Revenge and the Wild

Revenge and the Wild
By Michelle Modesto
Balzer + Bray, 2016. 373 pages. Young Adult

Seventeen-year-old Westie's a young woman on a mission: When she was a child, her family was murdered by cannibals who also managed to cut Westie's right arm off at the elbow. Ten years later, Westie wants revenge from the people who stole her family from her. Having been raised by Nigel Butler--an inventor local to Rogue City, California, one who replaced her arm with a machine prosthetic--Westie is shocked when the investors who arrive in-town to evaluate Nigel's latest invention turn out to be the people who killed her family.


But with a rough history of her own and time running out, Westie has to find a way to prove what she knows to be true . . . before the cannibals find a way to finish what they started ten years before. 

I was lucky enough to get an ARC (Advanced Reader's Copy) of this book from my agent in October, and was absolutely blown away by Modesto's style. Not only is this one of the most creative books I've read in awhile, but Modesto blends the fantasy, steampunk, and Western genres almost seamlessly. I adore Westie, Modesto's tough and somewhat irascible heroine, a girl willing to do whatever it takes to see her family avenged. Though its still early yet, REVENGE AND THE WILD is already one of my favorite books of the year.

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More Happy Than Not

More Happy Than Not
By Adam Silvera
Soho Teen, 2015. 295 pages. Young Adult

In sixteen-year-old Aaron Soto's near-future world, people can have painful memories erased by an outpatient procedure from the Leteo Institute, and Aaron has plenty of memories he'd like to run away from: Finding his father dead in a bathtub, the ache and struggle of poverty; the violence on the streets of the Bronx, where he's lived all his life; and most distressing of all, the memory of his own failed suicide attempt, which left him with a smile-shaped scar on one wrist.

But when Aaron meets a vibrant young man named Thomas, everything changes. Thomas understands Aaron on a level he never thought possible, and shares so many of Aaron's own passions: Fantasy fiction and television, comic books, and more. Their developing relationship forces Aaron to re-examine his assumptions about his own sexuality and the meaning of happiness; but when Thomas rejects him, Aaron must decide whether or not the Leteo procedure might be an option for him.

This book, while beautifully written, will rip your heart out. Silvera pulls zero punches with the subject matter, which can be gritty (especially when Aaron's friends try to "beat him straight"), and the most empathetic readers will probably find themselves needing tissues or cringing through the worst of what Aaron endures. However, this much-needed meditation takes a hard look at what it means to be yourself despite cultural pressures to fit in, while tackling big questions about life, relationships, and happiness. Absolutely fantastic.

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Alias

Alias
By Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrated by Michael Gaydos
Marvel Worldwide, 2014. 720 pages. Graphic Novel/Comics

Unable to become anything more than a second-rate superhero, Jessica Jones now makes a living working as a tough-as-nails private investigator. The girl's got a mean inferiority complex, a slight (okay, major) addiction to alcohol, and enough wit and grit to survive daily life in one of the toughest neighborhoods in New York City.

But when someone sets Jessica up to discover a secret about a fellow superhero--one that could bring both him and the country to their knees--Jessica's got to call in a few favors with old friends . . . maybe only sometimes using those old superpowers of hers to save the day.

I picked up Alias because I'd started watching Netflix's series Jessica Jones, but felt something vital missing from the television show. Namely, the overwhelming presence of the Marvel universe. While both projects are gritty and engrossing, their plots are vastly different in nature; while I personally prefer the grittier, less Marvel-saturated story of Jessica Jones, Alias definitely captured and held my attention. The artwork hasn't aged as well as the story and dialogue have; but overall, Alias is an exception comic book series that I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys the form.

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The Sleeper and the Spindle

The Sleeper and the Spindle

By Neil Gaiman

Harper, 2015. 66 pages. Young Adult

Neil Gaiman's newest newest fairy tale is one part Snow White, one part Sleeping Beauty, and one hundred percent absorbing. On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets off with three of her dwarven subjects to investigate the cause of a mysterious sleeping plague that's sweeping across a neighboring kingdom. As if a sleeping-plague wasn't odd enough, the sleepers are capable of talking in their sleep and lumbering after the travelers, almost zombie-like. 

