Revenge, murder, and political intrigue will captivate readers.
In this work inspired by real events and people, a Yoruba princess is kidnapped from West Africa as a gift for Queen Victoria.
Omoba Ina, princess of the Egbado Clan, was enslaved in the Dahomey Kingdom after her parents were slaughtered. In 1850, Capt. Forbes of the British Royal Navy, commander of the HMS Bonetta, arrives, taking the 7-year-old princess to England as a present for the queen, a gesture “meant to symbolize a victory of British abolitionism.” Queen Victoria makes Ina her goddaughter, deciding she can be transformed into a lady. The renamed Sally Forbes Bonetta becomes a ward of the court with all its expectations, but she’s never fully accepted because of her race. Now 18, Sally is done being used as propaganda for the realm, and she seeks revenge on all those who were involved in her kidnapping and imprisonment. But when Queen Victoria begins to suspect that Sally is behind her friends’ recent “humiliation and ruin,” she announces she’s arranged for her to marry a certain Capt. Davies and return with him to Lagos. With her freedom in peril, Sally forms a partnership with an East End crime boss to finish the job. Raughley deftly weaves together information about and critiques of colonialism, power, and racism. The novel’s true strength is Sally’s character development: Arya Stark meets Starr Carter, weaving a web of destruction despite her grief in order to reclaim her dignity.
Revenge, murder, and political intrigue will captivate readers. (bibliography) (Historical thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780063344389
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2024
A gripping tribute to resilience.
A girl with amnesia and a boy suspected of harming his girlfriend overcome adversity to find the answers they seek.
A 17-year-old girl wakes up in a ditch, disoriented and with no memory of who she is or what happened. Found by the Alton, Oregon, police, she is brought to the station. Soon after, Wayne Boone, a man claiming to be her father, shows up. He has photos of her on his phone and her high school ID card, with the name Mary Boone. Wayne convinces the police to release Mary into his custody. The more time Mary spends with Wayne, however, the weirder things get: He’s unaware of her food allergy, and as her memories start to return, they don’t conform with Wayne’s versions of her life. In the town of Washington City, across the Willamette River, Drew is in a bad place. His girlfriend, Lola, has disappeared, and Drew was the last person to see her. His adoptive dads and cousin are the only ones who support him; everyone else, including the sheriff, thinks he’s responsible for Lola’s disappearance. Intent on finding Lola, Drew finds help in an unlikely ally, Lola’s best friend, Autumn, who is the sheriff’s daughter. But will they find Lola in time? The two immersive storylines bring to life the trials and frustrations each main character faces in this debut, which is a thrilling delight right up to the unexpected and bittersweet conclusion. Most characters are cued white; one of Drew’s dads is Guatemalan.
A gripping tribute to resilience. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781728270111
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty.
In this retelling of a classic, a drama student’s obsession with beauty leads her down a dark—and possibly deadly—path.
Eighteen-year-old Penny Paxton is beginning her first year at Dorian Drama Academy in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she hopes to follow in her starlet mother’s footsteps—and earn the love that her mother has never seemed to offer. At Dorian, Penny is mentored by Royal Shakespeare Company legend Orlagh Camran, who makes her the compelling offer of a portrait by the Masked Painter, a mysterious artist with the ability to gift his subjects everlasting youth and beauty. But shortly after Penny’s portrait is complete, several of the Masked Painter’s subjects are found murdered. Fearing that she’s made a terrible mistake and may become the next victim, Penny, who’s gay, begins to investigate the murders with the help of an unlikely ally. As she attempts to uncover the truth surrounding the Masked Painter and the murders, she’s forced to reckon with her own toxic obsession with beauty. This chilling, atmospheric novel, inspired by The Picture of Dorian Gray, is entertaining and full of twists, though some of the reveals feel contrived and some questions are left unanswered. The plot unravels at a leisurely pace but eventually builds to an action-packed (if somewhat convoluted) conclusion. Most characters are cued white.
An entertaining and atmospheric, though sometimes clumsy, exploration of the true cost of beauty. (content note, author’s note, bonus scene) (Fantasy thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: May 26, 2026
ISBN: 9781250346797
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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