What a delightful book. Dahlia Adler’s Home Field Advantage combines the serious with the fun and light, providing a novel with a whiff of the 1980s about it together with lovable, memorable characters that will please any discerning teenager looking for an afternoon’s read. Amber McCloud is a cheerleader with a mission – to become…
Feiwel and Friends’ series of novels which remix classic stories for modern audiences returns with What Souls are Made Of, which retells the classic tale of Wuthering Heights through the eyes of two half-Indian childhood best friends who yearn to become more than that. Suri does a beautiful job transforming Catherine and Heathcliff’s romance, zapping…
At the beginning of Love Radio, author Ebony LaDelle includes a letter to readers that explains her inspiration for writing her first novel. She talks about how she’d always been the relationship expert amongst her friends, about her lifelong dream of becoming a writer, and her love for her hometown of Detroit. LaDelle uses these…
Once Upon a K-Prom is a spin on the “ordinary girl meets famous boy” YA story, incorporating the recent global success of K-Pop. Elena Soo’s childhood best friend Robbie Choi moved home to Korea when they were both ten. While Elena feels adrift, without anything to make her special, Robbie became a K-Pop idol. And…
See You Yesterday is the funny, snarky, delightful and delectable new read from Rachel Lynn Solomon. A tale about reliving the same day over and over again, this sweet sci-fi YA novel is a perfect summer read. On Wednesday, her first day of college, Barrett Bloom gets an unwanted roommate in the form of her…
If you’re a queer kid who survived life as a student at a religious school, I Kissed Shara Wheeler will definitely have a strong impact on you. You’ll either remember the agonies of self-discovery under the crucible of religion, academia and social pressure, or you’ll nod your head as Casey McQuiston effortlessly wraps her arms…
Lex Croucher’s YA look at cliquiness and social mores mixes the modern sensibility of an episode of Bridgerton with the fancy parties and social hobnobbing one expects… from an episode of Bridgerton and throws some Mean Girls in on top. Reputation is definitely not period accurate, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t find it…
Always Jane is about the daughter of a chauffeur who suddenly finds herself at the center of a love tangle. It’s a spirited, modern spin on the Audrey Hepburn classic Sabrina. The sons of a rock music producer, himbo Eddie Sarafin and his more level-headed, brooding brother Fen have been vaguely aware of Jane Marlow…
With apologies to Paul Simon, it seems there are 50 million ways to rewrite Little Women. I’ve seen modern adaptions that switch the book’s setting and time period; versions that give us a living Beth or a Jo/Laurie union. Versions where the Marches are vampires or werewolves, or just plain horny. The four folks taking…
Romeo and Juliet – but in space, with the addition of some Wuthering Heights thrown on top of the pile. That’s the theme of Kathryn Barker’s Waking Romeo, which plays with and modernizes the play’s tropes. It’s dizzying, it’s messy, but it’s nonetheless compelling because it’s fun and inventive. Overall, the book will likely please…