Just finished reading...

The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke (Ballantine trade paperback, 13 October 2020).

This book is a delight.  It's a story about humans, poetry, families, love, and death, but the main character is music. It's so well-written that I couldn't decide whether I wanted to read it quickly (because the story was so engaging), or slowly (in order to savor the exquisite prose).

We don't meet the song until after we've met the person who initiates it: Australian concert pianist, Diana Clare. Diana composes most of a song after an argument with her fiancé the night before she leaves on a month-long tour.  She inscribes it in a leather bound music manuscript book, intending to work on it while she's away.

Tragically, Diana's life ends before she can return home.  But she leaves the notebook beside a piano in a hotel in Singapore.  The notebook is discovered by a Canadian businessman who decides that rather than leave it up to the hotel to return it to its owner, he'll do it himself once he gets home.

But he forgets, and it languishes on a bookshelf until his daughter picks it up, needing some manuscript paper.

And so, the journey of the song begins, passing from musician to musician, making its way around the world, connecting people as it travels.  

Rather than make a trite comment here about the power of music (oops!), I'm just going to firmly recommend that you read it. 

Oh, one last thought:  it will be perfect for book clubs!

National Library Week: Teen Books About Libraries

Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1) by Rachel Caine (Berkeley paperback, 2016).

Ruthless and supremely powerful, the Great Library is now a presence in every major city, governing the flow of knowledge to the masses. Alchemy allows the Library to deliver the content of the greatest works of history instantly—but the personal ownership of books is expressly forbidden.
 
Jess Brightwell believes in the value of the Library, but the majority of his knowledge comes from illegal books obtained by his family. Jess has been sent to be his family’s spy, but his loyalties are tested in the final months of his training to enter the Library’s service.
 
When his friend inadvertently commits heresy by creating a device that could change the world, Jess discovers that those who control the Great Library believe knowledge is more valuable than any human life—and soon both heretics and books will burn....


The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library #1) by Genevieve Cogman (Penguin paperback, 2016).

Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it’s already been stolen.
 London’s underground factions are prepared to fight to the death to find the tome before Irene and Kai do, a problem compounded by the fact that this world is chaos-infested—the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic to run rampant. To make matters worse, Kai is hiding something—secrets that could be just as volatile as the chaos-filled world itself.
 
Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option—because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself…

Thief of Lies (Library Jumpers #1) by Brenda Drake (Entangled paperback, 2017).

Gia Kearns would rather fight with boys than kiss them. That is, until Arik, a leather clad hottie in the Boston Athenaeum, suddenly disappears. While examining the book of world libraries he abandoned, Gia unwittingly speaks the key that sucks her and her friends into a photograph and transports them into a Paris library, where Arik and his Sentinels-magical knights charged with protecting humans from the creatures traveling across the gateway books-rescue them from a demonic hound.

Jumping into some of the world's most beautiful libraries would be a dream come true for Gia, if she weren't busy resisting her heart or dodging an exiled wizard seeking revenge on both the Mystik and human worlds. Add a French flirt obsessed with Arik and a fling with a young wizard, and Gia must choose between her heart and her head, between Arik's world and her own, before both are destroyed.

Love & War (Library Wars #1) by Kiiro Yumi (VIZ paperback, 2010).

Fight for your right to read!

In the near future, the federal government creates a committee to rid society of books it deems unsuitable. The libraries vow to protect their collections, and with the help of local governments, form a military group to defend themselves---the Library Forces! 

Iku Kasahara has dreamed of joining the Library Defense Force ever since one of its soldiers stepped in to protect her favorite book from being confiscated in a bookstore when she was younger. But now that she’s finally a recruit, she’s finding her dream job to be a bit of a nightmare. Especially since her hard-hearted drill instructor seems to have it out for her!

Teen Tuesday

Half Lost (Half Bad Trilogy #3) by Sally Green (Viking hardcover, 29 March 2016).

