Queer and lush—and appealing and flawed in equal measure.
A dark, sensuous riff on “Beauty and the Beast.”
The 100-year-old Sorceress Who Eats Girls has kidnapped the heir to the empire, and only Nothing, a 17-year-old girl who is the prince’s faithful companion, and Sky, his male bodyguard and secret lover, can possibly save him. While this is mostly Nothing’s story, Prince Kirin’s genderfluidity drives the inciting element and continues to be an important thread throughout (although male pronouns are used exclusively for Kirin). Nothing is a mystery to herself and others, but the Sorceress—gorgeously terrifying and playing the Beast role, complete with frequent marriage proposals—seems to know something of Nothing’s past. Threads of identity, choice, and power snake through this lush story, sometimes interrogated (the relationship between Nothing and Kirin), other times mired in sexual attraction (as with Nothing and the Sorceress). The dynamics of age and power differentials in the central sexual relationships are not explicitly addressed and may feel uncomfortable to some readers. The magic and the avalanche of physical details take center stage while the characters move through this cinematic sensory feast slightly out of focus, although Nothing and Sky appeal nevertheless. Many elements of the fantasy world feel inspired by ancient China without being overtly Asian. While race plays no explicit role, human characters are described with a range of skin tones from light to copper, with uniformly dark hair and eyes.
Queer and lush—and appealing and flawed in equal measure. (Fantasy. 13-18)Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6077-5
Page Count: 400
Publisher: McElderry
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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