The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

by Rebekah Layton | Jul 23, 2015 | 0 comments

The Geography of You and Me

by Jennifer E. Smith

Lucy and Owen meet somewhere between the tenth and eleventh floors of a New York City apartment building, on an elevator rendered useless by a citywide blackout. After they’re rescued, they spend a single night together, wandering the darkened streets and marveling at the rare appearance of stars above Manhattan. But once the power is restored, so is reality. Lucy soon moves to Edinburgh with her parents, while Owen heads out west with his father.

Lucy and Owen’s relationship plays out across the globe as they stay in touch through postcards, occasional e-mails, and — finally — a reunion in the city where they first met.

A carefully charted map of a long-distance relationship, Jennifer E. Smith’s new novel shows that the center of the world isn’t necessarily a place. It can be a person, too.

#10 in YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten 2015

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Bekka rated it ★★★★ and said, “Really fun! I enjoy Smith’s books for their feel-good quality, and this one is no different. I really enjoyed the vast amount of locations this time. I think she did a great job with Owen and his dad and their wanders. The characters are memorable and the romance is sweet. This is a fun light read for pretty much anyone.”

Miranda rated it ★★★★ and said, “Another cute story from Smith. I really enjoyed all the traveling they did while still being able to see each other.”

YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten Nominees 2015 YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten Winners 2015

travel romance YA fiction

Boys Like You by Juliana Stone

by Rebekah Layton | Jul 23, 2015 | 0 comments

Boys Like You

by Juliana Stone

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IF
If I hadn’t fallen asleep.
If I hadn’t gotten behind the wheel.
If I hadn’t made a mistake.

For Monroe Blackwell, one small mistake has torn her family apart–leaving her empty and broken. There’s a hole in her heart that nothing can fill. That no one can fill. And a summer in Louisiana with her grandma isn’t going to change that…

Nathan Everets knows heartache firsthand when a car accident leaves his best friend in a coma. And it’s all his fault. He should be the one lying in the hospital. The one who will never play guitar again. He doesn’t deserve forgiveness, and a court-appointed job at the Blackwell B&B isn’t going to change that…

There’s No Going Back

Captivating and hopeful, this achingly poignant novel brings together two lost souls struggling with grief and guilt–looking for acceptance, so they can find forgiveness.

YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten Nominees 2015

romance YA fiction

We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist

by Rebekah Layton | Jul 23, 2015 | 0 comments

We Should Hang Out Sometime: Embarrassingly, a True Story

by Josh Sundquist

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A bright, poignant, and deeply funny autobiographical account of coming of age as an amputee cancer survivor, from Josh Sundquist: Paralympic ski racer, YouTube star, and motivational speaker.

Josh Sundquist only ever had one girlfriend.
For twenty-three hours.
In eighth grade.

Why was Josh still single? To find out, he tracked down the girls he had tried to date and asked them straight up: What went wrong?

The results of Josh’s semiscientific, wholly hilarious investigation are captured here. From a disastrous Putt-Putt date involving a backward prosthetic foot, to his introduction to CFD (Close Fast Dancing), to a misguided “grand gesture” at a Miss America pageant, this story is about looking for love–or at least a girlfriend–in all the wrong places.

YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten Nominees 2015

romance memoir YA non-fiction

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

by Rebekah Layton | Jul 23, 2015 | 0 comments

Lies We Tell Ourselves

by Robin Talley

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In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever.

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily.

Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town’s most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept “separate but equal.”

Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

Boldly realistic and emotionally compelling, Lies We Tell Ourselves is a brave and stunning novel about finding truth amid the lies, and finding your voice even when others are determined to silence it.

YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten Nominees 2015

GLBT historical YA fiction

The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielsen

by Rebekah Layton | Jul 22, 2015 | 0 comments

The Shadow Throne

by Jennifer A. Nielsen

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One war.

Too many deadly battles.

Can a king save his kingdom, when his own survival seems unlikely?

War has come to Carthya. It knocks at every door and window in the land. And when Jaron learns that King Vargan of Avenia has kidnapped Imogen in a plot to bring Carthya to its knees, Jaron knows it is up to him to embark on a daring rescue mission. But everything that can go wrong does.

His friends are flung far and wide across Carthya and its neighbouring lands. In a last-ditch effort to stave off what looks to be a devastating loss for the kingdom, Jaron undertakes what may be his last journey to save everything and everyone he loves. But even with his lightning-quick wit, Jaron cannot forestall the terrible danger that descends on him and his country. Along the way, will he lose what matters most? And in the end, who will sit on Carthya’s throne?

Rousing and affecting, Jaron’s adventures have thrilled and moved readers in The False Prince and The Runaway King. Journey once again with the Ascendant King of Carthya, as New York Times bestselling author Jennifer A. Nielsen brings his story to a stunning conclusion with The Shadow Throne.

book 3 in the Ascendance Trilogy

#1 in YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten 2015

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Bekka rated it ★★★★ and said, “This was a great ending to the series! I like the characters and how they’ve grown over the three books. I liked how the author was able to tie up all the loose ends, and connect all the hints given over the series into a nice resolution. I hate to see this one end!”

Miranda rated it ★★★★ and said, “4.5 Stars. Thanks to Netgalley.com and Scholastic for access to this title. What a great ending! I loved that she gave a little extra information about what the characters did after the war ended and how they all had a happy ending. And the newly discovered ties between characters that had been hinted at but were finally revealed added a lot to the personalities and relationships of the characters. I’ve been recommending this series as much as possible and everyone I’ve given it to has loved it. A great sign of a lasting series. Now we just have to wait to see what she comes up with as a new story.”

MLD Teen Choice Award Nominees 2015 YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten Nominees 2015 YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten Winners 2015

fantasy YA fiction

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson

by Rebekah Layton | Jul 22, 2015 | 0 comments

The Kiss of Deception

by Mary E. Pearson

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A princess must find her place in a reborn world.

She flees on her wedding day.

She steals ancient documents from the Chancellor’s secret collection.

She is pursued by bounty hunters sent by her own father.

She is Princess Lia, seventeen, First Daughter of the House of Morrighan.

The Kingdom of Morrighan is steeped in tradition and the stories of a bygone world, but some traditions Lia can’t abide. Like having to marry someone she’s never met to secure a political alliance.

Fed up and ready for a new life, Lia flees to a distant village on the morning of her wedding. She settles in among the common folk, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive—and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deceptions swirl and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets—secrets that may unravel her world—even as she feels herself falling in love.

book 1 in the Remnant Chronicles series

#8 in YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten 2015

#3 in MLD Teen Choice Awards 2015

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Miranda rated it ★★★★★ and said, “Loved this! I really liked not knowing who was who for the romance interests and trying to match up the different identities and figure out who was who. For the first time ever I couldn’t decide who I would rather have the MC end up with. They were both wonderful options. It was great not knowing which on was the prince because if I had known, it would have tipped the scale in his direction. The characters were well defined and relatable, and the setting was vivid without being overly descriptive. I’ve always enjoyed Mary Pearson, but this has got to her best one yet. I will be desperately waiting for book 2.”

Rebekah rated it ★★★★★.

MLD Teen Choice Award Nominees 2015MLD Teen Choice Award Winners 2015YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten Nominees 2015 YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten Winners 2015

romance fantasy YA fiction