Thrilling intrigue that leverages desperation and deception in almost equal measures.
A girl’s search for her missing sister peels back a deeper mystery.
Inez moved to Brooklyn five years ago to get her master’s in art history, but she’s been missing since December, and now it’s July. Eighteen-year-old Mae has volunteered to pack up Inez’s apartment, and so their Tunisian immigrant parents give Mae their car for the three-hour drive to New York from their small-town Pennsylvania home. When Mae arrives, she’s surprised to encounter Indian American Dev, the neighbor boy who’s ostensibly watering the dead plants in her sister’s studio. For his part, Dev is surprised to learn that Inez has a sister. What other secrets might Inez have kept? As she searches the apartment, Mae comes upon an 1891 first edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray, Inez’s diary hidden under the floorboards, and, in the back of a closet, an all-white painting like the one Inez has been researching, along with a business card for a Boston art dealer. Mae is sure this painting is somehow connected to her sister’s disappearance, and Dev offers to help with her search. He’s attractive, and he knows a side of Inez that Mae doesn’t, so she agrees. Still, he’s not exactly forthcoming with information, giving her half answers rather than complete truths. Masterfully written, this is a deceptively charming horror story that also skillfully weaves in romance, sacrifice, and heartbreak.
Thrilling intrigue that leverages desperation and deception in almost equal measures. (Paranormal romance. 14-18)Pub Date: July 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781250863270
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
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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