Kelly Jensen's Blog, page 71

Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies by Lindsay Ribar

Aspen Quick is a terrible person. He, along with many members of his family, has the ability to steal things from people – their memories, their feelings, anything tangible or intangible – with a power they call “reaching.” The first time we see Aspen using this power, he is stealing a girl’s love for his friend, her boyfriend, so that she would have the room/freedom/ability to fall in love with him instead.

See? He’s a terrible person. He’s no serial killer, but he doesn’t see anything wrong with what he does – until he realizes that it’s been done to him, too. Even then, he doesn’t magically transform, which is part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much. But let me back up a little.

The Quicks don’t just have this power for fun. They use it to give offerings to a cliff at the edge of town, a cliff that would otherwise collapse and kill everyone, hence the title Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies. On his grandmother’s orders, Aspen uses his power to reach inside items left at a tree (part of a town ritual), steal things from the leavers of those items, and then give those things (secrets, feelings, whatever) to the cliff. As a result, the townspeople aren’t crushed to death and the Quicks feel like saviors, and therefore many of them feel like they deserve whatever they take. If this sounds a little suspect to you, it should. Aspen isn’t nearly suspicious enough of this ritual, but he soon learns, as do we.

This premise makes the storyline naturally twisty. Because memories can be stolen and because Aspen usually tries to portray himself in a positive light (he fails), we can never entirely rely on his narration. He doesn’t know what’s really going on, even when he’s being honest. There was a lot that happened in this book that I didn’t see coming, but Ribar crafts the plot in such a way that it really does all come together in the end.

Ribar tackles a lot in her story. I think Aspen’s casual awfulness, which he always tries to justify, should really make a lot of teens think hard about what they themselves would do with a power like his. And because most fantasy can be read as metaphor, it should make teens think hard about what they would do with power of the non-magical kind, too. Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies is also about the danger of believing things at face value, of trusting those closest to you simply because what they say aligns with what you want to believe. It’s about how even the master manipulators can be manipulated themselves. It’s about what it takes to change for the better – and whether certain people are strong enough to make that change and stick to it.

I was really impressed with this book. It’s undoubtedly weird, but not in a trying-too-hard way that I think a lot of odder fiction falls prey to. Aspen is a lot like many teens (and adults!) of any gender – taking what you want is so alluring, and if no one will ever find out, and if you’re backed up by a history that says it’s your right to do so, why not? Humans have used this excuse to justify anything and everything.

Teens who dig contemporary supernatural fiction will find a lot to like here. Aspen’s head is fascinating to be in, though I’d never want to meet him in real life. The story is well-plotted, well-paced, with a series of revelations placed at strategic parts of the book for maximum impact. Highly recommended for those looking for something a bit different.

 

Refilling The Well

 

I’ve been having a hard time reading this year. I know my perception of “hard time reading” and “not reading much” differs from the average person — I did just finish my 70th book, so I’m clocking about two a week — but it’s weird when you’re used to reading more than 100 or 150 books at this point in the year and you’re just not.

But my reading this year has been so much more satisfying than in previous years. Not necessarily because the books are better. Rather, it’s because I’ve let myself refill the well over and over, and I’ve listened to my instinct far more on what I’m choosing to pick up and what I’m choosing to put down.

Last week, I went on vacation with my husband to one of our top dream places: Marfa, Texas. We’d lived in Texas for a few years, but we never made the 6.5 hour drive out to west Texas. This time, we made the intentional decision to do it; we’d fly into Austin, then make the drive out to the desert.

Earlier in the summer, the two of us took a half a week trip out to the Denver area to see some friends, so this was our second couple trip together in the last couple of months. And one thing I figured out pretty quickly in that first trip was something I applied to this one: I don’t read.

I used to love the whole process of picking my vacation reads. I’d spend days debating which books make the cut and which ones would stay behind. But the truth of it was, I rarely read on these trips. I’d pack 4 or 5 books, and then I’d pick at a couple of pages while waiting at the airport and quickly discard it in favor of pacing the airport itself. When I get on the plane, I’m one of those lucky people who falls asleep nearly instantly. Then when I reach the destination, I’m conscious of leaving everything behind and living right in the moment.

 

 

What I did pack for both trips was my Nook. Out in Colorado, I did read. I woke up before anyone else did, since I’m a morning person, and I’d use the time to read a few chapters. I finished Kali VanBaale’s The Good Divide during one of those morning reading sessions, and I updated my husband on the story when he’d wake up. I loved the book, and I loved the slow, deliberate reading sessions, knowing that I was being intentional of when I was reading and I was fully aware of the moment I was in while reading (on an air mattress, in the home of good friends). The story and the setting coalesced into a wonderful experience.

I loaded up my Nook before this trip, but I wasn’t particularly excited about any of the titles on there. A couple of books I’d wanted to read expired, and given that this was a Dream Trip, my excitement was a bit dispersed.

Then we hit travel snags, and I suddenly needed a book to read. Right now. Something that would distract me from hours and hours of sitting at an airport.

I hit the O’Hare bookstore (note, this wasn’t the airport we originally had tickets to fly out of) and hemmed and hawed about what book to read. I picked up and put down tons of them. I left without a book. Then I went back and picked up more options, then put them down. O’Hare’s bookstore had some of those beautiful classics, including a cover for The Metamorphosis I hadn’t seen before (I was tempted). I ended up choosing the mass market edition of The Girl on the Train, which I hadn’t yet read. I picked up Mary Roach’s Packing for Mars for my husband.

And then I didn’t read.

For many more hours, I wandered O’Hare. And then when the flight finally came to be, I fell asleep, my dreams peppered with images of bowls of queso and margaritas.

I was disappointed about the delays. The trip was to begin with grabbing lunch with Kimberly, who I haven’t seen in a few years. My disappointment meant my concentration wasn’t there. Which meant my reading mind wasn’t there. There was some comfort in buying a book, but there was no response in reading it.

The morning after our flight, my husband and I tag teamed the drive out to Marfa. When we drive, I do not read. We have an understanding that when we drive like this, neither of us gets to read or sleep — we’re the second set of eyes. With driving such a huge expanse of Texas, it was hard not to keep looking out. It was beautiful and breath taking and there was so much to take in about the beauty of the land around us.

