An epic, futuristic tale continues with proficient, zestful writing.
A teenage psychic tries to stop an invention and prevent a massacre in the second installment of Dunn’s (Forget Tomorrow, 2015, etc.) YA sci-fi series.
Ten years ago, 6-year-old Jessa Stone was a captive of the Future Memory Agency, which aimed to create technology to see into the future and change it. The key to inventing that tech was her own psychic link to her older sister, Callie, who sacrificed herself to try to subvert a genocide that she witnessed in a vision. Jessa and other psychics subsequently went on the run for years, but a treaty with the Committee of Agencies eventually afforded them legal refuge in a wilderness community called Harmony. Now Dresden, the chairwoman of the defunct FuMA, wants to recruit Jessa to work at the Technology Research Agency. Jessa says no even though Dresden shows her a holo-vid recording of a vision from Dresden’s precognitive, never-seen daughter, Olivia, showing Jessa as the chairwoman’s assistant. But Jessa had a dream about FuMA’s old offices that makes her suspicious—apparently, the dream was a message from Olivia. Sure enough, it turns out that FuMA’s experiments with psychics are still continuing. Jessa believes that the answer to stopping future memory may lie in the past, so she teams up with TechRA scientist Tanner Callahan, who’s difficult to trust but easy to fall for, to find a way to travel through time. Dunn ramps up the tension by laying out plenty of hurdles for her protagonist; for example, Jessa’s time with Tanner leads her Harmony allies to abandon her as a traitor “cavorting with the enemy.” The author also deftly links this second installment with the first, providing breezy recaps, addressing questions, and including details on Jessa’s absentee father. The romance between Jessa and Tanner is winsome, although it unfortunately sidelines Jessa’s charming friend Ryder. The novel’s second half offers abundant surprises, including another, more understated, but equally appealing romance and a risky journey. Once again, Dunn masterfully sets the stage for another series entry.
An epic, futuristic tale continues with proficient, zestful writing.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63375-495-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing.
For the second time in her life, Leo must choose between her family and true love.
Nineteen-year-old Princess Leonie Kolburg’s royal family is bankrupt. In order to salvage the fortune they accrued before humans fled the frozen Earth 170 years ago, Leonie’s father is forcing her to participate in the Valg Season, an elaborate set of matchmaking events held to facilitate the marriages of rich and royal teens. Leo grudgingly joins in even though she has other ideas: She’s invented a water filtration system that, if patented, could provide a steady income—that is if Leo’s calculating Aunt Freja, the Captain of the ship hosting the festivities, stops blocking her at every turn. Just as Leo is about to give up hope, her long-lost love, Elliot, suddenly appears onboard three years after Leo’s family forced her to break off their engagement. Donne (Brightly Burning, 2018) returns to space, this time examining the fascinatingly twisted world of the rich and famous. Leo and her peers are nuanced, deeply felt, and diverse in terms of sexuality but not race, which may be a function of the realities of wealth and power. The plot is fast paced although somewhat uneven: Most of the action resolves in the last quarter of the book, which makes the resolutions to drawn-out conflicts feel rushed.
A thrilling romance that could use more even pacing. (Science fiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-328-94894-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: HMH Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
Unexamined toxic masculinity makes this romance anything but.
A girl’s strained relationships with two brothers causes strife in this trilogy opener by Argentinian author Ron that’s translated from Spanish.
In the small American town of Carsville, Kamila Hamilton was friends with her neighbors the Di Bianco brothers. Taylor was Kami’s constant, kind companion; older brother Thiago grew increasingly antagonistic. When she was 10 and a half and he was 12, Thiago coerced Kami into her first kiss. Following the revelation of a family secret, the Di Biancos moved away, but a restraining order against Thiago led them to return to their old home after eight years without contact. But 20-year-old Thiago’s new job as assistant basketball coach at the high school where Taylor is on the team and 17-year-old Kami is a cheerleader brings the white-presenting trio into close contact, leading to tense confrontations over past events. Thiago and Kami’s interactions are marked by antagonism and lust (Thiago: “Accumulated rage, bitterness, hatred, and arousal….I could have taken her then and there, not even thinking of the consequences”; Kami: “I felt like a small, defenseless animal being hunted by a beast”). The softer and more empathetic Taylor tries to smooth things over. Thiago’s abuse of power—he uses his role as coach to confront and bully Kami—is uncomfortable and feels like a misguided attempt by the pair to process their traumatic history, which Ron purposefully reveals, making this overall read more cringeworthy than romantic.
Unexamined toxic masculinity makes this romance anything but. (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781464234279
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
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