Energetic and colorfully descriptive.
An ill-fated move into an inherited house may present an opportunity for a dark history to repeat itself.
The home has been in her family for around half a century, but Evie Archer’s first time seeing Hobbie House is the day she, her brother, and their mother arrive in search of a place to start fresh. After her parents’ divorce, life in New York City has become too expensive. But strange events and bad omens begin to appear almost immediately after they get to Ravenglass, a small Berkshires town, and the disappearance of Holly, Evie’s mom’s and aunt’s cousin, from the house 40 years prior doesn’t seem to have faded from local lore as much as the Archers had hoped. Before she realizes what’s happening, the shadow that suddenly starts following Evie everywhere begins to drag her deeper into a dark world where everyone she cares about stands in the way and the line between what Evie wants and what the shadow wants starts to blur. Sibling friction—between Evie and her brother and between Evie’s mom and maternal aunt—complements elements like an utterly creepy talking doll and dreams of a girl in a bonnet. Evie makes some decisions that will have readers yelling “don’t do that!” in excellent horror-movie fashion. Plenty of backstory is given to fill in the story of the disappearance of 15-year-old Holly Hobbie. Evie’s family is cued as white.
Energetic and colorfully descriptive. (Horror. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2023
ISBN: 9780593386217
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter.
After a Nigerian British girl goes off to an exclusive boarding school that seems to prey on less-privileged students, she discovers there might be some truth behind an urban legend.
Ife Adebola joins the Urban Achievers scholarship program at pricey, high-pressure Nithercott School, arriving shortly after a student called Leon mysteriously disappeared. Gossip says he’s a victim of the glowing-eyed Changing Man who targets the lonely, leaving them changed. Ife doesn’t believe in the myth, but amid the stresses of Nithercott’s competitive, privileged, majority-white environment, where she is constantly reminded of her state school background, she does miss her friends and family. When Malika, a fellow Black scholarship student, disappears and then returns, acting strangely devoid of personality, Ife worries the Changing Man is real—and that she’s next. Ife joins forces with classmate Bijal and Benny, Leon’s younger brother, to uncover the truth about who the Changing Man is and what he wants. Culminating in a detailed, gory, and extended climactic battle, this verbose thriller tempts readers with a nefarious mystery involving racial and class-based violence but never quite lives up to its potential and peters out thematically by its explosive finale. However, this debut offers highly visually evocative and eerie descriptions of characters and events and will appeal to fans of creature horror, social commentary, and dark academia.
A descriptive and atmospheric paranormal social thriller that could be a bit tighter. (Thriller. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 26, 2023
ISBN: 9781250868138
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A spiritual, intriguing, though somewhat uneven take on life, grief, and healing.
A high school senior returns to her family home—after she’s been dead for years.
Forman’s ability to capture the voices of teens shines in this heart-wrenching story of Amber Crane’s life, death, and (sort of) undeath. Amber, who reads white, died seven years ago, but on this day just before graduation, she’s standing in her family home, seemingly alive. The first people to see Amber are her mother—who, clearly in shock, starts screaming—and her younger sister, Missy, who’s now a blue-haired teenager. Amber doesn’t even realize she’s supposed to be dead until Missy tells her so. And that’s when the work of trying to make sense of what Amber’s doing here kicks into gear. Told from myriad points of view—so many, one could get lost—the novel threads together the lives of people in Amber’s orbit (and even some who didn’t know her directly), incorporating current-day perspectives as well as ones from the past. The story even goes as far back as 29 years, to the day when Amber’s parents met. While some of the backstory feels extraneous, and the chapters written from adults’ perspectives feel less compelling than those of the teen lead, Forman continually returns to Amber’s point of view, grounding her as the heart of this story, a necessary device to keep readers invested in the enduring question: Why is she back?
A spiritual, intriguing, though somewhat uneven take on life, grief, and healing. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780063346147
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
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