It hit me on the drive I wanted nothing more than to read a book about living in west Texas. About homesteading. About how you don’t feel like an insignificant speck in a part of the country where there is one person per square mile (a nifty fact gleaned at a rest stop Google session — one of my favorite parts of driving, the looking up of the things you see and know nothing about).

Marfa is a tiny artist town close to the Mexican border. But they have a pretty nifty bookstore, and as we discovered on the first evening there, a beautiful library with a lovely note to the community on the outside. I didn’t get a chance to go in, but I loved the love letter to the town. We did hit up the bookstore, located inside one of the new hotels downtown (…most of Marfa is downtown, I guess).  It was a lovely specialty shop, filled with books about the artists who played a huge role in the community, as well as an extensive selection of Cormac McCarthy books — No Country For Old Men was filmed in places around town. Nothing caught my eye or scratched the itch of the kind of book I needed to be reading.

I didn’t read while on the trip. Instead, I explored. I saw the mystery lights. My husband and I and the other people who were out there watching the show that evening shared stories and theories; we learned one guy brought his family to this space ten different times and this was the first time they’d ever seen the lights. We wandered the campsite we stayed at, pet the dogs of other people staying there, and we even ran into another Wisconsinite, with whom we shared stories of travel, of how unbelievable the sky out in this space was. Even when I grabbed my book to read in the hammocks around the campsite, I put it down and instead watched the vast sky around me, felt the breeze, listened to the utter quiet of being in the desert.

 

One of the best parts of the trip, though, was stopping into the visitor centered. The woman running it was wildly enthusiastic about Marfa, and she told us about all of the places we needed to see, as well as the stories behind them. Our immediate trip after that was to the Chinati Foundation, where we wandered out into the land to see the famous Judd concrete sculptures. The Foundation is built on decommissioned military land that served as a German POW camp during the second World War. The sculptures, as well as the surrounding buildings filled with art, were the response to getting the land and making it mean something completely different.

 

Between the trip through the concrete sculptures, as well as our drive out to see the Prada Marfa installation, my husband and I had stories and theories to tell one another, as well as things to look up and read to one another. What did these things mean? How did they change over time?

Our reading wasn’t books. It wasn’t what we picked up or packed. It was what we were living right then.

One of the last stops on our last night in Marfa was one of the big hotel gift shops, and it was here I found the book I was looking for: a story about a girl whose grandparents made a homestead out in west Texas in the 1950s and 60s and what it was like for them to live in such a desolate place: A Stake in West Texas by Rebecca D. Henderson.

It’s a book that scratches all of my itches, and it’s one I cannot wait to read for the story, as well as the story behind where I got it, what it means to me, and what the longing I had to learn about this place meant to me before and during the travels. It is, as I type this, lost in transit with our clothes, our toiletries, our toothbrushes, our shoes, jars of honey, bottles of beer, and a number of other things. I’m eager to be reunited.

 

When we got back to Austin, our first stop was Book People, my all-time favorite bookstore. It was a sanctuary for me for the time I was living in that city by myself. On Saturday mornings when I wasn’t working in someone’s garage archive, I’d hop on a bus, then another one, then spend a few hours wandering the two-story store.

Remember when I said I didn’t pack anything but my nook?

That was in part because I knew I’d pick up a few things at Book People. And $125 later, I’m pleased to say I bought myself two books — including one that had expired from my Nook — and one for my husband.

We flew back to Milwaukee and when I got on the plane, everything changed. I needed to unpack the trip, the stories we heard and the ones we told, and the best way for me to do that was to read.

I pulled The Girl on the Train out of my bag and flew through 300 pages as we were in the air. Then the moment we got home, I tore through the remainder of the book. It was precisely what I needed when I needed it: a quick thriller which made me keep turning pages and put me back into my own space and turf. As soon as I finished that, I picked up another book, which I’m elbow deep in now, less than 24 hours after returning home.

 

There is a weird pressure to keep reading, to pick up the next book, to do more, more, more, when you make your life about books. When you identify as A Reader. You feel guilt when you’re asked if you’ve read something and you say no, you haven’t. Or worse, when you’re told about a book and you’ve literally never heard of it (the friend we stayed with in Texas asked me about a book by a UT Alumna, wherein I had to look it up and add it to my to-read ASAP).

The truth is, though, reading and one’s reading life is entirely personal. And sometimes being a “reader” means that you’re listening to stories in ways that aren’t about printed or electronic pages. Sometimes, it’s about experiencing stories in the moment, of asking people to share their stories, of reading those plaques on the side of the road, of paging through art books in a tiny collection, of enjoying the beautiful libraries in the middle of the desert.

Those are moments of refilling the well. Of remembering why it is you love to read.

Taking this break and leaning into it, rather than pushing to fix it, meant stopping and pausing. It meant finding momentum again upon return. It meant finding the hunger and passion again for stories, no matter how they’re told.

____________________

 

All photos above are mine. I started taking photography classes earlier this year, and it’s been another piece of my refilling the well. The stories you can tell visually, through little more than the lens of your phone, continues to impress and inspire me.

 

Audiobook Roundup

I’ve been going through audiobooks super fast. Here are a few recent ones.

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

I really enjoy Oliver’s writing, so even when a storyline doesn’t especially appeal to me, like this one, I figure I’ll mostly enjoy it anyway. Sisters Dara and Nicole (Nick) were close when they were young, but as they’ve grown into teenagers, their differing personalities (Dara is very outgoing, a bit of a rebel, while Nick is more reserved, the “good daughter”) cause friction. And then a terrible accident occurs, and Dara and Nick’s relationship is forever altered. Dara’s and Nick’s stories are told in alternating points of view, and that main plotline overlaps with another subplot about a younger girl who has vanished. There are a number of secrets each girl hides, and Oliver teases them out slowly, knowing just how to manipulate her readers’ emotions in skilled ways. There’s a major twist that I saw coming pretty early on in the book, but it was fun to listen and see just how Oliver made it work. Her writing is above average as always, and the audiobook narration is solid.

