A cappella just got a makeover. Jordan Sun is embarking on her junior year at the Kensington-Blaine Boarding School for the Performing Arts, hopeful that this will be her time: the year she finally gets cast in the school musical. But when her low Alto 2 voice gets her shut out for the third straight… Continue reading Noteworthy by Riley Redgate
LIKE NANCY DREW, BUT NOT… Craving a taste of teenage life, Asiya Haque defies her parents to go for a walk (really, it was just a walk!) in the woods with Michael, her kind-of-friend/crush/the guy with the sweetest smile she’s ever seen. Her tiny transgression goes completely off track when they stumble on a dead… Continue reading God Smites and Other Muslim Girl Problems by Ishara Deen
Two sisters from the Philippines, abandoned by their father and living in impoverished circumstances in Louisiana, fight to make their lives better. Soledad has always been able to escape into the stories she creates. Just like her mother always could. And Soledad has needed that escape more than ever in the five years since her… Continue reading The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly
My 2016 favourites list in three parts: Part 1 – YA Speculative fiction and fantasy, Part 2 – Adult Speculative fiction and fantasy & Part 3 – Contemporary fiction and Non-fiction. Thanks to all the readers who have dropped by for these lists! Onto the final one: Contemporary fiction Becoming Kirrali Lewis by Jane Harrison A great… Continue reading Year in Books 2016 – Part 3 – Contemporary fiction & Non-fiction
Vicky Cruz shouldn’t be alive. That’s what she thinks, anyway—and why she tried to kill herself. But then she arrives at Lakeview Hospital, where she meets Mona, the live wire; Gabriel, the saint; E.M., always angry; and Dr. Desai, a quiet force. With stories and honesty, kindness and hard work, they push her to… Continue reading The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork
Jasmine de los Santos has always done what’s expected of her. Pretty and popular, she’s studied hard, made her Filipino immigrant parents proud, and is ready to reap the rewards in the form of a full college scholarship. And then everything shatters. A national scholar award invitation compels her parents to reveal the truth: their… Continue reading Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz
Roxy May Redding’s got music in her soul and songs in her blood. She lives in a hot dusty town and is dreaming big. She survives run-ins with the mean girls at high school, sings in her dad’s band and babysits for her wayward aunt. But Roxy wants a new start. When she gets the… Continue reading Songs That Sound Like Blood by Jared Thomas
