Willow's family fears the unknown. Her brother Wisp is sick with a mysterious illness, and her life is wrapped up in the unspoken rules of caring for him. After an accident in a blizzard, Willow and her family find themselves in a strange town called Kismet. It's a small town where everyone seems to know what will happen next and some kind of magic seems to be helping Wisp get better, which helps their mom stop worrying. But when Willow discovers the truth behind the town's power, she must decide what she wants for her own future and whether she can face the unknown. With a dash of Brigadoon and Tuck Everlasting, Willow's story invites readers to explore the choices we make, the scariness of the unknown, and fate versus free will. While the town and Wisp might have benefited from more development, the dilemma faced by Willow provides tween readers with a good discussion prompt about the power of choice.--Sarah Bean Thompson Copyright 2019 Booklist

Gr 5-7-Twelve-year-old Willow, her sick brother Wisp, and their mother are driving home from a hockey game in a blizzard when they are left stranded in the snow and mysteriously rescued by two townspeople from Kismet, ME. With no cell phones and no way out, Willow's mother begins to panic about Wisp, whose undiagnosed illness means frequent visits to the hospital and constant risk of death. While her mother frets, Willow notices strange things about the town. The innkeeper knows to set out an extra cot in Willow's room for Wisp before she has even met them, and the cook at the diner seems to have their food ready for them before they even order. It is not until Willow's worried mother becomes overly confident that Wisp will be okay that Willow seeks the truth about Kismet. This book attempts to answer questions about free will but often falls short. Though readers will sympathize with the choices Willow and her mother must make, other characters lack depth-particularly Wisp, who feels more like a plot device than a fully developed character. While it takes Willow time to guess Kismet's secret, readers will be quick to figure out the twist. VERDICT An additional purchase.-Katharine Gatcomb, Portsmouth Public Library, NH © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A 12-year-old with a sick brother chooses between supernaturally comforting certainty and painful reality. Returning from Canada, Willow, her mother, and her 8-year-old, chronically ill brother, Wisp, nearly die in a car accident in rural Maine. Thank goodness for their rescuers, a friendly couple who bring them to a BB in an isolated snowbound community. Willow's mother panics about Wisp, whose extremely rare, undiagnosed condition means frequent hospitalizations and constant risk of death, but the snowstorm and the accident have left them without cellphones, car, or escape route. At least the people of tiny Kismet, Maine (all 173 of them), are helpful and kindif also a little spooky. It's as if the locals know what's going to happen before it comes to pass. Can Willow cope with her mother's obsessive overprotectiveness of Wisp, get home to Vermont, and learn Kismet's strange secret? The townsfolk all appear to be white, like Willow and her family, and Franco-Americandescended from early Acadians. Kismet's not remotely believable (this infinitesimal, magically isolated village somehow supports both a hospital and a movie theater), and the magical rules are only slightly more credible. But the emotional truths Willow and her mother confront are wrenching and genuine, albeit not as meaningful as they'd be if Wisp were a fully developed character in his own right.Works better as fable than as fantasy. (Fiction. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A car accident during a blizzard strands twelve-year-old Willow, her younger brother Wisp (who has a potentially fatal chronic illness), and their mother in the tiny town of Kismet, Maine. The family is stuck as the storm continues for days, and Willow slowly realizes that the people of Kismet are hiding something. As she gets to know the townspeopleparticularly Topher, whos about to turn thirteen and make a life-changing decisionWillow discovers their secret: the people of Kismet eat berries from a magic bush that show them the next days events in their dreams, so they always know what will happen even though they are prevented from changing the future. Duble populates her story with well-rounded adult and child characters, and Willows concern and love for Wisp is profound without being cloying. The books resolutionas Willow and Topher must decide whether they can live with Kismets restrictionsis largely unsurprising but still satisfying, while the fate-versus-free-will theme is handled in a child-friendly and realistic manner. sarah rettger July/Aug p.126(c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.