A coming-of-age tale and queer love story that offers a thoughtful look at the fear of being different.
Two high school students wrestle with keeping secrets from their families.
Harper’s life is thrown into upheaval when her mom moves them from Portland, Oregon, to small-town Clintville, Virginia. Uprooted for the last year of high school while navigating a strained relationship with her mother and mourning her grandfather’s death, Harper feels hopeful when she reconnects with childhood friend and crush Ollie. Both girls have secrets eating away at them: Harper doesn’t know how to tell her mother that she doesn’t want to go to college, and Ollie is terrified of the judgment she’d receive if she came out as bi. Harper finds solace in fixing up her grandfather’s old woodshop, where they spent happy summers together, and Ollie’s “extremely gay D&D group” joins in to help. Dungeons & Dragons sessions in the newly dubbed Gay Barn quickly become a safe way for the pair to explore their attraction through their characters, barbarian Aspen Wildeye and paladin Lyra Mythriniel. While Harper and Ollie dance around their feelings, Aspen and Lyra engage in overt courtship. The white teens offer loving portrayals of young people defying societal norms, and their difficulties manage to be gut-wrenching without crossing the line into a spiral of unhappiness. Brief peeks at the adventures of Aspen and Lyra inject action into an otherwise contemplative narrative, keeping the pace from plodding.
A coming-of-age tale and queer love story that offers a thoughtful look at the fear of being different. (author’s note, resources) (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: April 8, 2025
ISBN: 9780762488179
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Running Press Kids
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes.
The Plague has left a population divided between Elites and Ordinaries—those who have powers and those who don’t; now, an Ordinary teen fights for her life.
Paedyn Gray witnessed the king kill her father five years ago, and she’s been thieving and sleeping rough ever since, all while faking Psychic abilities. When she inadvertently saves the life of Prince Kai, she becomes embroiled in the Purging Trials, a competition to commemorate the sickness that killed most of the kingdom’s Ordinaries. Kai’s duties as the future Enforcer include eradicating any remaining Ordinaries, and these Trials are his chance to prove that he’s internalized his brutal training. But Kai can’t help but find Pae’s blue eyes, silver hair, and unabashed attitude enchanting. She likewise struggles to resist his stormy gray eyes, dark hair, and rakish behavior, even as they’re pitted against each other in the Trials and by the king himself. Scenes and concepts that are strongly reminiscent of the Hunger Games fall flat: They aren’t bolstered by the original’s heart or worldbuilding logic that would have justified a few extreme story elements. Illogical leaps and inconsistent characterizations abound, with lighthearted romantic interludes juxtaposed against genocide, child abuse, and sadism. These elements, which are not sufficiently addressed, combined with the use of ableist language, cannot be erased by any amount of romantic banter. Main characters are cued white; the supporting cast has some brown-skinned characters.
A lackluster and sometimes disturbing mishmash of overused tropes. (map) (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9798987380406
Page Count: 538
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2023
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