by S.M Yair-Levy ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 19, 2014
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In Yair-Levy’s supernatural debut, the first in a series, Dylan Prescott is just another college student until demons come calling.
On the campus of UCLA, having her soul sucked out by a demon with gorgeous eyes is the last thing Dylan Prescott expects to happen. But that’s just what happens late one night—except it doesn’t go quite as the demon expected, because Dylan is already missing her soul. As if it isn’t enough to find out that she’s a demon, too, Dylan discovers that she’s a wanted, superpowerful demon who’s supposed to be dead. After her anthropology professor assigns her to be partners with Tristan Stewart, the mysterious (and stunning) guy who seems to know a lot more about Dylan’s past than even Dylan knows, the two embark upon an epic romance and a quest to find Dylan’s real parents while keeping her out of the hands of the menacing Shadow Horde. Although it at first appears to follow the boilerplate supernatural romance formula—featuring dreamy guys, lots of blushing, and lots of hastily revealed, confusing rules about the demon realm that are tossed off quickly in order to get back to the star-struck lovers—the novel takes a different turn in its second half, revealing a much more interesting and original story. This makes for a somewhat frustrating read, as the first half of the novel, before getting to the good stuff, moves slowly and seems to be ticking off all the boxes on the YA romance checklist. Dylan’s quest should be central to the plot, but nearly the entire plot in the first half of the novel is obscured by her back and forth with Tristian, which feels rather reminiscent of the Twilight novels. However, when Dylan is kidnapped and allowed to fully come into her own as the heroine, the story shows much more backbone and becomes tense and deliciously creepy. Only then do the sparks of creativity and bold, vivid images that Yair-Levy hints at in the beginning of the story become fully realized.
A mixed bag that rallies after a weak beginning to provide a satisfyingly supernatural payoff.
Pub Date: June 19, 2014
ISBN: 978-0692242674
Page Count: 422
Publisher: DNYL PUBLICATIONS LLC
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Hanya Yanagihara ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2015
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
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Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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