Disruption

November 7, 2016
YA author Shirvington’s solid dystopian thriller for adults depicts a near-future America in which everyone turning 18 is fitted with “M-Bands” that can detect pheremonic compatibility, allowing people to find romantic partners. Those who register as “negative” with too many people are culled from society. Maggie Stevens’s father was one of the culled, and Maggie, who’s based in the Washington, D.C., area, has spent years attempting to find where he was taken. Her efforts involve breaking and entering, occasional acts of violence, and blackmail. The latter is what she uses to keep her hacker accomplice in line and to manipulate the rich and handsome heir to the M-Band fortune for her own purposes. Shirvington (the Embrace series) has a knack for writing tense action sequences and for classic YA romantic tension. A well-crafted twist sets up the next book in the series. Agent: Selwa Anthony, Selwa Anthony Literary Management.

October 1, 2016

Gr 8 Up-A fast-paced and frightening dystopian series opener. What if you could wear a smartwatchlike band that could tell you when you're getting stressed or tired or who your next best friend or even soul mate will be? In Maggie Stevens's world, such technology is a reality-and a requirement. Advanced Phera-tech allows people to match up based on their pheromone readings; couples can be enemies, friends, "lust-matches," or even good marriage candidates, and there's the nearly impossible "perfect match." Maggie's father is locked away in a prison for being a "neg," or someone who garners only negative readings with others-a sign of a criminal or otherwise unstable person. The protagonist knows her father is not a neg, so she blackmails the heir to the M-Corp fortune, Quentin Mercer, to help her find her dad. What she doesn't expect is that the person she thinks is her enemy is someone entirely different and that those she loves can be her enemies. As Maggie grapples with whether to trust the Phera-tech ratings or her own instincts, vast conspiracies are unraveled and she must choose between her heart and her head. With heaps of action and suspense, along with a realistically imperfect heroine, this title is a take on a world that is not far from plausible-where we are all controlled by bands on our wrists. VERDICT Fans of Victoria Aveyard's The Red Queen and Marie Lu's "The Young Elites" will enjoy Shirvington's energetic writing style and fresh spin on oppressive future technologies.-Amanda Buschmann, Carroll Elementary, Houston, TX

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