Teen romance with, as Dr. Who (one of those pop-culture referents) might say, some “timey-wimey stuff” makes for good fun
Teens race to save time and space in this fast-paced third book.
Dune Ta’ala accepts a job in New Orleans guarding the sullen, sheltered and superpowered 17-year-old Hallie Girard. Used to working with the Hourglass Institute, Dune finds himself among time-traveling thieves led by Hallie’s father, Paul Girard, the true head of Chronos and an intimidating magic Mafia boss. Dune goes to study the Infinityglass—capable of transferring powers and fixing time rips and newly discovered to be a person rather than an object—but stays for the unpredictable but always entertaining Hallie. A chameleon, Hallie has found freedom in dancing, barhopping and occasional burglaries on her father’s behalf, but now she discovers that she is not who or what she thought she was. Initially combative, Hallie grows to rely on Dune as the time rips grow stronger, her powers change, and the melodramatically villainous former head of Chronos, Teague, and the psychopathic memory-meddler, Jack Landers, come to town. Mysterious Poe and the Hourglass teens also make an appearance, and previous books are neatly recapped. McEntire (Timepiece, 2012) saves the romantic scenes from cliché and wryly acknowledges all possible pop-culture inspirations in an enjoyable, fast read.
Teen romance with, as Dr. Who (one of those pop-culture referents) might say, some “timey-wimey stuff” makes for good fun . (Science fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-60684-441-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Egmont USA
Review Posted Online: June 25, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013
A heart-melting story of self-acceptance and self-actualization.
A 16-year-old Black Type A overachiever enlists the help of a free spirit to unlock a truer version of herself.
Audre is a budding therapist who’s dreaming of escaping Brooklyn to stay in Malibu Beach with her father for the summer—Dadifornia is the highlight of her year. Her close relationship with her mother (who first appeared in Williams’ 2021 novel for adults, Seven Days in June) is unraveling, and Audre feels displaced thanks to a new baby sister and stepfather and ongoing home renovations. But her summer plans implode when her father cancels her trip to California because his wife is having pregnancy complications. Forced to re-evaluate everything, Audre decides to write a teen self-help book to help her get into Stanford. When she struggles to come up with original ideas, her best friend, Reshma, tells anxious, awkward Audre that she needs to live a bit more. Reshma creates an Experience Challenge for Audre, and the girls agree that Bash Henry would be a perfect “fun consultant.” Recent Hillcrest Prep graduate Bash is a track star from California with dysfunctional parents (a white mother and Black father), who’s intrigued by the prospect of helping Audre. The teens’ mental health awareness is realistically portrayed, and their romance provides a nice counterbalance to the narrative’s more serious themes. Readers will resonate with the well-developed relationship dynamics among the central and peripheral characters.
A heart-melting story of self-acceptance and self-actualization. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780316511087
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A deftly balanced mix of history, intrigue, and romance.
Against the backdrop of World War II, four young women codebreakers put their minds together to find a serial killer.
It’s early 1943, and Arlington Hall, a one-time girls’ school in Virginia, is now the site of a covert intelligence facility where an 18-year-old former maid secretly assumes the new identity Kit Sutherland and becomes a codebreaker. A night out turns deadly when one of their own is murdered, and Kit stumbles across her body in the bathroom. Kit, roommate Dottie, and Moya, the supervisor of their floor, work alongside Violet, one of the Black girls from the segregated codebreaking unit, to bring the culprit to justice. As the budding friends turn their sharp minds and analytical abilities to covertly investigating what turns out to be a series of murders, Kit struggles to keep her own dangerous secret—and her attraction to Moya—under wraps. Meanwhile, Moya will do everything in her power to help her girls while trying not to fall in love with Kit. The novel deftly addresses questions of inequality across class, race, and sexuality in a story that combines well-researched historical background with a nifty whodunit, a strong focus on friendship, and an empowering queer romance. The narrative follows Kit and Moya, making them the better developed characters in the largely White cast. An author’s note includes many resources about the real women whose behind-the-scenes espionage work informed this story.
A deftly balanced mix of history, intrigue, and romance. (Historical thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 20, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-33958-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
© 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.
