A teenage runaway and a mysterious girl, the sole winter inhabitants of a lake island, share their painful histories and forge a connection in this YA paranormal romance.It's early October, and Hector, 17, decides to flee from his problems: trouble at school; episodes of vomiting and blackouts; self-cutting; and something he doesn't talk about involving his uncle and guardian. Besides all that, Hector feels out of place in the world: "I've been half of something my whole life. Too Korean or too American. Too Black, or not Black enough." His plan is to miss the last ferry from Lake Superior's Isle Royale, deserted half the year, and stay. He's not worried about searchers, because "helicopters and ships don't look for runaway Black boys. Never in this lifetime." By mid-May, when the island reopens, Hector will be 18 and free. But he discovers that Isle Royale has a year-round inhabitant: beautiful, white-blond Anda Selkirk, usually invisible. November is the month when Anda renews herself through death, crucially through mariners' tragic fates in the lake's storms. Strangely, Hector can see Anda, and he needs her help since he vastly underestimated the difficulties of surviving. They soon become close and romantic—but Anda struggles with a stronger and stronger pull to fulfill her grim purpose. Events build to a stormy confrontation with destiny and the future. Kang (Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything, 2017, etc.) writes in the melodramatic, first-person, present-tense mode common to YA paranormal romance. The melodrama can be physical ("My stomach dives into the center of the earth"; "My heart punches my chest a million times a minute") but can also turn more poetic, as when Anda says: "I am made of storms and corpses, of granite and paper-white birch." The author is skillful enough to pull this off for readers who enjoy well-crafted sentences describing lovely, damaged, lonely teenagers: "Pain is so easy. It's what we do best," says Hector to Anda, who agrees. Ultimately, Kang offers some fresh ideas in this well-structured book. In addition, she brings a three-dimensional vividness to her characters.An emotional and dramatic tale of an otherworldly relationship.

Gr 9 Up-Told in alternating points of view, this is the story of Hector and Anda, who both meet on Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Hector is 17 and running away by taking the last ferry to the island, knowing that it is closed to visitors over the winter season. He is shocked to find another teenager on there, one who appears to have been left by her father. Hector is not at all prepared for life on the island, and Anda seems very naive about life off Isle Royale. Their slowly blossoming romance is tinged with the knowledge that each is withholding secrets. This is a romantic thriller with an original premise. As the chapters alternate between characters, readers are given a glimpse of each teen's secret, but information is doled out slowly. This builds a solid level of tension that keeps the pages turning though the pacing sometimes becomes uneven. Hector's character is complex. He is biracial, caught between worlds, and seemingly abandoned by both parents to an uncle from whom Hector is running. Anda is fey, with a encyclopedic knowledge of geology, history and myth, but she appears to be completely impractical. The novel is quite dark in places, with strong language, drug use, and sexual abuse featured. The subject matter and the complexity of the plot make it more suitable for older readers who will be hooked by the writing style all the way to the neat and satisfying ending. VERDICT Purchase where paranormal romance is still popular. Michelle Anderson, Tauranga City Libraries, New Zealand