These Vengeful Hearts

Laurin’s ungainly but compelling debut blends a conventional romance with a less deadly version of high school thrillers in the style of Maureen Johnson and Kara Thomas. For years, a secret student cabal, the Red Court, has ruled Heller High School. Working in cells of two and led by the mysterious Red Queen, the all-female group uses a system of owed favors to rig homecoming elections, change exam results, expose dalliances, and more. Certain that the Red Court is behind an incident that paralyzed her older sister from the waist down, high achiever September Williams has positioned herself to enter the secret society with the goal of destroying the group from within. After Ember’s initiation—staging a photo to break up an established couple—kicks off a predictable romance with her academic nemesis, dishy Chase Merriman, her Red Court assignments take on an oddly personal turn and become increasingly destructive. While the baroque scheming moves things along, the novel’s real pleasure comes from watching tightly wound Ember leave some of her preconceptions behind—finding an unexpected friend in her Red Court mentor and coming to terms with just how much she relishes her newfound control. Ages 13–up. [em]Agent: Tess Callero, Europa Content. (Sept.) [/em]