Genre: Romance

Our Violent Ends

The year is 1927. The chaos of the previous year has done nothing to quell the blood feud between the Scarlet Gang and the White Flowers, and the streets of Shanghai are still rife with death and violence. But this is not only the work of the blood feud—foreign powers have increasingly become intertwined with the rival gangs, leading to talk of a brewing civil war. The possibility of peace feels further away than ever.  

The madness no longer sweeps through the streets like a contagion, infecting everyone it comes across, but that does not mean the madness has left the city for good. Monsters disguised as ordinary people still prowl through the streets, launching targeted attacks in crowded areas that cause everyone in the vicinity to rip their own throats out. It may no longer spread, but it is no less deadly.  

Betrayal, heartbreak, and death make all hope of reconciliation between Roma and Juliette seem impossibly far away. They miss each other terribly, but at the same time cannot forgive each other’s terrible actions. But when their fathers, in a rare show of cooperation between the Scarlets and the White Flowers, order Roma and Juliette to work together to find a cure for the new madness, they are once again thrown together and forced to cooperate. Their reconciliation is a relief to both of them as they realize how powerful they are together. But are they enough to save their city? The universe is never kind to star-crossed lovers, and they may just have to choose between saving Shanghai or themselves. 

Our Violent Ends is a dazzling conclusion to Roma and Juliette’s story. The prose is vivid, rich, and imaginative, and it fully immerses readers in Roma and Juliette’s world. While Our Violent Ends is on the longer side, there is never a dull moment – scenes packed with action transition smoothly into heartfelt confessions that will leave readers on the edge of their seats. Several subplots create many moving parts that all work together to culminate in a grand finale.  

The rich cast of characters is another factor that makes this novel a thrilling read. The narration switches between many points of view, allowing readers to inhabit many of the characters’ heads and get to know them and their motivations. The relationship between Roma and Juliette is an extremely complicated one, and these nuances are fully explored; neither character is perfect, and their circumstances often force them to hurt each other, but they ultimately work through their flaws to find a middle ground. 

Our Violent Ends is a great modern retelling of Shakespeare’s classic Romeo and Juliet. Like the play, this novel emphasizes the immense harm that hatred causes and reminds readers that unfounded hate leads to dreadful violence. Teens who enjoy intricate plots and cutthroat characters will love this book and think about Roma and Juliette’s story long after they close the final page. It is a satisfying conclusion to the duology begun by These Violent Delights. Fans of Romeo and Juliet may also want to read Crossing the Line by Simone Elkeles and Prince of Shadows by Rachel Caine. 

Sexual Content  

  • Roma and Juliette kiss in a safe house. “Roma pressed his lips to hers with such ferocity that Juliette gasped, the sound immediately muffled when she pushed herself up and drew closer. Despite his burning energy, Juliette felt Roma’s mouth move with sincerity, felt his adoration while he trailed kisses all down her neck. ‘Juliette,’ he whispered. Both of their coats came off. Roma had the zip of her dress pulled in seconds too, and Juliette lifted her arms to accommodate. ‘My darling, darling Juliette.’ The dress fell to the floor. With some disbelief, Roma suddenly blinked, his eyes clearing for the briefest moment while she worked at his shirt buttons.” It is implied that they have sex, but not explicitly. 

Violence  

  • Juliette shoots a White Flower, wounding but not killing him. “Her pistol kicked. Juliette pressed back into her seat, her jaw hard as the man below dropped his weapon, his shoulder wounded.” 
  • During an altercation between the Scarlets and the White Flowers, Roma shoots, aiming for Juliette. “Roma reached into his jacket pocket and drew his gun, and Juliette had no choice but to jolt herself out of her daze. Instead of combating the would-be assassin, he had decided to shoot at her. Three bullets whizzed by her ear. Gasping, Juliette struck the floor, her knees grazing the carpet hard as she threw herself down.” The shot misses Juliette.  
  • Roma attacks Juliette. “He slammed her into the pipes. The effort was so forceful that Juliette tasted blood inside her lip, sliced by her own sharp teeth. She stifled a gasp and then another when Roma’s hand tightened around her throat, his eyes murderous.” Juliette defends herself: “Just as Roma shifted forward, perhaps intent on his kill, her hand closed around the sheath beneath her dress and pulled her blade free, slicing down on whatever she came in contact with first. Roma hissed, releasing his hold. It was only a surface cut, but he cradled his arm to his chest, and Juliette followed close, leveling the blade to his throat.” The fight stops when they call a truce and agree to talk. 
  • A monster attacks unnamed patrons at a bar. “The cabaret becomes enswathed in black, an ever-moving blanket of infection, and in seconds, the first succumbs, hands flying to throats and clutching, clutching, clutching, trying to squeeze the insects out. Nails break into skin, skin splits for muscle, muscle parts for bone. As soon as blood spurts from one victim, inner flesh exposed and veins pumping red, the next is already tearing before they have a moment to feel the visceral disgust that comes with being soaked in hot, sticky gore.” All of the patrons die. 
  • Benedikt, Roma’s cousin, is attacked by Scarlets. “He didn’t even have the chance to pull a weapon. A blow came to the side of his face out of nowhere, then Benedikt was reeling, crushed to the ground amid shouting and cursing and someone calling for the death of his whole family. His arms were bent back and his head was pushed hard into the cement, before something ice cold, something that felt like the butt of a gun, jammed up against his temple.” He escapes uninjured when the Scarlets are all shot by a third-party sniper. 
  • Tyler, Juliette’s cousin, shoots and kills two White Flowers. “Tyler pulled the trigger twice in rapid succession, two White Flower heads cracking with an explosion of red, crashing to the ground. Chenghuangmiao [the market] erupted with a wave of screaming, but most shoppers reacted quickly and hurried out of the way, in no mood to be caught in a gangster dispute. They didn’t have to worry. This was no dispute; there were no other White Flowers nearby to retaliate.” 
  • Marshall, Roma’s best friend, kills a Scarlet who recognizes him. “The bullet landed true. With a harsh clatter, the Scarlet’s weapon fell to the floor. It might have been a gun. It might have been a dagger. It might have even been a throwing star, for all the consequence it held. But in the hazy dark, all Marshall cared about was it being out of reach, and then the Scarlet collapsed too, a hand clasped over the hole studded into his breastbone.” 
  • Tyler sets fire to a building full of White Flowers as a targeted attack because of the blood feud. “Juliette could see him, holding a plank of wood swirling with flames. Behind him, the building’s roaring inferno drowned out the screams, drowned out the whole occupancy burning to death. Juliette heard nothing save that they were pleading–women in nightgowns and elderly banging on the closed windows, muffled Russian crying to stop! Please stop!” 
  • Juliette kills a White Flower who is attacking Tyler. “Without slowing her run, Juliette jumped over the threshold of the temple entrance and pulled the knife sheathed at her thigh. When she threw, the blade pierced into the White Flower’s neck smoothly, striking its target with nary a sound before the White Flower pitched sideways and fell.” 
  • During a fight, Roma throws a knife at Juliette, wounding her shoulder. “The pain did not come at first. It never did: a blade entering always felt cold and then foreign. Only seconds later, as if her nerve endings had finally registered what happened, did intense, sharp agony reverberate outward from the wound. . . Juliette managed, turning to look at the blade half-embedded in her shoulder, then at Roma. His jaw was slack, face drained of color. The wound, meanwhile, immediately started to bleed, a steady stream of red running its way down her dress.” Roma and his younger sister, Alisa, help stop the bleeding. Juliette is left with a scar. 
  • An unnamed foreman in a factory is killed by revolutionaries. “One slash, that’s all it takes. A knife over [the foreman’s] throat and he’s twitching on the floor, hands clasped around the wound in a futile attempt at holding the blood in. The red seeps regardless. It does not stop until he is naught but a body lying in a scarlet pool. It soaks the shoes of his workers, his killers. It is carried from street to street, the faintest red print pressed upon crumbling pavement and into the roads of the Concessions, marring stains upon the clean white sidewalks. This is what revolution is, after all. The trailing of blood from door to door, loud and violent until the rich cannot look away.” 
  • Lord Cai has Rosalind, Juliette’s cousin, whipped after finding out that she was spying for the White Flowers. “The lash came down again on her back, and Rosalind cried out, her whole body shuddering. They didn’t allow her to crumple to the floor: there were four Scarlets around her, two to hold her upright, one with the whip, and one standing just to the side.” Juliette defends her by “striking her fist across the guard’s face.” 
  • In a duel between Roma and Tyler, Juliette shoots Tyler, killing him. “Both her hands came around her smoking pistol. There was no room for regret now. She had done it. She had done it, and she could not stop there. She turned, and with a sob choked on her tongue, she shot each and every one of Tyler’s men before they had even comprehended what was happening, bullets studding their temples, their necks, their chests.” 
  • A Scarlet shoots a man named Da Nao because he is helping Roma and Juliette escape the city. “The Scarlet fired, and Da Nao fell with a spray of red, the bullet in his head killing him instantly.” 
  • Dimitri, a White Flower, shoots a group of Scarlets who are holding Roma hostage. “The Scarlets didn’t have a chance to fight back. Some managed to retrieve weapons, some managed one shot. But the workers had them surrounded, rifles already aimed, and with a pop-pop-pop! reverberating along the whole street, the Scarlets all dropped, eyes blank and glazed, fleshy wounds studded into their chests. The blood splashed generously.” 
  • The madness infects a crowd of people. “Destruction tore through the scene: a bloodbath, infecting those who hadn’t run fast enough. Juliette’s eyes swiveled to the side. A woman: dropping to her knees, fingers sinking into her neck and pulling without any hesitation. A scream–a figure, running to her. Her husband: cradled over her corpse and keening a loud, desolate noise. then he too gouged at his own throat and fell to the ground.”

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None

Language  

  • “Shit” is used a few times as an exclamation. 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None

Throw Like a Girl

When softball star Liv Rodinsky throws one ill-advised punch during the most important game of the year, she loses her scholarship to her fancy private school, her boyfriend, and her teammates all in one fell swoop. With no other options, Liv is forced to transfer to the nearest public school, Northland, where she’ll have to convince their coach she deserves a spot on the softball team, all while facing both her ex and the teammates of the girl she punched. . . Every. Single. Day.

Enter Grey, the injured star quarterback with amazing hair and a foolproof plan: if Liv joins the football team as his temporary replacement, he’ll make sure she gets a spot on the softball team in the spring. But it will take more than just a flawless spiral for Liv to find acceptance in Northland’s halls, and behind that charismatic smile, Grey may not be so perfect after all. 

Readers will instantly connect with Liv, who is a hard-working, spunky protagonist worthy of admiring. When Liv is forced to change schools, she is determined to prove that she will be an asset to the softball team. Even though Liv joins the football team to impress the softball coach, Liv doesn’t slack or complain. Because of her competitive nature, Liv gives the football team 100% and proves to the players and the coaches that she is an integral part of the team. While Liv’s work ethic and athletic ability are admirable, Liv’s loyalty to her family and friends makes her lovable. However, Liv is not portrayed as a perfect person; teens will relate to Liv’s flaws and insecurities. Plus, Liv’s lively personality makes Throw Like a Girl incredibly fun to read.  

Liv is surrounded by well-developed and likable supporting characters. Liv’s family is an important part of the story and her little brother is adorable. While Liv’s family don’t always agree with each other, they (usually) don’t hide secrets from each other. The family’s healthy dynamics make it easy to fall in love with them. However, Grey steals the show with his winning smile, his charismatic personality, and his confidence in Liv’s football skills. There are plenty of swoon-worthy moments that will have the reader’s hearts melting.  

Throw Like a Girl has the perfect amount of football action, teen drama, and romantic moments. In addition, the story has a positive message because Liv learns that “standing up for yourself doesn’t mean walking away.” Readers will cheer for Liv when she’s on and off the field and by the end of the book, Liv will feel like a favorite friend. Throw Like a Girl is so charming that it will appeal to both sports fans and romance enthusiasts. For more sports and swoon-worthy moments read Defending Taylor by Miranda Kenneally and Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg .

Sexual Content  

  • When Liv first begins playing football, she is nervous about being a quarterback. During practice, Liv is uncomfortable because “for the eighth time in so many minutes, my hands are hovering near the rear-end seam of his pants. Like, right underneath his junk. Big, bulgy, manly junk.” 
  • Before a football game, Grey meets Liv outside the girl’s locker room. Grey’s “fingertips graze my cheek, moving down until they gently tip up my chin. My pulse stutters. . .” Before they can kiss, a friend interrupts them.  
  • When Liv drives Grey home, they sit in the car and talk. Then, “Grey closes the space between us, his lips warm against mine. They’re softer than I imagined, but the scrape of stubble pressing into my chin is 100 percent rough-and-tumble boy.” They stop when the porch light comes on. 
  • Grey and Liv kiss often. However, most of the kisses are not described. For example, Grey shows up at Liv’s house to check on her and her “arms lock his neck, lips to his.” 
  • During one conversation, between Liv and Grey, she thinks “We’ve made out and I’d love to do it again rightthehellnow. . .” Later in the conversation, Grey asks Liv to be his girlfriend. Liv “answer[ed] him with a kiss. Hard and full.”  
  • When his parents are away for the weekend, Grey invites Liv in and takes her to his bedroom. Then he tells Liv a secret. Liv “close the distance between us, twisting to push up onto my knees, draping my arms over his shoulders. . . I’m looking down on him, my chest touching his, the end of my hair pooling against his collarbone. . . And then I kiss him.” The scene ends here. 
  • Liv and Grey have an argument. A few days later, at football practice, they make up. “Even with the eyes of our teammates on us, he dares to touch my face, his strong hands cupping my cheeks, rough thumbs dusting my mouth in the breath before his lips crash into mine. Immediately, I wrap my arms around his waist. The hard planes of his chest conform to my curves. . . The wolf whistles start. . . It’s only by sheer, indoctrinated willpower that I’m able to pull myself out of the kiss.” 

Violence  

  • Liv’s sister, who is a lesbian, is the softball coach. During a softball game, a member of the opposing team, Kelly, says, “Does it bother you? Your sister being paid to check out your teammates?” When the game is over, Liv attacks Kelly. Liv describes, “The knuckles of my hand smack her straight across the ski jump of her obnoxiously pert nose, and we tumble to the infield dirt. I have her pinned, my butt across her kidneys, knees on either side of her squirming stomach.” When the girls are torn apart, Kelly has a bloody nose and Liv has a black eye. The fight is described over three pages.  
  • During a football game, the opposing team is unnecessarily rough. One of the payers, Jake, gets tackled and afterwards he does not move. The coaches go out to check on him and call for a medic. Liv “exhale[s] as I realize that though they’re keeping him steady, not a single one is gripping him like he’s not moving under his own power. I can see Jake’s mouth moving. Blood streaming down from a cut over his left eye.” Jake is not seriously hurt.  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • During dinner, Liv’s adult sister drinks wine and her father “pops open a beer.” 
  • Grey takes Tylenol for a headache.  
  • After Liv goes on a date, her dad waits up for her. When she arrives, he has a “beer in hand.” Another time when Liv gets home, her father and sister are waiting for her and they both are drinking beer. 
  • Before the story begins, Grey was driving drunk and crashed into a tree. The accident isn’t described.  

