Haunting.
Ghosts, secrets, lies, and loyalty.
Seventeen-year-old Eden has secrets. As she returns to boarding school for senior year, she’s keeping the biggest secret of all: the reason behind her bruises and injured arm. When the dean informs her that her parents (who are vacationing in Bali) haven’t paid her tuition, Eden again feels the thud of their casual neglect. The dean offers her a choice: stay in climate-controlled Abigail House with mysteriously ill Delphine, whose family will cover tuition for someone willing to live there as her companion, or leave the school. Eden chooses Abigail House—with trepidation. Six years earlier, making the traditional (and potentially deadly) beginning-of-term leap across the Narrow, a river chasm, Eden and best friend Veronica turned to see Delphine fall in. Horrified, they watched her disappear beneath the water. But amazingly, they found Delphine back at the dorm when they returned. The next day, Delphine developed a deadly allergy to water unless it’s distilled. Now, Eden hears rumors of the Drowning Girl ghost—and the cryptic Abigail House protocol includes never leaving the door at the bottom of the stairs unlocked at night. As Eden becomes romantically attracted to Delphine, she pursues the mystery of the ghost, convinced it holds the key to Delphine’s illness. Love and loyalty intertwine with undercurrents of controlling abuse, giving this story the depth and richness of a darker reality. Main characters are White; there is diversity in sexuality and ethnicity in the supporting cast.
Haunting. (Paranormal. 14-18)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2023
ISBN: 9780593405147
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 9, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2023
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
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
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