A flimsy story about vampires and chosen family.
Everything changes for Emma Hartfield after she dies, awakens as a vampire, and learns the dark history of her family.
Seventeen-year-old Emma, who was raised by her grandmother Flora, has always been a loner who has felt darkness inside her. After she’s attacked by a vampire, Emma suddenly has enhanced powers of perception and a craving for blood. Flora is oddly unsurprised by this turn of events but sets out with a promise to get more information about what’s going on. Then Cara, a different vampire, shows up and opens Emma’s eyes to the (literally) underground world of vampires and the ongoing struggle between the Immortals and the half-bloods. Emma starts developing real friendships with the vampires in the nest she joins, and they team up to rescue Flora, who has gone missing. But when the truth about her biological family comes to light, Emma will have to decide where her loyalties lie. The action-forward story combines tried-and-true vampire lore with some new twists. However, worldbuilding elements are often plopped into the story rather than being naturally woven in, and the descriptions feel too slight to make it fully engrossing. A romance subplot isn’t given enough time to be believably built up. Readers may relate to Emma’s questions surrounding family and belonging, but because so many characters are one-note, it’s hard to become truly invested. Emma is cued White; some racial diversity of secondary characters is implied.
A flimsy story about vampires and chosen family. (Paranormal. 13-18)Pub Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 9781643973401
Page Count: 206
Publisher: BHC Press
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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
A fun, twisty mystery with deep undertones.
At a school for both human and paranormal teens, a human starts displaying clairvoyant abilities.
Cam and his best friend, Al, are finally at the same school again for sophomore year. Despite his mom’s disapproval of Cam’s interest in all things paranormal, Cam’s loyalty to Al, who’s a brown-skinned nonbinary witch, is steadfast. Cam also has a crush on werewolf Mateo, who’s cued Latine. But when Cam, who presents white, has a terrifying vision of a stabbed woman, he’s no longer a human on the periphery of paranormal society—he’s the first clairvoyant in the area in a century. Suddenly, a local psychic guild and a coven are courting him like he’s a star athlete choosing a college. As Cam explores the possibilities, he befriends members of each organization in a sweet chosen family arc. But can his friends help him figure out the details from his first vision and prevent a murder? In this universe, queerness is accepted without question. Instead, anti-paranormality acts as a metaphor for homophobia, manifesting as forced outing, systemic oppression of paranormal people, and even conversion therapy. The novel also explores the problematic nature of stereotyping by humans, who label werewolves aggressive, sprites mean-spirited, psychics detached, and witches immoral.
A fun, twisty mystery with deep undertones. (Paranormal mystery. 14-18)Pub Date: April 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781665950947
Page Count: 368
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
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