Teen Tuesday

Stay Dead by April Henry (Christy Ottaviano Books, 28 May 2024).

Sixteen-year-old Milan Mayhew has just been kicked out of another private school. 

The headmistress is understanding:  Milan’s had a tough year.  Her father Jack, a U.S. senator, was killed in a car accident. Milan, in the car with him, survived, but blames herself for distracting him by being a brat.  Her mother ran for his seat and won, then sent Milan off to boarding school.

This one is the third in six months.  Despite being understanding of the teen’s emotional state, she takes Milan to the small local airport where she’ll be picked up by her mom’s plane, on the way back to her home in Portland.

But somewhere over the Cascade Mountains, the plane blows up.  When Milan wakes up, she’s trapped in her seat, but manages to free herself.  Everyone else appears to have been killed, but she finds her mom, Heather, a short distance from the wreckage. 

Knowing she’s going to die, Heather explains to Milan that her father’s death wasn’t an accident, and neither was the plane crash.  Jack was killed because of evidence he found against a fracking company, and when Heather won his seat, they targeted her, too.

Milan’s assignment is to go home, find the flash drive containing the evidence, and deliver it to Jack’s mentor. 

Of course, it’s a big task for a teenage girl, but Milan is determined that the people who killed her parents will pay. 

An avid hiker, Milan is proficient in wilderness survival skills, all of which she is forced to use as she struggles against nature (and a human who has realized that Milan survived the crash) to reach civilization and find the evidence.

Stay Dead, like all of April Henry’s novels, is well-researched.  Henry is also a proficient storyteller, and like most of her novels, is difficult to put down once begun.

April Henry is the New York Times-bestselling author of 29 mysteries and thrillers for teens and adults. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her family. Her 2023 novel Girl Forgotten won the Edgar Award for Young Adult Novel.

Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing me with the egalley to review.

YA Thursday - Recent Reads

NEED by Joelle Charbonneau (HMH BFYR hardcover, 3 November 2015).*

There's a new social networking site exclusive to the students at Nottawa High School in Wisconsin. The site, called NEED, will grant a person's need when they sign up.  For some, a need is as simple as the latest cell phone or tickets to a concert.  But for Kaylee Dunham, the need is a new kidney for her younger brother.

After making her request, Kaylee has second thoughts and tries to investigate the site, but she keeps
coming up against brick walls.  And then some of her fellow students are inujured or killed, and she's sure it's somehow connected to NEED.

Joelle Charbonneau has created a terrifyingly believable mystery/thriller/social commentary that is absolutely unputdownable.

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A School for Brides: A Story of Maidens, Mystery and Matrimony by Patrice Kindl (Viking BFYR hardcover, 14 July 2015).**


This companion to Keeping the Castle takes place in the same location:  Lesser Hoo, Yorkshire. Some of the same characters are present in minor roles, but the focus of the story is the students of Winthrop Hopkins Female Academy, a school  for young ladies aspiring to marry.  

Unfortunately, there is a lack of single young men in Lesser Hoo, but both students and instructors are hopeful.  Not that the students need much instructing.  This is a quick, humorous read that will be loved by Jane-ites and other fans of light Regency romance.

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Ten by Gretchen McNeil (Balzer + Bray hardcover, 18 September 2012).***

Ten Seattle high school students have been invited to a private party on Henry Island. They've just arrived at the island when a huge storm hits.  After watching a creepy DVD, they decide to call it a night. In the morning, one of the girls is hanging from the rafters, and there's a red hash mark on the wall.

The power has gone out, so they are unable to call for help. Unsure whom to trust, they begin to turn on each other.  The number of hash marks increases...

This is a well-crafted homage to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, a classic you should read if you enjoyed Ten.






FTC Full Disclosures:
*Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing me with an e-galley.
** Library book.
***Purchased.