The tale's biggest twist lies in the Queen's discovery of the spindle-pricked maiden who, as the key to the sleeping plague, waits to be awakened . . .

While the story leaves nothing to be desired -- Gaiman's storytelling is always masterful -- it's Chris Riddell's gilt-adorned illustrations that truly steal the show. While I had part of this story read aloud to me, I kept stopping the reader to admire the panels, and to take in the detail in the Queen's dress, or to point out some of Riddell's subtle humor in the art. This is not only a book to read, but one to savor and treasure.

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I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister

I Love I Hate I Miss My Sister
By Amelie Sarn
Delacourt, 2014. 152 pages. Young Adult

Intellectually gifted and studious Sohane, 18, has always taken care of her beautiful, athletic younger sister Djelila. As French-born Algerian Muslims, the sisters face different forms of religious persecution outside their home: The devout Sohane is expelled from her public school for wearing a head scarf; while Djelila, who wears tight jeans, smokes, and kisses boys in public, becomes a target for a Taliban-like teen gang that enforces Islamic extremism in their neighborhood. While the boys' taunting is merely sharp words and a slap at first, it escalates into a violent act that ends one sister's life, and changes the other's forever.

Sarn's novel was on my weeding list after only a year on the shelf; but in light of recent events, I wanted to spend an evening with it before deciding whether or not to discard the book. I expected to learn something about the Muslim faith; however, I did not expect to find such a nuanced and sensitive look at what it means to be Muslim, especially when one lives in the Western world. Sarn never gets too heavy-handed with her message; and the relationship between Sohane and Djelila is endearing, as are their relationships with the rest of their family. The grief the family endures after Djelila's violent murder feels realistic, as does Sohane's struggle to understand how she fits into the world as a hijab-wearing feminist, especially after her sister's death.

In short, we're keeping this one.

CA

The Dead House

The Dead House
By Dawn Kurtagich
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2015. 432 pages. Young Adult

More than two decades ago, the so-called Johnson Incident caused Elmbridge High to burn down, claiming the lives of three students and causing another, Carly Johnson, to disappear.

The main suspect? Kaitlyn Johnson, Carly's "sister" and nocturnal alter-ego. For months, the sisters have been communicating back and forth via a shared diary--they use it to write each other notes, corroborate their stories, and plot against the psychologists who are trying to integrate them. Nobody's sure if Kaitlyn actually exists, if she's a piece of Carly that fractured away after her parents died; or worse, if a more sinister force has possessed Carly's body and mind.

So when Carly disappears--in part due to an occult ritual--Kaitlyn goes searching for her sister in the dark, haunted house that only exists in their nightmares. 

Told through a series of diary entries, notes between the sisters, psychologists' transcripts, video clips, creepy photos, and more, The Dead House definitely keeps readers guessing as to whether or not Carly and Kaitlyn are suffering from mental illness or dealing with a demonic denizen. While I found it difficult to get emotionally attached to either Carly or Kaitlyn, I think that distance played into the novel's voyeuristic, found-footage style. The book's exterior and interior design is gorgeous; and despite being a hefty 400+ pages, this book may appeal to reluctant readers due to the amazing (and very creepy) artwork. This is a great next step for fans of Ransom Riggs' Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Madeleine Roux's Asylum. 

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Daughters Unto Devils

Daughters Unto Devils

By Amy Lukavics

Harlequin Teen, 2015. 281 pages. Young Adult

After the terrors of last winter, sixteen-year-old Amanda Verner's life hasn't ever been the same. Not only did her family get snowed into their high mountain home last winter, but their pregnant mother fell deathly ill and gave birth to a blind/deaf daughter who's been nothing but a harbinger of more travails to come. Amanda's life is hard; but when she realizes she's pregnant with the postal boy's child, it becomes a nightmare.

