A tense, no-holds-barred page-turner.
A privileged girl grapples with trauma and mental health—while bodies turn up in the woods.
After her release from a psychiatric hospital, highly medicated Magdalena is exiled from Manhattan society and sent to her grandparents’ posh Washington state vacation home. She reconnects with the set from her childhood summer vacations there, including Rob (post–glow-up and crushing on her since age 13), and volunteers at a woman’s rehab shelter in a nearby town with other friends. But when she goes in the woods to think, she encounters a “Wildboy” named Bo with whom she immediately connects. In the first narrative arc, tension comes from her blossoming romance and in the slow reveal, via journal-entry flashbacks, of the dark past that prompted her breakdown. She fully owns up to racist, classist attitudes that enabled her scandal and considers her mistakes unforgivable. As she’s drawn deeper into Bo’s off-the-grid world (for example, meeting his parents, who push for her to get off her high-powered meds), the bodies of dead women are discovered and she hears of local, mythical, drug-dealing murderer Dr. Goodnight. While certain plot elements ring false, the quick pace allows readers to gloss over them and dive into the twisted mystery as Magdalena tries to figure out whom to trust—and if she can even trust herself. Sensitive readers should heed the book’s content warning and brace for suicidal themes and violence. Most characters are White.
A tense, no-holds-barred page-turner. (mental health resources) (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-72821-627-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
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
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
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