Queen of Hearts - Colleen Oakes

Queen of Hearts - Colleen Oakes

This is a different take on Alice in Wonderland.

Dinah, Princess and future Queen of Wonderland, is awaiting her coronation. In the meantime, her time is spent playing crochet, attending tea parties, and trying to avoid her father the King. He is a tyrant and criticizes everything Dinah does. Along comes Duchess Vittiore, Dinah's half-sister that she didn't know existed. Dinah knows she will have an even harder time pleasing her father.

After receiving a message, Dinah and Wardley, her best friend and love of her life, take off for the Black Towers. Events happen on Execution Day that force Dinah to run for her life.

The usual Alice in Wonderland characters are there, but not in the form we are used to seeing them.
Cheshire - The King's Advisor
Rabbit - Dinah's Guardian
Mad Hatter - Dinah's mentally ill brother Charles

Suggested Level: Upper Middle School and High School

Sweet - Emmy Laybourne

Sweet - Emmy Laybourne

A luxurious cruise ship is setting sail for a week long vacation. If you take this trip, you are guaranteed to lose weight. The ship is measured before leaving port and it will weigh less when it returns. The weight loss craze Solu will be on sale soon. This cruise is its launch party.

Laurel isn't sure about accepting her friend's invitation for the cruise, but decides she will. Besides, what could possibly go wrong? Laurel is seasick the first day out and does not take her Solu packets. She begins to see what it is doing to the other guests.

Tom is a former childhood star. He's working on a piece about Solu. He's doing interviews and filming. He never had any intention of taking the packets. He's careful what he puts in his body.

Tom and Laurel notice what is happening to the others on board the ship. They have become addicted to Solu. They will do ANYTHING to get their fix.

Suggested Level: Middle School and High School


The paperback released June 7. It has a different cover. I almost like it better.

Some Kind of Happiness - Claire Legrand

Some Kind of Happiness - Claire Legrand

Things Finley Hart Doesn't Want to Talk About

Her parents, who are having problems.
Being sent to her grandparents' house for the summer.
Never having met said grandparents.
Her blue days- when life feels overwhelming, ant it's hard work to keep her head up.

Up until now, Everwood has only existed in Finley's journal. Now that she's at her grandparents' house, she discovers that it really exists in the woods behind their house.

She realizes that Everwood holds more secrets than she could have imagined. With the help of her cousins, they set out to save Everwood.

Suggested Level: Middle School

The Outliers - Kimberly McCreight

The Outliers - Kimberly McCreight

Please, Wylie, I need your help. 

Wylie hasn't heard from Cassie since their last fight. Wylie has been watching Cassie make one bad decision after another.

Cassie keeps sending Wylie cryptic messages for her to come help. Cassie also sends her boyfriend Jasper to Wylie's house. Together, Jasper and Wylie head out into the woods of Maine to find and help Cassie.

Once they find her, the mystery continues. Someone Wylie knows and trusts is in charge of what's happening.

Suggested Level: Upper Middle School and High School

ARC Received at TLA

The Fall of Butterflies - Andrea Portes

The Fall of Butterflies - Andrea Portes

Willa Parker is headed east to start new. It was her mother's idea for her to attend Pembroke Prep.
Willa has no intentions of staying there long. In fact, she doesn't plan to be around much longer.

The first person she meets is Remy Taft. Remy is the most intriguing girl on campus. Remy decides that she and Willa will be friends. Willa is around to Remy spiral out of control.

All Willa has ever wanted was to fit in. Remy helps her do that. Is there a cost?

Suggest Level: High School

Received an ARC at TLA.


I really like the published cover better than the ARC. What do you think?

Everland - Wendy Spinale

Everland - Wendy Spinale

Gwen, Joanna, and Mikey Darling had survived the bombings and disease of London. Gwen takes care of her siblings by finding food while avoiding the Marauders and their leader Captain Hanz Otto Oswald Kretschmer (Captain HOOK).

Captain Hook is searching for a cure and believes it can be found in an Immune, a survivor. He captures survivors and experiment on them. Joanna is one of their captors. Gwen sets out to save her. Along the way, she meets Pete. Gwen, Pete, his band of Lost Boys, and Bella set out to outsmart Captain Hook and save Joanna.

