Titanic-inspired romance set in space with thrilling action and social justice bent.
Weslie Fleet travels on the maiden voyage of new luxury interplanetary starship The Boundless.
It’s 2212, and 17-year old Earther Weslie has won the Interplanetary Alliance Life Support Bot competition for her bot named ILSA, or Individualized Life Support Assistant unit 001. The prize is a first-class ticket on luxury starship The Boundless, scheduled to embark on its maiden voyage to Mars, a five-week trip. In this future, the elite live in a life-sustaining environment on Mars, while the lower classes mine the Earth for resources and work in factories. Weslie’s mother works for Dalloway Technologies, the sponsor of the bot contest. In a rush to the ship, Weslie crashes into Jupiter Dalloway, the young heir to the Dalloway company. Jupiter is only the heir because his older sister recently died, and he wants nothing to do with the company, preferring artistic pursuits to technological ones. On the voyage, the two are thrust together repeatedly, leading to ample romantic tension between them as they’re continuously at odds thanks to their vastly different backgrounds. Because she won the contest, Weslie is given a room on the first-class deck. She is shocked and disgusted by the extravagance of the wealthy Mars inhabitants while on Earth, she and her mother struggle to survive. She is looked down upon by the other first-class passengers, and is even questioned by staff more than once about what she’s doing in first class. As in James Cameron’s Titanic, the romantic lead can’t resist the tension despite their difference in class and the expectations of Jupiter’s family. Starling slips in many Titanic references, although the novel will still be thrilling to any who haven’t seen it. Starling manages to make a critique of classism romantic and thrilling, with high stakes and heavy swoons. Weslie and Jupiter are both assumed white, but the supporting cast is ethnically diverse.
Titanic-inspired romance set in space with thrilling action and social justice bent.Pub Date: July 1, 2025
ISBN: 9781649378408
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Several yards short of a touchdown.
A transgender boy starting over at a new school falls hard for a popular cheerleader with a reputation to protect in this debut.
On the first day of senior year, transgender boy Pony locks eyes with cisgender cheerleader Georgia. They both have pasts they want to leave behind. No one at Hillcrest High knows that Pony is transgender, and he intends to keep it that way. Georgia’s last boyfriend shook her trust in boys, and now she’s determined to forget him. As mutual attraction draws them together, Pony and Georgia must decide what they are willing to risk for a relationship. Pony’s best friend, Max, who is also transgender, disapproves of Pony’s choice to live stealth; this disagreement leads to serious conflict in their relationship. Meanwhile, Georgia and Pony behave as if Pony’s trans identity was a secret he was lying to her about rather than private information for him to share of his own volition. The characters only arrive at a hopeful resolution after Pony pays high physical and emotional prices. McSmith places repeated emphasis on the born-in-the-wrong-body narrative when the characters discuss trans identities. Whiteness is situated as the norm, and all main characters are white.
Several yards short of a touchdown. (Fiction. 14-17)Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-294317-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A fresh and compelling voice.
A second chance prompts a deadly game of wits.
Lu Mingshin is about to be executed. Her fiance, Prince Ren, has ordered her death after using her family’s wealth to vie for the position of crown prince from his half brothers, each of them born to one of the widower king’s Royal Ladies. If that wasn’t enough, Mingshin learns that her Uncle Yi arranged her mother’s murder, and Aylin, her two-faced noblewoman cousin, will be marrying Ren instead. On the verge of death, Mingshin desperately wishes for another chance—only to see flashes of light and wake up two years in the past. With her memories of the future intact, Mingshin intends to not become a victim again, training in combat and vowing to endear herself to King Reifeng to secure her family’s safety. Strange dreams reveal the source of the magic that allowed her to jump back in time. A powerful mage is also on Mingshin’s tail, along with the ruthless enemies she’s already aware of. As Mingshin starts to rewrite her life’s story, new individuals come into play: a visiting Elder with questionable motives; Princess Yunle, who becomes a new best friend; and Prince Jieh, one of Ren’s rivals for the throne. Set in a fantasy world reminiscent of imperial China, this debut novel’s structure has a few oddities, but the clever premise and intriguing and suspenseful plot will keep readers engaged.
A fresh and compelling voice. (Fantasy. 14-17)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9781454949923
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
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