Now winter is nigh again, and nobody's keen on another six months trapped in the cabin. The family loads up a covered wagon, intending to find an abandoned homestead on the prairie. Pa chooses a house that looks solid enough on the outside; but it's what's on the inside that counts. The family finds the home splattered with old gore. The floorboards are missing, ripped out for no apparent reason. And at night, Amanda can hear an eerie, keening baby's wail coming from inside the house.

When strange things start happening around the house, it becomes clear to Amanda that something's already possessed the land the Verners have taken as their own . . . and it isn't happy with the new neighbors.

This novel's often pitched as Little House on the Prairie meets Stephen King; and for the most part, it holds up to that praise. While slow to get started (there's a lot of information dump in the first few chapters), the images presented are certainly horrifying and stick with the reader long after the novel's done. Amanda's dedication to her family and her faith is admirable, and the deep physical/emotional claustrophobia Lukavics creates on the page is perhaps the most frightening aspect of the novel.

P.S. I'm not sure I'll ever get the image of the dead baby standing in the cornfield out of my head. Ugh.

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Heart-Shaped Box

Heart-Shaped Box
By Joe Hill
William Morrow, 2007. 376 pages. Horror

Now retired, aging rock star Judas Coyne has taken up several hobbies, one of which includes collecting macabre and bizarre artifacts from all over the world. So when a haunted suit appears on an online auction site one day, Jude purchases it without a second thought.

The suit arrives in a heart-shaped box. That night, Jude and his girlfriend, Georgia, begin to see an old man stalking the halls of their home. The ghost, dressed in the black Sunday suit, wields a deadly crescent-shaped razor that he uses to hypnotize his victims. Danny, Jude's manager, is the first to fall victim to the ghost's macabre lullabies. Georgia tries to shoot herself. And when the ghost comes for Jude, he realizes the specter is more malevolent than he can stand, and must try to rid himself of the being.

Jude soon learns the suit belonged to Craddock McDermott, stepfather to one of Jude's former lovers who committed suicide shortly after he left her. McDermott swore to avenge her death . . . but as the story unfolds and the ghost's true motivations come to light, Jude and Georgia find themselves locked in a bloody fight for their lives, for justice for the dead, and maybe even their very souls.

Clever, chilling, at times humorous, and even touching, Heart-Shaped Box is a standout ghost story. At first, Jude is a brusque, unlikable character who wins readers over through his sheer gumption and grit, and the way his relationship with Georgia shifts from tolerance to true affection of the course of the novel is admirable. Craddock makes a truly terrifying antagonist, with black scribbles over his eyes and the patience in his malevolence. While not overly gory, this one still requires a high tolerance for frightening imagery and razor-edged tension. Highly recommended.

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The Shining Girls

The Shining Girls
By Lauren Beukes
Mulholland Books, 2013. 375 pages. Science Fiction

Harper Curtis isn't your standard serial killer: thanks to a strange, dilapidated house he discovered in a 1920s Chicago slum, he's able to travel through time killing his "shining girls," or as he puts it, "young women burning with potential." Since he can slip through time, every one of his crimes are perfect . . . until he tries to kill young Kirby Mazrachi in 1989 and fails. Barely.

By some miracle, Kirby survives Harper's brutal attack. Now in college and working as an intern for the Chicago Sun Times, Kirby allies herself with a washed-up homicide reporter, Dan, to try and track down her killer. As remarkable and impossible as the task seems, the duo begins piecing together clues Harper has left scattered through history. It's not long before Harper realizes that Kirby's survived, and that she's looking for him. Rather than be caught, he vows to finish the job he started back in 1989. Unable to outrun the killer, Kirby and Dan must find a way to outwit him before it's too late.

Beukes' genre-bending novel is a science fiction masterpiece, blending in elements of horror and hard-boiled detective fiction. The tension is heightened by the shifting points of view and the novel's non-linear format, in which Beukes gives readers glimpses of Kirby and Dan's (horrifying) future hundreds of pages before the events come to pass. Beukes excels particularly at rendering Harper's victims as three-dimensional, which only makes his knife cut deeper into the reader. With gorgeous prose and enough gore to make even seasoned horror readers squirm, The Shining Girls is a perfect read for a gloomy October day.

