What I’ve Been Reading Lately: Reviews of Recent Contemporary YA Fiction

May 22, 2017 |

After I wrote about the way I read seasonally, my interest to read picked up significantly. It’s almost as if acknowledging it meant that I gave myself permission to follow my own reading desires and that sort of permission opened up the reading floodgates. Which isn’t a complaint. I’ve been reading a lot of really great stuff.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandya Menon

Looking for a teen romantic comedy featuring two brown lead characters? This is the ticket. With mega appeal to fans of Jenny Han and Amy Spalding, this book will be flying off the shelves.

Dimple has her heart set on spending the summer at a coding conference in San Francisco. She wants to create an app that helps launch her to success and to meeting one of her coding heroines, a woman she believes will open many doors for her future. Dimple doesn’t believe her parents will let her go, especially since it’s her last summer at home before college. So when they do say she can attend, she’s excited and thinks her parents have finally loosened up the need to have control over her future.

But then she meets Rishi.

Rishi knows that he’s being set up to marry Dimple. His parents have him attending the same summer coding program as Dimple so they can meet before the inevitable marriage to come. But the moment Rishi encounters Dimple, he frightens her and she’s unable to accept the weird, creepy things he’s saying to her about being her future husband.

Perhaps….Dimple’s parents forgot to tell her something about why they’re letting her attend this coding program over the summer.

While this book isn’t perfect — there are some serious pacing issues, particularly in the last third of the book — it doesn’t matter. Readers are in this one for the two characters who are well-drawn, engaging, funny, and who manage to have a happily ever after. What matters is the ride to get there, and it’s really enjoyable to see both of them going fully after what their hearts desire with romance and in their dreams outside of a relationship. This one is written in a third person point of view which alternates between Dimple and Rishi’s voices, making the pages really fly by.

In A Perfect World by Trish Doller

When Caroline’s mother takes her dream position in a clinic in Egypt, Caroline’s less than pleased about leaving her friends, her boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend), and comfortable Ohio life behind. Egypt is nothing like home, and more, now she feels like an entitled and privileged American with her own driver and tour guide for Cairo.

That changes when Caroline meets Adam. He’s Muslim, and she knows that their relationship — even being seen together outside and around town — wouldn’t be a good thing to pursue. But he is the son of the person who is helping their family out and she can’t help but notice he’s cute, he’s driven, and he’s eager to take her out and about, even if it’s without much emotion attached to it.

Of course, you can guess what happens.

Doller’s book is a dazzling look at life in another culture through the eyes of a relatively privileged white girl who not only knows it, but acknowledges it, particularly when it comes to what her mother’s dealing with at her job and what she sees while being driven around by Adam. In a lot of ways, this was reminiscent of Anna And The French Kiss, but with an Egyptian setting and a little more frankness about how Caroline’s experiences are rare and at times, privileged-as-hell. There is great respect and interest paid here to getting Egyptian culture, as well as Muslim beliefs, correct, and Adam himself is a really well-rounded, complex, and interesting character who, as Caroline discovers, showcases how people who believe and live lives different than those in America can have just as many interests, desires, and complicated feelings as they do.

Readers who’ve liked Doller’s previous works will enjoy this one, as will those who’ve loved Stephanie Perkins’s romances and the relationship complexity that authors like Siobhan Vivian explore.

That Thing We Call A Heart by Sheba Karim

This book begin rocky for me, with what felt like a lot of information and, perhaps, an incorrect starting place. But as I kept on and moved into the second part of the book, I was suddenly unable to put it down because of how much had been built up.

Shabnam’s spending her last summer at home before heading to University of Pennsylvania and when her great uncle is in town from Pakistan, she’s voluntold she’ll be taking him out. Shabnam isn’t excited, especially since she’s not as invested in her cultural heritage as much of her family, including her great uncle. It’s also possible she told a bit of a lie about her uncle in the classroom and now she’s spinning it over in her head.

But it’s on that first excursion with her uncle that Shabnam meets Jamie. He’s cute and he’s white and he has a job opportunity for her at the pie shop his aunt owns. The job would be pretty easy and only for the summer, and Shabnam, blinded by her interest in Jamie and by what sounds like a nice way out of her house every day, says yes.

Of course, there’s the set up for the summer romance of her dreams. He’s so cute! He’s so interested in learning about her Pakistani heritage! He’s curious about how much she’s invested into her Muslim beliefs!

This isn’t the real focus of the story, though. The driving force here is the fractured friendship between Shabnam and her former best friend Farah. Farah, the only other Muslim at their posh private high school, is there on scholarship. She’s a loud, proud feminist. And she’s made the decision in the last few months to begin wearing the hijab. This sort of declaration of faith is what caused the rift in their friendship, as Shabnam felt that was a step back from everything Farah believed and everything she herself believed about her best friend.

With Shabnam in love and needing to tell someone, she flies back to Farah, ignoring all of the ways she’s ignored her and treated her poorly. Farah allows Shabnam back in, but it’s with reservation; Shabnam doesn’t see it, but we as readers do, especially as we begin to see how terrible a character Jamie is. Jamie loves Shabnam’s culture, and there’s a particularly stomach-churning moment when Jamie takes Shabnam to his aunt’s home, wherein she begins to see all of the cultural artifacts from around the world, which Jamie brushes off as “she’s just so interested in other people’s cultures,” like he is. But the more he presses her for her story and the more he presses Farah, the more we begin to see how he treats Shabnam not as a romantic interest but as a cultural curiosity.

