YA books

Hunger Games meets Latino Mythology with LGBTQIA+ characters.  Adventure, intrigue, great characters, and a possible sequel....

When Clara finds out that her private school is quietly banning books and making them disappear from the library, she starts an underground library with the banned materials. Dominoes fall and lives change. There are some great references to the banned books within the text. 

There is some gorgeous writing in this captivating book. Besides the war between two gods, and a little magic between two enchanted typewriters, the story is mostly about Iris and Kitt who start out as rivals.  The ending does leave one hanging, though. Luckily, the second book is available now.

This is so much more than a romance. It is laugh-out-loud funny, sweet, and heart-breaking.. The characters are great. They point out racism, systematic and otherwise whenever they can. Five starts from Toni (a pretty rare thing).

One technological advance- the ability to predict the day someone will die- has big consequences in society in this book. Mateo gets the call from death-cast that today will be his last day. Now he has to decide how to spend that day. He uses the LastFriend app to try to find someone in his situation and get him out of his apartment for the day. The day that ensues is full, of interesting experiences, as well as revelations that would be life-changing, if Mateo had more than a few hours left to live.

Skye is a plus sized Korean American girl who loves singing and dancing. All of her life her mother has said negative things about her size and weight. Skye decides to audition for a K-pop competition in both vocals and dance to prove to her mom that fat girls actually can dance. Along the way she meets other Asian people who identify as part of the LGBT+ community.

• An murder that has been hanging over a community for five years

• a journalism student who wants to solve it for her senior capstone project 

• lots of adventure

Every single day the main character wakes up in a new body. This gives "A" a very interesting perspective on life. They have had to adapt to a great variety of things. Then "A" falls in love. What complications this causes, both "A" and the bodies that they inhabit.

Riley is smart and funny and also happens to be gender fluid. The author does an amazing job of never using a pronoun to describe the main character. That must have been really difficult to do as even writing this tiny review without a pronoun is really making me think. Riley's parents also never make a gender reference  even though Riley isn't out to them.

Seventeen-year-old Flora Banks has no short-term memory. Her mind resets itself several times a day, and has since the age of ten, when the tumor that was removed from Flora’s brain took with it her ability to make new memories. That is, until she kisses Drake, her best friend’s boyfriend, the night before he leaves town. 

This book raises some interesting questions: raising several such as: What is the truth? Who is a reliable narrator?

Ashley is one of the only black kids in her school and in her neighborhood. She's been friends with three white girls since they were small. Now they are close to graduation, and Ashley starts to question everything- her friendships, what is going on in her family, and her own actions. There are so many themes beyond the examination of racial bias that make this book superb. When should you keep someone else's secret and when should you share it? How do you ask for forgiveness when you have betrayed someone?  Fans of The Hate U Give will love this book. 

This is a romance, but so much more than a romance. Really, it is about fate and chance and randomness and near misses. This book points out that random interactions, that can just take a few seconds can have consequences much larger than the interactions.

Kierra has developed a video game that celebrates Black joy. Only black people can join the community. No one knows that she is the game developer. In addition to the awesome video game, Kierra has a very full life at a private school where she is one of a handful of Black kids. The subtleties of Black culture are pointed out in really effective ways.

Libby Stout had to be rescued from her house because she was too big to fit through the door. Now, many pounds lighter, she is attending school for the first time in years. Will the kids who bullied her in 4th grade still be so mean? Will she be able to try out for the dance team?

Jack Masselin is a popular guy with a secret. He can't remember anyone's face- not even his own mother. He has learned to adapt by finding identifiers for people that he should recognize. School is pretty bewildering to him as every day people who look like strangers to him expect him to know who they are. Jack and Libby meet under bizarre circumstances, but Jack tells Libby his secret.

Felix has a lot to deal with- his absent mom, an anonymous troll who outed him and used his dead name for the whole school to see, not to mention trying to apply to schools and getting his art portfolio ready for that. All Felix wants is to fall in love, but this is more complicated that he could have imagined.

Nashat deals with coming out to her parents and being outed at school - all while trying to win a business competition at school. Sub-themes of immigration, being bi-racial, culture appropriation and bullying make this book thought provoking.

Dimple Lala is confused, but who isn’t?  Her parents want her to meet a “suitable” Indian boy.  That meeting does not go well.  Then she meets him again in a nightclub, spinning a magical web.  Complications follow.  Dimple meets some amazing characters along the way.

Told in alternating viewpoints by Noah at 13, and his twin sister Jude, when they are 16 years old. Secrets abound and are slowly revealed. Fantastic

Basketball, the Irish mafia, secrets, and friendship all combine to make a fantastic book.  Finley has always been a solid member of his basketball team, but then his coach asks for his help with a new boy, who is a basketball star and whose parents have been murdered. He wants to be called “Boy21” and acts very strangely.  Finley helps, despite the fact that if he does, he might lose his starting position on the team.

This beautiful book follows two loners, who are very different from each other, as they spend more time together.  A delight to read.

Want to read the books before indulging in the show?   This great fantasy will keep you turning pages!

Yadriel's family is having a hard time accepting his gender, especially since they are Bruhix, a secret clan who help ghosts move into the afterlife and heal. There are strict gender roles with the women have healing skills and the men deal with the spirits.   A little creepy, a little bit of a love story, touching on some important social issues, this is a great story.

Oscar Olsson and his Swedish grandfather, Farfar, run a food truck.  Oscar just wants to get through his senior year so he can follow his culinary dreams.  Enter the girl who could throw his world off kilter, and things become interesting.  

The author skillfully interweaves cultural, historical and social justice issues into a suspenseful mystery that includes romance.  This won the Goodreads Reader's award for Best YA book of 2021.