Grim yet powerfully and lovingly rendered.
This Irish import, a dark retelling of “The Little Mermaid,” follows Muireann as she mourns her sister, Mairéad, who was captured in a fishing net.
The merfolk face starvation from overfishing, and Muireann hopes the Prince will help once he learns of the crisis. She seeks out her Aunt Réaltín, the Sea Witch, requesting a potion that would allow her to walk on land and speak with humans. After coming ashore, Muireann meets the green-eyed Prince and is shocked when he boasts about his kingdom’s fishing prowess. Refreshingly, Muireann isn’t a conventional svelte mermaid; she has “lovely rolls” that keep her warm and “strong and wide arms.” The mermaids have “thick tails” that mostly are “a deep blue, / or murky black, // shimmering scales / that capture an / imaginary light / in this beautifully dark place.” The callous Prince finds her body repulsive and cruelly displays her at his nightly parties, forcing her to eat and dance, and imprisoning her in the dungeon by day. Ennis portrays Muireann’s tragic story through concise poems and longer free verse, using the size and physical layout of the text to illuminate her movements and emotional state. When describing the bars of her cage, the words form a grid pattern on the page. In another poem, two columns of echoing lines compare Mairéad and Muireann. The themes of body shaming and environmental harm will resonate with readers, and the masterful writing truly stands out.
Grim yet powerfully and lovingly rendered. (Verse fiction. 13-18)Pub Date: June 9, 2026
ISBN: 9781915071989
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Little Island
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
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
A character-focused entry that will satisfy fans.
Romantic complications between a trained killer and one of her captors drive this sequel to Watch Me (2025).
Appealing to readers who prefer their romantic dramas to be light on action and heavy on long passages of banter, bitter sibling arguments, and tortured reflections, Mafi continues the tale of Rosabelle Wolff, the flaxen-haired assassin from the dystopic Reestablishment, and magnetic, “impossibly stunning” James Anderson, her nemesis-turned-lover who’s still trying to take down the regime. Now desperate to accomplish several secret missions, Rosa easily escapes from one of The New Republic’s prisons, where she was left in the series opener, and, dressed in “a little kid’s cat onesie,” eludes all pursuers except for James, who can seemingly find her at will. Enigmatic Rosa responds unpredictably to many human contacts—including with violence, temporary death (one of her abilities), or a sudden panic attack. Along with the central pair of rivals and lovers, James’ older brother, Aaron, shares the narration. Bestseller Mafi tucks in several subplots, including, notably, a cameo from Juliette Ferrars, the protagonist of the original Shatter Me series, who’s undergoing a scarily difficult pregnancy. Amid the slowly simmering rising action, the author delivers a revelation and a twist that set up a potential series climax. Some ethnic diversity is present in the supporting cast.
A character-focused entry that will satisfy fans. (Dystopian. 14-adult)Pub Date: April 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780063419056
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Storytide/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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