It's spring--a time for new beginnings. This is Miki Yoshida's final year of high school, and she's determined to make this the best year yet. Miki is in control . . . . . . until Hiro Sakurai shows up. The tall, handsome new student is hiding something, and Miki wants to know what. As she breaks down Hiro's defenses, she is unnerved by how much she cares about him. Too bad he is the one guy who can't care for her back. But Miki is falling for Hiro, and nothing's going to stop her from getting close to him--not even his dangerous secret. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Gr 7 Up Miki is falling, both out of a window, and possibly into love, in Spring. As the story opens, the Japanese high school senior throws herself from a third-story window. The reason is not given; readers know only that it has something to do with Hiro, a handsome and mysterious new student. After serious efforts to win his friendship, Miki discovers his secret: he is a Deliverer, a superhuman being devoted to preserving love. Crilley has made the manga style of art his own, focusing particularly on the expressive eyes of his characters. His use of panels draws the story forward by showing both movement and reactions intermingled. In Summer, Miki begins to delve further into Hiro's secret world of the Deliverers. In order to keep love alive, they rescue it from couples who are falling out of love before the spark is entirely gone. But watching love is dangerous territory, and though Deliverers and humans are not allowed to fall in love with one another, Miki and Hiro are growing dangerously close. Add a jealous Deliverer after Hiro herself to the mix, and their romance only becomes more complicated. Crilley's work with panels again enhances the storytelling (in a scene with a breakup, for example, one character's expressions are shown in shards cascading down one side of the page). Readers will be eager to find out how Miki's romance progresses and how she meets the fate foreshadowed in the first volume. Alana Abbott, James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford, CT Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Crilley, probably best known for his Akiko novels and comic books, weighs in with the Miki Falls series, about lively, curious high-school-senior Miki, ready for adventure and romance. Attractive new student Hiro Sakurai piques Miki's curiosity, but he is not interested in making friends. Stubborn Miki, however, refuses to take no for an answer, which leads to a surprising revelation about the secretive young man. Except for an odd twist at the end (which, presumably, will be developed in future volumes), there are no surprises here. Crilley's manga-inspired illustrations, on the other hand, are terrific. Ranging from crisscrossing sequential panels to spot art, varied in size and artfully connected to further the plot, the pictures cleverly instill the story with abundant emotion, humor, and drama. An overlay of light shading and almost delicately rendered facial features and details give the book a softer feel than much manga. Despite the age of the characters, this will attract more middle-schoolers than older comics fans. StephanieZvirin. From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.