Language  

  • Profanity is used profusely. Profanity includes ass, asshole, bastard, bitch, crap, damn, dick, freaking, goddammit, hell, and shit. 
  • God is frequently used as an exclamation.  
  • Christ and Jesus are used as an exclamation several times. 
  • After fighting the opposing team, Liv thinks, “Maybe all the soccer players in Kansas City are smart enough to know that gay people aren’t pedophiles.” 
  • When a football player flips someone off, the coach says, “Put down that hand, Rogers, or I’m taking that finder as a sacrifice to the god of high school football. Might take that senior captain title, too, for good measure.” 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • While talking about sports, Liv’s best friend says, “God did not make you a volleyball player, that’s for sure . . .” 

Yes No Maybe So

Jamie’s summer is not turning out like he hoped it would. After his fear of public speaking cost him a spot in a highly coveted internship, he settles for volunteering on a campaign for a Georgia State Senate candidate. It’s certainly not the glamorous summer he envisioned, but he’s wanted to be involved in politics and effect change for as long as he could remember, so he’ll take what he can get. Plus, it gives him breaks from bat mitzvah planning with his younger sister, Sophie. 

Maya’s summer doesn’t look promising, either. Between her parents potentially divorcing and her best friend, Sara, focused on work and getting ready to move away to college, it feels like her life is completely falling apart. Nothing feels right anymore, and she wonders if it ever will again. 

But when Jamie and Maya’s moms reconnect, they suggest that Jamie and Maya go door to door trying to get votes for the campaign Jamie is volunteering for. At first, neither is thrilled about the idea– Jamie is a nervous wreck around strangers, and Maya has enough on her plate already. But the more time they spend knocking on doors and promoting their candidate, the more they realize just how much is at stake in this election. And the more time they spend together, the more they realize that they don’t completely hate each other’s company. Are they growing closer as friends, or something more? 

Yes No Maybe So is a fast-paced rom-com that readers will tear through. Because the chapters alternate between Jamie’s and Maya’s perspectives, both characters are well-developed. Seeing the story unfold through both of their eyes adds lots of layers and nuance. Both characters have regrets and make mistakes, but learn from them and apologize; their ability to communicate and willingness to share their feelings is refreshing. The buildup to their eventual romance is satisfying too. Since they start out as friends, their relationship is clearly based on mutual respect and genuine regard for one another.  

This book also deals with complex issues such as antisemitism and Islamophobia, and how those manifests in politics. While these issues are not sugarcoated and are given the gravity that they deserve, there is still a healthy balance between the political and the romantic subplots. The two subplots complement each other well because neither one dominates the other. Yes No Maybe So’s main message is one of love and acceptance. Although we all have differences, it is important to respect people’s choices for how they want to live their lives, provided they are not hurting those around them. 

Overall, Yes No Maybe So is a fun and engaging read, perfect for teenagers who are looking for an optimistic (but not cheesy) view on the world we live in. It is a heartwarming romance full of twists and turns, while still sending a vital message about the importance of speaking out against injustice. Readers will fall in love with Jamie and Maya, and root for them as they try to navigate their friendship, as well as the ever-changing world around them. 

Sexual Content  

  • When thinking about how he often fumbles when giving a speech in public, Jamie nervously envisions himself giving a campaign speech and makes a sexual joke. He says, “Seriously, I wouldn’t just lose my election. I would call it an erection. And then I’d lose.” 
  • Jamie’s eighth-grade sister, Sophie, discusses games that she and her friends are planning to play at a no-adults birthday party. “We’re doing Spin the Bottle, we’re doing Seven Minutes in Heaven, we’re doing Suck and Blow. . . With a playing card.” 
  • Maya’s favorite season of The Office is “season two. All that Jim and Pam sexual tension.” 
  • Maya goes to Jamie’s house. His friends leave, joking that Jamie and Maya probably want “alone time.” Jamie and Maya laugh it off, but Jamie thinks, “Alone time. With Maya. In my house, which contains my room, which contains my–okay, I’m not going to think about beds. That would be absurd. No point in thinking about beds or alone or Maya or alone with Maya in beds or–” 
  • Jamie and Maya watch an episode of The Office together. During a particularly romantic scene, Maya puts her head on Jamie’s shoulder, and Jamie gets an erection. “Her head’s still on my shoulder, even though I’m the king of awkward, with my arm just hanging down stiffly. God. Speaking of stiff– I adjust the blankets, blushing furiously. Think of Asa Newton. Think of Ian Holden, Jennifer Dickers. Fifi. Fifi’s humanoid hands—Crisis averted.” 
  • Jamie and Maya kiss for the first time in Target. Then they move into a dressing room for privacy. Maya “sinks onto the bench, and I follow—kissing her forehead, her cheeks, her lips. But then she hugs me, shifting backward, until I’m almost on top of her. I rest my hand behind her head before it hits the bench. Our legs tangle together, sneakered feet dangling off the edge. This time, when we kiss, it’s more urgent. Her hands fall to the back of my neck, gently threading my hair. My fingers trail down her bare arms, and she smiles against my lips.” 

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • “Fuck” and “fucking” are sometimes used as an intensifier. 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • Jamie is Jewish and Maya is Muslim. They bring up their faiths, and how it affects their lives, many times throughout the story. For example, this story takes place during Ramadan, so the fact that Maya is fasting often comes up. She says, “‘I don’t do coffee on Ramadan. . .  I don’t even do water. I eat suhoor way before the sun is up and then I eat after the sun sets. That’s it.” 

Always Isn’t Forever

J.C. Cervantes’ novel follows Ruby and her long-time boyfriend, Hart. When Hart suddenly passes away in a drowning accident, Ruby struggles to figure out her new plans for the future—a future without the love of her life. Unbeknownst to his friends and family, Hart experiences a miracle, as his soul comes back to life in the body of someone else. Unfortunately for Hart, his new body is that of Jameson Romanelli, a football player at his school that Ruby describes as “arrogant, selfish, [and] obnoxious.” Because Jameson is in a coma after a car crash, an angel named Lourdes is able to put Hart’s soul into Jameson’s body. Lourdes explains to Hart that Jameson’s soul is about to pass on, and this is what allows her to put Hart’s soul into his body.  

Hart must try to reckon with his new body and he can’t tell anyone who he really is. This allows him to grow and experience new things. For instance, Ruby describes Hart as a bit of a “worrywart. . . when we were kids, he wouldn’t climb the monkey bars or anything more than four feet off the ground, he started a petition for seat belts on the school bus.” In addition, Hart is “a stickler for the rules.” But that changes when Hart has to learn to convincingly do things that Jameson would normally do, in order to not clue anyone in about his divine intervention. For instance, Hart needs to learn a lot about football, as Jameson is a top athlete at their school and he is under a great deal of pressure from his father. Being in Jameson’s body allows Hart to understand that people face pressures we have no way of knowing about from surface-level encounters. Hart explains, “I’ve only lived in Jameson’s body a day and I already feel like shit. Imagine how bad he felt living his whole life under this kind of pressure.” 

Because Hart (referred to as Hart/Jameson later in the book), now in Jameson’s body, is not able to tell Ruby what happened, Ruby feels completely confused as to why Jameson is suddenly reaching out to her and being nice. Eventually, as Ruby spends more time with this “new” Jameson, she starts to feel that “I couldn’t stand [Jameson] and then he woke up from a coma and I felt this weird connection and then I hung out with [Jameson] and to be honest he wasn’t that bad; he was nice.” Ruby feels conflicted about enjoying her time with Jameson, but says, “I felt like . . . like we’re connected by something bigger.”  

Always Isn’t Forever switches points of view at the start of each chapter, which will help readers relate to each of the characters individually. Though Hart initially judges Jameson, Hart grows as a character because he can feel Jameson’s emotions. For example, Hart discovers that Jameson had a serious girlfriend who “had a rock-climbing accident and died.” Hart is able to feel Jameson’s grief: “I feel an ache deep between my ribs that shoots into my heart.” Hart recognizes that this grief is what drove Jameson to alcohol. Hart learns about how the pain of grief can affect people who may seem hardened on the outside, like Jameson.  

Even though the book’s characters are extremely empathetic, the situation regarding what happens to Jameson’s soul when Hart’s soul is put into his body is not explained in detail. This causes confusion especially because Jameson’s memories begin taking over Hart. For instance, Hart lost some of his memories. He explains, “I have no idea how to sail this boat that evidently, I bought and fixed up and don’t remember a damn thing about.” However, Hart regains all his memories at the end, and though this leaves a happy ending for Ruby and Hart, the reader might be confused as to why the angel did not just give Hart all of his memories to begin with.  

Overall, the theme of processing grief is extremely pertinent in Always Isn’t Forever. Readers will empathize greatly with Ruby as she explains how she feels after Hart’s death: “At first, I let [grief] have at me. I knew the grief was eventually going to swallow me up. And I wanted it to.” Later in the novel, Ruby recognizes that her grief has caused her to give up things she used to enjoy. She reflects that she’s “given up what I love: the water, my dreams to travel—even myself. I guess a part of me is terrified that if I let myself want again, it’ll just be one more thing ripped away. But how is a life without desire worth living?” Eventually, Ruby is able to open up to Jameson and share her feelings, which allows her to refocus on her dreams of travel and college that she had put aside in the depths of her grief.  

Sexual Content  

  • Hart and Ruby share a quick romantic moment. Hart says, “[Ruby] gives me a kiss, meant to be a peck, but I’m greedy, and in a nanosecond the kiss is deeper, our bodies pressed so close I think we could melt into this mattress.” But the kiss ends abruptly, with Hart saying, “Sometimes I wish we had never agreed to wait to have sex until college.”  
  • To test her theory that “a part of Hart is inside Jameson,” Ruby approaches Jameson and kisses him. Hart/Jameson describes, “[Ruby] pulls me closer, opens my mouth with her own. Every nerve in my body is on fire. I let go. I deepen the kiss, feel its heat, its desire, and all the questions it’s asking . . . our erratic breathing matches the rhythm of the kiss now, frantic, out of control. As if this is the last kiss we’ll ever have. I want more of [Ruby]. All of her.” 
  • Ruby and Hart/Jameson spend a romantic evening together. Ruby says, “Each kiss more urgent than the second before, the longing growing, growing, growing.” 
  • Ruby asks Hart/Jameson if he wants to be intimate with her. Ruby explains, “We’d sworn we’d wait until college. But now. . . if this is my only chance. It was always going to be Hart. It was, is, and forever will be—Hart.” But they stop before they go any further than kissing because Hart/Jameson says, “No, not like this.” 

Violence  

  • When a little boy accidentally falls overboard during a storm, Hart goes out into the dangerous waters to rescue him. Even though the boy is saved, as Hart attempts to get to the boat’s ladder, “My fingers trace its edges just as a colossal swell sucks me under. The waters are dark . . . violent. I fight my way to the top, but it’s not there. I have no idea which way is up.”  
  • Hart’s drowning is described over a page, including Hart’s feelings about dying: “They say our life passes before our eyes right before we die, but it isn’t true. I think two things in that moment: I should have spent that extra minute with my dad. I should have chosen to spend tonight with Ruby. The water closes in . . . Water rushes into my nose and mouth, floods my lungs.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • It is briefly mentioned that Jameson’s car accident was caused because he was driving under the influence. Later, Hart explains that Jameson’s long-time girlfriend passed away. “That’s why [Jameson] started drinking.” 

Language  

  • Ruby refers to Jameson as a “two-faced son of a bitch”  because he cheated off her schoolwork and toilet-papered her house.
  • Occasionally, characters use words like asshole, shit, and damn.  
  • Rarely, characters use the word fuck.  
  • When frustrated, Ruby exclaims, “I swear on the baby Jesus that I am not a violent person.”  
  • Gabi, Ruby’s sister, exclaims, “Holy Santos,” when she discovers “a part of Hart is somehow inside of Jameson.” 

Supernatural 

  • Lourdes, an angel, explains to Hart that he “can go back to a human life; you can live out your days until your actual scheduled time to die . . . All we have to do is find a body that is on the verge of death.” 
  • As Hart’s soul enters Jameson’s body, Hart explains, “I stare out of Jameson’s eyes. The world looks different . . . I thought [Jameson] might tell me to get the hell out of his body. But no. You want to know what he said? What his last words were before he checked out for good? ‘Don’t waste it, man.’” 
  • Gabi, Ruby’s sister, tells Ruby that she has a theory about Jameson. Gabi says, “What if . . . [Jameson] has a message from the other side, from Hart . . . because he was so close to death?” 
  • Initially, when Lourdes uses her angel powers to put Hart’s soul into Jameson’s body, she explains that Hart will not be able to tell anyone exactly what happened to his soul. Lourdes explains that in order for Hart to be able to explain the truth of what happened to his soul to Ruby, Lourdes will “use the only power I have that is great enough . . . I will give up a single wing.” Lourdes’ sacrifice allows Hart to be able to explain what happened to his soul, so that Ruby can understand what happened to his soul after he drowned.  
  • Lourdes tells Hart, “When the death angel came for me . . . I asked to use my last wing to give you back your memories.”

Spiritual Content  

  • Lourdes tells Hart that she used her abilities as an angel on him. “You’re not in heaven, and you’re not exactly dead . . . I saw you struggling and I knew [drowning] was going to be painful, so I pulled your soul out early to save you from all of that.”  
  • Ruby’s sister, Gabi, does a card reading for Ruby. The cards that have been passed down through generations in their family. Gabi says the cards are “a special gift from the ancestors.” Gabi “takes the World card in her hands, closes her eyes, and meditates for as long as necessary until she gets that ‘message’ from our ancestors.” Gabi explains that she “heard a single whisper; it said, ‘message?’” 

Flirting with Fate

Ava Granados’s family has a magical secret. Ava explains, “All the women in the Granados family had this keen, odd, otherworldly ability to pass along blessings to their female descendants. But here was the catch: they could only do so from their death beds.” When her grandmother is dying, Ava and all her sisters rush to their grandmother’s bedside. Unfortunately, due to a flash flood, Ava gets into a car accident and is too late to receive her Nana’s blessing. While her sisters receive their blessings, including an extremely detailed memory and the ability to persuade others, Ava is devastated to not have received her grandmother’s parting gift.  

When Ava attends the celebration of Nana’s life, she looks up and suddenly sees her recently deceased grandmother looking at her. Ava describes, “A figure emerged from the orchard a mere thirty feet away. Wide-eyed, dimple-cheeked, perfect auburn coif. Nana?” When Nana lay dying, she accidentally gave Ava’s blessing to someone else, but because she is now a ghost, she has no memory of what happened. Nana asks Ava to help her restore the blessing to its proper recipient or Nana “will remain a ghost . . . until this is made right.”  

Ava realizes that Nana’s blessing must have accidentally landed on the boy whose car she crashed into. For guarded Ava, befriending some random boy is the last thing she wants to do. Desperate to help Nana reach peace, Ava must find a way to connect with this mysterious boy, Rion, in order to be able to recapture her Nana’s blessing. Nana encourages Ava to open up to Rion and to look within herself. Nana says, “You can always recognize the love when it belongs to you.” Over the course of the novel, Ava learns to trust in herself and her feelings for Rion.  

Many readers will be able to relate to Ava because she is afraid of being hurt or rejected. Ava begins to spend more time with Rion, all the while trying to figure out how best to get her Nana’s blessing back. Nana encourages Ava to look within herself. Nana says, “You can always recognize the love when it belongs to you.”  

Ava and Rion end up connecting over the loss of a parent. Rion’s parents died in a car accident while Ava’s mom left. However, they both blame themselves for their parents’ absence.  Because Rion is able to share his emotions, Ava is able to truly open up about her feelings. Ava explains, “I used to blame myself for my mom leaving too. She left when I was seven, and I used to think if I had been better, nicer, more, then she would have stayed.” Ava is able to comfort Rion by sharing what she has learned. She tells Rion, “We can’t blame ourselves for things we had no control over.” Ava and Rion’s relationship is extremely impactful as it allows them both to share feelings about things that they previously kept inside.  

