1) "I Am Her Revenge" by Meredith Moore
A girl raised to be a weapon by her brutal mother must decide whether she’s willing to ruin a boy’s life for the sake of revenge.
For most teenagers, the first day at a prestigious boarding school in England would be fraught with nervous energy, but Vivian feels only duty and determination to please her mother as she begins to explore Madigan School in Yorkshire. When she was a girl herself, Vivian’s mother’s heart was broken by the now enormously wealthy creator of a digital doll program called Ava. Now Vivian’s mother has sent her to Madigan to ruin the life of her former beau’s son, to teach him a lesson in a new kind of heartbreak. Though Vivian sees herself as a weapon, distance from the cruel woman who tortured her as a child now gives her pause. The only friend she ever had mysteriously appears at Madigan, and suddenly it’s her own heart she’s at war with. Though given ample space for depth and development, Vivian never feels like a true product of her upbringing and her twisted mission. Instead, she’s distant and waffling, with all of her lovelorn beaus and school-hall bullies standing out as vivid players in her story in unfortunate contrast. Though there are countless nods to mythic tragedies, well-earned emotion eludes this drama.
More soap operatic than Shakespearian. (Thriller. 14-18)
2) "Everything That Makes You" by Moriah McStay
One girl, two lives: Debut novelist McStay explores the impact of a childhood accident.
When Fiona was 5, an accident burned her face and left her scarred. Always self-conscious about her scars, Fiona won't perform the songs she writes or tell crush Trent how she feels. At least she has her brother, Ryan, and best friend, Lucy. She undergoes an operation that heals her scars—but Fiona's insecurities remain even after starting college and falling for handsome Jackson. In a parallel storyline that alternates with Fiona’s chapter by chapter and month by month, Fi is physically unflawed, but there are cracks under the surface. She's a fierce lacrosse player, living for the dream of playing in college, even if it means barely having a relationship with her brother, Ryan, and pushing away Trent, her best friend, who wants to be more. But a horrible ankle injury takes away lacrosse, leaving Fi adrift until she falls in love with the sickly, optimistic Marcus. Readers accustomed to time-slip and parallel-universe fiction should control their expectations, as intersections between the storylines are fairly subtle. McStay plays out her “what if” scenario in two separate plots; as separate reads, Fiona's story is straightforward, while Fi's is more interesting yet less successfully executed.
As an experiment, the premise may intrigue more than the product, but readers who enter it on its own terms should find it satisfying. (Fiction. 14-18)
3) "Court of Fives" by Kate Elliott
After the death of the highly placed aristocrat whose patronage ensured their safety, Jessamy’s mixed-race family is targeted by political enemies; spared thanks to her skill at the game of Fives, she must find a way to save them.
Jes’ father, born into the Patron class, insisted she and her three sisters adhere to strict Patron protocols. Their Commoner mother submitted gracefully but at the price of openly affirming her Efean heritage. Jes finds an outlet from suffocating social strictures by secretly training for the Fives, a complex, mysterious competition popular with both castes. No one is fooled when, in order to avoid unmasking, she lets a competitor, Lord Kalliarkos, win. Separated from her family to live and train at the stables of his uncle, Lord Gargaron, Jes quickly bonds with Kalliarkos. When she learns the fate of her mother and sisters, she enlists his help in rescuing them. During this grueling ordeal, Jes begins to realize the power Efean heritage holds and to sense that it’s somehow interwoven with the game of Fives. Far more than a game, its meaning remains unclear, its history lost or forgotten. This series opener, the auspicious teen debut of a seasoned author of adult fantasy and World Fantasy Award finalist, features a gripping, original plot; vivid, complicated characters; and layered, convincingly detailed worldbuilding.
A compelling look at racial and social identity wrapped in a page-turning adventure. (Fantasy. 12-18)
4) "Pretending to Be Erica" by Michelle Painchaud
Raised up by her foster father to become the world's best con artist, Violet's disguised as a girl who's both very rich and very dead.
Ever since Vegas con man Sal found 5-year-old Violet in the foster system, he's raised her to commit the perfect crime. Now that she's 17, it's finally time for Violet to go into deep cover as kidnapped Erica Silverman. Erica, stolen 13 years ago from her kindergarten, is still the subject of her wealthy mother’s relentless search. If Violet can convince Mrs. Silverman she’s her daughter, she'll have one shot at the fabled Silverman painting, a $60 million jackpot. Sal's given Violet a lifetime of training in crime and skullduggery, three plastic surgeries over a mere five years, a bone broken and reset to match an old break of Erica's, even a fake DNA sample. Yet the simple realities of high school are overwhelming for previously home-schooled Violet. To maintain her cover, Violet-as-Erica makes friends and is surprised to find she truly likes them. Realism sometimes takes a back seat to premise (Sal's astronomical resources, connections, and skills apparently don't preclude his raising Violet in poverty), but the focus is more on Violet's moral qualms and the difficulty of maintaining two distinct identities.
A thriller premise with a satisfying shades-of-gray resolution. (Suspense. 14-17)
5) "The Way We Bared Our Souls" by Willa Strayhorn
Five New Mexico teens undergo a soul-cleansing ritual, with varied results.