In Half Wild, the previous volume of this trilogy, Annalise, the former romantic partner of protagonist Nathan, kills his father, Marcus. 

In this book, Nathan is obsessed with tracking down Annalise, though he’s not exactly sure what he’ll do when he finds her.  Nathan and his new lover, Gabriel, are part of the Alliance, whose purpose is to eliminate the evil Council of White Witches.

As always, Nathan is moody and reticent, even more so since the death of his father. While he’s been developing the magical powers he inherited from Marcus, he has also been killing groups of the Council’s Hunters as he comes across them. 

His killing spree worries Gabriel and Alliance leaders, and he has to work hard to repress the evil part of him. 

The climax of the story, where Nathan leads Alliance fighters as they invade the Council’s headquarters is violent and bloody, but not unexpectedly so.

The result of the battle, and the story’s denouement are unexpected, and the conclusion of the tale is emotionally wrenching, but fitting for this tale. 

Those who have read the first two volumes of the trilogy will read the enthralling finale eagerly, and should, ultimately, be satisfied.

VERDICT Essential for libraries that own the first two books in the trilogy. Purchase multiple copies if possible.



This review was originally published in School Library Journal Mar. 2016: 153.

Magical Monday

Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor (HMH Books for Young Readers hardcover, 1 March 2016).

Sixteen-year-old Hope Walton is very bright, and has an eidetic memory, but that doesn't help to figure out what happened to her mother, who was apparently killed in an earthquake overseas.  Hope doesn't believe it, but she can't make anyone take her seriously.

When her aunt invites her to spend the summer with her in Scotland, Hope is at first reluctant.  Because of her severe claustrophobia, she hates to fly.  But with the help of a sedative prescribed by her doctor, she manages it.  

She doesn't remember Christopher Manor, the estate in the Highlands where her mother had grown up, though apparently she had been there as a very young child, but she is impressed by the huge stone house and the extensive grounds.

Unable to sleep one night, soon after her arrival, she heads to the library to find something to read, but is distracted by the sound of heavy metal music.  She follows the sound to a curtained wall, behind which she finds a hidden doorway into a secret room.

What goes on behind that door has already been given away in the summary on the bookflap, as well as in many reviews, so although it feels wrong, I can tell you that Hope's aunt and mother are part of a secret society of time travellers.  Hope's mother is not dead, but has travelled back in time to the 12th Century, and been stranded there.  

Reviewers have called Into the Dim an Outlander  for young adults, and that works.  There is certainly some romance involved, though because it's aimed at teens, there's no overt sexual content.  

Those who enjoyed Kerstin Gier's Ruby Red Trilogy, also a series about a secretive group of time travellers, will devour this book.




FTC Full Disclosure:  I borrowed this book from my local library.

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

Teen Tuesday -- Exciting November Releases

Da Vinci's Tiger by L.M. Elliott (Katherine Tegen Books hardcover, 10 November 2015).

The young and beautiful daughter of a wealthy family, Ginevra longs to share her poetry and participate in the artistic ferment of Renaissance Florence but is trapped in an arranged marriage in a society dictated by men. 

 The arrival of the charismatic Venetian ambassador, Bernardo Bembo, introduces Ginevra to a dazzling circle of patrons, artists, and philosophers. Bembo chooses Ginevra as his Platonic muse and commissions a portrait of her by a young Leonardo da Vinci. Posing for the brilliant painter inspires an intimate connection between them, one Ginevra only begins to understand. 

In a rich and vivid world of exquisite art with a dangerous underbelly of deadly political feuds, Ginevra faces many challenges to discover her voice and artistic companionship—and to find love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Captive by A.J. Grainger (Simon & Schuster BFYR hardcover, 3 November 2015).

When a teen is held hostage, her efforts to escape uncover a conspiracy that forces her to question everything in this psychological thriller with a twist of forbidden romance.

They told her not to worry—
because the man who shot her father was in custody.
They told her that she was safe—
because security had been increased.