He fetishizes her culture.

This book doesn’t have the happily ever after that would make it a romance, but I’d also say this isn’t really about romance or love at all. It’s about a crush, but more than that, it’s about friendship. Farah doesn’t go easy on Shabnam when they rekindle their friendship. In fact, she’s pretty frank and real with her about how terribly Shabnam has treated her and how little support and love she’s shown. In many ways, it’s Farah who is the most compelling character in this story, but it’s also clear why this isn’t her story. It’s about Shabnam coming to understand the ways people can misunderstand choices and how those meaningful choices people make don’t necessarily change who they are.

While reading this book, I kept thinking back to the comic that Wendy Xu wrote and drew for Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World and I can’t help as seeing them as a really worthwhile pairing to one another for understanding what happened between Shabnam and Jamie. They’d make an excellent pairing, and readers who love a good friendship story will want to pick this up.

Monthly Giving: The Innocence Project

May 17, 2017 |

Our justice system is broken in a lot of ways. It disproportionately targets and incarcerates people of color, giving them longer and harsher sentences and funneling them into the school to prison pipeline early. It favors the wealthy and leaves the poor with substandard representation, often leaving them in jail simply because they are poor. It relies on flawed evidence often obtained illegally or unethically and sentences innocent people to life sentences and even death.

The Innocence Project tackles this last facet. Their mission is to “free the staggering number of innocent people who remain incarcerated, and to bring reform to the system responsible for their unjust imprisonment.” They do this mainly through DNA testing, helping to free people wrongly convicted through a procedure not available at the time of their conviction. Since 1989, 350 people have been exonerated through DNA evidence. Twenty of these served time on death row. 217 of these – 62% – were African American. The Innocence Project started their work in 1992 and have been instrumental in helping 183 of those wrongly convicted get justice. If you haven’t yet donated to an organization this month and have the means to do so, I urge you to join me in supporting their cause.

For this month’s book list, I’ve focused on novels and nonfiction featuring kids and teens in prison or kids and teens whose parents or other loves ones are in prison. If you know of any I’m missing, please let me know in the comments. Also be sure to check out the In the Margins book list, curated each year by Library Services for Youth in Custody. It focuses on recommended books for teens “living in poverty, on the streets, in custody – or a cycle of all three.”

Fiction – Picture Books

Knock Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me by Daniel Beaty

A boy wakes up one morning to find his father gone. At first, he feels lost. But his father has left him a letter filled with advice to guide him through the times he cannot be there.

Far Apart, Close in Heart: Being a Family When a Loved One is Incarcerated by Becky Birtha

Children who have a parent in prison express their feelings of sadness, anger, worry, and embarrassment and suggest that talking to others and keeping in contact with the missing parent helps them deal with the situation.

Visiting Day by Jacqueline Woodson

A young girl and her grandmother visit the girl’s father in prison.

Fiction – Middle Grade

Ruby on the Outside by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Eleven-year-old Ruby Danes is about to start middle school, yet no one in her life, except her aunt, knows her secret–her mother is in prison. Then Margalit Tipps moves into Ruby’s condo complex, and the two immediately hit it off. Ruby thinks she’s found her first true-blue friend. Is she ready to tell Margalit the truth? When Margalit’s family history seems to tie in too closely to the very event that put her mother in prison, Ruby fears she may lose everything–but she may learn the true meaning of friendship, honesty, and love along the way.

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor

Eleven-year-old Perry was born and raised by his mom at the Blue River Co-ed Correctional Facility in tiny Surprise, Nebraska. His mom is a resident on Cell Block C, and so far Warden Daugherty has made it possible for them to be together. That is, until a new district attorney discovers the truth–and Perry is removed from the facility and forced into a foster home. When Perry moves to the “outside” world, he feels trapped. Desperate to be reunited with his mom, Perry goes on a quest for answers about her past crime. As he gets closer to the truth, he will discover that love makes people resilient no matter where they come from .. but can he find a way to tell everyone what home truly means?

Pieces of Why by K. L. Going

Twelve-year-old Tia lives in a white slum in New Orleans with her mother, and her whole world revolves around singing in the gospel choir with her best friend, Keisha–but when practice is interrupted by a shooting outside the church, and a baby is killed, Tia finds that she cannot sing, and she is forced to confront her feelings about her incarcerated father who killed a girl in a failed robbery years before.

Fiction – Young Adult

Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin

Teen rocker Ritchie Sudden is pretty sure his life just jumped the shark. Except he hates being called a teen, his band doesn’t play rock, and “jumping the shark” is yet another dumb cliché. Part of Ritchie wants to drop everything and walk away. Especially the part that’s serving ninety days in a juvenile detention center. Telling the story of the year leading up to his arrest, Ritchie grabs readers by the throat before (politely) inviting them along for the (max-speed) ride.

Holding Smoke by Elle Cosimano

John “Smoke” Conlan risks everything to clear his name of the two murders he did not commit while he cultivates his supernatural ability of travelling freely outside the concrete walls of the dangerous juvenile rehabilitation center known as the Y, helping himself and his fellow inmates have a chance at redemption.

Something Like Hope by Shawn Goodman

Shavonne, a fierce, desperate seventeen year-old in juvenile lockup, wants to turn her life around before her eighteenth birthday, but corrupt guards, out-of-control girls, and shadows from her past make her task seem impossible.