Overall, Ava’s journey to opening up her heart and embracing things she never thought possible is extremely compelling. Similar to Cervantes’ other work, Enchanted Hacienda, Cervantes continues exploring the theme of magic being inherited through female descendants. Though there is a romantic relationship brewing between Ava and Rion, there is also a major focus on the importance of family, as Ava’s relationship with her Nana is central. Nana encourages Ava to open her heart, saying, “I gave you the gift of an open heart . . . you keep people at arm’s length; you don’t trust. I don’t want you to go through life closed off from love.” This wonderful novel leaves readers with an important message: trust yourself and open your heart to possibilities.  

Sexual Content  

  • Ava’s sister, Carmen, sees a cute guy at a party. Carmen tells Ava, “Look, there are a lot of boys to kiss in this world.”  
  • Ava explains her negative history with relationships. “Relationships always ended badly, with a goodbye and a broken, unmendable heart . . . at least for someone. But last year [Ava] did kiss Bryce Wellington on the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland just to get it over with . . . Sadly, it felt unimpressive.” 
  • Ava’s sisters are watching The Notebook in the living room, and Ava remarks, “Clothes were flying off [the characters] and the last thing Ava wanted to do was stand there with her grandmother’s ghost and a fifteenth-century saint while a monster sex scene played out ten feet away.” 
  • Ava believes she and Rion are having a romantic moment, when suddenly, she realizes she is actually kissing his twin brother, Achilles. Ava says, “His lips brushed against hers. She felt a jolt, an alarm that screamed wrong, wrong, wrong.” After realizing she is actually kissing Rion’s brother, Ava “jerked free, horrified, as she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand.” 
  • After pushing Rion out of the way of a falling tree, they kiss. “She felt her body yielding, falling deeper into Rion. And then their mouths met. And Ava was no longer falling. She was dissolving. The forest and the sky fell silent. The world evaporated. There was only this moment.” 
  • Ava kisses Rion at a party. Ava “reached up, bringing his lips to hers. Allowing herself to be swept away in his trust, his warmth, his love.” 

Violence  

  • When Achilles tricks Ava into kissing him, Rion finds out and tackles Achilles. “The brothers rolled across the dirt, all grunts and curses and years of unspent anger.” They finally stop when Ava yells at them. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None 

Language  

  • Characters occasionally use moderate language like shit, damn, and ass.  
  • When Nana suddenly appears as a ghost, Ava exclaims, “Jesus Christ!” 
  • Nana, in her ghost form, splashes water at Ava’s sisters who exclaims, “Holy Mary, Mother of God!” 

Supernatural 

  • Ava explains an example of a blessing in her family. “Ava’s great-grandmother had graced Nana with an angel’s voice. Before that, Nana couldn’t even sing off-key . . . After the death-bed blessing? It was like listening to a Mexican Pavarotti [Opera star] when [Nana] opened her mouth to sing.” 
  • Ava’s sister, Viv, is given the blessing of persuasion by her grandmother. Viv explains, “It’s not like I can go around making people do anything I want them to. Nana said I would just be able to help others see my side of things.”  
  • Ava’s other sister, Carmen, received the blessing of memory from Nana. Carmen says, “I got the blessing of memory, which I guess means that I can recall details, read or hear or see something once and remember it verbatim . . . it’s weird—like having a camera in my head.” 
  • Ava’s Nana appears to her one last time at the end of the book. Ava explains, “And then, as if by magic, the mist parted, just enough for Ava to see Nana . . . [Nana] was young, beautiful, beaming with joy.”  

Spiritual Content  

  • As Ava drives to get to her grandmother’s bedside, Ava prays that she will make it there in time to say goodbye. Ava says, “Listen, God . . . If you get me home with enough time, I’ll go to confession for. . . I’ll go for a whole week.” 
  • Nana is guided in her ghost form by Saint Medardus. Medardus introduces himself as, “I am the patron saint of weather, vineyards, brewers, captives, prisoners, and teeth . . . I hail from the fifteenth century and am [Nana’s] guide, here to help her.” 
  • Ava attends confession, as she promised to do on the night of her Nana’s passing. Ava is nervous about it and says, “What if I see someone I know? What if the priest laughs at me? What if I get it all wrong?” But she ultimately speaks to the priest and after she confesses, the priest says, “Your penance is to say six Our Fathers and three Hail Marys.” 

These Violent Delights

The year is 1926. Shanghai is a city torn apart by violence and bloodshed. Two rival gangs–the Chinese Scarlet Gang and the Russian White Flowers–have long been engaged in a blood feud that leads to perpetual chaos in the streets. Nobody knows exactly how this feud started, but neither side shows signs of stopping, preferring instead to fan the flames by continuing to match action for action. 

Not only that, but new, much more obscure powers are also slowly seeping in, threatening to divide Shanghai even further. Growing numbers of Europeans are arriving, attempting to reform the ways of the city in the name of “progress.” There’s also a monster that now lives in the Huangpu River, identified only by its massive form and glittering eyes. In addition, a madness is sweeping through the city like a contagion, possessing ordinary civilians and causing them to suddenly rip their own throats out. 

Caught in all this chaos are Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov. Juliette has just returned from her four years abroad in America. Now, she must assume her rightful place as the heir to the Scarlet Gang. Roma, on the other hand, has been performing his duties as heir to the White Flowers. Despite the feud between their families, and their own complicated history, Roma and Juliette come to realize that everything plaguing Shanghai is interconnected. They must combine powers–secretly, of course–to save their city. After all, they had been lovers once, before betrayal on both sides sent Juliette away. But is their former relationship enough of a buffer between their families’ complicated history to allow them to work together? As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule. 

These Violent Delights is a stunning fantasy retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This novel takes a familiar story in wildly unfamiliar directions, transposing it onto a landscape that is closer to our modern world while retaining a historical element. This is not the Shakespeare you read in English class – the fantastical elements and action-packed scenes are sure to hook readers from the start. The characters themselves are also compelling because the point of view shifts between characters, allowing readers to get to know both Roma and Juliette and sympathize with them despite their cutthroat actions.  

Because this story has many moving parts to it, with several subplots and historical commentary woven throughout, the pacing of the plot feels off at times – too slow in some parts and not nearly slow enough in others. The prose, too, often oscillates between lush and imaginative, and clunky and awkward. However, the wide array of characters in this book greatly redeems its lacking qualities, and readers will root for Roma and Juliette in their quest to fix both the problems in their city and in their relationship. 

Overall, These Violent Delights is a fantastic debut novel, perfect for teenagers who want a fresh spin on a classic tale. It ends in a dramatic cliffhanger, setting the scene perfectly for its sequel, Our Violent Ends. 

Sexual Content  

  • Several passing references to brothels are made. For example, Juliette comments that, “In Shanghai, it was easier to count the establishments that didn’t double as brothels than the ones that did.”  
  • Roma and Juliette accidentally walk in on a couple who are implied to be having sex. “Juliette opened the first door she came upon. Two distinct yelps of surprise sounded as light seeped into the tiny room. Juliette squinted and saw a man with his pants down. ‘Get out,’ she demanded. ‘This is my room,’ the woman on the bed protested.”  
  • Roma and Juliette kiss in a private room. “Juliette hooked her legs around his and twisted her hips until Roma was the one flat on his back and she loomed over him, kneeling on the sheets . . . his hand was moving higher and higher, brushing her calf, her knee, her thigh. Juliette’s palm sank lower, until it was gripping the space underneath the smooth collar of his white shirt . . . They both gave in at once. Roma’s kiss was just as she remembered. It filled her with so much adrenaline and exuberance that she could burst. It made her feel too ethereal for her own body, as if she could tear out of her own skin.”  

Violence  

  • A group of Scarlets and White Flowers get ready to fight. “In a blink: guns upon guns. Each arm raised and steady and trigger-happy, ready to pull.” The police stop them before any further violence ensues. 
  • Juliette watches a man possessed by the madness kill himself. Juliette “saw the man thrashing on the ground, his own fingers clawing at his thick neck. . . most of his nails were already buried deep into muscle. The man was digging with an animal-like intensity–as if there was something there, something no one else could see crawling under his skin. Deeper, deeper, deeper, until his fingers were wholly buried and he was pulling free tendons and veins and arteries. In the next second, the club had fallen silent completely. Nothing was audible save the labored breathing of the short and stout man who had collapsed on the floor, his throat torn into pieces and his hands dripping with blood.” Many similar scenes occur throughout the novel. 
  • Juliette verbally provokes her cousin, Tyler, who physically attacks her. “Quick as a flash, Tyler slammed her into the wall. He kept one hand scrunched against her left sleeve and the rest of his arm splayed against her clavicle, pushing just enough to make a threat.” Juliette retaliates in self-defense. “Her right hand jerked up–fist clenched, wrist hard, knuckles braced – and made centered, perfect contact with her cousin’s cheek . . . Then Tyler stumbled, letting go of Juliette and whipping his head to look at her, hatred stamped into the hollows of his eyes. A red slash buried the line of his cheekbone, the result of Juliette’s glittering ring scraping through skin.”  
  • Juliette remembers an explosion caused by the White Flowers that killed many of her family members. “Her ears were screeching – first with the remnants of that awful, loud sound, then with the shouting, the panic, the cries wafting over from the back, where the servants’ house was. When she hurried over, she saw rubble. She saw a leg. A pool of blood. Someone had been standing right at the threshold of the front door when the ceiling caved in.” 
  • Juliette has a cutthroat reputation. “[The Scarlets] were killers and extortionists and raging forces of violence, but as the rumors went, Juliette Cai was the girl who had strangled and killed her American lover with a string of pearls. Juliette Cai was the heiress who, on her second day back in Shanghai, had stepped into a brawl between four White Flowers and two Scarlets and killed all four White Flowers with only three bullets. Only one of those rumors was true.”  
  • Roma tries to accost Juliette with a gun to her forehead, and Juliette defends herself. “Before Roma could so much as blink, her right hand came down hard on his right wrist, twisting his gun-wielding hand outward until his fingers were unnaturally bent. She slapped down at the gun with her left hand. The weapon skittered to the ground. Her jaw gritted to brace for impact, Juliette twisted her foot out from behind Roma’s and jerked it against his ankles–until he was falling backward and she followed, one hand locked on his neck and the other reaching into her dress pocket to retrieve a needle-thin knife.” Roma surrenders, stopping the fight. 
  • To get information, Juliette physically attacks someone with a garrote. “Madame squawked when Juliette pulled the garrote wire tight, her fingers flying up to scrabble at the pressure digging into her skin. By then the wire was already wrapped around her neck, the micro-blades piercing in.” Madame survives this, left with a bleeding cut on her throat. 
  • Roma participates in a sparring match that starts out as a game, but takes a turn when he realizes that his opponent, Dimitri, has a blade. “Dimitri kicked out and Roma took the hit. A fist flashed in his periphery, and in his haste to get away, Roma dodged too hard, overjudging his balance and stumbling. Dimitri struck again. A flash of the blade: a slit opened on Roma’s jaw.” The match ends when Roma is declared the winner after he “[reaches] out and [grabs] a fistful of Dimitri’s shoulder length black hair…[slams] a knee right into his nose, [takes] his arm and twists backwards until Roma [has] a grip on his neck and a foot stomping down on the back of his knees.”  
  • A British soldier draws his gun on Roma and Juliette, and Roma shoots him in self-defense. “A bang sounded from the space between them. Juliette immediately whirled around to catch the British tail collapsing where he stood, a bright-red spot blooming on his chest.”  
  • Marshall, Roma’s friend, hits Juliette, and she attacks him back. “From his seat, Roma bolted up and shouted, ‘Mars!’ but Juliette was already pushing Marshall back, her throbbing jaw giving way to anger and her anger intensifying the pulsating pain making its way to her lip.” The match ends abruptly when Marshall starts laughing, and Juliette helps him to his feet; this altercation ends as quickly as it began, and Marshall and Juliette work together for the remainder of this scene. Neither is seriously injured.  
  • Juliette shoots the man she and Roma believe to be the cause of the madness, Zhang Gutai. “Juliette fired. Zhang Gutai looked down, looked at the blotch of red blooming on his white shirt.” Zhang Gutai dies as a result of this wound. 
  • Juliette attempts to shoot the monster in the Huangpu River. “Juliette aimed her gun and fired – again and again and again in hopes that it could kill the monster, or, at the very least, slow it down – but the bullets bounced off its back like she had shot at steel.” 
  • Paul, a British man, tries to drown Juliette when she discovers a secret. Paul “grabbed a fistful of her hair and stuck her head in the water . . . Juliette bucked and kicked, harder and harder with no avail.” She gets away by stabbing a needle into his wrist.  
  • Juliette kills the river monster’s human host, Qi Ren. “Juliette raised the pistol. Her hands were shaking. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. Once again, she pulled the trigger. The bullet struck his heart. The bullet was as loud as the bang at the end of the world. But Qi Ren’s sigh was soft. His hand came up to his chest gingerly, as if the bullet were nothing but a heartfelt compliment. Rivulets of red ran down his fingers and onto the wharf, tinting his surroundings a deep color.” 
  • Juliette shoots Marshall and his “head lolled back. He was motionless. Motionless.” It is later revealed that Juliette and Marshall staged this “murder” and Marshall is alive.   

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Several references to opium are made: for example, the narrator describes fighting between the Scarlet Gang and the White flowers as “more commonplace in heady Shanghai than the smoke of opium wafting from a thick pipe.”  
  • One key plot point is that the British supply lernicrom, a fictional opiate, to various groups. 
  • Benedikt, Roma’s cousin, drinks vodka at a bar. “Roma lifted the cup in front of Benedikt and took a cautionary sniff. His cousin snatched it from his hands. ‘Don’t drink that,’ Benedikt warned.” 
  • Roma and Juliette play a drinking game with someone they want to get information from: one shot in exchange for one question. Roma gets drunk enough to fall down; Juliette gets “woozy enough to see in doubles but not enough to lose balance.” 

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

The Enchanted Hacienda

Harlow Estrada is an editor who has recently been through a breakup and lost her dream job, as she struggles to decide what her next path in life should be. Harlow’s mother invites her to come to the family farm, referred to as the Estrada Hacienda, and spend time reconnecting with her family and their land.  

Harlow feels out of place, even among her family, as she is the only female member of her family without magical abilities. She explains, “the magic happened to skip me entirely. Unlike my two sisters and pair of primas [cousins] and every other ancestress before me.” Harlow’s mother and aunt decide to leave on a sudden vacation. They leave Harlow to take care of the family’s land, as well as their magical plants. Harlow is determined to use this time to learn more about her family’s legacy and about how she fits into it.  

Harlow is an empathetic character that many readers will be able to relate to, as she struggles to figure out her place in the world, as well as within her family. Harlow emphasizes, “I mean, if I can’t have the Estrada family magic, I still want to feel like there’s significance to my work, my life . . . And now I’m worried I am and always will be unremarkable.” During her return to her family’s farm, Harlow realizes that it is a great opportunity to write something of her own, and she feels deep down that she should write “something magical.” She begins working on a novel inspired by the magic she experiences upon her return to her family’s land. 

Though she’s just experienced a terrible breakup, Harlow happens to run into a mysterious man named Ben, who she later learns is the grandson of Beverly—her late grandmother’s best friend. Tied together by their families and the magic of Harlow’s family farm, Harlow and Ben’s initial spark only grows stronger as they pursue a relationship together. However, their feelings for one another become complicated by Harlow’s important self-discovery, as she realizes she does in fact have magical abilities like the rest of her family. Harlow notices a glimmer in Ben’s eyes when they are kissing and realizes, “Ben Brandt has been magically bonded to me.” 