All it took was one opportunity, one breach,
and then she was theirs. Kidnapped, confined, alone.
They told her she could go home when their demands were met.
That it wouldn’t take long, because she was the prime minister’s daughter.

But it has been days, and still no help has come.
She wonders when they will tire of this game and kill her.

She cannot wait around for that to happen; she will escape. She has to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the Record by Charlotte Huang (Delacorte Press hardcover, 10 November 2015).

Chelsea thought she knew what being a rock star was like . . . until she became one. After losing a TV talent show, she slid back into small-town anonymity. But one phone call changed everything

Now she’s the lead singer of the band Melbourne, performing in sold-out clubs every night and living
on a bus with three gorgeous and talented guys. The bummer is that the band barely tolerates her. And when teen hearthrob Lucas Rivers take an interest in her, Chelsea is suddenly famous, bringing Melbourne to the next level—not that they’re happy about that. Her feelings for Beckett, Melbourne’s bassist, are making life even more complicated.

Chelsea only has the summer tour to make the band—and their fans—love her. If she doesn’t, she’ll be back in Michigan for senior year, dying a slow death. The paparazzi, the haters, the grueling schedule . . . Chelsea believed she could handle it. But what if she can’t?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How to Be Brave by E. Katherine Kottaras (St. Martin's Griffin hardcover, November 2015).

Georgia has always lived life on the sidelines: uncomfortable with her weight, awkward, never been kissed, terrified of failing.

Then her mom dies and her world is turned upside down. But instead of getting lost in her pain, she decides to enjoy life while she still can by truly living for the first time. She makes a list of ways to
be brave-all the things she's always wanted to do but has been too afraid to try: learn to draw, try out for cheerleading, cut class, ask him out, kiss him, see what happens from there.

But she's about to discover that life doesn't always go according to plan. Sometimes friendships fall apart and love breaks your heart. But in the process, you realize you're stronger than you ever imagined...

Teen Tuesday -- Fall Releases

Velvet Undercover by Teri Brown (Balzer + Bray hardcover, 20 October 2015).

Samantha Donaldson's family has always done its duty for the British Crown. In the midst of World War I, seventeen-year-old Sam follows in their footsteps, serving her country from the homefront as a messenger for the intelligence organization MI5. After her father disappears on a diplomatic mission, she continues their studies of languages, mathematics, and complex puzzles, hoping to make him proud.

When Sam is asked to join the famed women's spy group La Dame Blanche, she's torn—while this could be an unbelievable adventure, how can she abandon her mother, who has already lost a husband?
But when her handlers reveal shocking news, Sam realizes she can't refuse the exciting and dangerous opportunity.

Her acceptance leads her straight into the heart of enemy territory on a mission to extract the most valuable British spy embedded in Germany, known only as Velvet. Deep undercover in the court of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Sam must navigate the labyrinthine palace and its many glamorous—and secretive—residents to complete her assignment. To make matters worse she must fight a forbidden attraction to the enemy—a dangerously handsome German guard. In a place where personal politics are treacherously entangled in wartime policy, can Sam find Velvet before it's too late . . . for them both?

Manners & Mutiny (Finishing School Book the Fourth) by Gail Carriger (Little, Brown BFYR hardcover, 3 November 2015).

Lessons in the art of espionage aboard Mademoiselle Geraldine's floating dirigible have become tedious without Sophronia's sweet sootie Soap nearby. She would much rather be using her skills to
thwart the dastardly Picklemen, yet her concerns about their wicked intentions are ignored, and now she's not sure whom to trust.

What does the brusque werewolf dewan know? On whose side is the ever-stylish vampire Lord Akeldama? Only one thing is certain: a large-scale plot is under way, and when it comes to fruition, Sophronia must be ready to save her friends, her school, and all of London from disaster--in decidedly dramatic fashion, of course.

