(2) YA Sensory details transport readers to 1970s Birch Park, Alaska. Escaping abuse and neglect, Dora finds a haven in Dumpling's family's fish camp. A few stolen nights with Ray Stevens lands Ruth scared, alone, and pregnant on a bus to Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow. Four distinct first-person narrative voices breathe life into the adolescent protagonists, whose engaging individual stories are enriched by their intersections.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2016

(1) YA In this vividly evoked coming-of-age story set in 1977 NYC during the oppressive heat wave, seventeen-year-old Nora López faces an insecure future after graduation. The very real fear of an at-large serial killer is magnified by violence at home, and Nora's mother barely scrapes by. Nora is an empathetic character; Medina depicts her troubled family and their diverse Queens neighborhood with realistic, everyday detail.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2016

(2) YA This ambitious, sometimes unwieldy, work encompasses the life of composer Shostakovich, the early political history of the U.S.S.R., and the nation's suffering during WWII. Initially inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution, Shostakovich's music changed during Stalin's Reign of Terror. The centerpiece is his Leningrad Symphony, which offered both catharsis and hope. Extensive black-and-white photographs help define the wide range of subjects and settings. Bib., ind.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2015

(2) YA Fairfold townspeople smugly believe only foolish tourists, lured by the horned prince in the unbreakable glass coffin, risk bringing harm to themselves by offending the fae. Hazel and Ben Evans, who hunt the beautiful but terrible creatures of the forest, know differently. When the coffin is shattered, Hazel's memories start breaking open, too. Author Black blends magic with the ordinary world deftly and believably.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2015

(2) YA Aaron Rowe's first job at JKB Funerals helps him escape disturbing events at home: Mam's forgetfulness is growing worse; Aaron is sleepwalking; and his horrifying nightmares gradually reveal his past. After Mam is hospitalized, Aaron is finally able to accept desperately needed help from employer Mr. Barton and his family. Moments of warmth and humor lighten the psychological suspense and frank depiction of death.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2015

(2) YA Sixteen-year-old Lily is plunged into the world of the City's unseen, inhuman inhabitants; an ancient prophecy concerning Lily and "eerily beautiful" Regan is coming to pass. The historically distinct City of London, surrounded by an ancient Roman wall, is a perfect setting for Inglis's credible blending of the mythological and modern. Readers will be eager for the clearly projected sequel.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2015

(1) YA This story recounts the excavation of truth--and its unanticipated after-effects--by three students at a super-artsy Vancouver high school. When the Truth Commission is born, dynamics shift both at school and home. Narrator Normandy's wry, detailed observations range from funny to painfully honest. Bright dialogue and vivid characters draw readers along as the three artists navigate truths both light and dark.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2015

(3) YA All her life, Ash has seen a dead girl hanging from the ceiling and heard her mother's stories of a centuries-old community in Kansas called Quivira. Ash's brother Rhys thinks it's all hogwash, but when their mother disappears, they travel to Quivira, where Ash discovers the frightening truth behind the legends. The fanciful, entertaining story combines myth, romance, and mortal danger.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams

(2) YA Hayley Kincain has spent the last five years riding shotgun in her father's rig. Constant movement has helped keep the past at bay for both Hayley and her veteran dad. When they settle down so Hayley can attend high school for senior year, their memories threaten to overtake them both. As ever, Anderson has the inside track on the emotional lives of adolescents.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2014

(2) YA Klaatu Diskos series. Tucker and Lia (The Obsidian Blade; The Cydonian Pyramid) join together in the end stage of their journey through the millennia and the final confrontation with the murderous Lah Sept; Tucker uncovers his own role in Lah Sept history. Pulling together elaborate strands of the first two books, this conclusion rewards readers with a surprising yet cogent and satisfying chronicle across time.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2014

(1) YA In this unsettling narrative, an anguished boy's self-inquisition prompts readers to ask their own questions about what's going on and what Will--whose parents are deceased--may be responsible for. It turns out that conflict and resolution, like the text, are all in Will's head. Lynch guides the reader through this complex internal journey with a remarkably light touch.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2001

(2) YA Translated by Y. Maudet. A year after Djelila's brutal murder, Sohane recalls her loving, difficult relationship with her beautiful younger sister. When a gang of boys from their French housing project accuses Djelila of shaming Islam, Sohane is fearful. Djelila laughs them off--then tragedy strikes. Based loosely on a true incident, Sarn's poignant novel is a coming-of-age story about the uniquely powerful bond between sisters. Glos.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2014

(2) YA Emma's mother had a massive stroke; now machines keep her heart beating so the baby growing inside her can live. When reputed bad boy Caleb pushes the magazine cart through the hospital waiting room and stares at Emma through his shaggy hair, readers know these two will connect. Scott's well-tuned ear for both dialogue and inner turmoil makes for a compelling ripped-from-the-headlines read.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2014

(3) YA A year after losing her arm in a shark attack, Jane, a senior, deliberates between art school and nursing. She feels obligated to help others since her "miracle" survival, yet she's still passionate about painting. The free-verse novel captures the highs and lows of a young woman living through extraordinary circumstances and an otherwise typical adolescence.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams

(2) YA After losing her mother to vampirism, Tana keeps her distance until she wakes up to a house littered with the drained corpses of her friends. The only other survivors are her charming but cheating ex-boyfriend Aidan and beautiful, mysterious vampire-guy Gavriel. Black's compelling prose, descriptive yet direct, conjures a modern gothic world populated by cruel immortals, desperate humans, and hardscrabble survivors.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2013

(2) YA High-school graduate Emaline is working at her family beach rental business for the summer. Things get complicated when her estranged birth father pulls his offer to pay for college and arrives in town with her young half-brother. Exploring both family and romantic relationships, this quintessential Dessen novel sets Emaline's time of self-discovery in a summer of sunny days and warm nights filled with promise.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2013

(4) YA United States of Asgard series. In an alternate United States, beloved sun god Baldur has mysteriously disappeared. Young warrior Soren Bearskin and prophetess Astrid Glyn slip away to find him, their road-trip quest through an iconic American landscape made strange with caravans of gypsy-like Lokiskin, troll-haunted mountains, and volcano goblins. The climactic final chapters set the scene for further adventure and (somewhat tediously overheated) romance ahead.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2013

(2) YA Klaatu Diskos series. This second book in a sophisticated science-fiction series (The Obsidian Blade) focuses on Lah Lia, a mysterious girl from the distant future who, raised for ritual sacrifice, escapes her death when minister's son Tucker's sudden appearance through a time gate disrupts the ceremony. Book two further develops Hautman's complex constructs of scientific innovation as well as the evolution of humanity and religion.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2013

(3) YA Ry, nineteen, is still haunted by gruesome events nine years ago that ended with his father's incarceration, and the narrative shifts between the nightmarish past and the present day in 1981 when a meteorite splits open the prison, freeing Ry's father. With complex characterization and vivid descriptions, this gripping but gory page-turner isn't for the faint of heart.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams

(2) YA In the final book in the trilogy (Delirium; Pandemonium), Lena and her friends make the dangerous trek north to the Wilds. Back in Portland, Hana prepares for her wedding in the polished but empty society of the "cured." Tension builds as Oliver drives the two narratives inexorably toward both the climactic battle and a dramatic meeting of the two girls.

Reviewer: Lauren Adams | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2013