Desperate to understand how Ben was bonded to her, Harlow returns home to ask her mother for help. Harlow is shocked when her mother tells her, “[Your aunt] and I believe that you are an enchantress,” as Harlow has “lived [her] life believing [she has] no magic.” This exciting revelation leaves Harlow with a difficult decision to make, as she realizes, “I have to break the bond,” and risk magically destroying all of the feelings she and Ben have for one another in the process. Readers will be on the edge of their seats as they wonder what will happen between Harlow and Ben.  

The Enchanted Hacienda is written for adults, many teens will be drawn to it since J.C. Cervantes has written so many young adult novels. Readers who enjoy fantasy, magic, and an immersive setting will love this book, as it heavily focuses on the power of nature and the beauty of Mexico.  

Harlow’s growth throughout the novel provides a reassuring message that everyone has something that makes them special. Through writing her novel, Harlow realizes that her main character is reflective of her own desire to “find her way, to learn to speak the language of the blooms, to unearth the family secret.” Harlow’s writing mirrors her own journey of learning more about herself and her family. Harlow’s completion of her novel and the support of her family emphasizes a major theme in the novel: the strength in family. Harlow summarizes the theme of family when she calls this love, “The kind of love that believes in you, challenges you, walks through fire for you, makes a home for you—the kind of love that transforms you.” 

Sexual Content  

  • When Harlow visits his family’s home in Quebec, Harlow and Ben kiss for the first time. Harlow says, “Drowning in his touch, I drink him in while he kisses me hungrily, urgently like he might never kiss me again.” This passionate kissing scene lasts for about a page.  
  • While waiting out a rainstorm inside an old barn, Ben and Harlow kiss passionately, and it begins to go further. Harlow says, “And then I feel that tug again. Powerful. Alluring. A kinetic spark that ignites every cell in my body . . . Ben’s fingers trace my bare stomach. They hover near my bra, then slip the seam.” Before they go any further, they are interrupted when Ben gets a distressing phone call. 
  • Harlow and Ben spend an intimate afternoon together beside the river.  “I’m [Harlow] still sinking when my hand unhooks the front clasp of my bra. I want to feel his heat against my bare skin.” This scene lasts about two pages, but just before they go further Harlow stops Ben, noticing a magical, “uncommon spark of light” that unnerves her.  
  • Harlow and Ben begin to passionately kiss. Harlow says, “My body is on auto-drive, operating on sheer emotion when I tilt my head back and kiss him. An urgent fiery kiss that is all-consuming.” This scene continues for three pages before Harlow stops Ben, feeling guilty about the bonding magic.  
  • Harlow and Ben are intimate. “We finally break apart near the table, and then [Ben’s] reaching behind me and untying my apron, never taking his gaze from mine as it falls to the floor. I stand perfectly still, savoring the pleasure of his touch.” This scene lasts four pages.  

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Harlow explains that her ex-boyfriend, Chad, is excellent at telling when there is a problem. Harlow explains, “He smells problems like a police dog sniffs out cocaine.” 
  • Harlow is about to attend a party to support Chad, even though she’s just been unexpectedly fired from her dream job. Harlow thinks, “You’re going to pull your shit together . . . pour a glass of merlot, put on a dress, and have the time of your goddamn life.” 
  • After Harlow’s break up, her friend “pulls bottles from her oversize bag and begins to mix a concoction of gin, sugar, champagne, and some red syrupy stuff.” 
  • Harlow enjoys the solitude of the empty hacienda, explaining, “I make a margarita with that aged añejo tequila my mom saves for special occasions before I find a good book in the study.” 
  • While attending a vow renewal of family friends, Harlow sees Ben who “is holding out a champagne flute to me.” 
  • Before Harlow attempts to remove the bonding magic between her and Ben, she takes “a shot of añejo” with her aunt. Harlow says, “’To courage,” and then she “tip[s] the amber liquid back.” 

Language  

  • Harlow and her friend, Laini, often use profanity such as shit, ass, and damn.  
  • Occasionally, Harlow and other main characters use “fuck.” For example, When Chad tells Harlow to wear something “appropriate.” Harlow’s friend says, “I’ll let you go. But only in a dress that screams, ‘Fuck the patriarchy.’” 

Supernatural 

  • Harlow describes her family’s land and how they create magic via plants. “The real family power, though, is in how they combine blooms, or concoct elixirs, using petals, leaves, and stems to create prosperity, love, health, hope, protection, or even to cause separation, doubt, fear, and misery. It’s all so complicated and beautiful and alchemical.” 
  • To help Harlow sleep, her mother uses “dream magic.” Harlow explains, “Then, as I fall back on my pillow and close my weary eyes, I remember that my mother sometimes uses holly for the power of dream magic.” 
  • Harlow discusses how her family is able to use their magic discreetly, explaining, “To the general passerby, it looks like a lovely vintage florist. But to the locals and a select few, this is the spot where you place and pick up your order of magic. After you sign the non-disclosure agreement—that is a modern addition. We operate using a whisper network, whispers carried on the wind of our town, El Viento, named for the goddess who is responsible for its creation.” 
  • To choose which Estrada family member will watch the farm and take care of the magical gardens while Harlow’s mom and aunt are out of the country, Harlow’s mother uses a “white iris petal, known for its faith and virtue.” Harlow’s mom explains, “You will each sleep with this under your pillow tonight. Whoever’s petal turns blue will act as the guardian.” Harlow’s petal turns blue. 
  • Harlow delivers a magical bouquet filled with memory magic that will allow her late grandmother’s friend, Beverly, to magically bond with her husband, William. Harlow explains that the bouquet is infused with memory magic, to help William recapture his memories of his life with Beverly, as he struggles with dementia. Harlow says, “Beverly and William Brandt were bonded at precisely 7:58 p.m. The moon was high, their hands connected, each breathing in the fragrance of the magic as he accepted the bouquet—just as instructed. I knew the moment it happened. [William’s] eyes sparked with flickers of gold, a sure sign that the bonding was complete.” 
  • The bonding bouquet that Harlow delivers to Beverly and William begins to work. Harlow explains, “[William’s] arms around [Beverly] with a familiarity that made me soar with joy and relief and even wonder,” showing that the memory magic has worked.  
  • When Harlow’s mom tells Harlow that she does have magic, Harlow tries magically bringing a flower back to life.  Harlow does “as [mom] says, and in a few seconds, I feel the vibration of life in the hydrangea; slowly I connect a thread of magic to it. The flower pulses as I open my eyes and watch it unfold into a healthy bloom.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • Harlow explains the story of how their family gained magical abilities. “The Aztec goddess Mayahuel whispered the given names of each child in the family,” and this instilled their family with power that passed down through the generations.  
  • Harlow says, “A lot of kids learn fairy tales, or stories from the Bible, but in my family? The very first tale you learn and commit to heart is the tale of a young and very beautiful goddess named Mayahuel whose jealous grandmother hid her in the farthest corner of the universe . . . wanting to conceal the goddess’s beauty and power.” 
  • Harlow’s family’s magic began with her great-great-grandmother; “Legend has it that the soil called to my great-great-grandmother when she came through this land on her way to somewhere else. . . the Aztec goddess of agave, Mayahuel, appeared to her and told her that if my great-great-grandmother used the land according to her instructions, the goddess would grant our family’s female descendants an unimaginable magic.” 
  • Harlow reflects on her childhood imagination about her family’s gardens. “I used to imagine the most fantastical night creatures swooping in to pollinate the flowers, to offer their gifts of magic to Mayahuel.” 

The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You

Trixie and Ben have been sworn enemies since elementary school when Ben “accidentally” pushed Trixie off the monkey bars. Now in their senior year at Messina Academy for the Gifted, their mutual dislike of each other is still strong, to the dismay of all their friends. Harper and Cornell, Trixie and Ben’s best friends are especially affected by this — they have liked each other since their freshman year but have both been too scared to make the first move, and Harper is convinced that Trixie and Ben’s war is one of the main factors keeping them apart. 

When Harper and Cornell finally confess their feelings, Trixie and Ben try to reach an uneasy truce, but old habits die hard. During their school’s annual harvest festival, a costume party, Trixie badly insults Ben to his face without realizing it’s him under the costume. It seems that their friend groups will never find peace, until Trixie overhears Harper and her other best friend, Meg, talking about how Ben is hopelessly in love with her! Trixie immediately regrets every insult she ever threw at him, and vows to make amends. Ben, in turn, also begins to act surprisingly civil (and almost flirty), and Trixie wonders how she ever could have hated him. 

However, nothing at Messina Academy — the Mess — is ever simple. Being a school for the gifted, academic pressure is high and plagiarism is not uncommon. But when four students are put on probation for academic dishonesty, everyone agrees that this is abnormal, even for the Mess. And when the sweet, timid, and exceptionally smart Harper is expelled for supposedly altering grades, Trixie is furious. Everyone begins taking sides, tearing the large friend group apart. Trixie begs Ben to help her get to the bottom of this, and he agrees. But will they be able to uncover this mystery? And if they do, will their new relationship be able to handle what they find? 

The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You is a brilliant modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. While Shakespeare fans will enjoy finding parallels between the original play and this book, knowledge of the play is by no means a prerequisite for loving this book — the play’s witty banter and central themes of love, deceit, and confusion transpose themselves remarkably well onto the landscape of a modern high school. And while this book retains the central integrity of its source material, nothing about it seems dusty or antiquated — it brings in pop culture references and newer issues that affect teens today (such as academic pressure). These modern references blend well with Much Ado About Nothing’s timeless core. 

Trixie is a smart, engaging, and witty narrator that readers will fall in love with from the start. While some of her actions and decisions are impulsive and she does not always follow the best course of action, each mistake she makes is a learning opportunity that she takes full advantage of. Her character development is clear throughout the story, and she is a great example of how although nobody is perfect, character growth and positive change are always possible. The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You is a compulsively readable adventure from start to finish, with multiple subplots and a loveable cast of characters. This engaging story is one that readers will want to return to in the future. 

Sexual Content  

  • Trixie and Ben kiss for the first time in a public park. “He lowered his mouth to mine, catching more of my bottom lip than the top. His nose brushed mine, a hinting nudge. My mouth opened to mirror his. There was a pattern to kissing. It was a chain of individual kisses of varying sizes strung together to make the verb. I’d never considered that before. But, for once, my body knew something that my brain didn’t.” 

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • None

Language  

  • None 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

The Holiday Switch

Lila Santos is ready for her last winter break of high school. The snow in her small town of Holly, New York is plentiful, the mood as cozy as a fuzzy Christmas sweater, and she’s earning extra cash working at the local inn. In other words, it is the setting for the greatest film of all time, Holiday by the Lake—while moonlighting as an anonymous book blogger.

But her perfect holiday plans crash to a halt when her boss’ frustratingly cute nephew, Teddy Rivera, becomes her coworker. Lila is Type A while Teddy is Type “Anything but Lila’s Way,” and the two of them can’t stop butting heads over tangled icicle lights and messy gift shop merch. But when they accidentally switch phones one afternoon, they realize they’ve both been hiding things from each other. Will their secrets—and an unexpected snowstorm—bring these rivals together?

While Lila’s conflict is understandable, her judgmental attitude makes it difficult to connect with her. Even though Lila is the protagonist, Teddy is more likable because he goes out of his way to show Lila that he cares for her. For instance, when Teddy finds Lila’s list of Christmas activities that she wants to do, he plans ways to get Lila to spend time with him by taking her to the different activities on her list. 

The two teens eventually connect because they are both keeping secrets from their parents. Both are afraid their parents won’t understand their passions. Readers will relate to Teddy’s and Lila’s desire to meet their parents’ expectations as well as live their own dreams. In the end, both teens discover their fears are unfounded. While Lila’s parents are upset about her dishonesty, they support her goals. Likewise, Teddy also learns that his family supports his dreams.

Readers who want to snuggle up with a book during the holiday will appreciate The Holiday Switch because of the town’s over-the-top Christmas activities. The winter puns also add to the romance’s cuteness. For example, while ice skating, one of the characters “slipped on the ice and said, ‘Holy night.’” The predictable plot has some sweet moments that will warm readers’ hearts and get them into the holiday spirit. However, if you’re looking for a holiday romance that will be more memorable, grab a hot cocoa and a copy of What Light by Jay Asher.

Sexual Content 

  • Lila babysits for a couple who “party like they’d been caged animals in a zoo. They come home sweaty and red-faced, and the PDA is over the top embarrassing.”
  • While outside, Teddy asks Lila if he can kiss her. She says yes and then, “I rise up to my tiptoes and shut my eyes. When his lips feather against mine, I’m infused with energy and thrill. My hands climb his back, his cup my face, and he kisses me as if I’m another puzzle he has to explore.” 
  • Before Teddy begins a climbing competition, he kisses Lila. “Teddy lifts my chin with a finger and presses a kiss to my lips.” 

Violence 

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language   

  • Oh my God and God are used as exclamations occasionally. 
  • Crap and pissed are used several times.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Today Tonight Tomorrow

Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been rivals since their freshman year of high school when Neil (very narrowly!) beat Rowan in their school’s essay contest. Rowan, an overachiever all her life, simply cannot let this slide. Now in their senior year, Rowan and Neil have earned a reputation as ruthless opponents– every grade, project, standardized test score, and even pull-up contest in gym class is compared and argued over. As soon as she realizes that Neil will not back down, Rowan has one goal for high school: to take him down. 

However, at the end of their senior year, Neil is named valedictorian. Rowan is salutatorian, still way ahead of the rest of her grade, but it’s not enough. She is devastated until she realizes that she has one last chance to come out on top: there is still Howl, a scavenger hunt that takes graduating seniors hunting for clues all over Seattle. This is a Westfield High tradition that Rowan has been looking forward to since her freshman year, but now she knows she absolutely has to win.  

After she learns that a group of seniors is teaming up to take them down, Rowan ends up forming an alliance with Neil – having someone else beat him will bring her no satisfaction. But the more time they spend together and the more they learn about each other, Rowan begins to find Neil isn’t as annoying as she thought. In fact, as much as she hates to admit it, Rowan realizes she might actually have feelings for him. And is it possible that Neil feels the same way about her, despite their brutal rivalry? 

Part romcom, part thriller, Today Tonight Tomorrow is a YA lover’s dream. The scavenger hunt subplot makes the story relatively fast-paced, with plenty of friendly (and not-so-friendly) banter woven in to balance out the action. The romance subplot is equally well done. Rowan is an engaging narrator, and readers will enjoy going on her journey of self-discovery with her. Her character is easy to relate to because of how realistic her arc is; throughout this story, Rowan realizes that real life is nothing like the novels she holds dear, but that isn’t necessarily wrong or disappointing. Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be enjoyable. 

Today Tonight Tomorrow also beautifully handles difficult topics. For example, Rowan is Jewish; the subtle yet impactful antisemitism she experiences and the way she reacts to it is a strikingly accurate depiction of what many Jewish teenagers experience in high school. Another major issue woven throughout the story is the downsides of intense academic pressure. Rowan regrets putting all of her time into academics because it meant she didn’t truly experience the social aspect of high school, which is also important. For readers in early high school, this can serve as a wake-up call to carve out time for friendships and other relationships; for readers who have the same regrets as Rowan, it is comforting to know that they are not alone in feeling this way. 