The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury

The concept of this book is so interesting: Twylla is the embodiment of a goddess and as such, she is able to eat poison every day and then kill with a single touch. She’s used by the Queen to execute traitors to the crown, a job Twylla despises. She’s engaged to the prince and while she feels trapped, she knows that her role as the goddess embodied is important. Then she gets a new guard, and he starts to make her question everything she’s been told. There is a bit of a typical love triangle here and the story isn’t especially fast-moving, but there are enough surprises and emotional reveals to keep a reader’s interest. So while I found the execution a little lacking, I wasn’t disappointed I invested time in it. The narration is good, at times it sounded like Emma Watson was reading the story (she was not).

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

I have meaning to read this book in print form pretty much since it was published, but every time I picked it up, I just wasn’t in the  mood for a long book. But I was almost 100% sure I would enjoy it, so I went the audio route. I’m glad I did: the narration is excellent (it’s told from two perspectives, one male and one female) and the story, while familiar, is engrossing. Laia belongs to the Scholar culture, a group of people who have been conquered by the Martials, and many of the Scholars are now slaves. When her brother is taken prisoner, accused of treason, she knows she must rescue him. She goes to the Scholar resistance, who agree to help break him out of the Martial prison if she will do something for them in return: go undercover as a slave, serving the cruel leader of the military academy where the other protagonist, Elias, currently trains unwillingly. Elias has his own story, and it soon converges with Laia’s. What sets this book apart are the setting and the quality of the writing. Laia’s and Elias’ world is based partly on ancient Rome, but there are also magical elements borrowed from Arabic culture. Many of the characters are non-white (such as Laia) and the world they inhabit lives and breathes, with interesting cultures and complicated politics. The story is always riveting, danger lurking around ever corner, and I was constantly rooting for both leads, even though their goals were often at odds. Highly recommended for fantasy fans.

Win A Preorder of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD

 

It’s wild to me to think that in under six months, I’ll be holding my book. The real, finished anthology of feminism that is my dream project.

I’m eagerly awaiting pass pages and ARCs, and in the mean time, I’ve been opening up the cover on my screen and drooling, reading and rereading the page samples I’ve seen, and marveling over how this book came together. I cannot wait to share it.

I made a promise early on that when the book had 1,000 “to read” ads on Goodreads, I’d do a giveaway. When Goodreads switched to their new design, the count changed somehow and since I wasn’t really paying that close attention, I didn’t notice that there were nearly 1,000 this soon.

So, here it is! I’m actually doing two pre-order giveaways. One you can enter right here, and one you can enter if you’re on Goodreads. You can enter one or you can enter both. The only thing is is that for now, it is limited to the US. I will offer up an international giveaway when the time gets closer (& I’ve got an idea in mind for a really fun preorder giveaway, with details to come!).

This giveaway is open until September 30, and I’ll draw a winner on October 1. All information in this form will be deleted as soon as I do that (as always). Goodreads will pick their winner the same time and relay that information to me. You can enter that giveaway by CLICKING HERE and you can enter this giveaway in the form below.

Good luck & thank you everyone for your enthusiastic support and response to Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World so far. Just wait until you can read it!

 

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LGBTQIA+ Roundup

This year, I’ve been making more of an effort to read YA books featuring LGBTQIA+ characters. This means I’ve been reading more realistic contemporary YA, since most (but not all!) of these characters are focused there. Here are brief reviews of the five I’ve read so far this year.

The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle

Sixteen year old Quinn is an aspiring screenwriter, still in the closet, and still grieving over the death of his sister, Annabeth, in a car accident at the end of last school year. He and Annabeth were a dynamic movie-making duo – he would write the scripts and she would direct. Since her death, Quinn hasn’t been able to do much of anything, much less finish a screenplay. He doesn’t even leave his house. Until his best friend Geoff convinces him to go to a college party Geoff’s sister is throwing – and he meets someone there who could maybe be his first more-than-a-friend.

Quinn’s first romance with another boy is a big part of the story, but it’s part of his larger journey in learning to deal with his grief over Annabeth’s death and how it has affected his family and friendships. Federle gives Quinn a great voice; he’s often funny (or irritating, depending on your perspective) and will insert film trivia into everyday conversation, something that will appeal to teens who love movies (current and classics). Federle writes some of Quinn’s story as imagined scenes in a script, which adds interest – it’s like an alternative to a daydream sequence. The romance is exciting and thorny and realistic. I took issue with how Quinn refers to his mother; his father left them following Annabeth’s death and she has gained weight and hoards junk food. While he often calls his mother beautiful, almost every reference of her involves a mention of her weight or her junk food obsession, which I found reductive and shallow. Calling a fat woman beautiful isn’t a band-aid for this and Quinn (or Federle) seems to think it is.

None of the Above by I. W. Gregorio

Kristin learns she’s intersex after she tries to have sex with her boyfriend and it’s extremely painful. She goes to the doctor, who shares the life-changing information with Kristin: she has an X chromosome and traditionally male “parts” – they’re just inside instead of outside. Kristin has androgen insensitivity syndrome, or AIS, which is one of the most common forms of intersex and one where people can outwardly appear biologically female (though people with AIS can exhibit the full range of phenotypes). Kristin tries to hide the diagnosis from everyone she knows, feeling ashamed and like she’s not a “real girl.” But when she lets it slip to one of her best friends one night, the whole school knows the next day, and her nightmare really begins.

This book will be foundational for stories about intersex people. It’s not perfect (the writing is a bit rough and simplistic at times), but it’s a perfect book to lead the way. It’s moving – Kristin slowly does accept herself and reconcile her chromosomal reality with her identity as a girl – as well as educational. I’m certain there will be many readers who won’t even know what being intersex means, not to mention even more readers who haven’t ever heard of AIS and don’t know how it affects people. Gregorio is a doctor and it shows: she gives readers details about Kristin’s condition that are fascinating and important. Kristin has a good voice, and Gregorio doesn’t let her story shy away from how horrible people can be. I was on pins and needles during one scene where the threat of violence loomed so large it was hard to keep reading. I highly recommend this book; it’s a great YA story and it helps fill the “I” gap in in LGBTQIA+ literature for teens.