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Shadowshaper

Shadowshaper
by Daniel Jose Older
Arthur A. Levine Books, 2015. 304 pages. Young Adult

All Sierra Santiago wants to do this summer is paint a mural on the side of an aging Brooklyn junklot, hang out with her friends, and listen to music. But when the junklot's murals start inexplicably fading from the walls, Sierra realizes something supernatural's about to go down in the neighborhood. Her stroke-addled Abuelo manages to grasp a moment of lucidity to mutter something about "shadowshapers" to her, but before Sierra can decipher his meaning, he slips back into oblivion.

Now, armed only with a single clue, Sierra must uncover the history of the shadowshapers before her ancestral power to animate art is stolen from her. Aided by a similarly-gifted Haitian boy and a colorful cast of friends, Sierra must battle the her way past a number of terrifying supernatural creatures and stop the evil professor trying to take her people's power for himself.

First of all, I must say I've never read anything quite like this book, much in part due to the novel's explosively creative magic system. I love how the shadowshapers' abilities are steeped in art! The plotting is tight, the characters vivid, believable, and unique--even better, there are a lot of people of color in this book. Sierra's a confident, body-positive heroine who's more focused on her artistic goals than on romance; and her developing relationship with fellow shadowshaper Robbie is built on friendship and mutual respect. It's a refreshing thing to see in a YA novel.

The increased focus on diversity in kidlit is beginning to yield some truly remarkable titles, and I'm glad Older's Shadowshaper is one of the titles leading the charge. Recommended for anyone, but a must-read for those who love urban fantasy.

CA

Everything, Everything

Everything, Everything
by Nicola Yoon
Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2015. 320 pages. Young Adult

Ever since she was diagnosed with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, or "bubble baby" disease, eighteen-year-old Madeline Whittier hasn't been able to leave her house. Her world's made up of two people: Her physician mother, and her nurse, Carla. Quite literally allergic to everything, Maddy's days are full of tutors who instruct her via Skype, books (lots and lots of books, no matter how much you've read, Maddy's read more than you), and Fonetik Skabbl games with her mother.

It's not until a new family moves in next door--bringing Olly into Maddy's world, a boy seemingly made of kinetic energy--that Maddy has her first encounter with someone outside her very insular life. Through a series of jokes involving an indestructible Bundt cake, Olly manages to get Maddy's email address. Emails lead to late-night IM chats, which lead to Maddy persuading Carla to let Olly into the airtight house (secretly, of course) . . . which leads Maddy to question everything about her existence, including the validity of a life lived in a bubble, without risk or without love.

Everything, Everything has been one of the most buzzed-about young adult books of 2015, and deservedly so; it's not often I pick up a book with the intention to read the first few pages, only to find myself turning the last one hours later. Despite the trials she faces, Maddy is a relentlessly optimistic, witty, and intelligent narrator, and her love for literature is apparent from the first page. Her relationship with her mother and nurse, Carla, are warm and believable, as is the gentle development of her relationship with Olly. I especially appreciated the subtle parallels Yoon drew between Maddy and space travel/astronauts, highlighting Maddy's alienation and separation from the rest of the world.

The artwork and mixed-media presentation of IM chats, emails, plane tickets, and other miscellany make this a great read for reluctant readers, too. Also of note: Maddy is biracial, half Japanese and half African-American, and Yoon handles (and celebrates) Maddy's heritage beautifully on the page. A must-read for YA contemporary fiction fans.

CA

Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones
by George R. R. Martin
Bantam, 1996. 693 pages. Fantasy

Who hasn't heard of George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones? This first volume in the mega-bestselling series, A Song of Ice and Fire, is even richer and more complex than I'd imagined it would be. Set in the fantasy realm of Westeros -- a kingdom beset by threats from both within and without, and nobody can quite say which is the greater -- the novel focuses on the Stark family of Winterfell, and the political turmoil and intrigue that ensues after eight-year-old Bran Stark witnesses an act that could shake the kingdom to its very core, but is pushed from a tower window before he can speak of it. It's a mystery that his father, Lord Eddard Stark, wishes very much to solve as he heads to the nation's capitol to serve as Hand of the King; however, Ned finds his appointment precarious, dangerous, and in some cases, deadly. Despite shifting alliances, deceptions, and dubious allies, Ned must fight to solve the mystery that shrouds the Iron Throne . . . or else he'll lose the game, and quite probably his life.