Overall, Today Tonight Tomorrow is an absolute delight. It is a love letter to adolescence and high school. Although this book can be enjoyed by everyone, it is especially perfect for graduating seniors who are nervous about leaving everything they know behind when they leave for college. Fall in love with more romance novels such as A Pho Love Story by Loan Le and American Royals by Katharine McGee. 

Sexual Content  

  • When Rowan reminisces about her ex-boyfriend, Spencer, she mentions they had sex. “The first time we had sex, he held me for so long afterward, convinced me I was a precious, special thing.” 
  • Rowan and Neil bicker in front of a wall of plaques recognizing past valedictorians, and Rowan makes a sexual joke to annoy him. “‘If you’re trying to impress me with your knowledge of past valedictorians, it’s working.’ I step closer to him, batting my eyelashes. ‘I am so turned on right now.’” 
  • Rowan finds a high school bucket list she created at the very beginning of her freshman year. One of the entries details prom night: “The night will culminate in a hotel room, where you and Perfect High School Boyfriend will declare your love for each other and lose your virginities in a tender, romantic way that you’ll remember for the rest of your life.” 
  • Rowan tells the reader about her love for romance novels, and she brings up how they informed her idea of sex. “Especially as I got older, my heart would race during the sex scenes, most of which I read in bed with my door locked, after I’d said good night to my parents and was sure I wouldn’t be interrupted. They were thrilling and educational, if occasionally unrealistic. (Can a guy really have five orgasms in a single night? I’m still not sure.) Not all romance novels had sex scenes, but they made me comfortable talking about sex and consent and birth control with my parents and with my friends…Most movies and shows I watched with my friends showed me that women were sex objects, accessories, plot points. The books I read proved they were wrong.” 
  • Rowan points out a spot where she hooked up with one of her ex-boyfriends for the first time. Neil mock-gasps and says, “Rowan Roth, I thought you were a good girl.” Rowan gets annoyed at Neil for assuming that girls who get straight As are automatically virgins. Rowan says, “You realize how wrong and outdated that is, right? Good girls aren’t supposed to have sex, but if they don’t, they’re prudes, and if they do, they’re sluts.” They have a conversation about double standards for men and women when it comes to sex. 
  • Rowan and Neil kiss in an empty room in a museum. “This has to be the earth-shattering feeling he was talking about. This: his hands sliding down the sides of my body. This: his teeth grazing my clavicle. And this: the way, when he moves back to my lips, he kisses like I’m alternately something he can’t get enough of and something he wants to savor. Fast, then slow, I love it all. Since we’re the same height, our bodies line up perfectly, and–oh. The proof of how much he’s enjoying this makes me feverish. I rock my hips against his because the pressure feels amazing, and the way he groans when I do this sounds amazing too.” 
  • Rowan and Neil make out in Rowan’s room. “I leave invisible handprints all over his chest, learning exactly where he’s ticklish. He skims his hands up to my knees, my hips, beneath the dress that has suddenly become a straightjacket. I twist on his lap, trying to reach the zipper. He has to help me with it, and together we tug it off . . . Losing my dress makes me miss him with even more urgency.  I run my hand over the front of his jeans, and he sucks in a breath through his teeth. It’s maybe the best sound I’ve ever heard, at least until I unzip and unbuckle and cast his jeans aside completely, pressing him deeper into the bed, and he releases another breathy groan again.” 
  • Shortly after, Rowan and Neil have sex. “It doesn’t last extremely long, because we’re tired or because it’s his first time or some combination of both. Every so often, he checks in with me, asking if it’s still good, if I’m still good. And yes. Yes. We try our best to be quiet, but we can’t stop whispering to each other. He finishes first, and then his fingers drift down between us and he gets me there for the second time tonight. Then we’re quiet, quieter than my sleeping, darkened house. I burrow close to him, resting my cheek against his heartbeat while he plays with my hair.” 

Violence  

  • Neil confesses that his father is in prison for nearly killing someone who was stealing from his store. Neil’s father “was so furious . . . he beat one of them unconscious. The kid–he was in a coma for a month.” 
  • Rowan and Neil are both Jewish. When sharing antisemitic microaggressions they’ve experienced, Rowan brings up that people usually make comments like that because they think it’s harmless, but then “there are security threats at your synagogue because someone called in a bomb threat. It’s harmless, and you’re terrified to get out of bed Saturday morning and go to services.” This happened right before her bat mitzvah. 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Rowan invites Neil over for Shabbat dinner. One Shabbat ritual is kiddush, a blessing over wine. Rowan describes, “We pass around the kiddush cup that belonged to my dad’s grandparents, silver and ornately designed. Neil takes a small sip, then hands it to me. My sip is tiny too.”  
  • Neil suggests getting high, and Rowan is not opposed. They both take edibles with the lowest possible dosage of THC. “‘Do you feel anything yet?’ ‘Not really,’ I say, but even as the words leave my mouth, I’m aware something has changed. A laugh bubbles out of me, though nothing’s funny. ‘I– wait. I might be feeling something.’ My annoyance with him seems to float away.” 

Language  

  • “Fuck” is occasionally used as an exclamation or intensifier. 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • Rowan and Neil are both Jewish. Rowan invites Neil over to her house for Shabbat dinner, and the book vaguely describes the Shabbat rituals. For example, Rowan’s mother “lights the candles with a hand over her eyes,” and they all “recite the blessing over the challah.” 

How to Excavate a Heart

Shani Levine needs a break from New York. Following a bad breakup with her girlfriend, Sadie, she would rather be literally anywhere else. So when she snags a highly coveted internship at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. over winter break, Shani is elated. 

Shani’s high spirits are crushed, however, when she makes an enemy: her mother almost accidentally runs over a girl, May, while moving Shani into her D.C. lodgings. Shani is determined to watch her step from now on, but she keeps crossing paths with May. As they begin to talk, Shani begins to develop feelings for May. Once it becomes clear that May likes her too, the two girls begin to date, and for a short time everything is perfect. But can Shani juggle her new relationship and her internship? And is she really ready to be in a relationship again so soon after a messy breakup?

Readers will fall in love with Shani and May as they try to tackle these big questions together. How to Excavate a Heart is a cute, fun, fluffy romcom guaranteed to elicit smiles and warm feelings, even on the coldest winter days. At times, the pacing is quite slow, so readers looking for action should expect to consume this story in sweet, bite-sized chunks or over one long, lazy day. Because of this pacing, not every scene necessarily drives the plot forward, making some parts of the book less vivid and exciting than others  However, what really ties this book together is its cast of lovable side characters, from Beatrice, the eccentric and surprisingly spry elderly woman who houses Shani during her stay in D.C., to May’s adorable pet corgi, Raphael. Characters like these make even the slow moments delightful, especially for readers who are drawn to character-heavy books.

Teenagers will heavily relate to Shani as she struggles to find her place in a new city while also dealing with complex feelings and relationships. Issues such as love, loss, coming out of the closet, and adjusting to new stages of life are handled in a way that is informative and validating but not too heavy. How to Excavate a Heart features great Jewish and queer representation and is a perfect escape for readers dealing with big changes in their life.

Sexual Content 

  • When Shani reminisces about her failed relationship with Sadie, she explains that their relationship fell apart after having sex for the first time. “I was stressed, because if we were in love, then the next logical step was sex. And I had never done it before, I felt I needed to prepare…We had sex for the first time a couple days after we said ‘I love you,’ and, as it turned out, it was also the last time.”
  • Beatrice tells Shani that she’ll be sleeping in the bedroom Beatrice used to share with her husband. She tells her that “all six of [her] children were conceived in this room.” Later, Shani asks Beatrice where she’ll be sleeping if she’s taking the bedroom. Beatrice replies, “The attic. I haven’t been able to fall asleep in this room since my husband died. But I’m glad it’ll be put to good use.” Shani thinks, “It certainly won’t be ‘put to good use’ in the same way it was when Beatrice and her husband conceived their children here.” 
  • May’s dad, Greg, is the local weatherman. Tasha, another girl staying in Beatrice’s house, describes him as “kind of a DILF.” DIFL is slang for “daddy I’d like to fuck,” or an attractive older man.
  • Shani talks about her relationship problems with her internship supervisor, Mandira, who is also queer and in a committed relationship. Shani tells her about her bad experience with sex and how she doesn’t think she’ll ever have sex again because it ruins relationships. Mandira counters with, “Sex can be amazing. Especially queer sex. And especially if you communicate what you want with your partner.”
  • Shani’s best friend, Taylor, comes to visit her in D.C. on New Year’s. Taylor tells Shani that she was invited to a New Year’s Eve party by Teddy, the ex-boyfriend of their acquaintance Amy from Model UN, and invites Shani to come with her. Shani asks Taylor if she’s trying to hook up with Teddy; Taylor confirms this.
  • After work, Shani goes to May’s house. When Shani gets there, Shani smells badly so she takes a shower. They end up showering together but don’t have sex. “I keep my eyes closed as I press her closer to me, so that as much of our bodies are touching as possible. We explore parts of each other we haven’t before. I kiss down her neck to her chest, marveling at the fact that I get to touch her like this. But after a few minutes, the hot water runs out, and my knees hurt, and we’re kneeling in cold water.”
  • After a dinner date, Shani and May go back to Shani’s place. They start kissing, intending to have sex. Shani starts feeling uncomfortable but doesn’t want to ruin the mood. Shani hears Beatrice scream and goes to check on her. When Shani returns to the bedroom, she tells May she’s tired and doesn’t want to pick up where they left off. When May asks if she can just sleep over, Shani says no and May storms out.
  • Shani and May break up. While Shani is mourning her relationship, she texts her ex, Sadie, asking why she broke up with her. Shani tells the reader that she texted Sadie because she doesn’t actually remember having sex with her. “That Thursday, the day we said ‘I love you,’ we went to a house party and got drunk. Too drunk. Like, so-drunk-I-barely-remember drunk. Then we went back to my room. The only memories I have of that night come in flashes: Sadie grabbing my waist, leading me up to my room. Sadie kissing me. Sadie pulling down my pants, and her own. Me, copying what she did. Being excited to do it, to please her. And then, nothing. My memory goes dark. Until we woke up the next morning, both of us naked. Me with a splitting headache. Sadie grinning.” Sadie wanted to have sex again that morning. Shani told her she wasn’t ready; after pushing some more, Sadie ended it. 

Violence 

  • When moving Shani into her D.C. lodgings during a snowstorm, Shani’s mom almost runs May over with her car. “My mom finally sees her and frantically tries to slam on the brakes. She pumps them over and over, but between the snow and ice the car won’t stop. Then there’s a thud. The bump. Not a hard bump, but still. A bump. We bumped a person with our car.” 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Beatrice has a beige quote block at the top of the stairs that says, “Alcohol: because no great story ever started with someone eating a salad.”
  • At a New Year’s Eve party, alcohol is served. Shani pours herself a glass of a mystery drink that is “pink and sparkly and has mint leaves and blueberries and pomegranate seeds floating at the surface.” She says that it is “unbelievably delicious and barely tastes like alcohol.”
  • When Shani remembers the night before she and Sadie broke up, she says that they “went to a house party and got drunk. Too drunk. Like, so-drunk-I-barely-remember drunk.”

Language 

  • Profanity, such as variations of “fuck” and “shit” are used as exclamations often.

Supernatural

  • On her first night in D.C., Shani tries not to think about “the half-century-old sex ghosts haunting the room.”
  • Beatrice’s son, George, comes over to the house. He starts a conversation with Shani, in which he jokes that his dad haunts the room where she sleeps.

Spiritual Content 

  • When driving Shani to D.C., her mom sadly says that Shani won’t be home for Christmas for the first time. Shani reminds her that they don’t even celebrate Christmas. Her mom counters that it’s still the holidays, to which Shani responds, “Is it, though? Like, is it really the holidays? Hanukkah’s over, and it’s complete bullshit anyway. It was invented by American capitalists so that Jewish kids could be included in the Christian hegemony.”
  • After thinking about her failed relationship with Sadie, Shani resolves never to have sex again and be “the Jewish version of a nun.”
  • Beatrice’s house is decorated with “crosses and portraits of saints, along with some Christmas decorations– garlands, candy canes, a couple of wreaths.” Shani initially worries “that she’s really religious and that…she’ll be disappointed that I’m Jewish.”
  • Shani gets breakfast at a café next door, which has Christmas music playing inside. Shani thinks, “I know I complained to my mom about how Hanukkah isn’t a real holiday and how I don’t want to assimilate into mainstream Christian America, but the thing is…I fucking love Christmas music.”
  • Shani comes over to walk May’s dog, Raphael. Shani awkwardly tries to make small talk, and asks if May is Jewish because she saw a menorah in her window. May says, “Yeah, I am. But I’m not really that religious.” She later talks about how much she loves Hanukkah.
  • Mandira, Shani’s internship supervisor, tells her she’s going to a Christmas party later that night with her girlfriend. Shani is initially confused because Mandira doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but Mandira explains that she doesn’t celebrate in a religious way but her girlfriend does.
  • Shani comes over to walk May’s dog despite a blizzard. When May opens the door, she sees Shani shaking from the cold and exclaims, “Jesus Christ.” Shani jokes, “It’s almost His birthday, huh?”
  • Shani and May get snowed in at May’s house on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, the snow had stopped and been mostly cleared away, so Shani suggests that they partake in “Jewish Christmas” (watching movies and eating Chinese food). 

Hot Cocoa Hearts

‘Tis the season. . . for heartbreak? Emery Mason is not a fan of the holidays. She’s so over the tinsel, the shopping, and all the other trappings of the season. Unfortunately, this year, Emery is forced to work — as an elf! — at her parents’ Santa photo booth at the mall. There, Emery meets Alejandro Perez, who works at the hot cocoa shop next door and is always full of holiday spirit. Alex is cute, but he’s nothing like Emery’s real crush — the brooding and artistic Sawyer Kade. 

But the more time Emery spends with Alex, the more she realizes that she may not be the Grinch she always thought she was. Soon a blizzard, a Secret Santa surprise, and a family disagreement throw Emery’s world upside down. Can Emery embrace the magic of the holidays and find the perfect boy to kiss under the mistletoe?

Like Scrooge, Emery doesn’t believe in Christmas and she isn’t afraid to kill other people’s Christmas joy. Because of Emery’s bah-humbug attitude, readers may find it difficult to connect to her. Emery’s hatred of all things Christmas is connected to her grandmother’s death. Despite this, it’s hard to sympathize with a character who makes young children cry. Like Scrooge, Emery eventually finds the true meaning of Christmas and the happy ending shows that the holidays are about “the magic of believing. The sheer fun of giving the gift of that to other people, of sharing it with them.” Even though the story has a happy ending, the book’s negative tone takes much of the joy out of reading it.

Emery’s bad attitude isn’t the book’s only negative aspect. Emery idolizes her crush Sawyer and is ecstatic when he finally notices her. However, she soon finds that it’s difficult to be honest with Sawyer. To make matters worse, Sawyer doesn’t seem to understand Emery at all. As Emery spends more time with Alex, she begins to question what she really believes. The love triangle adds suspense to the story, but Sawyer acts more like a confident adult than a preteen which makes some of the scenes unbelievable. However, the scenes between Emery and Alex are full of sweet moments that middle-grade readers will enjoy.

Unfortunately, readers may have a difficult time connecting with Emery. While her grief over her grandmother’s death is understandable, Emery’s bad attitude hurts others. Despite this, Hot Cocoa Hearts teaches the importance of not making assumptions about others. In addition, the conclusion is super sweet not only because Emery finds the joy of Christmas, but also because Emery finds an unexpected community that jumps in to help her when needed. Readers who are looking for a more joyful holiday book to curl up with should read the Celebrate the Season Series by Taylor Garland. However, if you’re feeling a bit like Scrooge, Young Scrooge: A Very Scary Christmas Story by R.L. Stine gives the typical Christmas story a new twist.

