril. Black’s latest looks at nature and nurture and spins a tale of court intrigue, bloodshed, and a truly messed-up relationship that might be the saving of Jude and the titular prince, who, like Jude, has been shaped by the cruelties of others. Fierce and observant Jude is utterly unaware of the currents that swirl around her. She fights, plots, even murders enemies, but she must also navigate her relationship with her complex family (human, Faerie, and mixed). This is a heady blend of Faerie lore, high fantasy, and high school drama, dripping with description that brings the dangerous but tempting world of Faerie to life.
Black is building a complex mythology; now is a great time to tune in. (Fantasy. 14-adult)Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-31027-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
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