A riveting ride through the stars.
Teenagers wake up in space, with no memory of how they got there, on a ship that’s out of their control and with no coordinates for charting a course home.
Impossibly far away from Seattle, 16-year-old Noa North wakes up floating outside the spaceship Qriosity. According to the voice inside his helmet, that of a Florida boy called DJ Storm, the ship will explode in 17 minutes unless they repair the leaking coolant conduit and shut off the reactor. Although neither can remember how they ended up in space, they have little choice but to try to survive. Joined by Jenny, a girl from Rhode Island, the three teens navigate threats of explosion, a Quantum Fold Drive that flings them across the galaxy every 19 hours, a time loop, and a monster invasion, all while searching for answers about how they arrived in space in the first place. The plot maintains a fast pace: Every time the team finds a moment of comfort, a new danger throws them back into action. Thrilling twists keep the conflict surprising, and, as the title suggests, a romance simmers between Noa and DJ. Through their love story, Hutchinson explores topics of consent, trauma survival, and the significance of #ownvoices storytelling. While this book stands alone, the openness of the resolution leaves room for further adventures. All main characters seem to be White.
A riveting ride through the stars. (Science fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4853-7
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
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
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
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