Fandom fans and romance lovers will rejoice!
Hoping to connect with her crush through fandom, a Welsh girl ends up finding herself.
Sixteen-year-old Cerys has been nurturing feelings for her best friend, Jake; she worries that they’ll grow apart as they move on to different secondary schools. As a way to stay close and convince him that she’s “his dream girl,” Cerys decides to engage with the Of Wrath and Rune fandom—OWAR is Jake’s favorite fantasy TV and book series. She’s disappointed that Jake’s new friend, Max, is always around for their watch parties and con outings and hopes that chatting one-on-one with Jake in the OWAR Discord channel will further her romantic agenda. But somehow, the deeper their online conversations become, the less available Jake seems in person—it’s almost as if he’s two different people. Meanwhile, Cerys is trying to fit in with a group of cool girls at St. David’s, her new school in Cardiff, which means hiding her now-sincere appreciation for OWAR. She slowly comes to realize that she has a lot in common with Anissa, a shy girl in her art class, who also loves OWAR. At the same time, her Discord correspondence with @runicrascal is a source of emotional connection and vulnerability. This solid, well-paced book explores relatable subjects like learning to be true to oneself and finding friends who like the real you. The realistic dialogue and strong character development will keep readers turning the pages. Main characters read white.
Fandom fans and romance lovers will rejoice! (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: today
ISBN: 9798217031498
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Delacorte Romance
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters.
When star hockey player Alec Barczewski’s estranged childhood friend, Dani Collins, moves to town, they end up in a mutually beneficial fake-dating relationship that reignites old feelings.
Following her parents’ divorce, Dani and her mom move in with Dani’s hockey legend grandfather in Southview, Minnesota, where she spent a month every summer as a child and where her friendship with Alec grew. Between visits, the two were pen pals, but they eventually fell out of touch. Despite some tensions over their loss of friendship, the high school seniors reconnect. Desperate to get off Harvard’s waitlist, Dani needs another extracurricular activity, while Alec—whose reputation took a hit when a photo of him holding a bong appeared on social media—is eager to improve his tarnished image for NHL scouts. The pair strike a deal: They’ll fake date, making Alec look like a stable guy whose academically gifted girlfriend is related to hockey royalty, and in exchange, he’ll get Dani a team manager position that will catch the eye of Harvard’s admissions officers. Eventually, complicated feelings about their past, stressful family relationships, and their brewing romance boil over. Romance fans will love the deliciously tension-filled scenes between Alec and Dani, who are believable friends with heavy demands weighing on them. They feel like real teenagers, and readers will enjoy rooting for them as the well-paced story unfolds. Main characters present white.
A compelling romance inhabited by complex and appealing characters. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9781665921268
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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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