A page-turning story about the power of love.
Two pairs of girls living a century apart have an otherworldly connection.
Elizabeth and Patricia met in 1925, when Patricia came to work as a kitchen girl in 19-year-old Elizabeth’s family home on Mulberry Lane. The young women dove headfirst into a blissful romance, despite their class difference and the widespread prejudice against Irish people like Patricia. In 2025, 19-year-old Libby, who’s cued white, feels destined to fix up the dilapidated Victorian house on Mulberry Lane, so she buys it with an inheritance from her grandmother. Her reckless purchase—she’s solidly middle class, and the money was intended for college—enrages her parents, and her controlling father kicks her out. In a set design class, Libby meets Irish American Tish, who’s good with construction and unhappily living in an overcrowded apartment. Tish first noticed the Mulberry Lane house when a green glass stone embedded in the sidewalk sent a shock up her leg; she quickly agrees to help restore it and eventually moves in with Libby. The girls grow closer as they work on the house, and the journals that Elizabeth, who reads white, left behind help Libby unravel the mysteries binding all four girls together. Daughtry introduces multiple timelines, perspectives, and characters from the outset, but the initial investment for readers in keeping these elements straight is well worth it for the enjoyable saga that follows. The author deeply conveys the intensity of the romances in both timelines.
A page-turning story about the power of love. (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9780593533826
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet if muddled tale of the magic of Appalachia.
A teenage witch goes up against the evil king of the mountain to save a cursed village.
Witch-in-training Verity Vox has spent a year apiece in different villages, helping in any way she can as she learns her art. When it’s time to move on, she receives a sign that shows her where to go next. When the latest sign appears in the form of a note begging for help that floats down on a leaf, she’s eager for the challenge. Verity winds up in Foxfire, a village in the Appalachian mountains that’s been magically cut off from the rest of the world for years, leaving its people close to starvation. The root of their suffering is a man they know as Earl, who lives in the hills and strikes deals with the townspeople that ultimately cause crops to wither, folks to disappear, and the only bridge out of the valley to crumble. Verity is determined to change the villagers’ fortunes, but to do so she’ll have to face off against not just Earl but the ancient power of the mountains itself. Loosely based on the Germanic Erlking legend and told in a voice reminiscent of folktales, the story features a queer romance and a cast that presents white. The convoluted magic system undercuts the strong themes of reciprocity, poverty, and privilege, but Appalachian readers will instantly recognize home.
A sweet if muddled tale of the magic of Appalachia. (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2025
ISBN: 9798890032706
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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