With a staggering cast of characters, rapidly-shifting points of view, and near-constant action, Game of Thrones is a must-read for almost every epic fantasy fan. I say almost because Martin's world is a brutal one, and I often find myself ageing the adolescent characters up a considerable number of years in my head (Daenerys is thirteen when she's married to Khal Drogo, Bran is eight when pushed out the window, et cetera). The writing can be pedestrian, but with a plot this compelling and such well-rounded, fascinating characters, it's easy to overlook Martin's compulsive use of words like "shone" or the adverbs that pepper his text liberally. Good (if not clean) fun.

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This One Summer

This One Summer
by Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Jillian Tamaki
First Second, 2014. 317 pages. Graphic Novel

Every summer, Rose's family spends an idyllic two weeks in Awago Beach, a place "where beer grows on trees and everyone can sleep in until eleven." But now that Rose is on the cusp of adolescence, she's finding that life is far more complicated than she'd ever dreamt before: For one, her parents are fighting. Two, she's becoming increasingly aware of the activities of older teenagers, social and socio-economic strata, and the perils of self-image. To make matters worse, her friend Windy seems blithely unconcerned with the things that are starting to matter quite a lot to Rose, which complicates their relationship. The story is a quiet one, veering between Rose's enjoyment of her summer rituals to the secret, agonizing grief over the strife in her parents' marriage.

The book deserves the shiny honor awards on its cover -- full of fine storytelling, characterization, deft dialogue, and beautiful artwork, This One Summer is a graceful exploration of the joys (and pains!) of growing up and realizing that even paradise has its flaws. Tamaki's artwork is evocative of director Hayao Miyazaki's and Studio Ghibli's, which helps to absorb some of the blows delivered via the story and text. With some heavier themes, content, and language, save this one for older teens.

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Joyride

Joyride
by Anna Banks
Feiwel and Friends, 2015. 278 pgs. Young Adult

Ever since her parents were deported to Mexico, Carly Vega's kept her head down and her nose clean. Between her dreams of attending college, a late-night convenience store job, and a family in need of every dollar she can earn, Carly doesn't have a lot of anything left over, especially money and time.

But when she stops a robbery outside the convenience store, her path collides with that of Arden Moss: The handsome, wealthy, popular Anglo son of the local sheriff (also known as the man who won his office campaigning on an anti-immigration platform). When Arden confesses the robbery was an ill-conceived attempt to prevent his uncle's drunk driving, Carly can't help the empathy she feels for Arden and for his uncle. And once Arden discovers Carly's tough, ballsy streak, he decides that she can fill the hole his beloved sister left behind when she committed suicide. But Carly's suspicious of the boy with a racist father and more money in his back pocket than she makes in a week, and less than thrilled about trying to squeeze him into her packed schedule.

Eventually, Arden convinces Carly to join him on the pranking spree of a lifetime, which turns into a humorous yet heart-wrenching journey to the things that matter most.

Joyride tackles a lot of big issues: Immigration, racism, socioeconomic disparity, rogue police officers, and family disputes abound in the novel, but Banks handles them with grace, care, and humor. Banks deftly handles Carly's first-person narrative and Arden's third, and both characters bound off the pages and demand the reader's empathy for different reasons. I don't often read contemporary YA novels, and I certainly don't read a lot of romances; but I enjoyed this book immensely, particularly Banks' sensitive portrait of a young Latina girl struggling between her family's needs and her own. Recommended.

CA

Sweet

Sweet
By Emmy Laybourne
Feiwel & Friends, 2015. 272 pgs. Young Adult

By a stroke of luck (or by way of having a wealthy best friend), seventeen-year-old Laurel lands a spot on the "Cruise to Lose," a seven-day trip that promises passengers they'll lose ten to fifteen percent of their body weight thanks to a revolutionary new sweetener called Solu. But despite a ship packed with glittering celebutantes and the fabulously wealthy, Laurel doesn't feel inclined to worry about her size 14 waistline. She knows that someday, someone will love her just the way she is . . .