Draw the Line by Laurent Linn

Adrian is gay, and he knows that if the school bully Doug and his toady Buddy found out about it, he’d be a target for their fists. After all, Doug routinely goes after out-and-proud Kobe. Adrian uses art as an outlet: he invented a gay comic book superhero, Graphite, and regularly posts new stories featuring Graphite and his exploits anonymously online, where he has a small following. But when Doug beats up Kobe so badly he almost dies, Adrian starts to learn that he can’t just stay in the shadows when injustices like this routinely occur – he decides that this is where he draws the line (yes, I worked in the title).

This is probably the weakest of the five I’ve reviewed here. Its strongest aspect is the art: Linn includes several excerpts from Graphite’s adventures and they’re really nicely done. It’s clear Linn/Adrian is a talented artist and storyteller. But overall, the plot is meandering and the writing weak. It feels like half of the novel is exposition, and there are a lot of scenes that don’t serve much purpose. It’s over 500 pages long, and it feels like it. Adrian’s best friends are stereotypes and Doug’s character arc doesn’t make much sense. Linn tries to give Adrian a teen-y voice in his writing style, but it just comes across as unpolished (especially compared to the superior books by Federle and Whaley, both authors whose writing is sophisticated but whose characters feel like teens). It’s still a worthwhile read, but it’s not a standout unless you’re really into the art.

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

It’s a good thing I branched out more into contemporary reads this year, because this is one of my favorite reads. Amanda moved to live with her dad because it will allow her to go to a different high school, away from the one she was at before where everyone knew her as Andrew. Amanda is a trans girl, and she knows she’s fortunate in that she can pass as a cis girl at her new school – so much so that she’s considered one of the prettiest girls in school. Amanda falls for Grant, despite her vow to keep her head low, stay away from guys, and graduate high school without letting anyone in or causing any trouble, like she promised her dad. But inevitably, the truth comes out, and Amanda must deal with how her newfound friends, boyfriend, and classmates react.

While this book is not without conflict (the threat of violence is always there), it does paint a rosy picture of one trans girl’s experience. Amanda passes easily. She had surgery at a young age so no one can tell she’s trans even with her clothes off. Her parents more or less accept her. By the end of the book, many of the people she came to care about at her new school have accepted her as well, though the journey there is rocky. Russo, who is trans herself, acknowledges this in her author’s notes (she writes one for trans readers and one for cis readers) and says it is deliberate: this is a story of hope. It is also not every trans person’s experience, and shouldn’t be read that way. I’ve seen some reviewers criticize Russo’s writing, but I thought it was quite strong and read as if Amanda herself were writing her story. She has a singular voice and the ability to make readers feel her pain, worries, and frustrations keenly. Lovely throughout, this is highly recommended.

Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

In middle school one day, Solomon had a panic attack and jumped into the fountain at the front of the school. He hasn’t been out of his house in the three years since, trapped by his agoraphobia. His parents seem to have accepted it, long ago giving up on encouraging him to get out of the house. Lisa, one of Solomon’s former classmates, learns of Solomon’s condition and decides to make him her project. She wants to get into a prestigious psychology program at a particular college, and she thinks “curing” Solomon will be just the thing to do that. So she weasels her way into Solomon’s life, eventually bringing her boyfriend in on the scheme as well. Lisa didn’t expect she’d actually like Solomon, that they’d form a true friendship, but that’s what happens. For his part, Solomon is resigned to living the rest of his life in his parents’ house, but he can’t seem to shake Lisa’s overtures of friendship, and when her boyfriend starts coming over too, he can’t seem to shake his burgeoning feelings for him, either.

Whaley’s writing is top-notch, though I would argue that he hammers home his point a little too firmly when it would have been better to just let it sit, the point having already been made. Lisa is a terrible person (one professional reviewer described her as likeable, which I find funny) and I shudder to think what kind of psychologist she would make, but she’s always interesting to read about, and there are plenty of tender moments between her and Solomon. Whaley succeeds at writing Solomon as more than just his illness, as someone who has strengths and personality and smarts even though no one can really see them. What could have been a hackey book is instead something pretty great in Whaley’s hands – his characters come alive and so, too, does the book.

Three of out of these five titles feature gay white teenage boys as their protagonists, and within the still small selection of LGBTQIA+ books for teens, this character dominates. It’s harder to find books featuring girls, teens of color, or characters who don’t identify with the “G” part of the acronym. On that note, next on my list are Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown, which published yesterday, and As I Descended by Robin Talley, out September 6. I’ll let you know how they are.

Going Viral: A YA Reading List

A couple of weeks ago, I took a survey for Tumblr about my user experience. One of the repeat questions that came up was about how important it was for what I share on the site to “go viral.” Knowing that the target demographic of Tumblr users skews much younger than me, I couldn’t help but think about that and the power that going viral might have in a teenager’s life.

Of course I’m not alone in this. And of course, this wasn’t the first time I’ve thought about it. “Going viral” is a topic that’s been well-traversed in the YA landscape, and it’s one that will continue to play a role in storytelling for quite a while. For some teens, it’s a thing they seek and for others, it’s exactly the kind of thing that they hope to a

void. Unlike stories where social media or blogging are important in the life of a teenager, going viral plays a completely different role in the story and character’s life. It’s more focused and in-the-moment, a quick thrust into the spotlight, even if the consequences are long-lasting.

 

 

Here’s a look at a pile of books where going viral on social media plays a noteworthy part in the story. This isn’t comprehensive, so feel free to leave additional titles in the comments. Likewise, and not surprising to me, is that this list is quite white. Where are the teens of color going viral? Because anyone who has been around the internet knows that the reality is people of all shapes, sizes, and colors can find themselves in a moment of internet fame.

All descriptions come from either WorldCat or Goodreads.

 

 

 

#famous by Jilly Gagnon (February 14, 2017)

In this modern-day love story, Girl likes Boy, Girl takes photo of Boy and posts it online, Boy becomes accidentally insta-famous. And what starts out as an innocent joke spirals into a whirlwind adventure that could change both their lives—and their hearts—forever. But are fame and love worth the price?

Told in alternating points of view, #famous captures the out-of-control thrill ride of falling for someone in front of everyone.

