Fresh and compelling.
A teenage girl must decide between normalcy and being true to herself.
Hattie Tilney has been a skeptic since her ghost-loving father died right before the family moved to Northanger Abbey boarding school, a hotbed for supposed paranormal activity where her mother became headmistress. All Hattie wants is to have a normal senior year with her friends and get into a good college, but when she’s assigned by her mom to be school ambassador to disarming transfer student Kit Morland, Hattie is horrified to find out that he is a ghost hunter on a scholarship from the National Paranormal Society of Investigators. Worse, Hattie must partner with Kit for their journalism class to investigate claims about paranormal activity at Northanger. Still grieving and determined to avoid anything to do with the paranormal world her dad loved, Hattie agrees to the project under one condition: Kit will try to prove the stories are true, and she will try to debunk them. It isn’t long before Hattie finds her feelings for Kit growing as he pulls her into exploring subjects she has avoided for several years. In her second novel inspired by a Jane Austen classic, Quain draws a realistic portrait of a young person struggling with loss, social pressures, and familial expectations. Readers need not be familiar with the original to appreciate this retelling with a supernatural twist. Main characters read White; there is some racial diversity in the supporting cast.
Fresh and compelling. (Paranormal romance. 13-18)Pub Date: July 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781250865076
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind.
In this companion novel to 2013’s If He Had Been With Me, three characters tell their sides of the story.
Finn’s narrative starts three days before his death. He explores the progress of his unrequited love for best friend Autumn up until the day he finally expresses his feelings. Finn’s story ends with his tragic death, which leaves his close friends devastated, unmoored, and uncertain how to go on. Jack’s section follows, offering a heartbreaking look at what it’s like to live with grief. Jack works to overcome the anger he feels toward Sylvie, the girlfriend Finn was breaking up with when he died, and Autumn, the girl he was preparing to build his life around (but whom Jack believed wasn’t good enough for Finn). But when Jack sees how Autumn’s grief matches his own, it changes their understanding of one another. Autumn’s chapters trace her life without Finn as readers follow her struggles with mental health and balancing love and loss. Those who have read the earlier book will better connect with and feel for these characters, particularly since they’ll have a more well-rounded impression of Finn. The pain and anger is well written, and the novel highlights the most troublesome aspects of young adulthood: overconfidence sprinkled with heavy insecurities, fear-fueled decisions, bad communication, and brash judgments. Characters are cued white.
A heavy read about the harsh realities of tragedy and their effects on those left behind. (author’s note, content warning) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781728276229
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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