The Row by J. R. Johansson

After visiting her father on death row for twelve years, seventeen-year-old Riley is determined to find out if he is guilty or not before he is either executed or retried and, perhaps, released.

Locked Out (series) by Patrick Jones

Explores the complex ways that parental incarceration affects teens, from physical absence to family histories of crime to stigmas and emotional health.

Criminal by Terra Elan McVoy

Eighteen-year-old Nikki’s unconditional love for Dee helps her escape from her problems, but when he involves her in a murder Nikki winds up in prison, confronted with hard facts that challenge whether Dee ever loved her, and she can only save herself by telling the truth about Dee.

Lockdown by Walter Dean Myers

Teenage Reese, who is serving time at a juvenile detention facility, gets a lesson in making it through hard times from an unlikely friend with a harrowing past.

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

While on trial as an accomplice to a murder, sixteen-year-old Steve Harmon records his experiences in prison and in the courtroom in the form of a film script as he tries to come to terms with the course his life has taken.

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

A handless teen escapes from a cult, finds herself in juvenile detention, and is suspected of knowing who murdered her cult leader. | Kimberly’s review | Kelly’s review

The Knife and the Butterfly by Ashley Hope Perez

After a brawl with a rival gang, sixteen-year-old Azael, a member of Houston’s MS-13 gang and the son of illegal Salvadoran immigrants, wakes up in an unusual juvenile detention center where he is forced to observe another inmate through a one-way mirror. | Kelly’s review

Burning by Danielle Rollins

After three years in juvenile detention, Angela is just months shy of release, but then ten-year-old Jessica arrives in shackles and is placed in segregation, and while no one knows what she did to end up there, creepy things begin to happen and it becomes clear that Jessica and her possible supernatural powers are more dangerous than anyone expected.

The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma

Orianna and Violet are ballet dancers and best friends, but when the ballerinas who have been harassing Violet are murdered, Orianna is accused of the crime and sent to a juvenile detention center where she meets Amber and they experience supernatural events linking the girls together. | Kimberly’s review

Nonfiction

Caught Up: Girls, Surveillance, and Wraparound Incarceration by Jerry Flores

From home, to school, to juvenile detention center, and back again. This book follows the lives of fifty Latina girls living forty miles outside of Los Angeles, California, as they are inadvertently caught up in the school-to-prison pipeline.

Runaway Thoughts and Ghetto By the Sea edited by Amy Friedman

In 2013, students at Venice High School in Los Angeles formed the first P.O.P.S. (Pain of the Prison System) club, a club for those whose lives have been touched by prison. Many have parents, friends, siblings, uncles and aunts inside; some have had their own brushes with the law. All have stories to tell. These anthologies offer the stories, artwork and essays of those whose voices we too seldom hear.

Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos

The author explains how, as a young adult, he became a drug user and smuggler, was arrested, did time in prison, and eventually got out and went to college, all the while hoping to become a writer.

No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row by Susan Kuklin

This compelling work takes readers inside America’s prisons and allows inmates sentenced to death as teenagers to speak for themselves. In their own voices–raw and uncensored–they talk about their lives in prison and share their thoughts and feelings about how they ended up there.

Girls in Justice by Richard Ross

Reveals the world of incarceration of America’s young girls in detention. A rare, multi-dimensional look at these girls’ vulnerable lives, this book speaks to the unique issues they face with essays, images, and the life stories shared by girls in custody.

Juvenile in Justice by Richard Ross

The photographs in Juvenile in Justice open our eyes to the world of the incarceration of American youths. The nearly 150 images in this book were made over 5 years of visiting more than 1,000 youth confined in more than 200 juvenile detention institutions in 31 states. These riveting photographs, accompanied by the life stories that these young people in custody shared with Ross, give voice to imprisoned children from families that have no resources in communities that have no power.

Let Me Live: Voices of Youth Incarcerated edited by Save the Kids

This anthology collects the work of incarcerated youth worldwide. The poems and autobiographical sketches featured remind readers that incarcerated youth are thinking and feeling individuals with the same aspirations and goals as other children, not merely statistics to analyze or incorrigible people to forget and discard. As a creative outlet and space for expression, the book provides a means for the poets to empower themselves and resist victimization by the supposed criminal justice system.

Real Justice (series) published by Lorimer

True stories of wrongfully convicted young people in Canada, including Rubin “Hurricane” Carter and David Milgaard.

What Will Happen to Me? by Howard Zehr and Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz

Pairs portraits of children whose parents are incarcerated with the reflections of grandparents who are caring for them and includes resources for caregivers and advice on dealing with the unique emotions of these children.

Decelerate Blue by Adam Rapp and Mike Cavallaro

May 10, 2017 |

In Rapp’s and Cavallaro’s dystopian near-future, everyone lives their life at high-speed. There’s no time taken for reflection and everything is always go-go-go. In fact, everyone is supposed to say “go” when they’re done talking to indicate that it’s time for the person they’re talking with to reply. It’s not strictly illegal to leave out the “go,” but it’s more serious than a social faux pas (like forgetting to say “please,” for example). Everyone reads abridged versions of classic novels in school, and beds are made upright. This world is more than just annoying, though: it’s a surveillance state, and the government punishes people for not living up to the hyper-efficient ideal, seen most alarmingly when protagonist Angela’s grandfather is sent to a “reduction colony” when his heart rate drops too low for too prolonged a time.