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

Teenagers at Wisconsin’s Nottawa High School are drawn deeper into a social networking site that promises to grant their every need . . . regardless of the consequences. Soon the site turns sinister, with simple pranks escalating to malicious
crimes. The body count rises. This chilling YA thriler examines not only the dark side of social media, but the dark side of human nature.

Dangerous Lies by Becca Fitzpatrick (Simon& Schuster BFYR hardcover, 10 November 2015).

Stella Gordon’s life is a lie.
She does not belong in Thunder Basin, Nebraska. As the star witness in a murder trial against a drug

dealer, Stella is now in the Witness Protection Program. The small town locals can never know who she really is. Not even Chet Falconer, the one boy who makes her want to reveal her true self. She knows that telling the truth will only bring violence to this safe haven.

Despite how hard Stella tries to stay under the radar, danger is fast-approaching. Criminals have a way of getting rid of witnesses, and Stella may have made the one mistake that could lead the cold-blooded men hunting for her right to her doorstep.

Teen Tuesday

These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly (Delacorte Press hardcover, 27 October 2015).

As the only daughter of the wealthy American aristocrat Charles Montfort, 17-year-old Josephine is expected to graduate from finishing school and marry a rich, well-born young man.  But in late 19th Century New York, things are changing, and Jo would much rather become a journalist like her heroine Nellie Bly.

Even though she fights with the administration to publish some of her investigative pieces in the school newspaper, Jo's life is pretty rosy.

Until she receives the news that her father has died from a gunshot.  Her uncle manages to keep the detail that it was deliberately self-inflicted out of the newspapers, but Jo knows that her father was too experienced to clean a loaded gun.

On a stealthy visit to a newspaper that her father owns, she hears a young reporter claim that Charles' partners paid to keep quiet the fact that his death was really a murder.  Jo strikes up a friendship with Eddie, and his pal Oscar, a medical student who works at the morgue.

Jo defies propriety by teaming up with the two young men to find out what really happened to Charles, and in the process learns about things that Young Ladies should never even think of: poverty, prostitution, and child labor, for starters.

Class and gender differences of the period may be surprising to some teen readers, but Jennifer Donnelly is an experienced writer of historical fiction, and her research is accurate and thorough.

The novel is fast-paced and gripping.  I read it in a single afternoon, and would dearly love to read more of Jo Montfort's story.




FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for the e-galley.

YA Thursday

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers (St. Martin's Griffin trade paperback, 5 January 2010).

A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog about young adult books that deal with sexual assault.  One of the books I discussed as Courtney Summers' All the Rage, about a high school girl who is raped at a party, but no one believes her when she tries to report it.

A few weeks ago, Some Girls Are, also by Summers, was in the news when it was removed from a South Carolina high school reading list after a parent complained.  

There will be spoilers in the following summary of the plot.

The book is about high school senior Regina Afton, who barely escapes being raped by her "best friend" Anna's boyfriend.  She tells another member of Anna's clique about it, and when she gets to school on Monday, find that Kara has spread rumors that she seduced the boy.  Almost everyone in the school immediately ostracizes Regina.

She is bullied mercilessly by Anna and her followers: Regina is pushed down the stairs, and somehow her locker is filled with rotting raw meat.

Regina admits that she has been guilty of bullying and rumor-mongering herself; that was how she got into Anna's clique to begin with.  And despite now being able to see what truly horrible people are in this group, Regina still longs to be part of it.  

When she finally realizes that she'll never be accepted again, Regina attempts revenge, using tactics that are just as cruel as those that were used against her.

Some Girls Are received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.  It was a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults pick in 2011, a YALSA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, as well as a nominee for the Ontario Library Association's White Pine Award the same year.

The Charleston parent, who was reading the book along with her daughter, "got to page 74 – and a crude reference to oral sex – before she’d had enough. The next morning, she confiscated her daughter’s e-reader and called the school."*

After contacting the chairman of the school's English department and the district board, she filed a complaint with the district asking for a committee to review the book.  But before the committee could meet, the book was pulled from the curriculum and replaced by another, more innocuous title.  The parent also wrote a letter to the Post and Courier about the issue.

