This is an absolutely promising and thought-provoking thriller debut that questions numerous sensitive issues, including racism, underage sex, teenage pregnancy, corruption, white privilege, and child abuse.
The Black Queen by Jumata Emill, (List Price: $12.99, Ember, 9780593568576, December 2023)
Reviewed by Michelle Weiler, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina
A December Read This Next! Title
Second in Sutanto’s YA series, Didn’t See That Coming focuses on Kiki as she’s forced by her parents to transfer to a top school for her final year. Fortunately, her young friend Eleanor Roosevelt is there, but that seems to be the lone bright spot as she’s bullied by nearly everyone from the principal to her classmates. But Kiki is able to escape into gaming where, because of the massive amounts of abuse, she’s been playing as a male player. But she’s made a great friend in game. However, when she realizes that her friend actually goes to her new school, she must find out who he is. Didn’t See That Coming is both hilarious and heartbreaking while being a fantastic read.
Didn’t See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto, (List Price: $12.99, Delacorte Press, 9780593434048, December 2023)
Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia
A December Read This Next! Title
Lynn Painter fans rejoice! Betting on You, Painter’s newest YA romcom, is just as swoony and romantic and hilarious as it’s predecessors! Painter masterfully crafts the perfect slow-burn full of page defying chemistry, witty banter, crazy hijinks, and a whole lot of heart! Bailey and Charlie will wiggle their way in readers hearts just as they did each other’s! On top of a stellar romance, Painter also does an excellent job of exploring themes of anxiety, change, and friendship. It’s When Harry Met Sally for a new generation! Plus, all the Taylor Swifts references are definitely a bonus!
Betting on You by Lynn Painter, (List Price: $19.99, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 9781665921237, December 2023)
Reviewed by Emma Tara, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia
A fun treasure hunt! It reads like an adventure movie – Knives Out with the gang from Scooby Doo. Lily, soon to be 18, literally falls into the birthday cake for her Gram, leaves embarrassed, and finds the next morning that her Gram is dead. She teams up with three others to follow the clues all over town in search of Gram’s fortune. The adults – except Gram – are the “bad guys” in close pursuit as Lily’s gang, chasing them all over Rosetown as they piece together clues Gram left in invisible ink. I love happily-ever-after suspense novels and this didn’t let me down. I hope Reed writes more!
The Rosewood Hunt by Mackenzie Reed, (List Price: $19.99, HarperTeen, 9780063287600, October 2023)
Reviewed by Ashby Rushing, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee
This is a really quick but rich read with several unique voices narrating the story of Alice Franklin, a teenage girl in a small Texas town who may or may not have slept with two different guys at a party one night. Whether or not it’s true, the rumor propels the story into several directions, including a fatal car accident, a vandalized bathroom stall, and an unlikely friendship. Each character has a distinct voice, and they somehow transcend the high school stereotypes that they’re all so desperate to conform to. The Truth About Alice is a thoughtful look at the delicate balance of high school hierarchy and how a few words uttered by the right person can change–and potentially ruin–someone else’s life.
The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu, (List Price: $16.99, Roaring Brook Press, 9781596439092, June, 2014)
Reviewed by Lelia Nebecker, One More Page Books in Arlington, Virginia
Jordan and Cindy are at war. They’re also in love. One of these statements is false. Jordan and Cindy’s families clashed when they both opened food trucks at the same time, parking them in the same spot. They’ve been feuding ever since. Well, for the internet. The families are secretly friends and Jordan and Cindy are dating. But when they’re approached by a reality show that wants to make them into a series, things just get more complicated.
With or Without You by Eric Smith, (List Price: $19.99, Inkyard Press, 9781335458070, November 2023)
Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia
Fun, campy romance with big feelings! I loved everything about this! Reading helped me escape to a fantasy world of found family and hopeful self discovery. I loved the joint storylines, and both romances were so swoon worthy.
Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher, (List Price: $20, Wednesday Books, 9781250847218, November 2023)
Reviewed by Rachel Randolph, Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee
I read and write young adult fiction for the same reason people go to high school reunions — there’s something about figuring out how to be a person that begs us to return. Fiction is a natural place to explore those beautiful themes.
The first time we loved, lost, were heartbroken, broke hearts, made mistakes, had success, won trophies, came in last, found freedom, felt contained by adults, broke rules, were punished, got away with something, cared about people, cared about the world, etc. The first time. That’s the key. You don’t have to read young adult to know that formative experiences are vital understanding humanity on the whole and self-identity. We don’t ask people about the third or fourth time they fell in love. We ask them about the first time so we’ll understand their starting point. If every person is a road map with a marked journey; we want to put a pin in the place they began. Young adult fiction is that pin.
