A solid and quite frightening tale of the supernatural.
A girl dominated by her fanatically religious father tries to escape when he confines her inside a haunted house.
Jen knows her father is approaching insanity in his religious devotion, but since the death of her alcoholic mother, she has been trapped. When her father takes a job as the offseason caretaker of a notoriously strange hotel, she immediately senses danger. Jen gets vivid visions of the previous occupants. The building formerly had been a Catholic home for unwed mothers, run by a monsignor who, if his ghostly apparitions are accurate, was an evil and abusive person; the nun also in charge was no better. Jen finds herself endangered not only by the house, but by an apparently unhinged local boy who attacks her when she refuses his advances. Jen frequently draws from a stash of drugs she has hidden to escape mentally from the stress, but she begins to realize that she must actually escape the house. Scenes of the miseries inflicted on the building’s previous occupants are interspersed with Jen’s narration, ramping up the tension. As events build to a truly frightening climax, Jen may have to rely on something supernatural to save her. Sheff writes solid suspense that recalls the classics: both Stephen King’s The Shining and Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, among others.
A solid and quite frightening tale of the supernatural. (Horror. 12-18)Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-06-233709-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
Exactly what the title promises.
A grieving teen’s devotion to romance films might ruin her chances at actual romance.
Liz Buxbaum has always adored rom-coms, not least for helping her still feel close to her screenwriter mother, who died when she was little. Liz hopes that her senior year might turn into a real-life romantic fantasy, as an old crush has moved back to town, cuter and nicer than ever. Surely she can get Michael to ask her to prom. If only Wes, the annoying boy next door, would help her with her scheming! This charming, fluffy concoction manages to pack into one goofy plot every conceivable trope, from fake dating to the makeover to the big misunderstanding. Creative, quirky, daydreaming Liz is just shy of an annoying stereotype, saved by a dry wit and unresolved grief and anger. Wes makes for a delightful bad boy with a good heart, and supporting characters—including a sassy best friend, a perfect popular rival, even a (not really) evil stepmother—all get the opportunity to transcend their roles. The only villain here is Liz’s lovelorn imagination, provoking her into foolish lies that cause actual hurt feelings; but she is sufficiently self-aware to make amends just in time for the most important trope of all: a blissfully happy ending. All characters seem to be White by default.
Exactly what the title promises. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6762-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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