An exquisitely written, slow-burning romantic fantasy.
A wedding is the catalyst for the journey to restore the Jinn queen’s magic in this follow-up to All This Twisted Glory (2024).
Alizeh, the Jinn queen, and Cyrus, the king of Tulan, have reached their much-anticipated wedding day, a celebration that’s unfortunately darkened by conflict. Cyrus, newly bound by a blood oath and his vow to serve Alizeh, wrestles with his longing for her—the woman who’s sworn to kill him while seeking to best the devil Iblees and save his kingdom. Alizeh is similarly torn by her desire for the emotionally guarded Tulan leader. She also hopes to secure the survival of her people, something that Prince Kamran of Ardunia proposes he can deliver—if they enter a political marriage following Cyrus’ death. Facing encroaching threats, the trio, along with some of Alizeh’s friends, set forth on the quest to reclaim her magic. But the devil is watching—and waiting to strike. Flying on dragons’ backs and trekking through perilous mountains advances the plot, yet these sequences are more languorous than action-packed. Mafi’s masterful command of sensuous prose weaves in the yearnings of the star-crossed would-be lovers, but the length of these meditations makes for glacial pacing and adds little to the characterization established in previous entries. The secondary characters also lack the dimension and development of earlier books in the series. However, a stunning late twist creates promising opportunities for the next installment in this series set in a Persian-inspired world.
An exquisitely written, slow-burning romantic fantasy. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9780063315341
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Storytide/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
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 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
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