 . . . She just didn't expect that someone to be Tom Forelli, former child star, Laurel's crush, and who happens to be the host of Solu's "Cruise to Lose." Both Laurel and Tom avoid Solu for their own reasons, and are the only ones on the ship to do so, besides several members of the ship's staff.

So when Solu turns out to be addictive enough to kill for, Laurel and Tom find themselves trapped on a ship spiraling into madness. Survival alone won't be enough -- if the teens can't find a way to warn the world of the dangers of Solu, they might find home as hellish as the ship they fought so hard to survive.

Reluctant readers, take heed. Told from two perspectives, Sweet is a whirlwind of a read, offering up enough romance, action, and zombie-like gore to please almost any reader. Laybourne wins bonus points for the inclusion of a heroine who knows her body doesn't fit the beauty standard, but loves herself anyway with no restraint. A great beach read for anyone who likes a side of satire with their sun.

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Mothership

Mothership
By Martin Leicht and Isla Neal
Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2012. 308 pages. Young Adult

Elvie Nara is a student at the Hanover School for Expecting Teen Mothers, but pregnant is not the way the young engineer expected to get into space. When the school is attacked by hunky alien invaders—one of which is the guy who knocked her up, oops—Elvie's got more problems on her hands than an alien baby on the way. With a saboteur on the loose, a ship crashing through Earth's atmosphere, and an evil, pregnant cheerleader to jeer at her every move, Elvie's got to use her sharp wits and even sharper tongue to save the day.

Mothership's the best kind of popcorn novel, filled with action, adventure, and sci-fi kitsch. While it's light on plot (and even lighter on characterization, except in Elvie's case), it's compulsively readable, hysterical good fun. I found Elvie's snark wildly entertaining, and loved that she's a strong, scrappy, likable character. (And Leicht and Neal get MAJOR points for making her an engineer! Go girl scientists!) While some of the themes might seem mature, the only content warning here is for language. A great read for anyone looking for a very humorous, action-packed sci-fi.

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Guy In Real Life

Guy In Real Life
By Steve Brezenoff
Balzer + Bray, 2014. 385 pages. Young Adult

When Lesh's and Svetlana's worlds collide—literally—one night in Saint Paul, Minnesota, what begins as an accident turns into friendship. Lesh and Svetlana can't be more different: Lesh's a sophomore, a metal junkie, and an MMORPG player; Svetlana is educated, a senior, artistic, and a dungeon master for her school's failing Dungeons and Dragons-esque group. Mutual wariness gives way to trust when Lesh thwarts one of Svetlana's lecherous suitors at lunchtime, and a tentative, awkward relationship begins to form between the two. It's not long before Lesh creates a lithe, silver-haired, female elven avatar on the MMO he's been playing—an avatar that looks like his new friend—whom he promptly names "Svvetlana," with double vs. And when the real Svetlana invites Lesh to join her "party" for her new tabletop campaign, their relationship kicks into high gear. But how long can Lesh keep his "guy in real life" status secret from his new MMO friends? And worse, how long can he keep his fantasy Svvetlana secret from the real one?

It's no secret that I love novels about video games and gamers, but regardless of the geeky content, Guy In Real Life definitely ranks in my top five favorite books of 2014 (so far). Both Lesh's and Svetlana's voices have been lovingly—and believably—rendered here, and both characters are equally witty and empathetic. The novel's a charming, awkward, and gentle look at first love, gender identity, and growing up. For readers who enjoyed Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl (St. Martin's Griffin, 2013), this is an obvious next step.

