A gentle historical romance led by chivalry and Christian-based morality.
Eighteen-year-old Louisa embarks on a quest to save both herself and her 12-year-old sister from arranged marriages, finding personal growth and true love along the way.
In 1388 England, Louisa and Margaret live with their uncle, who’s trying to marry them off. Louisa knows that independent wealth is the path to freedom, so she disguises herself as a boy, assumes the name Jack, and runs away in search of a Viking treasure in Yorkshire that’s rumored to be guarded by a giant. She crosses paths with Sir Charles Raynsford of Dericott, a young knight seeking his place and healing from an ill-advised love affair, and the pair begin to work together. The author adds period-appropriate details throughout, including descriptions of a feast, a knight’s vows, an encounter with wolves, the Midsummer festival in a market town, and even a meeting with King Richard in the Tower of London. Louisa and Sir Charles’ pivotal adventure on a mountain in Yorkshire leads to happily-ever-after endings for all. This is a mild adventure with good pacing; while the characters Louisa encounters seem to exist to highlight the setting and support her Christian-centered self-actualization, the blossoming romance is sweet and the pair is well matched, with inner lives centered on contemplation and prayer. All characters are cued white; diversity in social rank and physical disabilities illuminates historical attitudes.
A gentle historical romance led by chivalry and Christian-based morality. (author’s note, discussion questions) (Historical romance. 12-18)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780840708670
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
Though it lacks references or suggestions for further reading, Arn's agonizing story is compelling enough that many readers...
A harrowing tale of survival in the Killing Fields.
The childhood of Arn Chorn-Pond has been captured for young readers before, in Michelle Lord and Shino Arihara's picture book, A Song for Cambodia (2008). McCormick, known for issue-oriented realism, offers a fictionalized retelling of Chorn-Pond's youth for older readers. McCormick's version begins when the Khmer Rouge marches into 11-year-old Arn's Cambodian neighborhood and forces everyone into the country. Arn doesn't understand what the Khmer Rouge stands for; he only knows that over the next several years he and the other children shrink away on a handful of rice a day, while the corpses of adults pile ever higher in the mango grove. Arn does what he must to survive—and, wherever possible, to protect a small pocket of children and adults around him. Arn's chilling history pulls no punches, trusting its readers to cope with the reality of children forced to participate in murder, torture, sexual exploitation and genocide. This gut-wrenching tale is marred only by the author's choice to use broken English for both dialogue and description. Chorn-Pond, in real life, has spoken eloquently (and fluently) on the influence he's gained by learning English; this prose diminishes both his struggle and his story.
Though it lacks references or suggestions for further reading, Arn's agonizing story is compelling enough that many readers will seek out the history themselves. (preface, author's note) (Historical fiction. 12-15)Pub Date: May 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-173093-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 20, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2012
A dizzying, intimate romance.
Rowan teams up with her academic nemesis to win a citywide scavenger hunt.
Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been rivals in a never-ending game of one-upmanship since freshman year. Now, on the last day of senior year, Rowan hopes to best Neil once and for all as valedictorian, then win Howl, a scavenger hunt with a $5,000 cash prize. She also hopes to sneak away to her favorite romance author’s book signing; no one’s ever respected her passion for the genre, not even her children’s book author/illustrator parents. But Rowan’s named salutatorian, and vengeful classmates plot to end her and Neil’s reign. At first their partnership is purely strategic, but as the pair traverse the city, they begin to open up. Rowan learns that Neil is Jewish too and can relate to both significant cultural touchstones and experiences of casual anti-Semitism. As much as Rowan tries to deny it, real feelings begin to bloom. Set against a lovingly evoked Seattle backdrop, Rowan and Neil’s relationship develops in an absorbing slow burn, with clever banter and the delicious tension of first love. Issues of class, anti-Semitism, and sex are discussed frankly. Readers will emerge just as obsessed with this love story as Rowan is with her beloved romance novels. Rowan’s mother is Russian Jewish and Mexican, and her father is American Jewish and presumably White; most other characters are White.
A dizzying, intimate romance. (author’s note) (Romance. 13-18)Pub Date: July 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5344-4024-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2020
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