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Readers of Tracy Wolff and Ava Reid will likely appreciate Jennifer Donnelly’s fascinating twist on a fairy tale, Beastly Beauty.  In her version, Donnelly flips the script by creating a handsome man and a beast of a woman. Thrust together by fate or magic, these two young people have complicated pasts, so they carry heavy emotional pain. In a foreword, Donnelly tells readers that her story “isn’t for the heroes, shining knights, and princesses but for the screw-ups, for those who never get it right. The ones who say too much, or not enough. . . . It’s a story of hardship. And heart. AndRead More →

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Enrolled at Riverstone High School (RHS) in Ohio, Jasmine and Jackson Ghasnavi are the mixed race (half White, half Iranian) children of doctors. Jasmine is a senior who loves pottery, and Jackson’s passion is theatre. When their parents divorce, Jackson develops abandonment issues and Jasmine struggles to find a lasting relationship. Jackson helps his sister cope with her breakups by constructing breakup lists. At the recommendation of his therapist, Jackson also uses lists to cope with his own anxiety. These lists and teen relationship drama form the plot for Adib Khorram’s novel The Breakup Lists. As a former “theatre kid” himself, Khorram infuses his novelRead More →

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With By Any Other Name, Erin Cotter writes a historical fiction novel about William Shakespeare’s London, sharing ample allusions to his work and plays. The story opens in 1593 London at the Rose Theater, where young Will Hughes is aging out of the theater because his voice is changing and he will no longer be able to play the female parts. To further complicate his life, the plague is making its way through the city, and theaters will close until it passes. As a result, his patron, Christopher Marlowe (Kit) encourages him to find another home. Home. The word makes Will’s breath catch. At eightRead More →

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Pride and Prejudice in Pittsburgh by Rachael Lippincott does indeed allude to the Jane Austen novel. However, it is about so much more, taking a deep dive into the magic of attraction and chemistry, where two young women wish for moments charged with potential.   Usually ambitious and inspired, Audrey Cameron lives in 2023 Pittsburgh, but she has put her life on hold. Art school wait lists, rejections, and heartbreaks seem to define her present. Because her heart’s desire involves using art to tell the stories of people, Audrey dreams of attending Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She wishes to spend her days studyingRead More →

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With This Indian Kid, Eddie Chuculate writes what he subtitles A Native American Memoir. Recounting events from his life during the years 1976-1984, Chuculate conveys how living in Oklahoma—where the races grew up together—the library was his second home. The days of his youth and adolescence were filled with playing sports, gardening, fishing, writing, and listening to music. A addict of sorts, Eddie “lived and breathed sports.” He was “an all-star in summer baseball, shot hoops in the backyard goal year-round ‘til midnight, and was a safety, running back, and kickoff returner in football” (124). His only problem at school came in basketball because CoachRead More →

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With Plan A, Deb Caletti has written a story that conveys the power of choice. To develop this theme, Caletti creates sixteen-year-old Ivy Devries who lives in Paris, Texas, a place populated by conservative people with strict opinions. From a long line of fierce women, Ivy finds herself in a predicament: She’s pregnant. But how could that be when she hasn’t actually had sex? Although Ivy aligns herself with Thomas Hardy’s protagonist in Tess of the D’Urbervilles, “ruined forever. More of a problem than a person, already broken, her future sealed” (40), Ivy realizes she’s just a regular girl, who never imagined this would happenRead More →

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Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall is set in Caball Hollow in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, where legend and lore thrive. Pearsall tells the story of the James family and the lives of its women whose legacy is superstition. A family of suspected witches, the James women use minerals and locally grown plants to create infusions, tinctures, and balms. With these homemade remedies and whispered words, they treat people’s ailments. However, this story extends beyond a family and natural remedies to become about our deepest desires, a belief in possibility, and the sacrifices we are willing to make in the name ofRead More →

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Although Forty Words for Love by Aisha Saeed is certainly a story about love, the plot runs much deeper to embrace other topics, as well. Topics like immigration, socioeconomic status, truth, and following one’s dreams also find a place in these pages. Saeed shares multiple morals as the story of Raf and Yas unfolds. When the story opens, readers learn briefly of Raf’s trek from Golub and about a sacred tree that allows or denies passage from one world to another. People from Raf’s world have a golden leaf birthmark that pulses and warms in warning if a person has moved beyond the perimeter ofRead More →

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Although Finding Jupiter by Kelis Rowe is a romance novel, it is also about coping with loss, the effects of blame, and the importance of hope. Set in Tennessee, Rowe’s novel features two teens: Ray Evans and Orion Roberson. With her found poetry, Ray turns words into art. Entertained by romance, but not captivated by its drama, Ray spends her spare time on volleyball, classes, and art. Someone who likes creating beautiful things, Ray is also an artist on roller skates. After seeing the effect that love has had on her mother, Ray is afraid to love because of the risk of loss. She findsRead More →