Surely she can get Michael to ask her to prom. Liz hopes that her senior year might turn into a real-life romantic fantasy, as an old crush has moved back to town, cuter and nicer than ever. Liz Buxbaum has always adored rom-coms, not least for helping her still feel close to her screenwriter mother, who died when she was little. There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.Ī grieving teen’s devotion to romance films might ruin her chances at actual romance. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than 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 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.

The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends. Tooley’s debut skillfully and subtly emphasizes the consequences of prioritizing power above people and the environment while the friction between regular people and magic-bearers poignantly echoes the fear and rejection queer people, who are accepted in this world, often face in ours. Theirs is an especially slow-burn romance, as Tamsin’s curse prevents her from feeling, but the buildup allows for deeper character development and a very satisfying conclusion. When he is struck by the new plague ravaging the land and stealing its victims’ memories, she turns to Tamsin for help. Meanwhile, Wren, who is also 17, has spent her entire life concealing her identity as a source in order to care for her magic-hating, chronically ill father. Five years earlier, now-17-year-old witch Tamsin used dark magic in a moment of desperation and was cursed and banished from the Coven as a result. The latter is considered dark magic because the amount of power available is exponentially greater than a human body could produce, as is the corresponding environmental fallout. In this rich, nuanced fantasy world, witches can either draw power from themselves, from sources-humans who are magical conduits-or from the earth.

A village girl and a cursed witch become unlikely allies on a quest to find the source of a devastating magical plague.

Adrienne tooley books