Angela is tired of living this way – and she learns a few others are, too, when she’s recruited into a resistance whose sole purpose is to deliberately slow things down, to dismantle this enforced way of life. The resistance lives underground, unplugged, and they have their own speech patterns, too – they refuse to use contractions, creating an immediately recognizable difference when reading the resistance sections versus the above-ground sections. The resistance, now with the help of Angela, are hatching a plan to make this sort of life possible for others on the outside, too.

The concept is intriguing, and I think a lot of teens will immediately find it relevant to their lives. Parts of the world-building seem like a stretch (upright beds?), but people said that about The Handmaid’s Tale too, and look where we are now. The story’s rhythm takes a while to get used to, mainly because every character really does end their sentences with “go” or eliminate contractions, so no one character really talks like we talk now. Cavallaro’s art is mostly black and white, with some spots of color during particularly emotional or important sections of the story. There’s a nice romance between Angela and a fellow female resistance fighter, and the “decelerate blue” of the title comes into play in a literal and shocking way at the end.

Decelerate Blue is a good question-raiser, even if its themes aren’t explored fully. It’s not a super long graphic novel, and it packs a lot of story into its roughly 200 pages. Somewhat ironically, I wish I could have lingered a little while longer in Rapp’s and Cavallaro’s future world, both the government-controlled one and the resistance, to get a more immersive experience and feel a greater connection to the characters. It felt like the story was sped up a bit, and then it was over too quickly, though the open ending is fitting. This is a good pick for teens who aren’t tired of dystopias yet – and we may actually see a resurgence of interest in this subgenre considering the current climate in this country.

Review copy received from the publisher. Decelerate Blue is available now.

Teenagers in Space

May 3, 2017 |

I love a good space opera, which Goodreads defines as “a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities.” The opportunities for creativity are truly limitless when you throw your characters into outer space, allowing them to explore new planets, meet aliens, and battle with spaceships. Luckily for readers like me, there are a ton of new and upcoming YA space operas to satisfy the itch. I’ve read two of these recently – Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza and Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray – and both were quite good. I’ve limited the list to books published within the past 12 months, plus a few forthcoming titles to get excited about.

Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff | October 18, 2016

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.

[Sequel to Illuminae]

The Diabolic by S. J. Kincaid | November 1, 2016

Nemesis is a Diabolic. Created to protect a galactic Senator’s daughter, Sidonia. There’s no one Nemesis wouldn’t kill to keep her safe. But when the power-mad Emperor summons Sidonia to the galactic court as a hostage, there is only one way for Nemesis to protect Sidonia.

She must become her.

Now one of the galaxy’s most dangerous weapons is masquerading in a world of corruption and Nemesis has to hide her true abilities or risk everything. As the Empire begins to fracture and rebellion looms closer, Nemesis learns that there is something stronger than her deadly force: the one thing she’s been told she doesn’t have – humanity. And, amidst all the danger, action and intrigue, her humanity might be the only thing that can save her, Sidonia and the entire Empire.

Empress of a Thousand Skies by Rhoda Belleza | February 7, 2017

The only surviving heir to an ancient Kalusian dynasty, Rhee has spent her life training to destroy the people who killed her family. Now, on the eve of her coronation, the time has finally come for Rhee to claim her throne – and her revenge. Alyosha is a Wraetan who has risen above his war refugee origins to find fame as the dashing star of a DroneVision show. Despite his popularity, Aly struggles with anti-Wraetan prejudices and the pressure of being perfect in the public eye.

Their paths collide with one brutal act of violence: Rhee is attacked, barely escaping with her life. Aly is blamed for her presumed murder. The princess and her accused killer are forced to go into hiding – even as a war between planets is waged in Rhee’s name. But soon, Rhee and Aly discover that the assassination attempt is just one part of a sinister plot. Bound together by an evil that only they can stop, the two fugitives must join forces to save the galaxy.

Starfall by Melissa Landers | February 7, 2017

When Princess Cassia Rose fled her home world of Eturia to escape an arranged marriage, she had no idea her sudden departure would spark a war. Now after two years hiding as a ship hand, she is finally returning to her beloved home, but not in the way she imagined. Shackled by bounty hunters, she is violently dragged back to account for her crimes. Her only solace is that the Banshee crew managed to evade capture, including Kane Arric, her best friend…with occasional benefits.

Meanwhile, Kane and the rest of the crew of the Banshee plan a desperate rescue mission. But when they arrive on Eturia, Cassia isn’t exactly in need of heroics—she’s claimed her birthright as Eturia’s queen, but has inherited a war-torn planet simmering with rebellion. Cassia must make alliances, and Kane, the bastard son of a merchant, isn’t a choice that will earn her any friends. Kane knows he will never find someone to replace Cassia—and is certain she returns his feelings—but how can he throw away his own promising future waiting on a queen?

[Sequel to Starflight]

Shadow Run by AdriAnne Strickland and Michael Miller | March 21, 2017

Nev has just joined the crew of the starship Kaitan Heritage as the cargo loader. His captain, Qole, is the youngest-ever person to command her own ship, but she brooks no argument from her crew of orphans, fugitives, and con men. Nev can’t resist her, even if her ship is an antique. As for Nev, he’s a prince, in hiding on the ship. He believes Qole holds the key to changing galactic civilization, and when her cooperation proves difficult to obtain, Nev resolves to get her to his home planet by any means necessary.

