Review by Booklist Review
Sixteen-year-old Jules Demarco sees a vision, first on billboards and then everywhere: a snowplow crashes into a building causing it to explode, and then there are nine body bags. It's like a movie trailer with no sound, no credits. And nobody sees it but me. Jules' mission once she puts aside issues of her own sanity is to figure out when and where the accident is happening and try to prevent it. Mixed in is a long-standing family rivalry with the Agottis, owners of the other Italian restaurant in town (the DeMarcos live above their restaurant), and Jules' forbidden love for classmate Sawyer Agotti. The popular author of the Wake trilogy and Cryer's Cross (2011) will please her large fan base with this readable mystery, which has suspense, romance, and strong supporting characters in Jules' siblings, Trey and Rowan. While the plot is a little slow to start, it speeds up enough midway through to ensure readers will be flipping the pages. The unexpected ending will leave many in disbelief and anticipating the second book in the series.--Kelley, Ann Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A key role in running the family restaurant is a lot for any kid to handle; simultaneously protecting a gay brother and a mentally ill father is more than enough complication. High school sophomore Jules Demarco has it even worse: she's also in love with "the enemy"-Sawyer Angotti, whose family runs a rival restaurant. She keeps her balance until billboards around town begin showing her a crashing truck and body bags. Only Jules sees these harbingers of doom, and soon they're everywhere, in steadily increasing detail-detail that shows that one of those body bags belongs to Sawyer. McMann's (Wake) new series has a well- realized, amusing narrator and great realism in the details of restaurant management and family dysfunction. The questionable part is Jules's visions; there's no reason why this Romeo and Juliet romance needs precognition to work. So little rationale is given for them that it's difficult to see how the device will plausibly support more books. However thin the pretext, though, Jules's voice is quirky and fun-there's plenty of reason to read on. Ages 14-up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 8 Up-Sixteen-year-old Jules Demarco may be crazy. Everywhere she looks she sees the same horrific vision of a fiery crash that results in the deaths of nine people. Mental illness runs in her family, so it's possible that she could be hallucinating. When the images become more urgent, Jules begins studying the clues within them and realizes that she isn't insane-she's seeing the future. It's up to her to solve the mystery and save the lives of eight strangers as well as the boy she loves before it's too late. Allyson Ryan voices the tormented Jules with conviction, sounding very much like an overwrought teen. Jules's frustration is audible in Ryan's anxious, teeth-clenched narration, whether she's angrily laying her feelings on the line to her love interest, Sawyer, or dealing with former friends who think she's crazy. Listeners can practically see the teen's exasperated eye-rolls when interacting with her less-than-tolerant parents, and her sometimes snarky, always tender relationship with her siblings is expressed through Ryan's nuanced performance. While the story is fast-paced, the audio production disrupts the narrative's flow with lengthy breaks between chapters and some tracks. The silence is noticeable and undermines the momentum that McMann has created in her story (Simon Pulse, 2013) and Ryan conveys. In spite of this, listeners will enjoy this tale about rival families and forbidden love.-Audrey Sumser, Cuyahoga County Public Library, Mayfield, OH (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Jules sees the vision--a truck hitting a building and exploding--everywhere; is she seeing the future or is she insane? Hoping for the former, she risks looking crazy to try to save the people in her vision: her family's business rivals and their son, whom she secretly loves. This suspenseful series opener is fast paced and features a likable heroine. (c) Copyright 2013. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Seeing is believingunless you're the only one with the vision. McMann kicks off the first book in her new Visions series with a bang. On nearly every flat surface--billboards, televisions and road signs--Jules Demarco sees an out-of-control snowplow crash into a restaurant, causing an explosion and killing those inside. With a depressed grandfather who committed suicide and a moody, hoarder father, she's certain her Italian family will commit her if they find out about her visions. There's also their probable anger to contend with: The restaurant in Jules' vision is their rival pizza parlor, and one of the dead is Sawyer Angotti, her secret, lifelong crush and son of the adversarial restaurateur. As in the Wake trilogy, a strong female protagonist pairs with quick pacing, realistic dialogue and the right amount of romance to drive this suspenseful story. Using clues from her ever more frequent visions, social outcast Jules tries to figure out the exact time of the crash in an attempt to thwart it, risking her already shaky standing with Sawyer, her parents and her classmates. In the process of saving lives, she also discovers some dark family secrets. The teen's occasional lists of five items, such as "Five reasons why I, Jules Demarco, am shunned," keep the drama on the lighter side. McMann is on her way to becoming the next queen of supernatural thrillers. (Supernatural thriller. 14 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