Suggested Level: Middle School & High School

Every Exquisite Thing - Matthew Quick

Every Exquisite Thing - Matthew Quick

The book The Bubblegum Reaper has changed Nanette O'Hare's life. She was once quiet and did what was expected of her until reading the book and meeting the author, Nigel Booker. He introduces her to Alex. Alex is a poet her age. He introduces her to a younger boy named Oliver, who was bullied at school. Together, they try to solve the real life mysteries of the The Bubblegum Reaper. 

Alex stands up to Oliver's bullies and is arrested. Nanette falls apart and does not make good decisions.

Release Date: May 31, 2016
ARC received from Little Brown Books for Young Readers

Suggested Level: High School


Every Exquisite Thing is not my typical read. I wasn't a fan. It wasn't a bad book. In fact, I really enjoyed the beginning and couldn't put it down. It lost me about half way through.

Nimona - Noelle Stevenson

Nimona - Noelle Stevenson

Nimona, a shapeshifter, is a self-promoted sidekick to Lord Blackheart. They don't always see eye to eye in their villainous ways. Nimona is spunky and wants to destroy and kill everything. Lord Blackheart believes in the rules and that you can't go around doing that. He is curious about Nimona's past and her wild side.

Together, they set out to prove that the Institution of Law Enforcement and Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin aren't the heroes that they portray to be.

Suggested Level: Middle School & High School


I don't usually read graphic novels. I'd heard nothing but good things about Nimona. (That's what prompted me to read it.) I did enjoy it.

Draw the Line - Laurent Linn

Draw the Line - Laurent Linn

The Adrian Piper isn't necessarily the run of the mill high school student. He is an artist with his own website superhero, Graphite. Graphite gives him a place to express himself and what is going on in his life without revealing his identity.

Adrian is caught up in the events of a hate crime. He goes from being the quite, closeted boy in school to being vocal and out.

The book contains illustrations of Graphite.

Release Date: May 17, 2016
Received an ARC at Texas Library Association Annual Conference

Suggested Level: High School (language, violence, off page sex, LGBT)

Beware That Girl - Teresa Toten

Beware That Girl - Teresa Toten

Kate O'Brian is a liar. She's good at it. She's smart. Kate is a scholarship student at Waverly School in New York City. Her goal is to make friends with the "right" girls and get into Yale.

Olivia has secrets of her own. Kate weasels her way into Olivia's life and they become friends. (Chapters switch between the two girls revealing the secrets they are keeping from the other.)

Enter Mark Redkin, Waverly administration. Mark and Olivia become close, and he is a threat to Kate.

Release Date: May 31, 2016
ARC Received from Texas Library Association Annual Conference

Suggested Level: High School

Readalikes:
We Were Liars
Pretty Little Liars

The Crown - Kiera Cass

The Crown - Kiera Cass
The last book in the Selection series.

Eadlyn has narrowed the Selection down to the Elite. There are five young men still there wanting to marry her...maybe. Things don't go as planned. Eadlyn must decide what is best for her country is the same as what is best for her.

This was a satisfying ending to the series. I had figured out who Eadlyn would end up with before it happened. There was still a surprise character.

Suggested Level: Middle School & High School

Wolf Hollow - Lauren Wolk

Wolf Hollow - Lauren Wolk

It is after World War I and the Great Depression, before World War II. Annabelle lives in the small town of Wolf Hollow, Pennsylvania. She leads a quiet, normal life until Betty Glengarry shows up at school.

Betty is a bully. She picks on Annabelle. She is mean and vicious. Her antics greatly effect the lives of those in her path. Toby, a World War I vet, becomes a victim of Betty's attacks.

One day, Toby and Betty go missing. The worse is thought, that Toby has taken Betty. A man hunt has begun for the two. Annabelle knows the truth, but will everyone listen to her?

ARC received from TLA Annual Conference

Suggested Level: Middle School

Readalikes:
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Little House on the Prairie series - Laura Ingalls Wilder

This book is beautifully written. I had a hard time putting it down.

Firsts - Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Firsts - Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Seventeen year old Mercedes Ayres has set out to help the boys at her school give their girlfriends the perfect first time. It is a service she provides free of charge to help the girls have a better first than she did.

Mercedes has been able to keep this secret for awhile. Her mother is never around. Mercedes even has a steady guy, Zach, that does like her for more than their hook ups. Her super conservative friend Angela would never guess what Mercedes does UNTIL Angela's boyfriend tries to force himself upon her and makes it look like it was her idea. Mercedes secret is out.

How can Mercedes get her life back in order? Is it a case of doing the wrong thing for the right reasons?