Sexual Content 

  • Emery and Alex are at a spice store and suddenly she “wasn’t focused on the beans. I was looking at Alex’s mouth, at how soft and full his lips looked. And then a thought flashed through my head. What might it be like to kiss Alex?”
  • Emery goes on a date with Sawyer. Afterward, “he leaned toward me, and my eyes closed instinctively as my heart pummeled my chest. . . But at the last second, when we were so close I felt the warmth of his breath, I panicked and turned my face to the side. His lips brushed against my cheek.”
  • While at a holiday party, Emery finds Alex and puts mistletoe over her head. Then, she “stood on my toes and kissed him. The kiss was breathtaking and sweet.”
  • While at the mall, Alex “leaned close and gave [Emery] another sweet, lingering kiss.”

Violence 

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • When Alex gets sick, his grandfather had him “take a temazcal herb steam treatment.”

Language 

  • Omigod is used occasionally. 
  • Crud and darn are each used once. 

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • While working at the mall, Emery prays that none of her friends see her.
  • Alex’s grandfather has a sign on the wall that says, “Oh divine chocolate. . . we beat it with our hands in prayer, and we drink it with our eyes lifted to the heavens.”

Truly, Madly, Royally

Zora Emerson’s summer plans are simple: to attend the pre-university program at Halstead U and continue her community work in her hometown of Appleton. Zora is Black and from a modest background, which doesn’t fit the typical picture of students at Halsted U nor the royal family of Landerel – a small country in Europe. Dodging reporters, dating a prince, and attending a royal wedding were not part of the plan.  

After meeting a mystery boy in the library, Zora falls for his charm, only to discover that she’s fallen for Owen Whittelsey, the son of the Queen of Landerel. Soon, Zora’s studies and volunteering is split between dates with Owen. However great Zora’s dates with her Prince Charming are in private, the royal life is not as glamorous as it seems. Owen is constantly monitored by his security team, and the budding relationship between Zora and Owen is investigated by the press. When Zora wins a grant to bolster her after-school program, the award is taken away when outsiders hint that her connections to the royal family give her an unfair advantage.  

Despite the setbacks and scrutiny, Zora persists in growing her after-school program through different means while managing her relationship with Owen. Eventually, he invites Zora to attend the wedding of his brother as a guest of honor. During the trip of a lifetime, Zora learns how to be confident in herself and embrace her heritage.  

Truly, Madly, Royally is a romance story mixed with a unique narrator whose heart lies with helping her community. Despite the majority of students at Halstead being from rich, white families, Zora is determined to embrace her African heritage and prove that she has a place among them by excelling in the classroom and her community work. Zora’s confidence is admirable even as she’s faced with large setbacks, such as grant money for her community work being taken away. Instead of giving up, Zora runs her own fundraiser, earning the money on her own. At the end of the story, African culture is highlighted as the royal wedding is between Owen’s brother and a Black woman named Sadie. However, the romance plot takes center stage, so the book doesn’t teach much about African culture beyond these basic issues. 

Truly, Madly, Royally is an easy, quick read. However, there’s not much to learn or gain from this story due to its simplistic and predictable plot. Readers who typically enjoy the romance genre will be disappointed by the development of Zora and Owen. While the romance is underwhelming, the story of Zora’s relationship she has with kids from her after-school program is heartwarming. Beyond that, however, the story highlights the importance of community. Zora truly wants to make a difference in her community and works hard to achieve her goals. Zora’s caring nature, confidence, and African heritage bring a unique element to this common romance trope.  

Sexual Content  

  • Skye, Zora’s friend, admits that she and Zora’s brother Zach kissed. 
  • Owen invites Zora to the royal ball. Then, “Owen bows his head and kisses my hand.” Afterwards, he asks, “Am I welcome to kiss you?” Zora says yes, and Owen kisses Zora for the first time. Zora describes, “Owen closes the distance between us and bows his head closer. It’s a kiss that starts with one soft, sweet peck, quickly followed by another. We look at each other and smile before taking a deeper dive with a tender kiss that lingers. We stay holding hands the whole time. A few seconds later, we pull back slowly.” 
  • Owen kisses Zora in a lecture hall at Halstead. “He pulls me in closer for a quick, wonderful kiss.”  
  • Owen hugs and kisses Zora while dancing in a friend’s dorm. “[Owen] lifts me off the floor. He lowers my feet with a quick kiss.”  
  • When Zora shows up at a wedding, Owen greets her. “[Owen] wraps his arms around me and kisses my forehead.”  

Violence  

  • Owen’s sister, Emily, committed suicide, which Zora learns from an article that provides the details of her death. “Apparently, when [Emily] was younger, a royal biographer dubbed her the ‘redheaded stepchild.’ Sadly, the unfortunate moniker stuck. . . [Emily] was considered chubby. The body shaming, the merciless trolling, the unflattering memes everywhere all threw her down a self-destructive path that ultimately led to her tragic death. Her body was found off a cliff in a mountain range along the southern coast of Landerel.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • When Owen’s sister died, there was “a high level of alcohol in her system.” 

Language  

  • Zora’s mother claims that her ex-husband, Zora’s dad, is always “showing his ass.”  

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • Zora’s mother is religious and occasionally mentions God and praying. She says, “I’m gonna pray you find a friend there you can relate to. You know God always listens to a mother’s prayer.”  
  • Zora’s father says “the only person ruling this house is Jesus.” 
  • Zora is at a community event where she feels like she has to keep standing up to greet people. “I stand up, sit down, and then stand up and sit down again. You would think I am at a Catholic church service.” 
  • The royal wedding is held in a chapel in Landerel. 

Jackpot

Meet Rico: high school senior and afternoon-shift cashier at the Gas ‘n’ Go who also takes care of her younger brother. Every. Single. Day. When Rico sells a jackpot-winning lotto ticket, she thinks maybe her luck will finally change, but only if she—with some assistance from her popular and wildly rich classmate Zan—can find the ticket holder, who still hasn’t claimed their prize. But what happens when have and have-nots collide? Will this investigative duo unite. . . or divide? 

Told from Rico’s point of view, Jackpot highlights the difficulties of living in poverty. Many readers will sympathize with Rico’s struggles and relate to her insecurities. Rico is an interesting, well-developed character who believes poverty has stolen all her opportunities. In contrast, Zan has never had to worry about money. Despite this, Zan feels his only option is to work for his family’s company.  

In the end, both characters realize, “Everyone has choices. Are some of them hard? Yes. But if you want something bad enough. . .” Rico and Zan’s relationship gives both of them a new perspective and the bravery to take control of their lives.  

Even though Rico and Zan are completely opposite from each other, they each have universal teen conflicts that readers will connect with. Neither character allows others to see their true selves. Zan has closed himself off because he is afraid others will take advantage of him due to his family’s wealth. On the other hand, Rico’s life has been so consumed with work — schoolwork, her job, and caring for her brother — that she has no friends. In addition, Rico feels inferior to her wealthy classmates. Being friends with Zan teaches Rico that not having money doesn’t mean you’re not as worthy as those who do. 

Many teen readers will connect with Jackpot because of the interesting characters and universal themes. While readers will sympathize with Rico’s situation, Zan is the real star because his quirky behavior is humorous and endearing. Even though Rico and Zan are realistic characters, the conclusion is not quite believable. Despite this, Jackpot’s focus on class will leave readers thinking about how one’s class affects every aspect of life. In the author’s note, Stone explains that Jackpot reinforces the idea that “there’s a whole lot more to people than how much — or how little — is in their bank account.” Readers who want another book that explores classism should check out I’m Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones & Gilly Segal and Class Act by Jerry Craft.  

Sexual Content  

  • Zan goes to see Rico at work. As he’s leaving, he “yanks” her forward. Rico collides “with his chest—then he’s wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me off my feet. . .” Afterwards, she is “legitimately hot all over.”  
  • ​​​Rico’s grandfather was “a white guy. . . he had a one-night stand with an . . . escort he’s pretty sure was black, then ten months later, my mom was left on his doorstep.”  
  • Rico’s mom got pregnant when she was in college. “She spent a month in Spain and came back pregnant. . . she didn’t know about his wife and kids. . .” 
  • Rico’s friend Jessica says, “Timberlake’s old news, but I’d totally have his babies if I weren’t so bent on having Ness’s [her boyfriend].” Later, it is revealed that Jessica and Ness are sexually active. 
  • Rico goes to a friend’s house where she’s surprised to see Zan. When Zan sees her, she describes how “he rushes over and scoops me up in what I can only describe as THE HUG. . . he holds me by the shoulders and basically eats every inch of my body.” 
  • After getting drunk, Rico wakes up next to Zan. Even though they are both fully dressed, Rico thinks that they hooked up and she just can’t remember it. An older woman tells Ric
  • o that after her first marriage broke up, she met Lionel. “Lionel really knew his way around a lady, if you catch my drift.” 
  • While Rico is working, an adult buys a Playboy magazine from the convenience store. 
  • Rico’s brother asks if she’s had a wet dream. He explains what he means. “They’re dreams where you’re doing it with somebody, duh. Mason’s big brother has them all the time and he pees out sticky stuff in the bed, so that’s why they’re called wet.” 
  • Jessica and her boyfriend are kissing when someone tells them to “get a room.” 
  • Rico and Zan pose as a couple in order to look at houses for rent. As part of the ruse, Zan tells the real estate agent that they “’had a little too much fun after winter homecoming, if you catch my drift.” Zan winks and pats Rico’s belly. 
  • Rico has an emotional moment and begins to cry. To comfort her, Zane “draws me in to him. The more I cry, the closer we get until I’m curled in his khaki’s lap like a toddler, sobbing into the neck of his perfectly pressed polo shirt.” After snuggling for a few minutes, Zane says, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you should probably get off my lap now.”  

Violence  

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Zan thinks Rico is acting “high strung.” He tells her, “We need to get you some good weed or something.” 
  • Jessica’s mother “drinks away most of her paycheck.” 
  • Rico goes to a friend’s house. The teens there drink alcohol and get “a bit tipsy.” 
  • Jessica wonders which one of the cheerleaders is in “therapy and on anti-anxiety meds.”  
  • When Rico’s brother has a fever, she gives him ibuprofen. 

Language  

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes variations of ass, asshole, bitch, crap, dumbass, damn, hell, pissed, shit and motherfu–.  
  • Lord, God, Jesus, and other religious names are used as explanations often.  
  • When Rico wakes up next to Zan, she thinks, “Might as well have a red letter T for tramp tattooed on my cheek.” 
  • Rico thinks someone is a douche-jackass and a son-of-a-bitch. 

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • Zan is Catholic and goes to mass “when [his] grandma makes [him].” 
  • Rico thinks about God. “The whole God thing has always been a little suspect to me.” Rico’s mom would listen to the “sermon station” but this just made Rico question God’s goodness. “But for as long as I can remember, Mama has prayed without ceasing, and . . . well, I find it tough to believe this God character is so great when we continue to barely scrape by despite how hard Mama works and prays.” 
  • At one point, Rico thinks that God will “smite us [her and Zan] for all these lies we’re telling.” 
  • While at a wedding, Rico looks at Zan and thanks “whatever God is worshipped in this church for the fact that I’m already sitting.” 
  • Rico’s boss has heavy security on his computer. Rico explains, “He got new software just after the store was broken into and trashed by anti-Muslim douchefaces last August.”  
  • Rico goes to Zan’s house to eat dinner with his family. Zan’s father prays, thanking God for the food and his successful business. Then he says, “Lord, we thank you for our young Alejandro [Zan], and for the light that has recently graced his life, pulling him out of darkness—” Zan’s father was talking about Rico. 
  • Zan’s grandmother invites Rico to mass and then asks if Rico is a believer. The conversation gets interrupted before Rico can answer. 

I Kissed Shara Wheeler

Chloe Green wants nothing more than the title of valedictorian, and she’s almost got it in the bag. There’s just one little problem and her name is Shara Wheeler, who happens to be Chloe’s greatest competition and school sweetheart. Chloe and Shara have been competing forces since Chloe arrived at Willowgrove Christian Academy during her freshman year of high school. They have a completely normal academic rivalry, until Shara corners Chloe and kisses her, leaving Chloe angry and bewildered. 

Then, Shara goes missing after prom night and the whole school is enraptured by the perfect Christian girl’s disappearance. Chloe is unfazed, however; she knows there’s more to Shara than meets the eye. Chloe discovers that she isn’t the only person Shara kissed before magically disappearing. Right before disappearing, Shara also kissed Rory, Shara’s next-door neighbor, and Smith, Shara’s boyfriend. Thrown into an unlikely alliance, chasing a ghost through parties, break-ins, puzzles, and secrets revealed on monogrammed stationery, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to this small town than she thought. And maybe—probably not, but maybe—more to Shara, too. 

I Kissed Shara Wheeler takes the reader on a journey through the rigid conservative Christian values of False Beach, Alabama. Readers will get an in-depth look through the eyes of the residents who have a myriad of complicated feelings about their town and the places they occupy within it. The book is narrated by Chloe, whose perspective is strongly influenced by her liberal, southern California roots, but most of the other characters don’t know life outside of False Beach and their staunchly religious private school. As much as Chloe’s strong-willed opinions drive change, the other characters teach her about the complicated love they have for their home, even when it strives to suppress various aspects of their identities. 

Much of the book’s content discusses sexuality as the characters grow and learn to accept themselves for who they are. The story opens with Shara kissing Chloe, though at this point Shara has never appeared as more than just a conservative Christian girl. In contrast, Chloe is openly bisexual and anti-religious, but it takes both girls most of the book to realize that they have genuine feelings and attraction for each other. Many of the other characters also go through their own reckonings in the book, including Smith and Rory, who discover that their feelings for each other are more than just that of childhood best friends.  

Fans of Casey McQuiston’s other books Red, White, and Royal Blue and One Last Stop will likely enjoy the fun energy in I Kissed Shara Wheeler. McQuiston balances the serious moments with the characters’ sense of humor. Some readers may find Chloe to be a bit single-minded in her quest to triumph over Shara, but this doesn’t draw away from the story. Ultimately, readers will be able to take away that there is always more than meets the eye, and there is always room to change and grow into the person you want to be. Readers who enjoy I Kissed Shara Wheeler can find more romance by reading Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon or The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith.

