A quirky and queer urban fantasy homage to The Devil Wears Prada.
A young man stumbles into the world of witches after accepting a position working for a famous socialite in Napoli’s novel.
Twenty-three-year-old Clark (“like Kent”) Crane works a dead-end job at a local coffee shop to pay the bills after dropping out of college. A former English major, Clark lives alone in a tiny apartment in Queens. He lacks direction in his life (especially in his career) until a family friend inexplicably sets him up for a job interview to work for Charisma Saintly (whose name is clearly a direct reference to the character of Miranda Priestly from the film The Devil Wears Prada). Unbeknownst to Clark, Charisma is globally famous—and, incidentally, a witch. What exactly Charisma is famous for is lost on Clark and remains obscure for most of the novel; however, her notoriety has established her as a renowned taste-maker for celebrities and the otherwise wealthy. Clark’s interview with Charisma’s “fourth assistant,” Monica, does not go well from the start—Clark bumbles through her questions, caught off guard when Monica mentions Charisma’s coven and refers to witches. Regardless, he is offered a position. Things become stranger as he starts the job, where he is essentially the only man. One exception to this rule is the bartender at Charisma’s bar: Joey, a handsome Italian American from Brooklyn who immediately charms Clark, kicking off a whirlwind romance. As the overworked, unpaid, and completely unappreciated Clark complains to friends, many of them ask him why he puts up with such terrible treatment, which leads to the novel’s main flaw: Clark’s unclear motivation. Any time the question comes up, Clark responds with some unconvincing line about it being “a new opportunity… that could ‘open many doors.’” This is never really resolved, though an entity who appears later in Clark’s dreams indicates more may be revealed in later installments of the series. Despite this lack of characterization, Clark is a charming protagonist who is easy to root for.
A quirky and queer urban fantasy homage to The Devil Wears Prada.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781039469273
Page Count: 238
Publisher: Podium Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Who is victorious? The author and the readers.
The conclusion to the Villains trilogy asks, In a world where there are no heroes, what does victory really mean?
Schwab’s world is one where violent near-death experiences can engender ExtraOrdinaries, people who come back to life with a new superpowered ability, but lacking empathy, patience, and a variety of other, gentler qualities. In this installment, Victor Vale is becoming increasingly desperate; ever since Sydney Clarke used her power to bring him back from the dead, control over his own ability to cause and dampen pain has been slipping. Sydney herself is chafing against her life on the run with Victor’s protective ex-cellmate, Mitch Turner, and struggling with missing both Victor and her dead sister, Serena, whom she might not be able to resurrect—and definitely shouldn’t. Meanwhile, a psychiatrist, Dr. Gabriel Gray, discovers the existence of ExtraOrdinary people and seeks to harness their power for himself with tragic consequences for himself and many other people. Because the narrative skips around in time, it becomes clear fairly early that a final conflict is looming at EON, a high-tech facility where ExtraOrdinaries are imprisoned and experimented upon. This series has really lived up to its title; while antiheroes and villains have been popular protagonists for quite some time, not every writer is willing to lean into the darkness as hard as Schwab does. Some of her characters were psychopaths even before their near-death traumas, which means they didn’t have much moral fiber to begin with. And even the people who are basically good do a lot of bad and often foolish things when faced with a crisis…and there are a lot of crises. The strength of this series lies in Schwab’s ExtraOrdinary power to make you care for many of these incredibly rash, ethically dubious—some verging on irredeemable—characters anyway. As a result, the story rises above the usual grimdark cynical slog; instead, this is a gripping and nuanced saga with an ending that feels both inevitable and well earned.
Who is victorious? The author and the readers.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2026
ISBN: 9781250192233
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A lovely and moving romance that examines what it truly means to live.
Opposites attract when a Grim Reaper clashes with a Guardian Angel in this whimsical paranormal romance.
Darcy Moore is in a bit of a tough spot; she’s a Grim Reaper who’s grown tired of death. When she’s given her next assignment, Darcy decides to go rogue. Rather than reaping, Darcy is determined to save her mark, which only upsets the balance kept by the Department of Hauntings and Spirits. Nothing good comes from a Grim Reaper who’s gone AWOL. Bartender Gabriel Aetos works as a Guardian Angel. He doesn’t take kindly to the fact that a Grim Reaper is slinking around his territory. His role is to protect people, while hers is to usher souls into death. To him, their very natures are at odds and his sudden attraction to Darcy won’t change that. This is very much a grumpy-meets-grumpy romance. Gabriel tries hard to keep Darcy at arm’s length and is open about his mistrust of her. Darcy’s standoffishness, though, is born out of her feelings of isolation and loneliness. Dealing in death has taken an obvious toll on her, and she’s traveling her own introspective path on what it means to be human. Darcy’s fragility is what slowly convinces Gabriel to get close to her, despite the heady yearning he keeps under wraps. However, both view their jobs as central to their existence, for better or worse. While Darcy is actively wondering what it would mean to break free of her Grim Reaper responsibilities, Gabriel has never seemed to ponder being anything other than a Guardian Angel. Borison’s romances—most recently And Now, Back to You (2026)—always strike an emotional chord, with deep-seated conflicts that tap into themes of identity, connection, and grief. This addition is truly the epitome of a Borison romance.
A lovely and moving romance that examines what it truly means to live.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9780063430464
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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