A frothy tale that mixes a whodunit and a teen romance with knights and prophecies.
A reluctant psychic stumbles across a murder most foul in this debut YA novel.
The aptly named Jules Verity comes from a family of “gifted” women. Her grandmother reads auras, her mother reads objects, and Jules makes psychic predictions. Unfortunately, she blurts out prophecies that are often ill-timed and difficult to understand (for example, “the Hepplewhite hides the boogers”). Jules needs a summer job and winds up playing the Mad Maid of Kent at Tudor Times, a local Renaissance-themed, dinner-theater experience. Jules’ random predictions align perfectly with her role as a crazy psychic nun, and she gets to work in proximity to her longtime crush, the swoon-worthy Grayson Chandler. The good news: Grayson is handsome and loves The Princess Bride. The bad news: he thinks Jules is nuts, and he already has the perfect girlfriend, Bree Blair. Yet Jules’ concerns about her love life take a back seat when she stumbles across a body in a secret passageway. The body quickly disappears, and no one believes her until another one is discovered and Jules becomes a target and suspect. Grayson, a Tudor Times knight-in-training, gets the task of guarding Jules, although it turns out it may be her heart that needs protection. The novel is a sweet and entertaining concoction despite the presence of murder and intrigue. Jules is a funny, often cringeworthy heroine who believes her tendency to let loose bizarre prophecies makes her a freak. Swap out Jules’ supernatural talents for body issues or acne and the reader has a relatable and archetypal teen. Held does an admirable job of crossing genres; the budding romance between Grayson and Jules is enjoyable to watch unfold, while Held’s murder mystery is a satisfying whodunit. The setting at a Medieval Times-like destination in a town called Lunevale adds another dose of humor. Held incorporates a quirky cast of characters, such as Floyd the Keeper and King Henry VIII, re-enactors who spend their lives in character and provide subtle foils to Jules, who may not be the crazy one after all.
A frothy tale that mixes a whodunit and a teen romance with knights and prophecies.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63375-227-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 21, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship.
A battered girl and an injured rugby star spark up an ill-advised romance at an Irish secondary school.
Beautiful, waiflike, 15-year-old Shannon has lived her entire life in Ballylaggin. Alternately bullied at school and beaten by her ne’er-do-well father, she’s hopeful for a fresh start at Tommen, a private school. Seventeen-year-old Johnny, who has a hair-trigger temper and a severe groin injury, is used to Dublin’s elite-level rugby but, since his family’s move to County Cork, is now stuck captaining Tommen’s middling team. When Johnny angrily kicks a ball and knocks Shannon unconscious (“a soft female groan came from her lips”), a tentative relationship is born. As the two grow closer, Johnny’s past and Shannon’s present become serious obstacles to their budding love, threatening Shannon’s safety. Shannon’s portrayal feels infantilized (“I looked down at the tiny little female under my arm”), while Johnny comes across as borderline obsessive (“I knew I shouldn’t be touching her, but how the hell could I not?”). Uneven pacing and choppy sentences lead to a sudden climax and an unsatisfyingly abrupt ending. Repetitive descriptions, abundant and misogynistic dialogue (Johnny, to his best friend: “who’s the bitch with a vagina now?”), and graphic violence also weigh down this lengthy tome (considerably trimmed down from its original, self-published length). The cast of lively, well-developed supporting characters, especially Johnny’s best friend and Shannon’s protective older brother, is a bright spot. Major characters read white.
A troubling depiction of an unhealthy relationship. (author’s note, pronunciations, glossary, song moments, playlists) (Romance. 16-18)Pub Date: Nov. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781728299945
Page Count: 626
Publisher: Bloom Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes...
In a riveting novel from Myers (At Her Majesty’s Request, 1999, etc.), a teenager who dreams of being a filmmaker writes the story of his trial for felony murder in the form of a movie script, with journal entries after each day’s action.
Steve is accused of being an accomplice in the robbery and murder of a drug store owner. As he goes through his trial, returning each night to a prison where most nights he can hear other inmates being beaten and raped, he reviews the events leading to this point in his life. Although Steve is eventually acquitted, Myers leaves it up to readers to decide for themselves on his protagonist’s guilt or innocence.
The format of this taut and moving drama forcefully regulates the pacing; breathless, edge-of-the-seat courtroom scenes written entirely in dialogue alternate with thoughtful, introspective journal entries that offer a sense of Steve’s terror and confusion, and that deftly demonstrate Myers’s point: the road from innocence to trouble is comprised of small, almost invisible steps, each involving an experience in which a “positive moral decision” was not made. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 31, 1999
ISBN: 0-06-028077-8
Page Count: 280
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1999
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