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. A love triangle that frustrates at first delivers both a swoon-worthy and thrilling cliffhanger that will compel readers to the sequel.Ī riff on a Twilight Zone plot unfolds into a richly drawn alien dystopian replete with romance and horror. The narrative perspective shifts between her and far more thinly characterized cohorts Cora’s pulses with her fiery resilience, outshining the others. However, Cora isn’t the type to be caged in.

The cost of their protection is compliance with their rules. He’s one of the Kindred, and it’s their mission to protect humans-an endangered species. Soon enough, an ET appears, looking much like an alluring figure from Cora’s dreams. All around them are murky, black windows with shifting shadows behind them. Cora reluctantly teams up with him, and together, they find three others inside a strange city filled with candy shops and toy stores. Terrified, she runs, quickly encountering Lucky, a cute stranger who knows far more about her than he lets on. Six teenagers face a life of captivity in an alien-designed human zoo.Ĭora awakens in a most unusual land, one divided into disparate environments stitched closely together: a desert, a beach, a farm, a city, and more.

Megan shepherd the cage series