Only a Monster

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY DEC 20, 2021

Len's deeply imaginative debut follows 16-year-old history buff Joan Chang-Hunt, of Chinese Malaysian and English descent, who has long spent her summers with her deceased mother's mother in London; when Joan was six, her Gran revealed that the Hunts are monsters who "hide in plain sight." This summer, Joan is looking forward to time with Nick, her presumed-white coworker and crush. But when Joan inexplicably loses a whole day, Gran tells Joan the whole truth: that the Hunts are monsters, that monsters are able to time travel by stealing hours from a human's life, and that each monster family has its own power. After her family is suddenly massacred and a hunt for surviving monsters is mounted, Joan partners with haughty 17-year-old Aaron Oliver, implied white, of a "cruel" monster family, to jump back in time and save their families if they can. Including thoughtful introspection about Joan's multi-ethnic identity and status as a half-human, half-monster, Len carefully reveals Joan's new reality and moral struggle through an entertaining and carefully built trilogy opener. Ages 13 up.