Consuelo “Lo” McDonough is struggling with a likely diagnosis of early-onset multiple sclerosis, which also took the life of her beloved aunt Karine. When a mysterious but oddly comforting stranger named Jay offers to perform a healing ritual, Lo jumps at the chance, quickly gathering the four similarly damaged friends she needs to complete the group for the ritual. The five teens—grieving Kit, former child soldier Thomas, drug addict Ellen, impervious-to-pain Kaya and Lo herself—discover that though they no longer suffer from their original ailments, their problems have been swapped. Kit receives Ellen’s addictive personality and uses it to embrace life again, nearly a year after his girlfriend’s tragic death, while Ellen’s experience of Lo’s neurological symptoms forces her to be physically and mentally present in a way she hasn’t been in ages. The most spiritually significant transformation is also the most cringe-inducing: When Kaya takes on Thomas’ emotional trauma, she taps into supposed historical memories of white soldiers attacking her American Indian ancestors, with tragic results in the present. Although specific references to legends of and historic atrocities against the American Indians of the Southwest are sprinkled about, there is no attempt to authenticate Kaya’s experience.
The ultimate lesson—of having empathy for oneself as well as for others whose wounds may be invisible—is well-taken though sadly heavy-handed. (Fiction. 12-15)
6) "Underneath Everything" by Marcy Beller Paul
After dropping off the social grid for a year and a half, Mattie decides to attend a party that will change the course of her senior year in ways she never could have imagined.
Running into an ex-boyfriend not only rekindles old feelings, but also sets Mattie down a path that will inevitably force her to confront the same friend who drove her to give it all away. Jolene’s power over Mattie is destructive and all-consuming. Only Mattie can decide if the pleasure is worth the pain. Unfortunately for readers, what could have been a haunting story of an obsessive friendship falls flat. Jolene is far too one-sided. Her cruel intentions and manipulations are painfully obvious, and there is absolutely no evidence that she has a redeeming side, making it impossible to understand her hold over Mattie. Even worse, it makes Mattie look weak, and worse yet, references to a sexual attraction between the two feel gratuitous. A painfully slow reveal of what happened to temporarily end their friendship doesn’t help matters, as it is both frustrating and disappointing. It is increasingly difficult to muster up any empathy for Mattie, as she appears to be getting exactly what she deserves, at least for most of the novel.
As it turns out, what’s really underneath everything just isn’t all that compelling. (Fiction. 13-17)
7) "Tracked" by Jenny Martin
A rebellious street urchin is coerced into driving a race car for an oppressive corporation that rules her planet.
Racing’s in Phee’s blood—she’s the daughter of a legendary driver who mysteriously vanished. Her races are different from her father’s, though. He raced legitimately on the corporation circuit; she races illegally underground. When a race turns out to be a trap, she’s arrested and sentenced to life at a penal colony—unless she agrees to race for Benroyal, the most powerful of the oppressive corporations that maintain their rigid class system. As her best friend, foster brother, and—most importantly—race navigator (pacer), Bear, was also caught, Phee bargains for his sentence to be commuted by joining the team as well. Phee hates being a PR tool and distraction for the evil corporation—and she loathes the pretty dresses and press requirements—but must protect her foster family, especially as she discovers secrets about Benroyal that could get them all killed. The races make for some of the strongest, most compelling writing in the book, so it’s too bad that there are so few of them. They’re much more entertaining than the love triangle among Phee, Bear, and Phee’s new pacer: a handsome, bad-boy prince with secrets. The society and protagonist are standard-issue dystopian, but the intrigue builds into political conspiracies and action—debut author Martin’s strength—and a wild climax that begs for a sequel.
Genre fans will find that the strong action helps to compensate for flaws. (Dystopian romance. 12 & up)
8) "Valiant" by Sarah McGuire
In this retelling of “The Brave Little Tailor,” a young woman comes to the rescue of a city that’s besieged by giants.
Saville, a tailor’s daughter, picks up the ruined pieces of her family’s livelihood after her father suffers an apoplexy that leaves him unable to speak, let alone sew. She masquerades as a boy to secure a commission from the king. Nearby villages have suffered attacks by giants led by a duke who describes himself as “Heir to the Ancient Emperor’s crown, Holder of the Eternal Heart.” When two giants appear at the city’s gates, Saville sees Will, a waif she’s taken under her wing, dangling from their hands. Like the tailor in the Grimms’ folk tale, Saville outwits the giants and is declared champion by the king—who promises his sister’s hand in marriage to the champion before finding out who she is. Saville uses her ingenuity to get both self and city out of trouble, with the help of a handsome young nobleman and Will. McGuire uses familiar European folk-tale motifs as the bare-bones backdrop for a lively adventure story with some surprising twists. Characters are fully developed through Saville’s engaging first-person voice, but it’s clever Saville herself who wins the day—and the heart of the nobleman.
A charming, satisfying first novel. (Fantasy. 10-14)
9) "The Wrong Side of Right" by Jean Marie Thorne
A 16-year-old girl whose mother has just recently died learns that she is the daughter of the Republican candidate for president of the United States.
Kate’s formerly hidden parentage comes to light when a reporter reveals that she is the daughter of Sen. Mark Cooper of Massachusetts, who’s leading in the polls against the incumbent, a Democrat. Kate doesn’t know much about politics, although she grew up in East Los Angeles, where her mother ran a food bank, and her best friends’ parents are undocumented immigrants. She sees early on that Sen. Cooper takes a hard line on immigration but chooses not to learn what that means. In the meantime, she finds that her new family is quite wonderful. Even Mrs. Cooper accepts her as their daughter, and she becomes close to her new siblings, 8-year-old twins Gabe and Gracie. When Kate learns what “hard line” means, though, she introduces the Coopers to her undocumented friends to expose them to the reality of the issue. But will her friends remain safe? Meanwhile, Andy, the president’s son, starts a relationship with Kate. But is he honest about his feelings? Thorne appears to have researched the inner workings of political campaigns well and presents a believable portrait of the burdens they place on families. Kate’s reactions to her new family ring true as well.
Absorbing and timely. (Fiction. 12-18)
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