School Library Journal
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Gr 5 Up—Four years ago, Alaina Lucero, described with brown skin and purple hair, and Liam Montoya (appearance never described), took the Fairy Door Trail hike in Camas, WA, disturbing a fairy ring and breaking a mirror. Now, Alaina courageously manages Type 1 diabetes, while Liam exhibits unusual sleep patterns. Alaina convinces Liam that their hike caused their strange symptoms, and that they should work through a list of fairy cursebreakers. Liam faces derision from his soccer team as his performance suffers. Swore's first-person narrative with chapters from Liam and Alaina is a clear, empathetic portrayal of living with childhood chronic disease as well as the timeless power of fairy tales to describe and allude to the human condition. While it succeeds in that, the balance of action and narrative seems weighted, relying more on dialogue-driven info-dumps than on plot. The middle third of the book focuses heavily on Liam and Alaina's symptoms with almost no momentum. The title and cover indicate fantasy, but this is really a contemporary story with fairy-tale metaphors, which may not hit home with the average middle graders. That mismatch may mean its true audience (readers of Wonder) won't find this story, while fantasy readers will be chagrined at its important but quotidian message. VERDICT A powerful presentation about courage in the face of childhood autoimmune disorders is juxtaposed with fantasy elements that fail to develop. Purchase where handselling as a contemporary title can overcome mixed marketing.—Caitlin Augusta

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

When Liam falls ill without explanation, his friend becomes convinced they need to break a fairy curse to cure him. Four years ago, Liam and fairy-obsessed Alaina found a hidden grove covered in mirrors. Alaina was sure the items were fairy treasure, so when they accidentally broke one—and had nothing to leave in payment—Alaina worried the fairies would punish them. Now 12, Alaina and Liam have grown apart, but she still runs to his aid when he collapses and crashes his bike. At urgent care, Liam sees a white fox running into a picture on the wall and a mirror, yet the doctor finds nothing wrong. After Liam confides in Alaina that he doesn’t know why he sometimes feels extreme fatigue and can’t focus, she admits she’s always wondered whether developing Type 1 diabetes was her fairy curse; what if exhaustion is Liam’s punishment? With doctors baffled and his other friends picking on him for falling asleep in class, Liam works with Alaina to break his curse before it becomes permanent like hers. This lightly illustrated dual-perspective tale of two kids navigating chronic illness offers age-appropriate disability representation, but it lacks a solid middle-grade voice. The tweens’ dialogue contains outdated slang and adultlike narration, as well as numerous quotes from other works that become tedious. Liam reads white; contextual clues may point to Alaina’s having some Latine heritage. Tries to accurately convey the experience of invisible illnesses but is hindered by its pacing and characterization. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.