(2) YA One Monday at 6:30 a.m., seventeen-year-old Chloe opens her front door to find a group of FBI agents, guns aimed and ready to arrest her famous actress mother for cheating to get Chloe admitted to Southern California College. Naturally, Chloe is stunned: sure, the college counselor her parents hired, Dr. Wilson, has a "­sleazy-car-salesman vibe," and sure, it was weird that her most recent SAT score was 240 points higher than on her previous try, but she hadn't realized her parents were committing a federal crime. Lawyers fill their house; strangers hate-text her; her best friend and boyfriend desert her; and she feels like the world is laughing at her stupidity ("It's not like SCC is an Ivy," she hears a lawyer sniff). Chloe's feelings of humiliation, fear, shame, and anger are explored in chapters labeled "Now"; alternating "Then" chapters detail her growing suspicions about Dr. Wilson amid her excitement about her new romance. Throughout, Buxbaum is sensitive to Chloe's family's plight but doesn't excuse or defend it. In fact, it's Chloe's examination of her white, wealthy privilege and her own role within an unjust system that allows her to move forward. Whether or not readers are familiar with the real-life events that inspired the story, they're likely to find it captivating; the novel goes behind the headlines to add humanity and complexity to a juicy national scandal.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

(3) YA On September 11, a now-iconic photograph captures one-year-old Abbi "Baby Hope" in front of the collapsing World Trade Center. Almost sixteen years later, Abbi just wants to be an anonymous camp counselor--but fellow counselor Noah knows who she is and needs her help. This heartbreaking, romantic, and, yes, hopeful novel conveys the grief and strength of those affected by the 2001 tragedy.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith

(2) YA Two alienated teens meet in the high-school cafeteria: David likes numbers and routines, takes things literally, and has trouble reading people in social situations; Kit's father died in a car accident a month before, and she can no longer stand her friends' inane conversation. Buxbaum's empathy for her protagonists and careful, stereotype-resisting characterizations make David and Kit's eventual romance feel natural.

Reviewer: Rachel L. Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2018

(3) YA After her widower father marries "a stranger he met on the Internet," Jessie finds herself at a Los Angeles prep school for junior year. Alienated at home, intimidated at school, she doesn't know where to turn until she's contacted via email by someone known only as "Somebody/Nobody." The mystery of SN's identity, as well as glimpses of their correspondence, propel this character-driven romance.

Reviewer: Norah Piehl