 

#scandal by Sarah Ockler

Lucy’s learned some important lessons from tabloid darling Jayla Heart’s all-too-public blunders: Avoid the spotlight, don’t feed the Internet trolls, and keep your secrets secret. The policy has served Lucy well all through high school, so when her best friend Ellie gets sick before prom and begs her to step in as Cole’s date, she accepts with a smile, silencing about ten different reservations. Like the one where she’d rather stay home shredding online zombies. And the one where she hates playing dress-up. And especially the one where she’s been secretly in love with Cole since the dawn of time.

When Cole surprises her at the after party with a kiss under the stars, it’s everything Lucy has ever dreamed of… and the biggest BFF deal-breaker ever. Despite Cole’s lingering sweetness, Lucy knows they’ll have to ’fess up to Ellie. But before they get the chance, Lucy’s own Facebook profile mysteriously explodes with compromising pics of her and Cole, along with tons of other students’ party indiscretions. Tagged. Liked. And furiously viral.

By Monday morning, Lucy’s been branded a slut, a backstabber, and a narc, mired in a tabloid-worthy scandal just weeks before graduation.

Lucy’s been battling undead masses online long enough to know there’s only one way to survive a disaster of this magnitude: Stand up and fight. Game plan? Uncover and expose the Facebook hacker, win back her best friend’s trust, and graduate with a clean slate.

There’s just one snag—Cole. Turns out Lucy’s not the only one who’s been harboring unrequited love.

 

Asking For It by Louise O’Neill

It’s the beginning of the summer in a small town in Ireland. Emma O’Donovan is eighteen years old, beautiful, happy, confident. One night, there’s a party. Everyone is there. All eyes are on Emma.

The next morning, she wakes on the front porch of her house. She can’t remember what happened, she doesn’t know how she got there. She doesn’t know why she’s in pain. But everyone else does.

Photographs taken at the party show, in explicit detail, what happened to Emma that night. But sometimes people don’t want to believe what is right in front of them, especially when the truth concerns the town’s heroes.

 

 

 

 

The Art of Getting Stared At by Laura Langston

After a school video she produced goes viral, sixteen-year-old Sloane Kendrick is given a chance at a film school scholarship. She has less than two weeks to produce a second video, and she’s determined to do it. Unfortunately, she must work with Isaac Alexander, an irresponsible charmer with whom she shares an uneasy history.

On the heels of this opportunity comes a horrifying discovery: a bald spot on her head. No bigger than a quarter, the patch shouldn’t be there. Neither should the bald spots that follow. Horror gives way to devastation when Sloane is diagnosed with alopecia areata. The auto-immune disease has no cause, no cure, and no definitive outcome. The spots might grow over tomorrow or Sloane might become completely bald. No one knows.

Determined to produce her video, hide her condition, and resist Isaac’s easy charm, Sloane finds herself turning into the kind of person she has always mocked: someone obsessed with her looks. And just when she thinks things can’t get any worse, Sloane is forced to make the most difficult decision of her life.

 

Breakout by Kevin Emerson

When Anthony’s angst-ridden rock ‘n’ roll lyrics go viral, he’s unwittingly cast as the school rebel. The truth is, he’s not trying to be anyone’s hero.

Anthony Castillo needs a new life. His teachers are clueless autocrats except for Mr. Darren, who’s in charge of the rock band program. The girls at school are either shallow cutebots or out of his league. And his parents mean well, but they just make things worse. It’s as if Anthony is stuck on the bottom level of his favorite video game, Liberation Force 4.5. Except there is no secret escape tunnel and definitely no cheat code.

Fed up, pissed off, and feeling trapped, Anthony writes his first song for his rock band, the Rusty Soles. His only problem: Arts Night. If he exercises his right to free speech and sings his original lyrics—where his own bombs will drop—he and his band will be through.

The clock is ticking. Time for Anthony to pick his battles and decide what’s really worth fighting for.

 

Butter by Erin Jade Lange

A lonely obese boy everyone calls “Butter” is about to make history. He is going to eat himself to death-live on the Internet-and everyone is invited to watch. When he first makes the announcement online to his classmates, Butter expects pity, insults, and possibly sheer indifference. What he gets are morbid cheerleaders rallying around his deadly plan. Yet as their dark encouragement grows, it begins to feel a lot like popularity. And that feels good. But what happens when Butter reaches his suicide deadline? Can he live with the fallout if he doesn’t go through with his plans?

 

 

 

Flannery by Lisa Moore

Sixteen-year-old Flannery Malone has it bad. She’s been in love with Tyrone O’Rourke since the days she still believed in Santa Claus. But Tyrone has grown from a dorky kid into an outlaw graffiti artist, the rebel-with-a-cause of Flannery’s dreams, literally too cool for school.

Which is a problem, since he and Flannery are partners for the entrepreneurship class that she needs to graduate. And Tyrone’s vanishing act may have darker causes than she realizes.

Tyrone isn’t Flannery’s only problem. Her mother, Miranda, can’t pay the heating bills, let alone buy Flannery’s biology book. Her little brother, Felix, is careening out of control. And her best-friend-since-forever, Amber, has fallen for a guy who is making her forget all about the things she’s always cared most about — Flannery included — leading Amber down a dark and dangerous path of her own.

When Flannery decides to make a love potion for her entrepreneurship project, rumors that it actually works go viral, and she suddenly has a hot commodity on her hands. But a series of shattering events makes her realize that real-life love is far more potent — and potentially damaging — than any fairy-tale prescription.

 

Generation Next by Oli White

Things haven’t been easy for Jack recently – life as a teenager has its ups and downs. But when he meets a new group of friends, who are every bit as geek as they are chic, his luck seems to be changing. Each of the group is talented and when they pool together to create Generation Next, an incredible new kind of social media platform, it’s clear that they’re on to something special.

What if your Instagram account grew by hundreds of thousands of followers overnight, and big companies were fighting each other to offer you photoshoots? When GenNext suddenly goes viral, Jack and his friends are thrust into a crazy world of fame which is as terrifying as it is awesome.

