Glimmers of intrigue are drowned in a lengthy story with a disappointing ending.
Eighteen-year-old Jade is adjusting to her new school, a new romance, and a growing closeness with a Victorian ghost.
It’s 1985, and Jade Whitney is moving from Coos Bay, Oregon, to Grove Hollow, New York. She was raised by her grandfather following her parents’ deaths, and now that he’s passed, she’s going to live with her Great-Aunt Ruth in her mansion. At her new school, Jade joins a group of friends who call themselves The Misfits, but she’s also taken with handsome rugby captain Brad Phillips. Her life gets even more complicated after she finds a scarab locket and a photo of a young man from 1884—William M. Montgomery II, who has beautiful eyes. His ghost appears to her, and Jade attempts to balance her budding romance with Brad with her growing feelings for Will. The locket, which could hold the key to Will’s experience of the afterlife, becomes the focus of Jade’s attention. This series opener, which was originally self-published in 2023, contains rich descriptions of old buildings, and the inclusion of 1980s clothing and music helps ground readers in the setting. Jade’s close friend Aubrey Jackson is compelling: loyal and outspoken, with admirable self-confidence. Unfortunately, the many plot threads weigh the story down, often making it feel dense and excessively long, before it reaches a rushed, cliffhanger ending that’s an unsatisfying, anticlimactic let-down. Major characters read white.
Glimmers of intrigue are drowned in a lengthy story with a disappointing ending. (map) (Paranormal romance. 14-18)Pub Date: yesterday
ISBN: 9798217234875
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2026
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 descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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