(1) YA High school seniors Luna Chang and Hunter Yee keep crossing paths, and they soon realize that they both have bizarre abilities. Luna can attract fish and fireflies; Hunter has perfect aim, and gusts of wind inexplicably bring money to his feet. While they fall for each other, a strange series of events takes hold of them and their township--beginning with a massive crack that appears in the street one night when the two are alone on a late bus home. As their feelings for each other deepen, they uncover secrets that span generations; most of the third-person narration alternates between Luna and Hunter's points of view, but interspersed chapters from other perspectives provide insight into a longstanding feud between their families. In lush prose, Pan (The Astonishing Color of After, rev. 3/18) retells both the Chinese legend of Chang'e and Houyi and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The seemingly ordinary setting of "1991, in Fairbridge, Where We Lay Our Scene" opens up to a world full of mystery and magic.

Reviewer: Gabi K. Huesca | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2022

(2) YA Half–Taiwanese American teen Leigh travels to Taipei on a grief-stricken odyssey after her mother's suicide, piecing together her past by lighting magical incense to witness fragments of others' memories. Pan tells Leigh's story with a vividness punctuated by highly specific hues (e.g., "viridian spiraling" thoughts). The abundant imagery--along with threads of Taiwanese mysticism and the mingling of ghosts with the living--creates a hypnotic narrative.

Reviewer: Roxanne Hsu Feldman | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2018