Because someone out there is determined to trip Jack up at every step. If he doesn’t stop them, soon everyone he cares about – his friends, his family, and the girl he’s falling for – will be in danger.

 

Gone Too Far by Natalie D. Richards

Piper Woods can’t wait for the purgatory of senior year to end. She skirts the fringes of high school like a pro until the morning she finds a notebook with mutilated photographs and a list of student sins. She’s sure the book is too gruesome to be true, until pretty, popular Stella dies after a sex-tape goes viral. Everyone’s sure it’s suicide, but Piper remembers Stella’s name from the book and begins to suspect something much worse.

Drowning in secrets she doesn’t want to keep, Piper’s fears are confirmed when she receives an anonymous text message daring her to make things right. All she needs to do is choose a name, the name of someone who deserves to be punished…

 

 

 

How To Keep Rolling After A Fall by Karole Cozzo

After a cyber bullying incident turns her life upside down, a handsome wheelchair rugby player shows a former mean girl that everyone deserves a second chance.

The party was at her house. The photos were posted to her Facebook account. That’s all the evidence anyone needed to condemn Nikki Baylor for a cyberbullying incident that humiliated a classmate and nearly resulted in the girl’s suicide. Now Nikki’s been expelled from her old school, her friends have abandoned her, and even her own parents can’t look her in the eye. With her plans for the future all but destroyed, Nikki resigns herself to being the girl everyone hates – almost as much as she hates herself. But then Nikki meets Pax, a spirited wheelchair rugby player who knows what it’s like when one mistake completely shatters your life. Refusing to judge her because of her past, he shows her that everyone deserves a second chance… and everyone deserves to be loved.

 

In Case You Missed It by Sarah Darer Littman

Sammy Wallach has epic plans for the end of junior year over: Sneak out to the city to see her favorite band. Get crush-worthy Jamie Moss to ask her to prom. Rock all exams (APs and driver’s).

With a few white lies, some killer flirting, and tons of practice, Sammy’s got things covered. That is, until the bank her dad works for is attacked by hacktivists who manage to steal everything in the Wallach family’s private cloud, including Sammy’s entire digital life. Literally the whole world has access to her emails, texts, photos, and, worst of all, journal.

Life. Is. Over.

Now Sammy’s best friends are furious about things she wrote, Jamie thinks she’s desperate, and she can barely show her face at school. Plus, her parents know all the rules she broke. But Sammy’s not the only one with secrets — her family has a few of its own that could change everything. And while the truth might set you free, no one said it was going to be painless. Or in Sammy’s case, private.

 

The Inside of Out by Jenn Marie Throne

When her best friend Hannah comes out the day before junior year, Daisy is so ready to let her ally flag fly that even a second, way more blindsiding confession can’t derail her smiling determination to fight for gay rights.

Before you can spell LGBTQIA, Daisy’s leading the charge to end their school’s antiquated ban on same-sex dates at dances—starting with homecoming. And if people assume Daisy herself is gay? Meh, so what. It’s all for the cause.

What Daisy doesn’t expect is for “the cause” to blow up—starting with Adam, the cute college journalist whose interview with Daisy for his university paper goes viral, catching fire in the national media. #Holy #cats.

With the story spinning out of control, protesters gathering, Hannah left in the dust of Daisy’s good intentions, and Daisy’s mad attraction to Adam feeling like an inconvenient truth, Daisy finds herself caught between her bold plans, her bad decisions, and her big fat mouth.

 

 

 

Last Message Received by Emily Trunko (January 10 — going meta on this inclusion!)

Named one of the Top 10 Most Viral Blogs by Mashable, the Tumblr The Last Message Received created by 16-year-old Emily Trunko is now available as a gift book!

What if a message someone sends you today is the last you ll ever receive from them? Would you respond differently, or even at all, if you knew that the end of a friendship, a brutal breakup, or worse might be coming, and that this might be your only chance?

The collection The Last Message Receivedincludes over a hundred final text messages, social media posts, emails, and more. Adapted from the popular Tumblr The Last Message Received followed by more than 85,000 people and selected as a finalist for the Shorty Award the Last Message Received book features sudden endings and the type of loss that will inspire readers to reflect on what s essential in their own lives and the importance of celebrating the people they love every day.

 

Little Black Dresses, Little White Lies by Laura Stampler

Harper Anderson always believed she belonged somewhere more glamorous than her sleepy Northern California suburb. After all, how many water polo matches and lame parties in Bobby McKittrick’s backyard can one girl take? That’s why Harper is beyond ecstatic when she lands her dream internship as a dating blogger at the elite teen magazine Shift. Getting to spend the summer in New York City to live her dream of becoming a writer? Harper’s totally in.

There’s just one teeny, tiny, infinitesimal problem: apart from some dance floor make-outs, Harper doesn’t have a lot of—or, really, any—dating expertise. In fact, she might have sort of stolen her best friend’s experiences as her own on her Shiftapplication. But she can learn on the job…right?

From awkward run-ins with the cute neighborhood dog walker to terrifying encounters with her crazed editor, from Brooklyn gallery openings to weekends in the Hamptons, Harper finds out what it takes to make it in the Big City—and as the writer of her own destiny.

 

Little White Lies by Brianna Baker and F. Bowman Hastie

Seventeen-year-old honors student Coretta White’s Tumblr, Little White Lies—her witty thoughts on pretty much . . . everything—has gone viral. She’s got hundreds of thousands of followers; she’s even been offered a TV deal. But Coretta has a secret. She hasn’t been writing all her own posts. Stressed from the demands of the sudden attention, she hired an expert ghostwriter, forty-one-year-old Karl Ristoff, to keep the Tumblr going. Now consumed with guilt, she confesses.

Almost instantly, she suffers a public humiliation. The TV deal disappears. Her boyfriend breaks up with her. Then Karl is thrust into the limelight, only to suffer a dramatic fall himself. Together, they vow to find out who is responsible for ruining both of their lives, and why. But in order to exact justice and a wicked revenge, they must first come clean with each other.

 

 

The Possibility of Now by Kimberly Culbertson

Mara James has always been a perfectionist with a plan. But despite years of overachieving at her elite school, Mara didn’t plan on having a total meltdown during her calculus exam. Like a rip-up-the-test-and-walk-out kind of meltdown. And she didn’t plan on a video of it going viral. And she definitely didn’t plan on never wanting to show her face again.

