A delightful slow-burn romance with a touch of sentimental magic.
Zadie is sure that she and Jason are meant to be together forever.
When Jason, “the king of Sterlingwood High,” abruptly ends the relationship on their one-year anniversary, Zadie is stunned. But before she can come to terms with her situation, they get into a car crash. Zadie might have a concussion, but Jason is in a coma. Not willing to admit to being dumped, Zadie pretends that the breakup never happened. Not only that, she tells everyone that Jason gave her a promise ring. No one must discover the truth. Unfortunately for Zadie, Marcus, Jason’s cousin, overheard her revealing everything to her friend Monique in a voice note. As Zadie figures out how to escape her lies, she suddenly finds herself magically transported into one of her favorite memories of Jason. Much to her displeasure, Marcus is also there. Over the course of the story, the unlikely pair travel through the previous year’s memories. Zadie is determined to figure out where her seemingly perfect partnership with Jason went sour so she can fix things. But as Zadie and Marcus spend more time together in the dreams, they grow close. This bittersweet and fantastical story would have benefited from more character development, but this is, ultimately, a satisfying, well-written romance. A shocking major twist works well, and Everett absolutely nails the landing. Zadie and Monique are Black, and Jason and Marcus are white.
A delightful slow-burn romance with a touch of sentimental magic. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: June 23, 2026
ISBN: 9798217002986
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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