Thrillingly representative female empowerment.
A group of female spies enacts justice for exploited women around the world.
Jessie Archer, a white British woman, works for Athena, a female-led London-based secret division of global corporation Chen Technologies, helping to covertly take down crime lords who traffic and kidnap women and children. When a high-tension mission goes awry, Jessie is taunted by a warlord, who says his capture will be a temporary stay. She kills him, endangering Athena’s secrecy, and is subsequently kicked off the team right as they are departing for Belgrade for an operation. As part of the intelligence-gathering effort for the operation, Jessie is frustrated by her termination, and, stuck at home and bored, she breaks into Athena’s servers, discovering leads to Paulina Pavlic, the alluring daughter of the trafficker Athena is targeting. Jessie’s feelings for Paulina are further complicated by the discovery of even more nefarious goings-on as well as information that endangers both her and the Athena team. Meanwhile, Athena agents are given a directive to bring Jessie in. This riveting, female-centered romp includes diverse characters—African American, Palestinian, South Asian British—who have layered and complex backstories. Li Chen, founder of Chen Technologies, survived the Cultural Revolution. Jessie examines her privilege with occasional flippant snark and questions global power dynamics and the treatment of women around the world. Jessie is a lesbian, and some other characters are queer.
Thrillingly representative female empowerment. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-284960-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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
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