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I Kill the Mockingbird

I Kill the Mockingbird
By Paul Acampora
Roaring Brook Press, 2014. 166 pages. Young Adult

The shenanigans really begin with the sudden, untimely death of Mr. Nowak, everyone's favorite eighth grade English teacher. When best friends Lucy, Elena, and Michael vow to find a way to memorialize Mr. Nowak over their final summer before high school, they decide to find a way to get everyone reading his favorite book: Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Their plan? To make all the copies of the classic novel disappear from local libraries and bookstores through "creative" reshelving, and publicizing their efforts through a social media and website presence known as IKilltheMockingbird. "It's not stealing," Lucy insists. "It's shrinkage."

Their problem? The campaign quickly spirals out of control, and copies of To Kill a Mockingbird begin to disappear from bookshops and libraries all over the United States. Now the friends must work together to stop the "literary terrorism" they've started, before their plan backfires spectacularly and nobody reads the novel at all.

I Kill the Mockingbird is a charming little novel! Lucy's voice is active, piquant, and believably fourteen. She and her friends are round, dynamic characters who are well-fleshed but not overdrawn; and supported by a cast of secondary characters who are almost as much fun as the main ones. There are a lot of fine emotional nuances, particularly scenes between Lucy and her parents (her mother is a recent cancer survivor), and the moments between Lucy and Michael (who are starting to develop romantic feelings toward one another). The novel feels like a love letter to the enjoyment of great literature, and I can't say I didn't giggle over a few of the social media culture references. Quick, clean, and fun.

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The Merciless

The Merciless
By Danielle Vega
Razorbill, 2014. 336 pages. Horror

Sofia Flores is a military kid, used to moving every six months, used to being a lone wolf. So when she's automatically embraced by the queen bee of her new high school in Friend, Mississippi, Sofia thinks she just might be able to fit in for the first time. Sure, her new friends are a little . . . intense about their religious convictions, but what's wrong with that?

So when Sofia ends up in the basement of an abandoned house with her new friends -- Riley, Grace, and Alexis -- to perform an "exorcism," she begins to wonder if she should have gotten involved with the girls at all. Their target? The high school's resident outcast and snark queen, Brooklyn Stevens. Riley says they want to help Brooklyn, but all the house's windows are nailed shut, the doors are padlocked, and Riley's the only one with a key . . . and the only one with a knife.

Brooklyn doesn't seem possessed to Sofia, but something about her behavior doesn't add up, either. And Riley's "exorcism" methods seem closer to sadistic torture than they do to exorcism. Torn between her morality and her sense of self-preservation, Sofia begins to play a dangerous game . . . and if she doesn't win, she'll pay with her life.

I'm not going to lie, this novel made me flinch. And squirm. I originally bought it for the YA collection, but after reviewing it, realized it would be better placed in adult fiction due to some graphic violence. However, for readers who enjoy Stephen King-esque horror, this is a phenomenal novel. Vega does a remarkable job in reversing Sofia's (and the reader's) loyalties to Riley and Brooklyn; one moment, we're certain Riley's a sociopath; the next, we're certain that Brooklyn is a possessed by some demon. For those looking for Mean Girls with an edge, this novel is for you.

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We Were Liars

We Were Liars
By E. Lockhart
Delacorte Press, 2014. 240 pages. Young Adult

Cadence "Cady" Sinclair Easton is the eldest grandchild of an old-money family, one headed by a patriarch who owns a private island off Cape Cod. Every summer, the family gathers on the island, and Cadence, her cousins Johnny and Mirren, and their friend Gat (the eponymous "Liars"), have been inseparable during those summers since age eight. But during their fifteenth summer, Cadence suffers a horrible accident, one that leaves her with amnesia, prone to debilitating migraines, and addicted to pain pills.

Two summers later, Cadence returns to the island to pierce together just what happened on the night everything changed, the night her family won't talk about, and the night she can't remember.

I've come to expect a lot out of E. Lockhart's novels, and I'm happy to report that We Were Liars did not disappoint! Cady's voice is sparse, yet authentic, and her descriptions of pain both emotional and physical were so deft, they made me cringe. The family drama that unfolds on the page is heart-rending, but Lockhart manages not to demonize the "beautiful Sinclair family," which only makes the tension more taut and their drama cut deeper. (And I'll bet you five bucks you don't see the ending coming!) A well-wrought novel that deserves to be on everyone's to-read list this year.

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