with her beloved, “[her] reputation would
be a harlot’s, and he might be outcast from
the kingdom as nothing more than a serf
whose mother’s life could be lost.” If she
stays, she must face impending war with
Morgan (“Days of peace are few before it
will all come to pass”). While Vivienne’s
resourcefulness, courage, and relationship
with Merlin, her quirky mentor, make her
an appealing heroine, that doesn’t offset
the unpersuasive worldbuilding and convoluted style. Ages 13–up. Agent: Corvisiero
Literary Agency. (May)
Played
Liz Fichera. Harlequin Teen, $9.99 trade paper
(304p) ISBN 978-0-373-21094-7
Fifteen-year-old Riley Berenger is a
smart girl who loves to wear pink; Sam
Tracy is equally smart, but he hides his
intellectual side from his Native American friends. During a leadership weekend
trip in the wilderness, Riley falls onto a
mountain ledge; Sam tries to help her,
and they spend the night together—
nearly naked for warmth—until they are rescued. To thank Sam, Riley promises to
help him break up her brother Ryan’s relationship with a Native girl, Fred, who
Sam is in love with (Ryan and Fred will
be familiar to readers of Fichera’s Hooked).
Fichera reprises the theme of cross-cultur-al romance as misunderstandings ensue
and Sam and Riley fall for each other, but
the story is let down by overdone situations where Sam comes to Riley’s rescue.
Beyond the initial mountain scene, Sam
also fights a boy who takes advantage of
Riley at a party and protects her from a
menacing biker gang. Riley is the perpetual damsel in distress, repeatedly finding
herself in sexually vulnerable positions,
waiting for Sam to save the day. Ages 14–
up. Agent: Holly Root, Waxman Leavell Literary Agency. (June)
Exile
Kevin Emerson. HarperCollins/Tegen, $17.99
(320p) ISBN 978-0-06-213395-3
Emerson (the Atlanteans series) wields
his chops as a musician in this series
opener about a Los Angeles arts high
school rock band trying to make it big.
Senior Caleb Daniels’s new band, Danger-
heart, has all the components of the next
big thing—a dreamy singer (in Caleb), a
brooding female bassist, and lyrics that
standers. Come for the fights and tights,
stay for the fascinating evolution of a
sympathetic villain. Ages 12–up. Agent:
Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (May)
Wish You Were Italian
Kristin Rae. Bloomsbury, $9.99 trade paper
(272p) ISBN 978-1-61963-286-8
This breezy, envy-inducing romance
opens the If Only series, written by multiple authors. For some reason, 17-year-
old Pippa Preston is dreading spending
the summer in Italy—her parents are
forcing her to attend an art history program in Florence. When Pippa’s plane
lands in Rome, she discovers that her father has given her an envelope full of eu-ros, and she decides to forgo summer
school in favor of sightseeing and meeting
boys. A new Italian friend, Chiara, whisks
Pippa off to her family’s house on the
Cinque Terre, and Pippa’s charmed summer becomes even more so (especially after two boys, one American and one Italian, enter the picture). Debut author
Rae’s style is upbeat and cheerful, but like
Pippa, who throws caution to the wind,
the story lacks direction, with choppy
prose and brief chapters tugging readers
this way and that. Rae uses advice from
one of Pippa’s friends back home to give
some structure to Pippa’s zigging and
zagging, but it’s not quite enough to anchor the novel. Available simultaneously:
Fool Me Twice by Mandy Hubbard. Ages
12–up. Agent: Marietta Zacker, Nancy
Gallt Literary Agency. (May)
Camelot Burning
Kathryn Rose. Llewellyn/Flux, $9.99 trade
paper (408p) ISBN 978-0-7387-3967-0
Rose’s shaky debut, first in the Metal &
Lace series, introduces a steampunk
Camelot in which Christianity and the
“mechanical arts” from the East are rapid-
ly replacing addictive pagan magic. Eras
blend uneasily in Arthur’s court, where
knights wear blazers and shoot crossbows,
aeroships sail through the sky, and serfs
till the land. Seventeen-year-old Vivienne,
apprenticed to the inventor Merlin, builds
a mechanical dragon to fight sorceress
Morgan le Fay while struggling with her
feelings for a squire on the verge of a vow
of celibacy. At times, awkward prose
makes it difficult to fully invest in Vivi-
enne’s dilemma. If Vivienne runs away
when their mother’s mysterious friend
Aunt Theo invites them to visit New
York City under care of a chaperone. An
aura of old-fashioned mystique pervades
the story, as the girls follow dated rules
(“Theo doesn’t like trousers”), meet
Theo’s old suitors at renowned hotels like
the Carlyle, and visit places that have
“been around for, like, ever and ever,” in
the words of Valentine, who chafes under
the restrictions. Following Theo’s admo-
nition to “take notes,” introspective Fran-
ny keeps a journal, while longing to meet
the mysterious benefactor whose influence
has touched so many. Franny’s fresh, em-
pathic voice conveys both eagerness for
adventure and anticipation of loss, as she
sees Valentine preparing to launch into a
new stage in life, recognizes their differ-
ent natures, and understands herself as a
“true Romantic [who] knows that the in-
ner life is... the only thing that really
matters.” Silver (Charlotte au Chocolat) ex-
cels at creating atmospheric nostalgia in
her stylish first book for teens, capturing
a transformative moment in time. Ages
12–up. Agent: Emily Forland, Brandt &
Hochman. (May)
★ V Is for Villain
Peter Moore. Hyperion, $17.99 (336p) ISBN
978-1-4231-5749-6
In this provocative adventure, Moore
(Red Moon Rising) explores the dichoto-mies of good versus evil and nature versus
nurture through the story of a teenage scion of a heroic family who’s forced into a
life of rebellion. Because he’s “
unpow-ered,” Brad Baron can never live up to the
standards set by his legendary father and
brother, but he strives on—until rampant
prejudice and casual neglect lead him to
make friends with a band of malcontents
bent on changing the system through su-pervillainy. Discovering his latent, illegal
power of telepathy, Brad adopts their mission as his own and discovers dark secrets
underlying everything he’s ever believed.
While Moore’s story stands on its own as
a superpowered coming-of-age story,
complete with a bad-girl love interest and
dramatic scenery-destroying battles, it’s
also a subtle criticism of institutionalized
privilege—in this case, featuring a society
in which flashy physical powers are valued more than less-obvious ones, and normal people are practically faceless by-