As a minister's daughter who was raised in a very strict household, I wasn't allowed to date or to go to school dances.  But I was allowed, and even encouraged, to read whatever I wanted to.  I  was also bullied in school, and the descriptions of bullying in Summers' novel rang true.  To me, Some Girls Are is more a story about bullying and its effects than anything else. 

Summers herself, in a Tumblr post, says 

The novel explores the consequences of hurting people and asks us to consider the impact our actions have on others. It’s about picking up the pieces of our mistakes and bettering ourselves. It’s about forgiveness.

And why wouldn't a parent want her child to read about that?

*Charleston Post and Courier, July 28, 2015


FTC Full Disclosure:  I borrowed this book from my local library.

Teen Tuesday

Dumplin' by Julie Murphy (Balzer + Bray hardcover, 15 September 2015).

Willowdean Dickson has no problems being fat. She owns it.  

Having been heavy since she was a child, Will has come to terms with her weight. Her mother Shirley, had young Willow on fad diets before she was eleven.  Now that Will is a teenager, the overt attempts have ended, but the tacit campaign continues, with Shirley inviting her daughter to watch programs on television about people who've lost a lot of weight.  

Despite being a former beauty queen (Miss Teen Blue Bonnet 1977!), Shirley insists that she's more interested in Will's health than her appearance.  The recent death of Shirley's sister Lucy, who weight neatly 500 pounds supports that, but Will is just not sure.

Shirley now runs the Pageant, which, along with the high school football team, is the Clover City's only claim to fame.  Will could live with that until her best friend Ellen decided to enter. Not only that, but Ellen's started hanging around with Callie, whom she met at Pageant Boot Camp, and who treats Will like a freak.  

But  Bo, the cute guy that Will works with, doesn't seem to mind her size.  Or does he? The only time they spend together apart from work is making out behind the old elementary school.  

I would like to say only that Willowdean's method of dealing with this is completely unexpected, but it has already been revealed in the promotional blurbs (which I seldom read before reviewing books).

Will decides that the only way to regain her self-confidence is to enter the Miss Teen Blue Bonnet Pageant herself, convincing a few other unconventional candidates to join her, and prove that they have just as much right to compete as the skinny girls do.

Like "rape culture", "fat-shaming"  (both terms that I find irksome) has become a hot-button issue recently, though so far, there aren't as many current young adult titles* on the topic. Dumplin' is a well-conceived and -written exploration of a young woman's method of dealing with it.  

*See also Sugar, by Deirdre Riordan Hall (Amazon/Skyscape, June 2015), which I reviewed for School Library Journal (May 2015).


FTC Full Disclosure:  Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for providing me with the e-galley to review.

Blaming the Victim

I inadvertently read three books with similar subject matter one after the other, and it was very emotionally affecting.  During that time, I also happened to come across a Book Riot interview with Laurie Halse Anderson, author of the now classic young adult novel Speak and Courtney Summers, author of All the Rage.

Both of these books deal with a high school girl who has been sexually assaulted at a party, and the problems that each of them has trying to deal with the aftermath.   Anderson's debut novel, Speak was first published in 1999, sixteen years ago.  

I knew that date rape is a real issue in colleges and universities:  in May 2014, the U.S. Department of Education released a list of 55 institutes of  higher education that have open Title IX sexual violence investigations.*  But this still-naive preacher's kid had no idea what a concern it is in young people of high school age.

In the past nine months at least four novels** have been published that deal with date rape in high school. In all of them, the victims are female; in all of them, the incident is common knowledge within the group.  


WARNING:  Spoilers abound in the following reviews.


Some Boys by Patty Blount (Sourcebooks Fire trade paperback, 5 August 2014).