Mara knows she should go back, but suddenly she doesn’t know why she’s been overachieving all these years. Impulsively, she tells her mom she wants to go live with her estranged dad in Tahoe. Maybe in a place like Tahoe, where people go to get away from everyday life, and with a dad like Trick McHale, a ski bum avoiding the real world, Mara can figure things out.

Only Tahoe is nothing like she thought. There are awesome new friends and hot boys and a chance to finally get to know Trick, but there is also still massive amounts of schoolwork. Can Mara stopping planning long enough to see the life that’s happening right now?

 

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

What if everything you set yourself up to be was wrong?

Frances has always been a study machine with one goal, elite university. Nothing will stand in her way; not friends, not a guilty secret – not even the person she is on the inside.

But when Frances meets Aled, the shy genius behind her favourite podcast, she discovers a new freedom. He unlocks the door to Real Frances and for the first time she experiences true friendship, unafraid to be herself. Then the podcast goes viral and the fragile trust between them is broken.

Caught between who she was and who she longs to be, Frances’ dreams come crashing down. Suffocating with guilt, she knows that she has to confront her past…

She has to confess why Carys disappeared…

Meanwhile at uni, Aled is alone, fighting even darker secrets.

It’s only by facing up to your fears that you can overcome them. And it’s only by being your true self that you can find happiness.

Frances is going to need every bit of courage she has.

 

Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin

Riley Cavanaugh is many things: Punk rock. Snarky. Rebellious. And gender fluid. Some days Riley identifies as a boy, and others as a girl. The thing is…Riley isn’t exactly out yet. And between starting a new school and having a congressman father running for reelection in uber-conservative Orange County, the pressure—media and otherwise—is building up in Riley’s so-called “normal” life.

On the advice of a therapist, Riley starts an anonymous blog to vent those pent-up feelings and tell the truth of what it’s REALLY like to be a gender fluid teenager. But just as Riley’s starting to settle in at school—even developing feelings for a mysterious outcast—the blog goes viral, and an unnamed commenter discovers Riley’s real identity, threatening exposure. Riley must make a choice: walk away from what the blog has created—a lifeline, new friends, a cause to believe in—or stand up, come out, and risk everything.

 

 

 

Tease by Amanda Maciel

Provocative, unforgettable, and inspired by real-life incidents, Amanda Maciel’s highly acclaimed debut novel Tease is the story of a teenage girl who faces criminal charges for bullying after a classmate commits suicide. With its powerful narrative, unconventional point of view, and strong anti-bullying theme, this coming-of-age story offers smart, insightful, and nuanced views on high school society, toxic friendships, and family relationships.

Emma Putnam is dead, and it’s all Sara Wharton’s fault. At least, that’s what everyone seems to think. Sara, along with her best friend and three other classmates, has been criminally charged for the bullying and harassment that led to Emma’s shocking suicide. Now Sara is the one who’s ostracized, already guilty according to her peers, the community, and the media. In the summer before her senior year, in between meetings with lawyers and a court-recommended therapist, Sara is forced to reflect on the events that brought her to this moment—and ultimately consider her own role in an undeniable tragedy. And she’ll have to find a way to move forward, even when it feels like her own life is over.

 

Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown

Ashleigh’s boyfriend, Kaleb, is about to leave for college, and Ashleigh is worried that he’ll forget about her while he’s away. So at a legendary end-of-summer pool party, Ashleigh’s friends suggest she text him a picture of herself — sans swimsuit — to take with him. Before she can talk herself out of it, Ashleigh strides off to the bathroom, snaps a photo in the full-length mirror, and hits “send.”

But when Kaleb and Ashleigh go through a bad breakup, Kaleb takes revenge by forwarding the text to his baseball team. Soon the photo has gone viral, attracting the attention of the school board, the local police, and the media. As her friends and family try to distance themselves from the scandal, Ashleigh feels completely alone — until she meets Mack while serving her court-ordered community service. Not only does Mack offer a fresh chance at friendship, but he’s the one person in town who received the text of Ashleigh’s photo — and didn’t look.

 

Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy by Kate Hattemer

Witty, sarcastic Ethan and his three best friends are students at Selwyn Arts Academy, which has been hijacked by For Art’s Sake, a sleazy reality-television show. In the tradition of Ezra Pound, the foursome secretly writes and distributes a long poem to protest the show. They’re thrilled to have started a budding rebellion.

But the forces behind the show are craftier than they seem. The web of betrayal stretches farther than Ethan could have ever imagined, and it’s up to him, his friends, and a heroic gerbil named Baconnaise to save Selwyn.

 

 

And if you’re already thinking about books that will hit shelves in 2018 (!!) you’ll want to know about Kimberly Reid’s forthcoming #Prettyboy Must Die.

This Week at Book Riot

 

 

Over on Book Riot this week:

 

A look at the bookish life of none other than Britney Spears

 

This week’s “3 On A YA Theme” was all about farm kids.

The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge

Faith Sunderly and her family are moving temporarily to the island of Vane, where her natural scientist father has been hired to help excavate a dig site. The Reverend Erasmus Sunderly made headlines years ago when several of his fossil finds appeared to verify Biblical stories, something much of the British public desperately needs in this time when Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is making waves in the scientific community. But more recently, Faith’s father’s work has come under more scrutiny, and though he tries to hide it from his family, most scientists now consider him a fraud.

Faith is fourteen and hungry for two things: scientific knowledge and her father’s affection. The former cannot come with the latter, however, because Faith’s father is of the common mindset of the time that women and girls are incapable of deep thought and scientific study. So Faith collects her knowledge in private, secretly opening her father’s trunks and sneaking out at night to see what mysterious plant he is keeping in the cave by the sea.

But then the unthinkable happens – Faith’s father is found hanging limply over a tree limb, dead. The people of Vane begin to whisper that he killed himself, but Faith is sure it was murder, and she’s determined to prove it – to unmask the murderer herself and get justice for her beloved father. And she means to do it with the assistance of the plant in the cave, the Lie Tree, a tree that thrives in the dark and will give hazy truths to anyone who feeds it – and the world – lies.