Sexual Content  

  • Chloe explains why she’s looking for Shara Wheeler. Chloe says, “Because two days ago, Shara found her alone in the B Building elevator before fifth hour, pulled her in by the elbow, and kissed her until she forgot an entire semester of French.” It then comes to light that Shara has kissed Smith (her boyfriend) and Rory (her neighbor) as well. 
  • No one knows where Shara is, and Chloe comes up with unlikely theories – one being that Shara has “some sugar daddy she’s holed up with or something.” 
  • Chloe writes a letter to her friend about being kissed by Shara. Chloe starts by telling her not to react while reading the letter because “if Madame Clark picks this one up and reads it out loud like she did with Tanner’s ranking of girls’ butt’s I will literally kill you.” 
  • Chloe notes that when she first moved to False Beach, Alabama, she was in freshman bio and noted that “the chapter on sexual reproduction was taped shut.” 
  • Chloe, Rory, and Smith go into Rory’s room to use his computer. Chloe “counts at least three different hand-drawn penises” on Rory’s bedroom wall. 
  • There is a joke school code of conduct that is presumably written by Chloe. Among other details, it includes, “No student may smoke, drink, dance, or have sex, which means half the students are smoking, drinking, dancing, having sex, and lying about it. Pills are fine. If you’re on the football team, just ask Emma Grace’s dad to write you a prescription.” This list lasts for a page. 
  • Chloe notes that once at a party, she “almost got French-kissed by Tucker Price from the Quiz Bowl team in his parents’ saltwater jacuzzi.” 
  • After a trip, Chloe’s two moms kiss. Chloe jokes that they kiss “like they’re on the bow of the freaking Titanic.” 
  • Chloe briefly mentions a situation where “a sophomore sent her boyfriend nudes and he forwarded them to all his friends.” This comes up on chapel day at school and the administration then gave “a very shame-y talk on modesty.” 
  • Chloe’s friend tells Chloe that he’s “a make-out hobbyist . . . I’ve kissed like, all my homies.” He doesn’t go into details. 
  • Shara’s neighbor, Rory, expresses his repressed feelings for Smith to Chloe. He says, “maybe I talked myself into [Shara], because when I looked at her and Smith together, I was so jealous, and she seemed like the right place to put it.” Chloe validates his feelings, telling him, “It would be okay. If you didn’t like Shara. If you didn’t like girls at all.” It is revealed later that Smith has similar feelings for Rory as well. 
  • Chloe finds Shara and Shara kisses Chloe. Chloe thinks that Shara “knows exactly what she’s doing when [Chloe] twists her fingers into the loose wisps of hair at the nape of Shara’s neck and kisses her back, hard. Her other hand grips the tulle where it fans out from Shara’s waist and holds Shara’s body up against hers like see, we’re a match, and it works — Shara sighs and lets go of the rail to slide her palm over Chloe’s cheek.” The description lasts for half a page. 
  • Chloe’s classmate Georgia gets caught “making out in the B Building bathroom” with their other classmate, Summer, and Georgia gets reported to the principal’s office. No other description is given for that kiss. It’s only said that Georgia has been dating Summer and Summer has “known she was bi since last year.” 
  • Smith and Rory kiss and Chloe walks in on their moment. She’s hiding and she describes only what she can hear, saying, “Then, after a few seconds, just long enough for a nervous first kiss, Smith laughs.” 
  • Two of Chloe’s classmates are arguing, and one tells the other that “if she wanted people to believe things she says, she shouldn’t have lied about giving her best friend’s crush a handjob at her birthday party.” 
  • Chloe and Shara kiss in Shara’s bedroom. Chloe describes, “She tips her head forward, and Shara kisses her. Chloe puts her arms around Shara’s neck and kisses her back.” The description lasts for a page. 
  • Chloe and Shara make out. “Chloe doesn’t know how long. It felt like a long time.” The page before, they have a conversation on how they both want to take it slow. Chloe says, “Shara’s hand drops from Chloe’s neck to her shoulder, and then she’s pushing Chloe down on the bed and kissing her, one hand pinning her to the mattress and the other on her waist.” 
  • Chloe fights against the school administration’s policies. For instance, she says, “Freshman year, she adjusted to Willowgrove by making problems on purpose, but nobody showed up to her GSA meeting, and she got suspended for bringing free condoms to school in protest of the abstinence-only sex ed policy.” 
  • Chloe’s classmate Dixon makes a rude sexual comment towards Chloe at the party, citing something he calls the Rachel Rule. He says, “‘It’s a rule the seniors made last year for Rachel Kennedy, who was a huge bitch but still got to come to parties because she had huge boobs.’ He’s looking down now. At her chest, and her wet shirt. He hands clench into firsts at her sides — ever since she sprouted D-cups in tenth grade, a guy staring at her chest has never ended well. ‘So, as long as you keep wearing that, the Rachel Rule says you can stay.’” Chloe does not like this, and she expresses her discontent by telling him that he peaked in high school and, even now, she “still wouldn’t sleep with him.” 

Violence  

  • Chloe finally finds Shara, and Chloe is furious. In her anger, she shoves Shara into a lake. Chloe describes, “with one solid shove, she pushes Shara — prom dress and all — over the railing and into Lake Martin.” 
  • Chloe “punched a mall Santa when [she] was five.”  

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Chloe refers to her classmate, Jake Stone, as “Stone the Stoner.”  
  • Jake Stone was suspended once because he “was caught vaping” in the school bathroom. 
  • Every teacher at Willowgrove has to “sign a morality clause saying they won’t drink, express political opinions or be gay.” 
  • Chloe says that False Beach, Alabama has “the aura of a Mountain Dew bottle filled with dip spit.” 
  • Chloe goes to a high school party and is annoyed that she has to watch a classmate “slobber all over a beer bong.” There is plenty of drinking at this party, including something referred to as an “upside down margarita,” which is a drinking game. The party’s descriptions last for a couple of chapters. 
  • The Willowgrove school district hired a cop to scare the students about drugs, but instead, Chloe notes that the cop “ended up telling us exactly how many ounces of weed you can carry without getting arrested.” 
  • Chloe stays up too late thinking about Shara and has a massive headache the next day. She says, “This must be what a hangover feels like.” 

Language  

  • Chloe notes that Shara’s disappearance is odd. Chloe thinks to herself, “That’s the thing about popular kids: They don’t have the type of bond forged in the fire of being weird and queer in small-to-medium-town Alabama. If Chloe tried to ghost like this, there’d be a militia of Shakespeare gays kicking down every door in False Beach.” 
  • Strong language is used frequently. Profanity includes ass, fuck, idiot, d-bags, shit, megabitch, crap, dick, hell, and douchebag. 
  • Chloe says “Shara Wheeler is the most tragic heterosexual to ever cram herself into a Brandy Melville crop top.” 
  • Chloe describes her classmate’s understanding of her as “the weird queer girl from LA with two lesbian moms.” 
  • Chloe’s friend Georgia has a collection of books at her parents’ bookstore just for Chloe, and she “affectionately calls it Chloe’s Monster Fucker Collection” due to the fact that Chloe likes stories where the headstrong main female protagonist falls in love with the villain, which sometimes happens to be a literal nonhuman entity. 
  • Chloe and her friends identify as LGTBQ+, and they reference their sexualities somewhat often in-text. For instance, Chloe’s friend Benjy is worried about his future college roommate. He says, “My new fear is that he’ll be a hot straight guy. I cannot spend my first year away from home with an unrequited crush on a guy who wears neckties to football games…I don’t have high hopes for the gays of Tuscaloosa.”  
  • Chloe’s classmate is an unpleasant person by all counts. She details why, saying he’s “the type who insists it’s okay for him to make offensive jokes because he’s not actually racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic/whatever so he doesn’t actually mean them, but aren’t the jokes so funny.” 
  • Smith asks Ash, a nonbinary student, to “explain the whole nonbinary thing” to him. Ash explains to Smith it’s, “Like if someone yelled your first name [William] at you. You might answer to it, but it wouldn’t feel right, because that’s not you.” Ash and Smith have this conversation for several pages. 
  • Chloe doesn’t want another student named Drew Taylor to be her salutatorian because “he has a YouTube channel about why girls at Willowgrove are sluts for taking birth control pills.” 
  • Chloe’s mom exclaims “Jesus Christ” when she finds out that Chloe has Shara’s expensive crucifix necklace. 

Supernatural 

  • Chloe sometimes wishes she lived in another place and time. An example of this is that she wishes she “were a vampire hunter in Edwardian England.” 

Spiritual Content  

  • The book opens with a service at the Willowgrove Christian Church, “where the Wheelers are spending their morning pretending to be nice, normal folks whose nice, normal daughter didn’t stage a disappearing act at prom twelve hours ago.” 
  • Chloe finds the spare key to the Wheeler’s house under a rock with “Joshua 24:15 engraved on it. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Bible quotes are scattered throughout the book. 
  • The students in this book attend “Willowgrove Christian Academy.” Chloe describes a billboard for the academy reading, “Jesus Loves Geometry! A Christ-Centered Education At Willowgrove Christian Academy!” The school also has “chapel days” where the students are required to attend service. 
  • Chloe greatly dislikes her religious school, but she attends the school because of its academics and theater program. She says, “If this was her only option, she could put up with the Jesus stuff.” 
  • Shara wore a somewhat revealing dress at homecoming. Chloe describes, “It was only a blue silk slip with a modest neckline, but it stuck to her like water, and she wasn’t wearing a bra . . . God’s favorite daughter shows one hint of nip.” 
  • Chloe half-jokes that Shara Wheeler’s family “has more money than God.” 
  • Mr. Wheeler is the principal at Willowgrove, and he has a reputation for “telling teenagers they’re going to hell.” He says many religious things to the students, including telling Chloe that “gossip is against God’s will.” This is how many teachers and much of the curriculum work at this school. 
  • Shara expresses in her journal entry that “the loudest Christians I’ve ever met were the worst ones.” 
  • Shara and Chloe go through their notes for their AP European History exam, which involves a lot of religious history. For instance, they reference the “Defenestration of Prague” where “Protestants threw a bunch of Catholic officials out of a castle window in Bohemia. Started the Thirty Years War.” There is a series of notes like this for a couple of pages. 
  • Georgia explains to Chloe that Summer’s church “is more into Jesus the brown socialist than the whole eternal damnation thing.” 
  • Chloe explains that her understanding of Christianity is based on Willowgrove’s variety – “judgmental, sanctimonious hypocrites hiding hate behind Bible verses, twenty-four-karat crucifix necklaces, and charismatic white pastors with all the horrible secrets that money can protect.” 
  • The school finds out that there’s been an admissions scam at Willowgrove, and Benjy sees all the fliers with the information and exclaims, “Jesus wept.” 

Imogen, Obviously

Imogen is straight. She’s the world’s biggest queer ally and is surrounded by queer friends but is a self-described “raging hetero” herself. Her best friend, Gretchen, who has an amazing gaydar, confirms this every day with affectionate nicknames. 

However, Imogen’s world shifts when she visits her childhood best friend, Lili, on Lili’s college campus. Imogen is warmly greeted by Lili and her amazing group of queer friends, and she quickly forgets her anxieties about not fitting in. However, Lili tells Imogen a secret: at the beginning of the school year, she told her friends that she and Imogen briefly dated, to avoid revealing that she’s never been in a relationship before. She apologizes to Imogen and offers to tell her friends she lied, but Imogen tells her not to worry. It’s not a big deal to her if LIli’s friends think Imogen is bi. 

But Imogen can’t stop thinking about Tessa, one of Lili’s friends. And Tessa is constantly flirting with Imogen. Maybe. Imogen isn’t sure. After all, Tessa is flirty with everyone. But she does know that she should probably stop talking to Tessa like this because it’s not fair to lead her on. After all, Imogen is straight. Or. . . is she?

From the author of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda comes another brilliant journey of self-discovery and acceptance. Imogen, Obviously features a cast of funny, witty, and loveable characters that show that there’s no one way to be queer. Some teens will relate to Imogen’s long journey of discovering her sexuality amidst the rationalizing and denial that comes with the journey. Others will see themselves in her younger sister, Edith, who always knew she was different and proclaimed that she liked girls when she was seven. Still, others will recognize the darker side of this book, which tackles the uglier side of being queer. Biphobia is discussed, specifically, the pressure that many bisexual people face to “pick a side” as well as the downside of having labels be a prerequisite for being “queer enough” to truly belong in queer spaces. These complex issues are handled in a nuanced way, allowing room for discussion and growth.

While these issues are given the gravity they deserve, the book overall is still lighthearted. This atmosphere is kept alive by the characters – Lili’s college friend group and their antics are quintessential. Their warmth and immediate acceptance of Imogen as one of their own will make readers feel as if they themselves can also belong in that group.  Imogen, Obviously is a romcom perfect for teens that are looking for a story that is cute and heartwarming, but also thought-provoking and relatable. Readers who want more books that cast LGBTQ+ characters in a positive light should add the following books to their reading list: All the Invisible Things by Orlagh Collins, Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo, and All Boys Aren’t Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson.

Sexual Content 

  • Imogen and Tessa visit a sculpture of the world’s largest scissors and take a few pictures. Imogen posts a picture to Instagram with a scissor emoji for the caption. Gretchen texts her jokingly asking, “Who are you scissoring?” Scissoring is a term used to describe lesbian sex. 
  • Lili’s friends Kayla and Declan have an inside joke where they pass a sausage in a plastic bag back and forth between them. Many sexual innuendos are made with this joke, such as when Imogen texts Gretchen, “I don’t even want to tell you what I’m about to do with a German sausage” with no context and Gretchen responds, “IMOGEN. What are you about to do with a tiny German sausage???”  
  • Imogen and Tessa make out in Tessa’s room while Tessa is partially undressed. Imogen describes, “My words melt away when I see her. Tessa in an undershirt, white with short sleeves, the straps of her sports bra faintly visible underneath. Nothing on bottom but boy shorts.” 

Violence 

  • None 

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Imogen goes to a party with Lili and her friends. Imogen has an alcoholic drink for the first time.

Language 

  • Profanity such as “fuck” and “shit” are used as exclamations, but rarely.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Holding Up the Universe

Holding Up the Universe follows the love story of two teenagers who are grappling with their own perception of identity. Jack Masselin is a popular boy who secretly struggles with a neurological disorder; Libby Strout is known as an overweight girl, once dubbed “America’s Fattest Teen” after an incident from her childhood was covered by local news. Jack and Libby realize they have more in common than they thought, but both teens struggle with understanding themselves and learning how they present themselves to others. Over the course of the book, the characters gain confidence in themselves, and learn how to trust their intuition and interact with peers.

Seventeen-year-old Jack has a reputation as being a popular “playboy” and has various other popular friends, such as Dave Kaminski and Seth Powell. Jack is also in an “on-again, off-again everyone-assumes-we’ll-end-up-together-forever” relationship with Caroline Lushamp, one of the school’s most popular cheerleaders. Jack embraces his own arrogance and confidence as he considers himself to be “charming,” “hilarious,” and “the life of the party.” However, Jack secretly struggles with prosopagnosia, which prevents him from being able to recognize faces. Jack is terrified of being excluded, so he tends to go along with what the “popular” kids are doing in order to remain in their good graces. Throughout the story, Jack learns how to tell others about his condition, and learns various “tricks” to manage his condition.

After her mom’s death, sixteen-year-old Libby lost control of her weight. The media negatively represented the Strout family after Libby had to be airlifted out of her home following a panic attack. After being dubbed “America’s Fattest Teen,” Libby was homeschooled for several years, but now she’s ready to return to public school. Shortly after re-enrolling, Libby is bullied for her weight and consistently receives hurtful remarks from peers. Despite the mean statements, Libby remains confident in herself, almost becoming empowered by their hate. 

Following a physical altercation between Jack and Libby, they are required to engage in an after-school Conversation Circle with the school counselor, Mr. Levine. During these meetings, Jack and Libby get to know each other and help each other in a variety of ways. Libby encourages Jack to seek an official prosopagnosia diagnosis from researchers at Indiana University, and Jack slowly realizes he is falling in love with Libby. By the conclusion of the Conversation Circle meetings, Jack and Libby discover how important their identity is, and that it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks about them. They come to terms with this realization and manage to develop deeper relationships with those around them.

Jack and Libby narrate alternating chapters which occasionally include flashbacks. At times, the back-and-forth perspectives between the two characters can be confusing, but the author weaves them together so seamlessly, it allows the reader to see the emotions of both characters within a specific event. The author effectively uses flashbacks by including them during relevant parts of the plot, such as referring to the day that Libby was airlifted from her home. 