This is a gripping, gut-wrenching story about Grace Collier, who drank too much at a high school party, and was raped by Zac, a popular football player.  The boy then took a photo of her on his phone and posted it on a social media site.  When she reports the assault, she is harassed and verbally abused by other students, and tacitly by teachers and other school staff.   

The only person who's kind to her is Ian, who just happens to be Zac's best friend.  They generally avoid the subject, but when it comes up, Ian makes it clear that he believes his friend.

***

Bet Your Life (A Jess Tennant mystery) by Jane Casey (St. Martin's Griffin hardcover, 3 February 2015).

Ever since she proved that her cousin Freya was murdered rather than having killed herself, (How to Fall) Jess hasn't felt terribly comfortable in the English seaside village of Port Sentinel, where she's been living for a months now.  

On Hallowe'en night, she stumbles across Seb Dawson, lying in the street, obviously the victim of a hit-and-run.  Nobody seems to like Seb much, and even the police don't appear to be investigating very hard, and Jess, who needs to know what happened takes it upon herself to find out.  

What she learns is pretty awful.  Seb's parents are wealthy, and not around much, so he often has wild parties at his house, where he contrives situations in which the girls are abused and  the boys are encouraged do thinks Seb can blackmail them for later.

As Jess gets closer to the truth, Seb becomes nervous enough that he tries to trap her in a burning house.

***

All the Rage by Courtney Summers (St. Martin's Griffin hardcover, 14 April 2015).

Another heartbreaking story of a high school girl who was raped at a party.  Romy Grey, who already has a strike against her because she's from the wrong side of town, is believed to be lying when she accuses Kellan Turner, who happens to be a policeman's son.  

Penny, her former best friend drops Romy, and though she doesn't participate in the general tormenting, she doesn't try to stop it, either.  
Romy gets a job waiting tables in another town and tries to keep the two parts of her life completely separate.  But when , Penny turns up at the diner to tell her that Kellan might have abused another girl, Romy's sense of safety vanishes.  

And so does Penny.  And since it appears that Romy was the last to see her, she becomes a suspect.

***

All three of the above books are, like Speak, very well-written and extremely difficult to read. But, again like Speak, they are works that should be circulated and read and reviewed, in order to bring forward a very serious issue.





*Think Progress reported that as of 7 January 2015, that number had risen to 94.

** I've only come across four so far; there may be more.

Teen Tuesday

Summer releases I'm looking forward to:

Don't Ever Change by M. Beth Bloom (HarperTeen hardcover, 7 July 2015).

Eva has always wanted to write a modern classic—one that actually appeals to her generation. The only problem is that she has realized she can't "write what she knows" because she hasn't yet begun to live. So before heading off to college, Eva is determined to get a life worth writing about.

Soon Eva's life encounters a few unexpected plot twists. She becomes a counselor at a nearby summer camp—a job she is completely unqualified for. She starts growing apart from her best friends before they've even left for school. And most surprising of all, she begins to fall for the last guy she would have ever imagined. But no matter the roadblocks, or writer's blocks, it is all up to Eva to figure out how she wants this chapter in her story to end.

****

Hide and Seek (Jess Tennant #3) by Jane Casey (St. Martin's Griffin hardcover, 25 August 2015).

It's Christmastime in Port Sentinel, the tiny English town where Jess Tennant has been living for more than a year now. Jess wasn't sure how she felt about moving to Port Sentinel when her mom dragged her there right in the middle of high school, but even Jess has to admit the town has completely outdone itself for the holidays. There's a Christmas market complete with a mini ice-rink and fairy lights, and the bare trees stand stark against the sky. 

But for Gilly Poynter, one of Jess's classmates, the Christmas season is anything but magical. She's disappeared, leaving behind only her diary and a lot of questions. Has she run away from her unhappy home, or has something more sinister happened? And will Jess be able to find her before it's too late?

****

No Such Person by Caroline B. Cooney (Delacorte Press hardcover, 14 July 2015).

