A house like an accordion

When tech billionaire Keryth's hand disappears one morning while she is brushing her teeth, it's not a complete surprise. She has a secret. Whatever she draws in her sketchbook becomes manifested in real life, a power inherited from her father, who warned Keryth never to use it. But she has been using it. The power got her out of foster care after her father's unexplained disappearance and into a dazzlingly successful life with a soulmate husband and two teenage daughters. Her father, Keryth realizes, must be alive and drawing in his own sketchbook. She has to find him before she completely fades away. With the help of two old friends, Keryth embarks on a mission to locate each house she lived in as a child--houses her father created with his magical drawings. At each one, she discovers new aspects of her own growing powers and how to best use them. Following The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone (2023), Burges' second novel is another absorbing, creative story imbued with magic realism.

A gripping premise fizzles out in Burges's underwhelming sophomore effort (after The Miniscule Mansion of Myra Malone). Billionaire Keyrth Miller has a secret: whatever she draws in her magically expanding sketchbook appears in real life. Thanks to the book, she's drawn her way out of foster care and into a college scholarship, a family, and a fortune. But her estranged father has a talent of his own: whatever he draws in his own magic sketchbook becomes imprisoned there. When Keyrth's hand turns invisible, she knows her father is drawing her into his book. To track him down and stop him, Keyrth must delve back into her past by traveling across the Southwest in search of the five mysterious houses where she last lived with her family. The narrative loses momentum during Keyrth's travels thanks to ham-fisted foreshadowing about her true origins and an oddly handled love triangle between Keryth, her husband, and her high school boyfriend, Tobias, that ends with an appalling manipulation on Keryth's part. This disappoints. Agent: Maria Whelan, InkWell Management. (May)

When tech billionaire Keryth's hand disappears one morning while she is brushing her teeth, it's not a complete surprise. She has a secret. Whatever she draws in her sketchbook becomes manifested in real life, a power inherited from her father, who warned Keryth never to use it. But she has been using it. The power got her out of foster care after her father's unexplained disappearance and into a dazzlingly successful life with a soulmate husband and two teenage daughters. Her father, Keryth realizes, must be alive and drawing in his own sketchbook. She has to find him before she completely fades away. With the help of two old friends, Keryth embarks on a mission to locate each house she lived in as a child—houses her father created with his magical drawings. At each one, she discovers new aspects of her own growing powers and how to best use them. Following The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone (2023), Burges' second novel is another absorbing, creative story imbued with magic realism. Copyright 2024 Booklist Reviews.

The author of The Minuscule Mansion of Myra Malone offers another intriguing work of magical realism. Keryth Miller is overwhelmed and burnt out by her life as a wife and mother and sometimes feels like she's fading away—then parts of her start to actually disappear. Now she's on the search for her missing artist father, who is sketching her out of the picture. Prepub Alert. Copyright 2023 Library Journal

A gripping premise fizzles out in Burges's underwhelming sophomore effort (after The Miniscule Mansion of Myra Malone). Billionaire Keyrth Miller has a secret: whatever she draws in her magically expanding sketchbook appears in real life. Thanks to the book, she's drawn her way out of foster care and into a college scholarship, a family, and a fortune. But her estranged father has a talent of his own: whatever he draws in his own magic sketchbook becomes imprisoned there. When Keyrth's hand turns invisible, she knows her father is drawing her into his book. To track him down and stop him, Keyrth must delve back into her past by traveling across the Southwest in search of the five mysterious houses where she last lived with her family. The narrative loses momentum during Keyrth's travels thanks to ham-fisted foreshadowing about her true origins and an oddly handled love triangle between Keryth, her husband, and her high school boyfriend, Tobias, that ends with an appalling manipulation on Keryth's part. This disappoints. Agent: Maria Whelan, InkWell Management. (May)