Warcross Warcross #1 by Marie Lu Mystery Science Fiction Suspense Thriller * * * * Stars (Great!) Emika Chen is a teenage hacker who has been trying to survive as a bounty hunter since her father died and she was kicked out of school for illegally retrieving and releasing sensitive data about other students and their parents. Facing crushing debt and eviction, she uses one of her hacks to steal a valuable power-up during the … Read more
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon Realistic Fiction Romance * * * * Stars (Great!) Dimple is a career-focused girl who is thrilled when her parents agree to send her to Insomnia Con – a 6-week web-app development program/competition where she’ll have the chance to compete for the chance to pitch her ideas to her inspiration, Jenny Lindt. Unbeknownst to Dimple, her parents are using this opportunity to introduce their daughter to a potential … Read more
Artemis by Andy Weir Mystery Science Fiction Suspense Thriller * * * * Stars (Great!) Jasmine (Jazz) Bashara is a brilliant porter/smuggler living in Artemis (moon colony) who makes really poor life choices. When she agrees to sabotage some harvesters for one of her clients in return for a million slugs (a sort of moon-based credit system), Jazz has no idea that the company she’s violating is a front for the mob, and that her … Read more
I Will Always Write Back by Caitlin Alifirenka & Martin Ganda (w/Liz Welch) Autobiography Biography Memoir Nonfiction * * * * Stars (Great!) When Caitlin was 12, she was given the opportunity to choose a pen pal from another country. She picked Zimbabwe because it sounded “like the beginning of an adventure.” She and her pen pal, Martin Ganda, began exchanging letters, and over the years became best friends despite the many miles between them … Read more
The Girl with the Wrong Name by Barnabas Miller Mystery Psychological Suspense Thriller * * * Stars (Pretty good) Theodore (Theo) Lane has a new obsession – Andy Reese. She’s been watching him (and filming him for her documentary) for several days now at an NYC café, and when she finally gets up the courage to talk to him and hears his sad story, she can’t resist helping him. Andy has been waiting for a … Read more
The Dire King Jackaby #4 by William Ritter Mystery Supernatural Suspense Thriller * * * * Stars (Great!) Jackaby and his assistant Abigail Rook are facing the greatest challenge of their professional lives. The Dire King now has almost everything he needs to rip away the barrier between the Anwynn (Faerie) and the human world. In fact, looking back, now they can see his hand behind the troubles that have been brewing between their world … Read more
The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill Fantasy Graphic Novel * * * * * Stars (Amazing!) Greta is training to become a blacksmith and isn’t really seeing the value in producing something like swords, which no one really uses anymore. Then she finds a tiny green dragon – one of the tea dragons – whose caretaker introduces her to the care and keeping of these special creatures and it opens her mind to the … Read more
Through the Woods by Emily Carroll Graphic Novel Horror Short Stories Supernatural Suspense Thriller * * * * Stars (Great!) Emily Carroll shares 5 chilling tales in this short story, graphic novel collection. Murders, ghosts, voices in the dark, supernatural creatures, inexplicable happenings. Sharp reds bleed through black and grey pages, highlighting suspenseful and terrifying scenes. Corpses and blood and disturbing teeth permeate these pages, but scenes are not overly graphic. Those who enjoy the … Read more
Turtles All the Way Down John Green Realistic Fiction * * * * Stars (Great!) Aza, 16, has a lot of intrusive thoughts that she can’t escape – despite medication and the assistance of her therapist. For instance, she’s disturbed by the possibility that she’s not real, and terrified that she’ll become infected with C diff. (Clostridium difficile) – a potentially life-threatening bacteria – and in the middle of her first kiss she’s overcome with … Read more
The Bitter Side of Sweet by Tara Sullivan Realistic Fiction Suspense Thriller * * * * Stars (Great!) Amadou and his younger brother Seydou have been tricked into working on a small, remote, cacao plantation in the Ivory Coast. They are far away from their home in Mali, which they left 2 years ago in order to find work and make money to send back home. This “job,” however, doesn’t pay, and the brothers, along … Read more