― Court Stevens, Interview, Musings, Parnassus Books
What booksellers are saying about Last Girl Breathing
About Court Stevens
Court Stevens grew up among rivers, cornfields, churches, and gossip in the small-town South. She is a former adjunct professor, youth minister, and Olympic torchbearer. These days she writes coming-of-truth fiction and is the director of Warren County Public Library in Kentucky. She has a pet whale named Herman, a bandsaw named Rex, and several novels with her name on the spine: The June Boys, Faking Normal, The Lies About Truth, the e-novella The Blue-Haired Boy, Dress Codes for Small Towns, and Four Three Two One. Find Court online at CourtneyCStevens.com; Instagram: @quartland; Facebook: @CourtneyCStevens; Twitter: @quartland.
This is a true enemies-to-lovers read. Both faced with pressures unknown to the other, these art school students battle it out for a life-altering scholarship, while their online personalities collaborate on a webcomic (unknowingly duh). What made this book feel so raw for me, was that both characters had valid reasons for hating the other, reasons that cannot be easily resolved.
I Kissed Alice by Anna Birch, (List Price: $9.99, Square Fish, 9781250792068, May 2021)
Reviewed by Jamie Kovacs, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
This YA debut by Ali was not only riveting it was exceptionally written. This novel almost feels like chess when you’re reading it and watching how intricately Ali has weaved these characters together. Mallory, who loved chess until an unexpected tragedy in her family, now 18 and working to help support her family, beats a world champion, Nolan. Suddenly, everything in her life gets all mixed up as she stumbles into a romance she didn’t know she wanted. This novel, like her adult novels, does an AMAZING JOB touching on the sexism and expectations of a female vs male in the chess (STEM sport) community.
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood, (List Price: $14, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, 9780593619919, November 2023)
Reviewed by Charlotte Beck, Main Street Reads in Summerville, South Carolina
I’ve always loved to write, and storytelling is an enormous part of how I make sense of my emotions. Especially as a young adult, a time in my life where I felt quite adrift, immersing myself into books and writing provided so much solace. I love the endlessness of possibilities with speculative fiction, and how I can use things like magic, or monsters, or body horror as a lens through which to examine the real world.
― Lyndall Clipstone, Interview, Geeks Out
What booksellers are saying about Unholy Terrors
About Lyndall Clipstone
Lyndall Clipstone writes about monsters and the girls who like to kiss them. A former youth librarian who grew up running wild in the Barossa Ranges of South Australia, she currently lives in Adelaide, where she tends her own indoor secret garden. She has a bachelors in creative writing and a graduate diploma in library and information management. She is the author of Lakesedge and Forestfall.
After reading Sleepless in Dubai, you will be itching for a trip to both Dubai and Abu Dhabi! Nikki and Yash have been best friends since birth. But this last summer, their friendship blew up and they’ve been avoiding each other since. Now their families have a trip planned together to Dubai for Diwali and they’re going to have to find some way to get along.
Sleepless in Dubai by Sajni Patel, (List Price: $30, Amulet Books, 9781419766961, October 2023)
Reviewed by Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia
I loved Cinderella is Dead! I love that Kalynn took a fairy tale we all know and turned it on its head, for the better. The whole time I am reading it I’m thinking this is a feminist fairy tale. I’m thinking this is the LGBTQ fairy tale I wish I could have read when growing up and I am so happy young people today will be able to read this story. We need more stories like this.
Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron, (List Price: 10.99, Bloomsbury YA, 9781547606641, June 2021)
Reviewed by Rayna Nielsen, Blue Cypress Books in New Orleans, Louisiana
Shelbi has resisted making friends at her new school since she’s had bad experiences in the past. But when she witnesses Andy at a low point, she can’t help but reach out to let him know she knows what it’s like. And like that, despite Shelbi’s best efforts, a friendship is born. But both Shelbi and Andy have demons, Shelbi’s in the form of bipolar disorder that has impacted relationships in her past, and Andy’s in the form of alcoholism that started after his sister died. This is a moving story of two teens, both together and individually, as Shelbi learns the maybe she can rely on other people, and Andy learns to prioritize himself and his mental health.
Chaos Theory by Nic Stone, (List Price: 18.99, Crown Books for Young Readers, 9780593307700, February 2023)
Reviewed by Melissa Oates, Fiction Addiction in Greenville, South Carolina
Blood Debts is a magical novel about reckoning- societal reckoning, familial reckoning, and personal reckoning. Clem and Cris Trudeau are practitioners of Generational magic, magic derived from the moon and the power of their ancestors. Their family has been torn apart, their connection to magic is unstable at best, and they don’t trust anyone, least of all themselves. Clem and Cris are furious at the injustice their family has been handed- from the violent lynchings of their grandparents, to the racist anti-magic laws being debated in New Orleans, to the recent murder of their father, to the way white vultures keep trying to appropriate Generational magic. Blood Debts handles all of these difficult, emotional topics with care and still gives these teenagers space to experience being kids. Dramatic friendship breakups, sibling bickering, and the beauty of queer, Black love add even more layers to this breathtaking tale. Pursue answers, love, and most importantly, justice, with Clem and Cris in Blood Debts… you won’t be sorry.
Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker, (List Price: 18.99, Tor Teen, 9781250825926, April 2023)
Reviewed by Julia Hirschfield, Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