But before they know it, a rival royal family is after Qole too, and they’re more interested in stealing her abilities than in keeping her alive. Nev’s mission to manipulate Qole becomes one to save her, and to survive, she’ll have to trust her would-be kidnapper. He may be royalty, but Qole is discovering a deep reservoir of power–and stars have mercy on whoever tries to hurt her ship or her crew.

The Exo Project by Andrew DeYoung | April 4, 2017

Desperate for money to save his sick mother, seventeen-year-old Matthew agrees to participate in the Exo Project, a government plan to save the human race by flying across the galaxy in search of a habitable planet for resettlement. He thinks he’s been given a death sentence: 100 years in cryostasis, followed by a quick death on some barren world.

But then he lands on Gle’ah, discovering the strange, beautiful creatures who live there, including Kiva, the captivating teenage girl who leads her planet’s matriarchal society. Kiva views Matthew as a threat, and for good reason—if he tells Earth that he’s found a suitable planet, it will mean the end of her people’s way of life. But then Kiva and Matthew discover an emotional connection they never expected—and as they begin to delve into the secrets of Matthew’s mission and the dark truth behind the seeming paradise of Gle’ah, the choices they make will have consequences for both of their worlds.

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray | April 4, 2017

Noemi Vidal is seventeen years old and sworn to protect her planet, Genesis. She’s willing to risk anything—including her own life. To their enemies on Earth, she’s a rebel. Abandoned in space for years, utterly alone, Abel has advanced programming that’s begun to evolve. He wants only to protect his creator, and to be free. To the people of Genesis, he’s an abomination.

Noemi and Abel are enemies in an interstellar war, forced by chance to work together as they embark on a daring journey through the stars. Their efforts would end the fighting for good, but they’re not without sacrifice. The stakes are even higher than either of them first realized, and the more time they spend together, the more they’re forced to question everything they’d been taught was true.

Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings | August 1, 2017

Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness: a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her fearsome glass starship the Maurader, she’s just Andi, their captain and protector. When a routine mission goes awry, the all-girl crew’s resilience is tested as they find themselves in a most unfamiliar place: at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter connected to Andi’s past and a harrowing betrayal.

Meanwhile, on the far side of the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The final pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two.

Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their ship—or just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles towards the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only thing certain is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted.

Nyxia by Scott Reintgen | September 12, 2017

Emmett Atwater isn’t just leaving Detroit; he’s leaving Earth. Why the Babel Corporation recruited him is a mystery, but the number of zeroes on their contract has him boarding their lightship and hoping to return to Earth with enough money to take care of his family. Forever.

Before long, Emmett discovers that he is one of ten recruits, all of whom have troubled pasts and are a long way from home. Now each recruit must earn the right to travel down to the planet of Eden–a planet that Babel has kept hidden–where they will mine a substance called Nyxia that has quietly become the most valuable material in the universe.

But Babel’s ship is full of secrets. And Emmett will face the ultimate choice: win the fortune at any cost, or find a way to fight that won’t forever compromise what it means to be human.

Freefall by Joshua David Bellin | September 26, 2017

In the Upperworld, the privileged 1% are getting ready to abandon a devastated planet Earth. And Cam can’t wait to leave. After sleeping through a 1,000-year journey, he and his friends will have a pristine new planet to colonize. And no more worries about the Lowerworld and its 99% of rejects.

Then Cam sees a banned video feed of protesters in the Lowerworld who also want a chance at a new life. And he sees a girl with golden eyes who seems to be gazing straight though the feed directly at him. A girl he has to find. Sofie. When Cam finds Sofie, she opens his eyes to the unfairness of what’s happening in their world, and Cam joins her cause for Lowerworld rights. He also falls hard for Sofie. But Sofie has her own battles to fight, and when it’s time to board the spaceships, Cam is alone.

Waking up 1,000 years in the future, Cam discovers that he and his shipmates are far off-course, trapped on an unknown and hostile planet. Who has sabotaged their ship? And does it have anything to do with Sofie, and the choices—and the enemies—he made in the past?

Unearthed by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner | January 9, 2018

When Earth intercepts a message from a long-extinct alien race, it seems like the solution the planet has been waiting for. The Undying’s advanced technology has the potential to undo environmental damage and turn lives around, and Gaia, their former home planet, is a treasure trove waiting to be uncovered.

For Jules Addison and his fellow scholars, the discovery of an alien culture offers unprecedented opportunity for study… as long as scavengers like Amelia Radcliffe don’t loot everything first. Mia and Jules’ different reasons for smuggling themselves onto Gaia put them immediately at odds, but after escaping a dangerous confrontation with other scavvers, they form a fragile alliance.

In order to penetrate the Undying temple and reach the tech and information hidden within, the two must decode the ancient race’s secrets and survive their traps. But the more they learn about the Undying, the more their presence in the temple seems to be part of a grand design that could spell the end of the human race.

Pitch Dark by Courtney Alameda | February 20, 2018

Tuck Durante is a shipraider, combing space for Earth artifacts from a war that ended 500 years ago. When his parents’ ship crashes in the dead zone and the crew goes missing, Tuck hires a ragtag rescue team.

