An entertaining, well-characterized foray into a world of magical secrets.
A girl who fears magic comes into her own power as she tries to stop her friend from joining a covert society.
Merry, whose mother was cursed by a witch and died, lives in the town of Candlecott in Anglyon, where she’s inseparable from her two best friends, Teddy and Sol. Teddy decides to join the Order of Toadmen, “a secret gentlemen’s society” whose members wield magic that Merry suspects is both illegal and dangerous. Hoping to protect Teddy, she accepts an offer from Caraway, the boy she’s in competition with for the top ranking at school, to attend a mysterious Toad ceremony. There, she uncovers secrets both personal and societal, and her understanding of the world she lives in—and how she should behave in it—is drastically altered. Merry, with her headstrong nature and intense love for her friends and family, is an engaging first-person narrator, and her enemies-to-lovers romance with Caraway unfolds in believable beats; Wilkinson also writes supporting characters like Teddy and Sol in a compelling and nuanced way. The magic system is intriguing, particularly Merry’s ability to see the silver and brown mettle, or “strands of life-force,” that drives it. The mysteries of the Toadmen keep readers in suspense, with Merry gradually uncovering truths about their rituals that connect to the larger social structure of Anglyon and threaten Merry’s own future. Most major characters are pale-skinned; Sol has brown skin.
An entertaining, well-characterized foray into a world of magical secrets. (Fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: April 16, 2024
ISBN: 9780593562703
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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 worthy second-chance romance.
In this follow-up to 2021’s Better Than the Movies, a 20-year-old college freshman gets a second chance at his dreams.
After the death of his father and his mother’s subsequent physical and emotional disappearance, Wes Bennett left behind all of his plans and the girl he made them with to go home and take care of Sarah, his younger sister. But now, Sarah has graduated, his mom is back on her feet, and by some miracle, Wes has an offer to pitch for UCLA’s baseball team. Liz Buxbaum, the girl he’s always loved, works for the university’s athletic department, taking photos and video of the team for social media, which means that maybe he can have a second chance at love, too. But since Wes left, Liz has made every effort to protect herself from ever feeling that broken again; there’s no room for love, because she doesn’t believe in it anymore. Or she doesn’t want to. This second-chance sports romance includes fake dates, quippy and quirky best friends, real heartache, and the sweet ache of first love. The clever dialogue keeps readers from drowning in the main characters’ emotional push-and-pull. Reading the first novel isn’t necessary for appreciating this one, although knowing the full history between Wes and Liz will only add to the ache and longing readers feel from and for them. Main characters are cued white.
A worthy second-chance romance. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781665947138
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
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