(4) YA Popular YA authors including Libba Bray, Nina LaCour, and Ibi Zoboi respond to readers' letters about heartbreak with intimate stories and thoughts on relationships and identity. The collection is somewhat uneven stylistically, but the responses--vulnerable, raw, sometimes a touch saccharine but always in strong solidarity--reverberate with empathy and encouragement. Mental health resources are appended. Websites.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA When Cade stumbles upon a girl half-dead in his family's Texas-border cornfield, he heeds her request to hide her. Cade enlists best friend Mateo's help, and the boys enfold Jane Doe in their world of football games and dances. But Jane is certain her past with a Mexican drug cartel will catch up with her. High-school romance mingles with dark suspense in Banerjee's debut novel.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA Allison's world has been upside-down since her brother died. She runs away with her boyfriend and ends up at an occupation protesting the logging of an old-growth forest in Washington State. There Allison discovers her strengths, what to let go of, and what to protect at any cost. Set in the 1990s and based on real protests, this is an affecting story of resistance and coming of age.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA A collection of reporting by the journalism students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on the 2018 shooting at their school. "Extraordinary Acts" pieces highlight heroic survivors; others cover the day of the attack, the March for Our Lives movement, and life in the media spotlight. Edited by MSD teachers Falkowski and Garner, the teens' writings are insightful and moving. Includes an insert of color photos.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA Leaving behind a volatile life in West Virginia, Rilla arrives in Yosemite to stay with her park-ranger half-sister. Rilla's out of her element but is eventually drawn to a group of rock climbers, including competitive Petra, confident Adeena, and intense Walker. Rilla determines to prove herself capable--of climbing El Capitan and of controlling her own story--in this appealing coming-of-age drama. Reading list. Glos.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) 4-6 Illustrated by Rachel Himes. This smart, lively biography in verse tells the story of Lillian Hardin Armstrong--her talent as a musician and composer, her drive, and her instrumental role in popularizing both the career of husband Louis Armstrong and jazz itself. The black-and-white illustrations' gracefully energetic lines echo and underscore the strength and elegance of the "First Lady of Jazz." Robust back matter complements the concise text. Timeline, websites. Bib., glos., ind.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA Black straight boy Coop deeply values his best friend Jupiter but is secretly in love with her. Black-Latinx lesbian Jupiter is enamored of new girl Rae Chin but doesn't want to get burned. Meanwhile, Chinese-Jamaican Rae is questioning her sexuality while bonding with Coop over a shared mystery from their respective childhoods. A sexy teen love triangle unfolds over three parts, one in each protagonist's distinct, conversational voice.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA Biracial girl Nic Chen exists in a holding pattern: without her (runaway) mother, without her boyfriend, and without a clear sense of who she is beyond the wealthy star student who cheated on the school's golden boy. After stumbling into ghostwriting her classmates' college admissions essays--about love, loss, connection, and wholeness--Nic finally begins to grapple with the tensions that exist within herself. A moving coming-of-age novel in verse.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA When Bailey moves to her online crush/fellow film aficionado Alex's California hometown, she chooses not to tell him. Plans to surreptitiously track Alex down go awry when Bailey lands a busy job and lets cocky surfer-boy coworker Porter get under her skin. But readers know what the protagonists do not, and watching "Alex's" true identity surface is the fun of this breezy, movie-ready romance.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(4) YA Seventeen-year-old Van and her caretaker, Ida, have always lived a peripatetic existence thanks to Van's mother, an inspired businesswoman prone to erraticism. When the trio arrives in Las Vegas, Van begins to forge her own identity in a rock band. This moving coming-of-age story unfortunately veers off course when Van's mother disappears into the desert with a cult and the teen must bring her home.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(4) YA Victoria Navarro's BFFs are dispersing come graduation, and Happies, a beloved restaurant in their California desert hometown, is shutting its doors. A final, epic party--ideally, a bash that affronts Vic's nemesis and scores Vic a hookup with her crush--feels only fitting. A light and diverting read heavy on contrivance; instances of stereotyping undermine the inclusive nature of the novel's quirky cast.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA Extroverted athlete Ryan and wry, socially anxious Gabby do not have much in common, except their intense, special friendship. The night before graduation, the pals count down the "top ten moments of high school." Issues such as Gabby's bisexuality and Ryan's concussions are timely, complex, and naturally integrated into this smart coming-of-age story told in dual nonlinear narratives.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(2) YA It's summer in seventeen-year-old Darcy's small Maine town, and things are complicated. There's the boy she wants and the boy she regrets, both working beside her in the blueberry barrens; her obligations to her beautiful but "a little slow" cousin Nell; and hanging over it all, the mystery of Darcy's missing ex–best friend. Complex but patient plotting and evocative prose elevate this moody coming-of-age novel.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2017

(4) YA Half-fae LilyDark Abernathy (Seven Black Diamonds) is "daughter of two worlds and two courts." She plans to broker peace between humans and fae by ascending the Hidden Throne, but someone of fae blood is still murdering humans. Can there be peace? Numerous viewpoints and forsaken plot threads somewhat muddy this political fantasy in which Lily learns that diplomacy--like family--is rarely tidy.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA Gavin has always let life happen to him: play tennis, hang out, couple up, break up. But when mysterious outsider Antoinette arrives, popular bystander Gavin starts to really look around. Picking up photography, he makes new connections and starts to see things anew through a camera lens. The compelling coming-of-age story explores different ways of existing in high school--and what might lie beyond.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA Seventeen-year-old Frankie Vega has a quick temper and even quicker wit. Repercussions from attacking a classmate and hurtful memories of those who've let her down (like her addict mother) are compounded by the appearance--and subsequent disappearance--of a previously unknown half-brother, fourteen-year-old Xavier. Frankie's authentic voice carries a gritty and layered story.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA Grace, Erin, and Rosina are very different but united by their shared disgust at what happened to classmate Lucy Moynihan after she accused some popular boys of rape. In response, the odd trio starts the Nowhere Girls, a shadowy group committed to resisting sexism and sexual assault. Reed's novel is marked by diverse representation, strong prose, and an unflinching portrayal of rape culture.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(4) YA Problem teen Wren is muscled out of her house in the dead of night and dropped at a wilderness therapy program. Building shelter, finding water, and starting fires leaves far less time for hate and anger, and readers learn Wren's dramatic backstory as she learns to survive. The plot integrates (not always successfully) traditional Paiute culture through the program's elderly Native storyteller.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) 4-6 100 Cupboards series. In this prequel to 100 Cupboards, Hyacinth Smith and her family move to a strange old house with a strange old woman inhabitant who has a dark secret, a roomful of seemingly empty door frames, and a grove of magical lightning trees. Perceptive Hyacinth must help contain a deadly foe. Vivid settings and unusual characters weave a story between two interconnected worlds.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer

(3) YA Determined to remake his life, high-school senior Nick strives to follow a newly defined moral compass. However, the appearance of a criminal from his past and a vulnerable femme fatale catalyze a series of events that lead to him running drugs for one to protect the other. The vivid 1970s–upstate New York setting adds atmosphere, and a twisting noir plot keeps the stakes high and the pages turning.

Reviewer: Rebecca Hachmyer