Meanwhile, curator Lana Gray is fighting to keep the US PANAM John Muir—and the remnants of its crew—alive. Their space capsule housing Yosemite National Park was hijacked. The hijacking turned ninety-five percent of her crew into nightmarish creatures called mourners who flay, dismember, or decapitate with nothing more than sharp-pitched shrieks.

Now, despite their differences, Lana, Tuck, and their crews must work together to save the John Muir. In space, nobody can hear you scream…but on the John Muir, the screams are the last thing you’ll hear.

On The Radar: May 2017 YA Titles

May 1, 2017 |

“On The Radar” is a monthly series meant to highlight between 9 and 12 books per month to fit a budget of roughly $300 or less. These lists are curated from a larger spreadsheet I keep with a running list of titles hitting shelves and are meant to reflect not only the big books coming out from authors readers know and love, but it’s also meant to showcase some of the titles that have hit my radar through review copies, publicity blasts, or because they’re titles that might otherwise not be readily seen or picked up through those traditional avenues. It’s part science and part art.

This month, I’m cheating a tiny bit. I’ve picked 15 titles. A number of these are from well-known authors and entries into popular series, and a number are from authors whose reputations are either long-lasting or ever-growing (how are those for vague and specific definitions?). I also wanted to include a few titles that might be easier to overlook because of smaller budgets or publicity plans but that would certainly be important additions to a library or classroom collection.

Book descriptions come from Goodreads and reasons for putting on your radar are mine and mine alone! Titles are alphabetical, with pub dates beside them.

Always And Forever Lara Jean by Jenny Han (May 2)

Lara Jean is having the best senior year a girl could ever hope for. She is head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Peter; her dad’s finally getting remarried to their next door neighbor, Ms. Rothschild; and Margot’s coming home for the summer just in time for the wedding.

But change is looming on the horizon. And while Lara Jean is having fun and keeping busy helping plan her father’s wedding, she can’t ignore the big life decisions she has to make. Most pressingly, where she wants to go to college and what that means for her relationship with Peter. She watched her sister Margot go through these growing pains. Now Lara Jean’s the one who’ll be graduating high school and leaving for college and leaving her family—and possibly the boy she loves—behind.

When your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

Why it should be on your radar: A new Jenny Han book is always going to be worth having on your radar, since her books are wildly popular. This is the final entry into her latest trilogy readers will be itching for, if they’re not already.

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas (May 2)

Feyre has returned to the Spring Court, determined to gather information on Tamlin’s maneuverings and the invading king threatening to bring Prythian to its knees. But to do so she must play a deadly game of deceit-and one slip may spell doom not only for Feyre, but for her world as well.

As war bears down upon them all, Feyre must decide who to trust amongst the dazzling and lethal High Lords-and hunt for allies in unexpected places.

Why it should be on your radar: Another entry into the popular romantic fantasy series by Sarah J Maas is reason enough. This is a nearly 700-page book, too, which will really make readers eager for more of this story happy.

A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge (May 9)

In the underground city of Caverna, the world’s most skilled craftsmen toil in the darkness to create delicacies beyond compare—wines that remove memories, cheeses that make you hallucinate, and perfumes that convince you to trust the wearer, even as they slit your throat. On the surface, the people of Caverna seem ordinary, except for one thing: their faces are as blank as untouched snow. Expressions must be learned, and only the famous Facesmiths can teach a person to express (or fake) joy, despair, or fear—at a steep price. Into this dark and distrustful world comes Neverfell, a girl with no memory of her past and a face so terrifying to those around her that she must wear a mask at all times. Neverfell’s expressions are as varied and dynamic as those of the most skilled Facesmiths, except hers are entirely genuine. And that makes her very dangerous indeed

Why it should be on your radar: Slowly but surely, more of Hardinge’s books are making their way into the American market. Her standalone fantasy is rare in being stand alone in YA, and her work continues to build a great reputation on this side of the pond. Likewise, Hardinge was just honored with the LA Times Book Prize for her last book, and she’ll likely see more and more success come her way.

Flame In The Mist by Renée Ahdieh (May 16)

The daughter of a prominent samurai, Mariko has long known her place—she may be an accomplished alchemist, whose cunning rivals that of her brother Kenshin, but because she is not a boy, her future has always been out of her hands. At just seventeen years old, Mariko is promised to Minamoto Raiden, the son of the emperor’s favorite consort—a political marriage that will elevate her family’s standing. But en route to the imperial city of Inako, Mariko narrowly escapes a bloody ambush by a dangerous gang of bandits known as the Black Clan, who she learns has been hired to kill her before she reaches the palace.

Dressed as a peasant boy, Mariko sets out to infiltrate the ranks of the Black Clan, determined to track down the person responsible for the target on her back. But she’s quickly captured and taken to the Black Clan’s secret hideout, where she meets their leader, the rebel ronin Takeda Ranmaru, and his second-in-command, his best friend Okami. Still believing her to be a boy, Ranmaru and Okami eventually warm to Mariko, impressed by her intellect and ingenuity. As Mariko gets closer to the Black Clan, she uncovers a dark history of secrets, of betrayal and murder, which will force her to question everything she’s ever known.

Why it should be on your radar: This is the first in a new duology from Renée Ahdieh, and she’s been one to keep an eye on since her debut The Wrath & The Dawn.