Faith is smart, sometimes scarily so, and her scheme begins as planned. She wants the Tree to reveal the murderer of her father, but in order for that to happen, according to her father’s papers, she must convince the world of a lie. The more people who believe it, the bigger the truth that will be revealed to the liar. Faith is an astute observer of men, so she knows that the easiest lie is one that people want to believe. But Faith is blind about many things too. This book is not just about the lies we tell others, but the lies we tell ourselves.

It’s also about women and girls, then and now. Faith is not an astute observer of women, and watching her interactions with her mother are often painful as an adult reader. Faith herself has bought into the mindset of her father in subtle ways, though she does not realize it. And while the rest of the world has underestimated her, to their detriment, she has underestimated its women, to her cost.

It’s about relationships, too, not just those between parents and children, but between friends, in particular the burgeoning friendship between Faith and a local boy named Paul. It’s such an interesting friendship, one that begins antagonistically and slowly transforms into a partnership, with neither person particularly caring if the other likes them. One of the book’s greatest scenes is between Faith and Paul near the end of the book, where what they’ve shared together has finally bonded them in a lasting way and they reveal their own truths – pieces of themselves – to each other.

The Lie Tree, aside from exploring these often heavy themes I’ve described above, is also a cracking good mystery and revenge story with a fascinating fantasy twist. I was unsure about the identity of the murderer (and even the murder itself) up until the final reveal. It’s a satisfying ending that puts all the pieces together and gives greater meaning to all that came before. And by the end of the book, Faith is fundamentally different from who she was at the beginning, though she is still inimitably herself.

The Lie Tree won the Costa (formerly Whitbread) Book of the Year Award in the UK, one of the few book awards I know of that pits children’s books against adult books. With all the trash articles about young adult literature being published now, it’s not hard to surmise that few adult readers would place a children’s book above an adult book, no matter its quality. But The Lie Tree was chosen, and this fact further illuminates how truly remarkable it is, beating out books by Kate Atkinson and Anne Enright, among others.

I’ve been participating in my workplace’s Mock Printz considerations, and this one is at the top of my list right now. It’s a masterpiece of a book, one that shares something new with each page turned. It’s a book I wish I had written, a book I wish I had read when I was fourteen. Hand this to readers who want a feminist book, who love their genres well-blended, who want their leisure reading to make them think deeply while also telling a hell of a good story.

August’s Debut YA Novels

 

 

As promised, here’s the second Debut YA post in August. This time, it’s for YA debuts that hit shelves this month.

Like always, this round-up includes debut novels, where “debut” is in its purest definition. These are first-time books by first-time authors. I’m not including books by authors who are using or have used a pseudonym in the past or those who have written in other categories (adult, middle grade, etc.) in the past. Authors who have self-published are not included here either.

All descriptions are from WorldCat or Goodreads, unless otherwise noted. If I’m missing any debuts out in August from traditional publishers — and I should note that indie/small presses are okay — let me know in the comments.

As always, not all titles included here are necessarily endorsements for those titles. Get ready to get reading.

 

 

 

Cherry by Lindsey Rosin

Four best friends make a pact to lose their virginity before they graduate high school.

 

Enter Title Here by Rahul Kanakia

High school senior Reshma Kapoor will stop at nothing to gain admission to Stanford, including writing a novel.

 

 

 

Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

As she struggles to recover and survive, seventeen-year-old homeless Charlotte “Charlie” Davis cuts herself to dull the pain of abandonment and abuse.

 

Kingdom of Ash and Briars by Hannah West

Sixteen-year-old Bristal discovers she is a shapeshifter, one of three remaining elicromancers tasked with guarding the realm of Nissera against dark magic while manipulating three royal families to promote peace.

 

 

 

 

The Monster on the Road Is Me by JP Romney

In Japan, a teenage boy with narcolepsy is able to steal the thoughts of supernatural beings in his sleep, and uses this ability to defeat a mountain demon that’s causing a string of suicides at his school.

 

A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess

When her unusual powers mark her as the one destined to lead the war against the seven Ancients, Henrietta trains to become the first female sorcerer in centuries–though the true nature of her ability threatens to be revealed

 

 

 

 

Tell Me Something Real by Calla Devlin

The three Babcock sisters must travel to a Mexican clinic across the border so their mother, ill with leukemia, can receive alternative treatments. The sisters’ world is about to shatter under the weight of an incomprehensible betrayal. . . an illness far more insidious than cancer that poisons their home

 

The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee

A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. But people never change: everyone here wants something…and everyone has something to lose.

Leda Cole’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction—to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched.

Eris Dodd-Radson’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart.

Rylin Myers’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world—and a romance—she never imagined…but will her new life cost Rylin her old one?

Watt Bakradi is a tech genius with a secret: he knows everything about everyone. But when he’s hired to spy by an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught up in a complicated web of lies.

And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is Avery Fuller, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all—yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.

 

 

 

 

Unscripted Joss Byrd by Lygia Day Peñaflor

Joss Byrd, Americas most sought-after young actress, navigates the personal pressures of working on a new film and staying true to herself.

 

Whatever by S.J. Goslee

Junior year is going to be the best ever for slacker Mike until he loses his girlfriend, gets roped into school activities, and becomes totally confused about his sexual orientation after sharing a drunken kiss with a guy.

 

This Week at Book Riot

 

Over on Book Riot this week (& last):

 

Three on a YA theme tackled complete fantasy series you can dive into and books set on strange and mysterious islands.

 

I talked about reading the “Little House” series as an adult, as well as highlighted a series by a Native about the Natives living during this same time period.

 

Have you seen this micro-trend of illustrated collective biographies of women? It’s neat, I love it, and I cannot wait to read all of these. (Also, someone apparently got mad about this post because “there are so many great BIOGRAPHIES of women out there” which…right, is a thing I said in the post. The purpose of collective biographies is to pique one’s interest so that you seek out those biographies).

 

And one of my favorite posts/book lists in a while, I offered up a pile of recommended YA reads for fans of the Netflix show Stranger Things.