An exciting, fully realized sequel that will leave readers craving more.
A young pirate continues battling evil to save humanity from destruction in this follow-up to Nightweaver (2025).
Aster Oberon was a pirate, a maid, and now, hiding her recently discovered Nightweaver heritage, she’s a double agent. She swears loyalty to the king she secretly plans to kill with the help of his son, Prince Titus, the very pirate who saved her life years ago. With them is Will Castor, best friend of Prince Titus and the noble who captured Aster at sea and forced her onto land. Will is also the boy Aster is falling for, despite the curse that makes him a monster who craves human blood for the Manan—“a glittering gold substance known as ‘the dust of creation’”—it contains. Along with the Order of Hildegarde, Aster, Titus, and Will work to determine who Morana has possessed and force her to reveal her corporeal form so they can destroy her and cure those afflicted with Underling curses. Encountering lies at every turn, Aster no longer knows whom she can trust. This second series installment—as bloated as the first and requiring a fresh memory of the series opener—is bursting with adventure, political intrigue, a love triangle, and numerous subplots readers must unravel. Yet it remains exciting, with plenty of action and drama balanced against self-discovery and the constant push and pull of young love. Most central characters present white.
An exciting, fully realized sequel that will leave readers craving more. (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780316594073
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance.
A Connecticut girl and her best friend devise a series of plans in order to achieve their goals: following a dream and winning back an ex.
Eighteen-year-old Audrey Barbour has a Master Plan: attend Blue Ridge Glass School in North Carolina and someday turn her Etsy shop, Golightly Glass, into a thriving business. But her uber-wealthy parents insist that she instead follow in their footsteps and go to business school. So Audrey decides to go find the tuition money she needs with help from her best friend, Henry Chen. Henry needs a favor, too: He hopes that fake dating Audrey will help him win back his ex-girlfriend, and he points out to a reluctant Audrey that this could make her crush, Griffin, notice her. While Audrey’s parents vacation in France for three weeks, the pair rent out the Barbour mansion on the Long Island Sound. Soon romantic chemistry grows alongside their business partnership. Despite the pair’s great preparation and an abundance of secondary characters with connections and talents to help pull off their increasingly ambitious ideas, plans go awry, leaving Audrey and Henry scrambling and second-guessing their choices. The pacing is even, but the characters often take a back seat to the whirlwind of activity that drives the plot, with the emphasis falling on each person’s practical skills and their role in keeping the action moving over their emotional bonds. Audrey is white, and Henry’s surname cues him as Chinese American.
A light and entertaining plot-driven romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593904794
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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