I Believe In A Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo (May 30)

Desi Lee knows how carburetors work. She learned CPR at the age of five. As a high school senior, she has never missed a day of school and has never had a B in her entire life. She’s for sure going to Stanford. But—she’s never had a boyfriend. In fact, she’s a disaster in romance, a clumsy, stammering humiliation-magnet whose botched attempts at flirting have become legendary with her friends. So when the hottest human specimen to have ever lived walks into her life one day, Desi decides to tackle her flirting failures with the same zest she’s applied to everything else in her life. She finds her answer in the Korean dramas her father has been obsessively watching for years—where the hapless heroine always seems to end up in the arms of her true love by episode ten. It’s a simple formula, and Desi is a quick study. Armed with her “K Drama Rules for True Love,” Desi goes after the moody, elusive artist Luca Drakos—and boat rescues, love triangles, and fake car crashes ensue. But when the fun and games turn to true feels, Desi finds out that real love is about way more than just drama.

Why it should be on your radar: Goo’s first novel, Since You Asked, was wildly underrated, despite being one of those lighter-hearted funny reads so many people seek. This one, which is much more romantic in nature, is surely going to hit the buttons of readers seeking good stories with romance featuring characters of color. And I suspect, from description alone, there’s going to be a nice dash of humor here. Also, that cover is excellent.

The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah (May 9)

Michael likes to hang out with his friends and play with the latest graphic design software. His parents drag him to rallies held by their anti-immigrant group, which rails against the tide of refugees flooding the country. And it all makes sense to Michael.

Until Mina, a beautiful girl from the other side of the protest lines, shows up at his school, and turns out to be funny, smart — and a Muslim refugee from Afghanistan. Suddenly, his parents’ politics seem much more complicated.

Mina has had a long and dangerous journey fleeing her besieged home in Afghanistan, and now faces a frigid reception at her new prep school, where she is on scholarship. As tensions rise, lines are drawn. Michael has to decide where he stands. Mina has to protect herself and her family. Both have to choose what they want their world to look like.

Why it should be on your radar: Another book from Randa, whose Does My Head Look Big In This?, remains a perennial favorite and staple on so many shelves.

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare (May 23)

Emma Carstairs has finally avenged her parents. She thought she’d be at peace. But she is anything but calm. Torn between her desire for her parabatai Julian and her desire to protect him from the brutal consequences of parabatai relationships, she has begun dating his brother, Mark. But Mark has spent the past five years trapped in Faerie; can he ever truly be a Shadowhunter again?

And the faerie courts are not silent. The Unseelie King is tired of the Cold Peace, and will no longer concede to the Shadowhunters’ demands. Caught between the demands of faerie and the laws of the Clave, Emma, Julian, and Mark must find a way to come together to defend everything they hold dear—before it’s too late.

Why it should be on your radar: It’s Cassie Clare, and it’s a new entry into her “Dark Artifices” series. This is another fantasy series tome weighing in at 700 pages, too.

The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord (May 16)

Lucy Hansson was ready for a perfect summer with her boyfriend, working at her childhood Bible camp on the lake. But when her mom’s cancer reappears, Lucy falters—in faith, in love, and in her ability to cope. When her boyfriend “pauses” their relationship and her summer job switches to a different camp—one for troubled kids—Lucy isn’t sure how much more she can handle. Attempting to accept a new normal, Lucy slowly regains footing among her vibrant, diverse coworkers, Sundays with her mom, and a crush on a fellow counselor. But when long-hidden family secrets emerge, can Lucy set aside her problems and discover what grace really means?

Why it should be on your radar: Emery Lord’s popularity continues to grow, and she’s adding another title to the solid, feelings-heavy contemporary genre that readers who love books by Sarah Dessen will snap up.

The Pearl Thief by Elizabeth Wein (May 2)

Before Verity . . . there was Julie.

When fifteen-year-old Julia Beaufort-Stuart wakes up in the hospital, she knows the lazy summer break she’d imagined won’t be exactly like she anticipated. And once she returns to her grandfather’s estate, a bit banged up but alive, she begins to realize that her injury might not have been an accident. One of her family’s employees is missing, and he disappeared on the very same day she landed in the hospital.

Desperate to figure out what happened, she befriends Euan McEwen, the Scots Traveller boy who found her when she was injured, and his standoffish sister Ellen. As Julie grows closer to this family, she experiences some of the prejudices they’ve grown used to firsthand, a stark contrast to her own upbringing, and finds herself exploring thrilling new experiences that have nothing to do with a missing-person investigation.

Her memory of that day returns to her in pieces, and when a body is discovered, her new friends are caught in the crosshairs of long-held biases about Travellers. Julie must get to the bottom of the mystery in order to keep them from being framed for the crime.

Why it should be on your radar: This is a prequel to the Printz honor book Code Name Verity and another solid historical fiction from Elizabeth Wein.

In A Perfect World by Trish Doller (May 23)

Caroline Kelly is excited to be spending her summer vacation working at the local amusement park with her best friend, exploring weird Ohio with her boyfriend, and attending soccer camp with the hope she’ll be her team’s captain in the fall.

But when Caroline’s mother is hired to open an eye clinic in Cairo, Egypt, Caroline’s plans are upended. Caroline is now expected to spend her summer and her senior year in a foreign country, away from her friends, her home, and everything she’s ever known.

With this move, Caroline predicts she’ll spend her time navigating crowded streets, eating unfamiliar food, and having terrible bouts of homesickness. But when she finds instead is a culture that surprises her, a city that astounds her, and a charming, unpredictable boy who challenges everything she thought she knew about life, love, and privilege.

