The Dead Queens Club

December 15, 2018
The scandals of 16th-century English royalty pale next to the political drama of 21st-century high school students in this fictionalized version of Lancaster, Indiana.Annie Marck, aka Cleves (so called because she's from Cleveland), and homecoming king Henry are BFFs (who dated for 15 days, making her girlfriend No. 4) and adrenaline junkies who have decided to embark on the ultimate senior year. Henry's dating history isn't without its setbacks. First, girlfriend No. 2, Anna Boleyn, died while allegedly trying to kill him; later, Katie Howard (No. 5 and Anna's cousin) dies after Henry discovers she's been cheating with football player Tom Culpeper. Cleves has a hard time believing he's a murderer, but the evidence is piling up. Like his historical counterpart, Henry lives by a code of double standards, especially when it comes to cheating and number of girlfriends (six in two years). Also like Henry VIII, shallow and self-absorbed high school Henry isn't easy to love. Witty narrator Cleves is a feminist force, lambasting slut-shaming and calling out her female classmates' internalized misogyny. Readers who like mapping real-life figures onto fictional counterparts will read with Wikipedia open. Cleves was adopted from China and her sister from Malawi; otherwise, whiteness is assumed.So much fun. (Fiction. 13-adult)

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Gr 7 Up-Annie Marck, aka Cleveland, is not your typical new girl struggling to find her place in her new home, Small Town, Indiana. Instead, Cleveland enters the scene on the arm of the most popular boy in town, super jock, genius, and prankster Henry. No, she's not his girlfriend, but yes maybe she'd like to be. Henry is on his sixth girlfriend in two years, and his most recent ex is dead, killed in a mysterious prom explosion. Everyone has their theories, but Cleves is determined to find out what really happened before it's too late and history repeats itself. Capin's debut YA authentically captures high school culture and dialogue. Though sometimes a bit contrived and overly detailed, the novel's light humor and whodunit aspect will keep readers' interest in this send-up of King Henry VIII and his many wives. VERDICT A general purchase for most YA collections, especially those looking for genre-bending mysteries.-Betsy Davison, Cortland Jr. Sr. High School, NY

November 15, 2018
Grades 10-1 When Annie Marck, aka Cleveland, aka Cleves, first met Henry, he was a future politician sickeningly in love with his longtime girlfriend, Lina. Fast-forward almost two years, and Henry's on girlfriend number six, uptight newspaper maven Cat Parr, and everything's been blown, somewhat literally, to hell. Girlfriend five was life-of-the-party Katie Howard; four was, well, Cleves; and three was seriously basic Jane Seymour. And number two? That was Anna Boleyn, the girl who broke up Henry and Lina. The girl everyone hates. The girl who blew up a building?and herself?when things went south. While they're with Henry, these girls are queens. But now two of them are dead. And Cleves is going to find out why. Clever nods to English history are woven throughout this teen drama. It's difficult to work sixteenth-century motivations into a contemporary story line, but Capin mostly manages to create a crafty, compelling debut. Moments where it slips into melodrama are forgivable?these are Tudors, after all. A gripping, history-based mystery that finds its footing among a group of determined, very different girls.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)