Suggested Level: High School

Borden Murders - Sarah Miller

Borden Murders - Sarah Miller

Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks. 
When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.

Lizzie Borden seems to be everywhere nowadays. There is a television series as well as several new books about her. Sweet Madness by Trisha Leaver is a YA historical fiction book about Lizzie and her maid. 

Borden Murders is a nonfiction book about just that, the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden. Lizzie Borden is accused and put on trial for murdering her father and step-mother. Borden Murders is an interesting look into Lizzie, her family, and their town. It includes newspaper clippings and photos from the time period. 

Thank goodness for nonfiction that is written like fiction. I believe that more tweens/teens are reading nonfiction because of the books written this way. 

Suggested Level: Middle School & High School 

A Week of Mondays - Jessica Brody

A Week of Mondays - Jessica Brody

Mondays are awful! Ellison Sparks has had the worst Monday of her life. She gets a ticket for running a red light, has a horrible school picture, blows her softball tryouts and her class election speech, and to top it all off her boyfriend unexpectedly breaks up with her. Ellison wants a do over.

She gets a chance to have a better Monday and make things right. Except she doesn't. It takes her several Mondays to get things right. Along the way, she learns that maybe how she thinks things ought to be aren't necessarily how they should be.

Release Date: August 2, 2016

Received an eARC from NetGalley



Suggested Level: Middle School & High School

Readalikes:
Karma Club - Jessica Brody

Game - Barry Lyga

Game (Sequel to I Hunt Killers) - Barry Lyga
Jasper Dent #2

We pick up with Jasper (Jazz), Connie, and Howie in Lobo's Nod.  It's been a quiet summer there.


Meanwhile, in New York, the Hat-Dog Killer is on the loose. He's killing people left and right and his killing is escalating. He's called the Hat-Dog Killer because he carves a hat or a dog into his victim.

 Jazz is called on by NYPD to help solve the case. Connie sneaks around to make the trip to New York too. Jazz calls on his aunt Samantha to watch Gramma.

The murders in New York become personal when a note is left for Jazz welcoming him to the game. Jazz knows that his father Billy is involved and he's determined to figure out how.

Release Date: April 16, 2013

Doomed - Tracy Deebs

Doomed - Tracy Deebs

Beat the game. Save the world.

Pandora received an unexpected and strange email on her 17th birthday from her nonexistent father.

Dad's gift? A computer worm that sets the world spinning and 12 photos to help Pandora fix it.

Pandora's computer is linked to the worm that has effected the entire world. There's no electricity. No cell phones. ATM machines don't work. The price of gas triples in a day. Commodities will get scarce.

Theo and Eli, Pandora's new neighbors and classmates, help Pandora escape the government officials who are looking for her. Together, they follow the clues in the photos and game to bring the world back to the way they know it.

Catherine - April Lindner

Catherine - April Lindner

Chelsea has been told by her father that her mother died of a sudden illness. She has no reason to believe otherwise until she finds a letter from her mother, Catherine. Her mother did not die. She disappeared.
Chelsea takes off to New York to find her mother.

Catherine grew up in The Underground, the place for bands looking to be discovered. She could ignore the comings and goings of all the talent until Hence. Once he arrived, all bets were off.

Catherine is told in two voices. Will Chelsea find the answers she's looking for?

(A modern Wuthering Heights)

Transcendence - C.J. Omololu

Transcendence - C.J. Omololu 

When Cole visits the Tower of London, she gets a sense that she's been there before. She can see herself being escorted to be executed. Griffon arrives on the scene to help her, but only confuses her more. 

Back in California, Cole and Griffon cross paths. Griffon helps Cole discover her abilities as an Akhet, someone who remembers past lives that they have lived. 

Unfortunately, there's another person who remembers Cole's past and is out to get revenge.

Peanut - Ayun Halliday & Paul Hoppe

Peanut - Ayun Halliday (author) & Paul Hoppe (illustrator)
216 pages

Sadie is entering a new school.  With that comes the job of telling her friends about her peanut allergy. One problem...she's not really allergic to peanuts.

What happens when the nurse needs a medical form filled out about her allergy?

Sadie certainly can't have friends over. It wouldn't be good if mom served peanut butter milk shakes.

Sadie is vigilant about keeping people from knowing the truth. What happens when her teacher sees her eating a peanut and calls the paramedics? The cafeteria is sent in panic mode.

Can Sadie keep her new friends once she's exposed?