A haunting meditation on loss, guilt, and the ghosts we create from our own desperation.
Ghosts are easy to ignore—until one you find one haunting your bedroom.
When Andrea “Drew” Tarpin and her family leave Pittsburgh and move to small-town Pine Hollow, she discovers more than creaky floors. Drew’s new room comes with the ghost of Liam Orville, an academically gifted student who died in a car crash about a year ago. Unlike her sibling, Reece, who embraces their shared ability to see spirits, Drew has always avoided the paranormal. After a botched exorcism, Drew and Liam enter a reluctant agreement: Liam will tutor Drew in statistics if she helps him investigate why he’s stuck before he deteriorates into something dangerous. Their transactional relationship encounters ethical quicksand when Drew falls for Hannah Sullivan, Liam’s former best friend. Using Liam’s intimate knowledge to win Hannah over, Drew becomes complicit in a deception that grows more complicated as they’re stalked by husks (“a side effect of ghosts”) and a sinister entity called the Watcher. Anchored by Drew’s sardonic voice and her messy, deeply human mistakes, the novel blends atmospheric horror with emotional devastation against an autumnal Pennsylvania backdrop that pulses with menace. The romance feels earned despite its manipulative origins, and matter-of-fact queer representation grounds the story in authentic teenage experiences. The novel’s greatest strength lies in its unflinching examination of grief’s corrosive power and the impossibility of clean closure. Main characters present white.
A haunting meditation on loss, guilt, and the ghosts we create from our own desperation. (Horror. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9798890033116
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Page Street
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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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