Miranda and Lander Allerdon are sisters. Miranda is younger, a dreamer, and floating her way through life. Lander is older, focused, and determined to succeed. As the girls and their parents begin another summer at their cottage on the Connecticut River, Miranda and Lander’s sibling rivalry is in high gear. Lander plans to start medical school in the fall, and Miranda feels cast in her shadow.

When the Allerdons become entangled in an unimaginable tragedy, the playing field is suddenly leveled. As facts are revealed, the significance of what has happened weighs heavily on all. How can the family prepare for what the future may hold? 

****

From Where I Watch You by Shannon Grogan (Soho Teen hardcover, 4 August 2015).

Sixteen-year-old Kara is about to realize her dream of becoming a professional baker. Beautifully designed and piped, her cookies are masterpieces, but also her ticket out of rainy Seattle—if she wins the upcoming national baking competition and its scholarship prize to culinary school in California. Kara can no longer stand the home where her family lived, laughed, and ultimately imploded after her mean-spirited big sister Kellen died in a drowning accident. Kara’s dad has since fled, and her mom has turned from a high-powered attorney into a nutty holy-rolling Christian fundamentalist peddling “Soul Soup” in the family café. All Kara has left are memories of better times.

But the past holds many secrets, and they come to light as Kara faces an anonymous terror: Someone is leaving her handwritten notes. Someone who knows exactly where she is and what she’s doing. As the notes lead her to piece together the events that preceded Kellen’s terrible, life-changing betrayal years before, she starts to catch glimpses of her dead sister: an unwelcome ghost in filthy Ugg boots. If Kara doesn’t figure out who her stalker is, and soon, she could lose everything. Her chance of escape. The boy she’s beginning to love and trust. Even her life.

****

Damage Done by Amanda Panitch (Random House BFYR hardcover, 21 July 2015).

22 minutes separate Julia Vann’s before and after.

Before: Julia had a twin brother, a boyfriend, and a best friend.

After: She has a new identity, a new hometown, and memories of those twenty-two minutes that refuse to come into focus. At least, that’s what she tells the police.

Now that she’s Lucy Black, her fresh start has attracted the attention of one of the hottest guys in school. And someone much more dangerous. She thought her brother’s crimes were behind her. But now she’s being forced to confront the dark secrets she thought were safely left behind. How far will Julia go to keep her slate clean?

One thing is clear: The damage done can never be erased. It’s only just beginning. . . 

****

Con Academy by Joe Schreiber (HMH BFYR hardcover, 4 August 2015).

It's his senior year and Will Shea has conned his way into one of the country's most elite prep schools. But he soon runs into Andrea, a fellow con-artist. With the school not big enough for the both of them, they make a bet that whoever can con Brandt Rush, the richest, most privileged student in the school out of $50K, gets to stay at the school. Will starts setting up his con (an online poker scam) with his uncle who's one of the best grifters in the business, but also with the unwanted help of his father...

The plot thickens as Will starts falling for fellow student Gatsby, and some of Will's lies start to catch up with him.

****

The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy (Simon & Schuster BFYR hardcover, 18 August 2015).

Twelve years ago Stella and Jeanie vanished while picking strawberries. Stella returned minutes later, with no memory of what happened. Jeanie was never seen or heard from again.

Now Stella is seventeen, and she’s over it. She’s the lucky one who survived, and sure, the case is still cloaked in mystery—and it’s her small town’s ugly legacy—but Stella is focused on the coming summer. She’s got a great best friend, a hookup with an irresistibly crooked smile, and two months of beach days stretching out before her.

Then along comes a corpse, a little girl who washes up in an ancient cemetery after a mudslide, and who has red hair just like Jeanie did. Suddenly memories of that haunting day begin to return, and when Stella discovers that other red-headed girls have gone missing as well, she begins to suspect that something sinister is at work.

