Truest by Jackie Lea Sommers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

17-year old Westlin (West) Beck is not having a great summer so far. Her best friend—and car-detailing partner—decided to be a counselor at an outdoor adventure camp, leaving her alone and short-handed. Her boyfriend is trying to save up for a car and is working insane hours on his parents’ farm. When her pastor father introduces her to the Harts who have just moved to Minnesota from Alaska, West’s summer is forever changed. Adorably nerdy Silas Hart ends up being her new detailing partner, and the two of them bond quickly over books, poetry, philosophy, as well as radio and TV shows. Silas’ twin, Laurel, suffers from solipsism syndrome, which means that she is not sure if she is living in a dream or reality, but West and Silas are able to draw her out occasionally, and there are times when West thinks that Laurel is maybe getting better. When tragedy strikes, however, West is left to figure out who she is and who she wants to be now that everything and everyone in her life has let her down.

This book is not as lighthearted as the description makes it sound. It was rich and deep and tragic and lovely. The love triangle, if you want to call it that, is handled pretty well. It seems obvious to readers where the friendship between West and Silas is heading, but readers are also sympathetic with West’s dilemma since her boyfriend is a truly good person and they have a history, even if they don’t have the best chemistry. At times, West is a typical self-absorbed teenager who wishes that the people she cares most about could reciprocate her strong feelings and make her feel like she is the most important person in their lives. Once West decides to grow up and get over herself, however, readers feel as though she has a definite chance of finding happiness in this world. Recommended for gr. 10-12 due to some fairly adult situations.

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Drowning Is Inevitable by Shalanda Stanley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Initial reaction: Beautiful. Desperately sad. I am wrecked.

Official review: Growing up in the shadow of her mother’s suicide at age 18, Olivia—as well as the entire town of St. Francisville, Louisiana—has always believed that she would follow in her mother’s footsteps because, well, isn’t suicide genetic? Raised by her grandmother who more often than not calls her by her dead mother’s name, and avoided by her grieving father, Olivia has only ever been able to count on her best friend and next door neighbor, Jamie. When Jamie’s drunk father shows up unexpectedly one night, things get out of control quickly, and Jamie ends up making a mistake of monumental proportions. The teens escape to New Orleans with their friends, Max and Maggie, where one bad decision leads to another. Ultimately, the train wreck that has overtaken their lives speeds towards its inevitable tragic conclusion.

The writing is beautiful. The characters, though achingly flawed and incapable of making good decisions, are steadfast and loyal friends. I wanted to reach into the book, pull the characters out, and give them better lives—lives that they deserved, not the ones that they were stuck with. Have a box of Kleenex handy. You will need it.

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Between Us and the Moon by Rebecca Maizel
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

15-year old Sarah has always been interested in astronomy and math club while her older sister, Scarlett, has always been interested in dance, boys, and being popular. The two sisters couldn’t be less alike. When Sarah’s math club boyfriend, Tucker, dumps her for a cheerleader at the beginning of summer, Sarah decides to conduct an experiment—the Scarlett experiment—to see if she can pinpoint and mimic the behaviors that make a person popular. Sarah takes a trip to the beach wearing one of Scarlett’s bikinis, and BAM! She makes an instant connection with 19-year old Andrew, a cute guy who happens to be part of Scarlett’s crowd. While Scarlett is conveniently in New York for a month, Sarah borrows Scarlett’s clothes and tries on different identities. She finds herself lying to Andrew about her age and her plans to go to MIT in the fall at the same time as she finds herself falling hard for him. When things start to get serious between them, Sarah has some tough decisions to make.

This book was rather painful to get through at times. While Sarah does come to grips with who she is and what kind of person she wants to be by the end of the book, the journey is long and filled with awkward misstep after awkward misstep. This book is definitely for older teens as there are some explicit scenes that are slightly on the adult side.

Recommended (as optional, maybe) for grades 10-12.

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Burn Girl by Mandy Mikulencak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When 16-year old Arlie discovers her mother’s overdosed dead body in their motel room, she knows that everything is about to change. She doesn’t want to end up in foster care, so she is relieved when an uncle that she never knew about shows up, wanting to take care of her. It takes a while for Arlie to adjust to going to school and living a fairly normal life with her uncle. She hasn’t trusted anyone since she was horribly burned in a meth accident when she was 9, but Arlie is slowly starting to let herself get close to Maureen (Mo) and Cody; that is, until someone from her past shows up, and Arlie has to decide whether or not she’s going to trust her present or forever be stuck in her past.

Arlie is a complicated character who makes some horrible (although well-intentioned) decisions, but readers ache for her and want her to be happy. School, friendships, a boyfriend, a stable home, family that she can count on—these are all things that Arlie never had and never allowed herself to want. The narration is a little jumpy as Arlie fills in some of the gaps with flashbacks, but they are well labeled (for example, Chapter 3: Five Years Ago—Meeting Mo), so readers shouldn't be confused. Recommended for gr. 9-12.

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Charmed by Michelle Krys
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In this sequel to Hexed, Indigo is trying to figure out what happened to Paige and where she has been taken. When she realizes that Paige isn’t even on Earth, that she’s trapped in an alternate reality called Los Demonios where the worst of the worst evil paranormals are sent to spend eternity, Indie isn’t deterred and finds herself putting herself in grave danger and risking the lives of those that she loves.

Maybe it’s because I didn’t read the first book, but I did not care for Indie or the entire premise of this novel. Other than her loyalty to Paige, which is admirable, I found her to be impulsive, headstrong, unbelievably cocky, and way too quick to have feelings for a sorcerer that she meets (and spends maybe a couple of hours with) in Los Demonios. Her relationship with her boyfriend, Bishop, was not believable to me, and I found myself rolling my eyes at some of their interactions. The mom/dad/aunt plotline was not very fleshed out or interesting to me (again, it might have been if I had read the first book), and I had to make myself keep reading to find out whether or not Paige is rescued. Recommended as optional for gr. 7-12 in libraries where Hexed is popular.

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Between the Notes by Sharon Huss Roat
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ivy Emerson’s comfortable upper-middle class life is turned upside down when her father’s printing business suffers and the bank decides to foreclose on their house. Even though her parents find a nice, clean house in Lakeside, Ivy is mortified to be living in “that” neighborhood with “those” people. When the cute new guy, James, takes an interest in Ivy, his sweet, kind disposition seems to balance out her new drug-dealing neighbor’s mocking, humiliating disposition. All is not as it seems, however, and Ivy learns some valuable lessons about first impressions, true friendship, and being comfortable in her own skin.

Ivy was not very likeable for the first three quarters of this book. James & Lennie, however, were both adorable, which made up for Ivy’s shallowness. Once Ivy started looking past who everyone was on the outside, she was able to see who they really were on the inside, and that’s when she started to become more of a human, less of a stereotype. Recommended for gr. 7-12.

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