Why it should be on your radar: Readers who want something like Stephanie Perkins’s Anna and the French Kiss will be pleased to read this book, since it follows a girl forced to spend time in a foreign country and yet, manages to fall in love with one of the locals. There’s a great exploration of privilege here, as well as a lot of Being Humbled on the part of the main character.

Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy (May 9)

Ramona was only five years old when Hurricane Katrina changed her life forever.

Since then, it’s been Ramona and her family against the world. Standing over six feet tall with unmistakable blue hair, Ramona is sure of three things: she likes girls, she’s fiercely devoted to her family, and she knows she’s destined for something bigger than the trailer she calls home in Eulogy, Mississippi. But juggling multiple jobs, her flaky mom, and her well-meaning but ineffectual dad forces her to be the adult of the family. Now, with her sister, Hattie, pregnant, responsibility weighs more heavily than ever.

The return of her childhood friend Freddie brings a welcome distraction. Ramona’s friendship with the former competitive swimmer picks up exactly where it left off, and soon he’s talked her into joining him for laps at the pool. But as Ramona falls in love with swimming, her feelings for Freddie begin to shift too, which is the last thing she expected. With her growing affection for Freddie making her question her sexual identity, Ramona begins to wonder if perhaps she likes girls and guys or if this new attraction is just a fluke. Either way, Ramona will discover that, for her, life and love are more fluid than they seem.

Why it should be on your radar: Ignore the artificially low reviews on Goodreads, as this is a book that explores things like sexuality and the complex nature of something which is fluid and shifting. Julie’s Dumplin’ made her reputation as an author explode and this book will keep it going.

Star Wars: Rebel Rising by Beth Revis (May 2)

When Jyn Erso was five years old, her mother was murdered and her father taken from her to serve the Empire. But despite the loss of her parents she is not completely alone—Saw Gerrera, a man willing to go to any extremes necessary in order to resist Imperial tyranny, takes her in as his own, and gives her not only a home but all the abilities and resources she needs to become a rebel herself.

Jyn dedicates herself to the cause—and the man. But fighting alongside Saw and his people brings with it danger and the question of just how far Jyn is willing to go as one of Saw’s soldiers. When she faces an unthinkable betrayal that shatters her world, Jyn will have to pull the pieces of herself back together and figure out what she truly believes in…and who she can really trust.

Why it should be on your radar: A canonical Star Wars novel by a well-known author in YA is a no-brainer.

Thick As Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner (May 16)

Kamet, a secretary and slave to his Mede master, has the ambition and the means to become one of the most powerful people in the Empire. But with a whispered warning the future he envisioned is wrenched away, and he is forced onto a very different path. Set in the world of the Queen’s Thief, an ordinary hero takes on an extraordinary mission. Includes two maps, a map of the world of the Queen’s Thief, and a map of Kamet’s journey.

Why it should be on your radar: This is the long-awaited fifth and final installment in the “Queen’s Thief” series. The series has a massive fanbase, and it’s likely it’ll grow with having this final title for readers to mainline in one long go.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon (May 30)

Dimple Shah has it all figured out. With graduation behind her, she’s more than ready for a break from her family, from Mamma’s inexplicable obsession with her finding the “Ideal Indian Husband.” Ugh. Dimple knows they must respect her principles on some level, though. If they truly believed she needed a husband right now, they wouldn’t have paid for her to attend a summer program for aspiring web developers…right?

Rishi Patel is a hopeless romantic. So when his parents tell him that his future wife will be attending the same summer program as him—wherein he’ll have to woo her—he’s totally on board. Because as silly as it sounds to most people in his life, Rishi wants to be arranged, believes in the power of tradition, stability, and being a part of something much bigger than himself.

The Shahs and Patels didn’t mean to start turning the wheels on this “suggested arrangement” so early in their children’s lives, but when they noticed them both gravitate toward the same summer program, they figured, Why not?

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

Why it should be on your radar: A romantic comedy with Indian main characters. It’s a book that has certainly been missing from shelves, and now, there’s one here…I suspect this will be the kind of book readers will devour alongside Maurene Goo’s.

Windfall by Jennifer E. Smith (May 2)

Alice doesn’t believe in luck—at least, not the good kind. But she does believe in love, and for some time now, she’s been pining for her best friend, Teddy. On his eighteenth birthday—just when it seems they might be on the brink of something—she buys him a lottery ticket on a lark. To their astonishment, he wins $140 million, and in an instant, everything changes.

At first, it seems like a dream come true, especially since the two of them are no strangers to misfortune. As a kid, Alice won the worst kind of lottery possible when her parents died just over a year apart from each other. And Teddy’s father abandoned his family not long after that, leaving them to grapple with his gambling debts. Through it all, Teddy and Alice have leaned on each other. But now, as they negotiate the ripple effects of Teddy’s newfound wealth, a gulf opens between them. And soon, the money starts to feel like more of a curse than a windfall.

As they try to find their way back to each other, Alice learns more about herself than she ever could have imagined . . . and about the unexpected ways in which luck and love sometimes intersect.

Why it should be on your radar: It’s a new Jennifer E. Smith book, which will appeal to fans of Stephanie Perkins, Sarah Dessen, Trish Doller, and others who write about love and romance in complicated, realistic ways.