And before the summer ends, Stella will learn the hard way that if you hunt for monsters, you will find them.

****

Six Impossible Things by Fiona Wood (Little Brown BFYR hardcover, 11 August 2015).

1. Kiss Estelle.

2. Get a job.

3. Cheer my mother up.

4. Try not to be a complete nerd/loser.

5. Talk to my father when he calls.

6. Figure out how to be good.

Nerd-boy Dan Cereill is not quite coping with a whole heap of problems, including a reversal of family fortune, moving, new-school hell, a mother with a failing wedding cake business, a just-out gay dad, and a massive crush on Estelle, the girl next door. His life is a mess, but for now he's narrowed it down to just six impossible things....

Teen Tuesday

May releases I'm excited about!


A School for Unusual Girls (Stranje House #1) by Kathleen Baldwin (Tor Teen hardcover, 19 May 2015).

It's 1814. Napoleon is exiled on Elba. Europe is in shambles. Britain is at war on four fronts. And Stranje House, a School for Unusual Girls, has become one of Regency England's dark little secrets. The daughters of the beau monde who don't fit high society's constrictive mold are banished to Stranje House to be reformed into marriageable young ladies. Or so their parents think. In truth, Headmistress Emma Stranje, the original unusual girl, has plans for the young ladies-plans that entangle the girls in the dangerous world of spies, diplomacy, and war.

After accidentally setting her father's stables on fire while performing a scientific experiment, Miss Georgiana Fitzwilliam is sent to Stranje House. But Georgie has no intention of being turned into a simpering, pudding-headed, marriageable miss. She plans to escape as soon as possible-until she meets Lord Sebastian Wyatt. Thrust together in a desperate mission to invent a new invisible ink for the English war effort, Georgie and Sebastian must find a way to work together without losing their heads-or their hearts….

Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly (Tor Teen hardcover, 5 May 2015).

Camellia's adopted mother wants Cam to grow up to be just like her. Problem is, Mom's a seriously wicked witch.

Cam's used to stopping the witch's crazy schemes for world domination. But when the witch summons a demon, he gets loose--and into Devon, the cute new boy at school.

Suddenly Cam's got bigger problems than passing Algebra. Her friends are getting zombiefied. Their dragon is tired of hiding in the RV garage. For being a shy boy-band boy, Devon is sure kissing a bunch of girls. And a phoenix hidden in the school is going to explode on the night of the Halloween Dance.

To stop the demon before he destroys Devon's soul, Cam might have to try a spell of her own. But if she's willing to work spells like the witch...will that mean she's wicked too?

Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge (Balzer & Bray hardcover, 5 May 2015).

When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless—straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.

Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in a vain effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her hunt for the legendary sword that might save their world. Together, they navigate the opulent world of the courtly elite, where beauty and power reign and no one can be trusted. And as the two become unexpected allies, they discover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic . . . and a love that may be their undoing. Within a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury hardcover, 5 May 2015).

When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin-one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world. 

As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow over the faerie lands is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it . . . or doom Tamlin-and his world-forever. 



A Sense of the Infinite by Hilary T. Smith (Katherine Tegen hardcover, 19 May 2015).

It's senior year of high school, and Annabeth is ready—ready for everything she and her best friend, Noe, have been planning and dreaming. But there are some things Annabeth isn't prepared for, like the constant presence of Noe's new boyfriend. Like how her relationship with her mom is wearing and fraying. And like the way the secret she's been keeping hidden deep inside her for years has started clawing at her insides, making it hard to eat or even breathe.

But most especially, she isn't prepared to lose Noe.

For years, Noe has anchored Annabeth and set their joint path. Now Noe is drifting in another direction, making new plans and dreams that don't involve Annabeth. Without Noe's constant companionship, Annabeth's world begins to crumble. But as a chain of events pulls Annabeth further and further away from Noe, she finds herself closer and closer to discovering who she's really meant to be—with her best friend or without.