Jack and Libby are relatable in their own ways. Jack is terrified of being excluded, while Libby understands that people will hate her for her weight and chooses to ignore their comments and trust herself. Because Jack is obsessed with what others think, he can sometimes be annoying. Instead of talking to his friends and accepting help from others, Jack believes he should manage everything independently. Despite this, the relationship between Jack and Libby is sweet, and has a lovable moment when Jack is able to recognize Libby without having to use “identifiers.” 

Overall, Holding Up the Universe is well-written and enjoyable to read because it’s paced appropriately and has a plot that readers can connect to. The author effectively utilizes descriptive language to manipulate the emotions of readers to the point that it feels like they are experiencing the events through the characters’ eyes. Holding Up the Universe tackles complex topics that may not be suitable for younger readers, such as fat-shaming, bullying, depression, and peer pressure.

Holding Up the Universe speaks on empowerment, acceptance, and overflowing love, which makes it a feel-good read, but readers still learn about struggles common in high school. The overall theme of the novel can be identified as “seeing and being seen,” since the main characters struggle with identifying others and being respected for who they really are. If you’re ready for another story that explores the importance of accepting yourself, Dating Makes Perfect by Pintip Dunn and Mosquitoland by David Arnold should be added to your must read list.

Sexual Content 

  • There are multiple references to blow jobs and girls being undesirable as a sexual partner.
  • Libby is eager for her first kiss and talks about being hopeful to find a boy to “claim her body.” She also is fascinated by the anecdote about a woman losing weight by having “marathon” sex.
  • Jack discovers that his father is having an affair with a teacher.  Jack sees “a new, unopened email from Monica Chapman . . . and then I open it. And wish I hadn’t.” Jack then drafts a reply which reads “Dear M. If Jack is angry, it’s because of us . . . Maybe I should stop being so selfish. If I really loved you, I would end my marriage or at least come clean to my wife.”
  • On a date, Jack invites Libby to dance with him. Jack is “at first aware of every eye in the room on us, but then all the faces fade away, and it’s just Libby and me, my hands on her waist, all that woman in my arms.”
  • At a party, Caroline tries to coerce Jack to have sex. After removing her shirt, Caroline says, “I think I’m ready for it. . . with you . . . unless you don’t want to.” They do not have any form of sexual contact because Jack realizes, “I don’t love Caroline. I don’t even like Caroline.”

Violence 

  • There is a game known as “Fat Girl Rodeo” where players non-consensually jump on the back of a “fat girl” and try to hang on as long as possible. After Libby enrolls in high school, she becomes the target of the game. Jack jumps on her in the cafeteria, and Libby manages to “summon all the strength [she has] to peel him off like a Band-Aid.” Once Jack is on the ground, she punches him in the mouth. Jack’s “jaw feels knocked loose, like it’s somewhere in Ohio. I give it a rub to make sure it’s still attached, and my hand comes away covered in blood.” 
  • Jack sticks up for someone being bullied. When the group doesn’t back down, Jack “runs right into the herd of them . . . one lands in the dirt, and suddenly they’re not laughing anymore.” The bullies argue with Jack, and then Jack begins to throw punches. “Maybe because I’m angry. At everyone. At myself.” Jack continues to punch the bullies that come at him “even when his hand feels broken, even when he can’t feel his knuckles anymore.” This scene lasts four pages.
  • After a misunderstanding at a party, Moses Hunt tracks down and begins punching Jack. Moses’ “fists are coming at me too fast to duck, too fast to move. Over and over his fists make contact with bone, or maybe he’s not the only one swinging.” This fight lasts three pages.

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • Teens gather for a party and consume alcohol and weed. Jack drinks beer. After drinking several shots, he declares “my esophagus burns like I just inhaled gasoline.” Jack also smokes a joint “because maybe this is the secret of life . . . maybe this will give me answers. Instead, I end up coughing like an old man for a good five minutes.”

Language 

  • Insults and taunting such as “whore” are used toward the girls.
  • There is frequent swearing throughout the book, both casually and as insults. Profanity includes ass, bastard, bitch, bullshit, damn, douche, fuck, goddamn, hell, pissed, and shit.
  • Phrases such as OMG and oh my god are used occasionally.

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Donut Go Breaking My Heart

Sheyda is a behind the scenes girl. She loves helping in the kitchen of Doughlicious, the donut shop run by her best friend’s family. And Sheyda loves designing stage sets while others perform in the spotlight.

Then lights, camera . . . surprise! Tween heartthrob Cabe Sadlier is filming his next movie in Doughlicious! Sheyda’s outgoing BFF, Kiri, is sure this will lead to stardom and perhaps a date with Cabe. But somehow it’s Sheyda who gets picked for a small role in the film.

To make matters worse, Cabe seems spoiled and rude. Too bad he’s so cute. Can Sheyda overcome her stage fright, get to know the real Cabe, and find her own kind of stardom?

Told from Sheyda’s point of view, Donut Go Breaking My Heart, is the perfect book for middle school readers who are trying to navigate their tween years. Sheyda is a relatable and likable character who often feels invisible because of her shyness. Since Sheyda doesn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, she often keeps her thoughts and emotions to herself, especially when it comes to her best friend Kiri. To Sheyda’s surprise, she finds herself really liking Cabe. But she doesn’t want to upset Kiri, who thinks Cabe is her ticket to stardom. Sheyda’s understandable conflict will keep readers engaged.

Donut Go Breaking My Heart sprinkles in friendship drama and family fights which give the story depth. Young readers will find plenty of sweet moments between Sheyda and Cabe, and these moments will keep readers engaged even though the story has a typical romance plot. Many of the conflicts are caused by Sheyda hiding her true feelings. However, Cabe helps Sheyda learn the importance of speaking up for herself. As Sheyda and Cabe’s relationship evolves, they both learn about themselves. One of the best aspects of the story is that both characters learn the importance of not judging someone based on their appearance.

Middle-grade readers who want a cute, clean romance will find many sweet moments in Donut Go Breaking My Heart. The story teaches the importance of communicating your feelings instead of trying to hide them. Plus, Sheyda’s story will encourage readers to step out of their comfort zones and try something new. For another story that revolves around friendship and crushes, check out Pugs and Kisses by J.J. Howard.

Sexual Content

  • Kiri pretends to sprain her ankle so Cabe will help her walk. As they leave a theater, they are surrounded by reporters. To get publicity, Kiri “beamed up at [Cabe], and then kissed him on the cheek.”
  • Cabe asks Sheyda to run a scene with him. As Sheyda looks at the script, she’s freaked out because there is a kissing scene. During the scene, her “heart was melting. . . And suddenly the rest of the world was dropping away because Cabe’s lips were moving toward mine. Then they met mine, and the world stopped existing entirely. . . His lips were so soft. . . I wanted the kiss to last forever.” Then the kiss was over.
  • After Cabe and Sheyda share their feelings about each other, Cabe “took my face in his hands. His mouth met mine in a soft, sweet kiss. I tasted the faintest trace of icing on his lips. . .” 

Violence

  • None

Drugs and Alcohol 

  • None

Language

  • Omigod is used as an exclamation often.
  • Darn is used once.
  • At first, Sheyda thinks Cabe is a jerk.
  • Sheyda meets an actress who is known as “the wicked witch.”

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content 

  • None

Breaking Time

When a mysterious Scotsman suddenly appears in the middle of the road, Klara thinks the biggest problem is whether she hit him with her car. But, as impossible as it sounds, Callum has stepped out of another time, and it’s just the beginning of a deadly adventure.

Klara will soon learn that she is the last Pillar of Time—an anchor point in the timeline of the world and a hiding place for a rogue goddess’s magic. Callum believes he’s fated to protect her at all costs after being unable to protect the previous Pillar, his best friend, Thomas. For a dark force is hunting the Pillars in order to claim the power of the goddess—and Klara and Callum are the only two people standing in the way.  Thrown together by fate, the two must learn to trust each other and work together. . . but they’ll also need to protect their hearts from one another if they’re going to survive.

Since the death of her mother and moving to Scotland, Klara’s life has been turned upside down. Things only get worse when Callum arrives. At first, Klara doesn’t believe he has traveled from the past nor does she understand the strange powers that have manifested through her. While many readers will relate to Klara’s grief and her inability to be honest with her father, Klara is not a very memorable character. Even after a man steps out of a mist and tries to kill her, Klara is still unwilling to believe Callum’s story. This conflict takes too long to resolve and slows the story’s pacing.

Breaking Time introduces many ancient Gods as well as some lore for the Fair Folk; however, some of the story’s magical elements are inconsistent. For example, while one goddess is only able to appear to Klara at a mystical site, another appears to her through a dream, and demon monsters can appear anywhere. Since Klara doesn’t understand her powers, she goes on a quest to different mystic sites in an attempt to understand them. At each place, she learns more about herself and what it means to be a Pillar. Unfortunately, the story’s worldbuilding is lacking and the magic elements are inconsistent which causes confusion.  In addition, some of the people and events are not clearly connected to the central conflict. To make matters worse, the conclusion is ambiguous and doesn’t wrap up any of the conflicts, which many readers may find frustrating.

Unfortunately, Breaking Time’s unremarkable protagonist and inconsistent worldbuilding make the story difficult to enjoy. Readers who have some previous knowledge of Scottish folklore may still find Breaking Time an interesting read; however, readers who have no previous knowledge of Scottish folklore may want to leave the book on the shelf. If you’re looking for a time-traveling romance, Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone and the Ruby Red Trilogy by Kerstin Gier both have mystery, excitement, and some swoon-worthy scenes.

Sexual Content

  • Klara sees Callum watching for danger. Klara goes to him and Callum “took her waist between his strong hands, pulling her close. In a swift movement, he turned Klara so that her back was against a nearby tree. His body flush against hers. She could feel every inch of him. . . His lips pressed hungrily against hers, and she grasped the nape of his neck, wanting him closer. . . Their lips danced. She willed him to move faster, harder against hers. Her tongue dipped into his mouth and he moaned at the contact.” The two do not go further. The scene is described over a page.
  • After kissing Klara, Callum thinks about how “He had only kissed one girl before.”
  • After a near death experience, Klara tells Callum to kiss her. “His lips descended on hers, slow and meaningful. . . He slid the palm of his hand down to the back of her neck, she shuddered.”
  • Klara told Callum that she could send him back to his own time. He refuses her offer. Then, “his lips found her hairline and lingered there. He felt her palms up his back, felt his muscles tighten in response to her touch. . . Klara wanted him here, too. . . Everything that was fierce and gentle in Callum flowed out of his touch and into her . . .” They stop kissing when they are interrupted. The scene is described over a page.
  • While listening to a band and dancing, Callum “pulled her even closer, lifting her so she was on her toes. . . She pushed her fingers into his hair. He moaned, feeling euphoric. His lips descended to hers.” The kiss is described over half a page.

Violence

  • To pay for their meals, Callum and his friend, Thomas, fought in a local pub. Callum recalls one fight when “Thomas got pummeled. . . Sounds still rang in Callum’s ears: the thud of fist and flesh, the sickening crunch of bone.”
  • One night, Callum comes across Thomas lying in the street. “Thomas lay on the ground, his legs splayed at sickening angles. Blood seeped through his shirt. . . [Callum] pressed his hands against the deep slice that marred his friend’s torso. A knife wound.” 
  • While Callum kneeled next to Thomas, his “world flipped sideways. A blow had hit Callum like a runaway carriage. . . pain exploded along his ribs.” Thomas’s killer steps out of the shadows and “Callum didn’t see the blow coming, only felt the pain searing across his temple as he was thrown to the ground again.” 
  • During the fight, the man stabs Callum. “Callum touched his side, and his fingers came away with blood. He watched as crimson spread across his shirt. . . He tried to take a step, only to crumple to the ground beside Thomas, whose head rested limp against his chest.” Callum passes out. When he awakens, he is in another time period and he assumes Thomas is dead. The fight scene is described over four pages. 
  • A man steps out of a fog and grabs Klara’s throat. “He squeezed tighter, making her sputter. Her lungs worked fruitlessly, burning and straining like her ribs had been welded shut. He was trying to kill her. Was killing her.” Callum jumps to Klara’s aide and “ lunged forward and sunk his dagger into the man’s thigh. . . crying out in pain, the man released his grip slightly, allowing Klara to pull out of his grasp.”
  • While fighting the man, “A powerful burst of energy exploded inside [Klara], moving in electric waves outward from her chest into her limbs. Her fingertips felt like live wires. . . it suddenly sparked into a bright, white light that wiped away everything else.” Klara’s power sends the man into a different realm. The fight scene is described over four pages.
  • A beast appears “standing as tall as a horse and twice as wide, it bore the head of a snake, the form of a panther, and the cloven hooves of a demon.” The beast corners Klara, and Callum comes to her aid. “The creature lunged at Callum. He threw all of his strength at the beast, ducking down and ramming his shoulder into its stomach. . . [Klara] slam[ed] her phone into the beast’s snapping jaws.” 
  • During the fight with the beast, “the monster swung its neck like an unbroken horse, throwing Callum head over heels into the nearest partition wall. . . His body exploded with pain.” While Callum is down, “The monster lumbered toward [Klara], its tongue lashing the air as its hideous head darted and swayed. Its monstrous skull smashed into Klara’s side and sent her sliding along the floor.”
  • As the fight with the beast continues, Callum “slammed the rock into the beast’s spine, the spot on the neck where the scales met fur. The monster shrieked in pain. . . its scaled back, [was] now slick with dark blood as the monster fell on its side.” After being injured, the monster turned into “a pile of dust on the floor.” The bloody fight is described over five pages.
  • While fighting in the pubs, if Callum had a bad fight, his master “would be so mad that the beatings wouldn’t stop until I did better in the next fight.”
  • While in the forest, a god in the shape of a stag appears to Klara. Soon, another monster appears and attacks the stag. “The stag was crumpled before her, his neck in the jaws of another beast. Familiar teeth sunk into the animal’s furred flesh.”
  • Once the stag is out of the way, the monster goes after Klara. The beast “snapped its head up from the stag’s neck, blood dripping from the pearly points of its teeth.” Klara ran, but “spit flew from its mouth and landed with a heavy smack on the tree, acid sizzling where it met the bark—right next to her face.” Eventually, “the leopard-like tail came around and pinned Klara against the tree. Splinters cut through the back of her jacket and into the soft flesh of her skin. She convulsed with a full-body shiver as its jaws opened.” 
  • During the fight, the stag recovers and charges the monster that has Klara pinned against a tree. Once free, “Klara grabbed the broken antler from the forest floor and rammed it into the beast’s eye. The black pupil sunk like putty around the shard, which shuddered violently in her hand the deeper she plunged it in . . . the beast shrieked then collapsed into darkly shimmering dust.” The fight is described over six pages.
  • Aion, a man who Callum has only seen once, follows Callum. When Callum confronts him, Aion refuses to answer any questions. “Callum’s knuckles sunk into Aion’s cheek and nose, glancing off bone. His cry was muffled by Callum’s fist. He drew his hand back, chest heaving. A line of dark blood trickled from Aion’s nostril and over his lip.”
  • While at a mystic site, another monster attacks Klara and Callum. “Callum crouched in front of the beast, sword raised. With a twist of her heart, she noticed the blood splashed across his leg. His limp. . . [Callum] lunged again, this time striking the beast’s neck with the broad side of the sword. Rearing its head, the beast cried out. Then, it swung down in a flash. . . sinking its teeth into Callum’s side.”
  • As Callum and the beast fight, Klara jumps in. “She grabbed the hilt and ran headlong toward the creature. . . leaping as high as she could, Klara bore down and drove the blade into the monster’s open mouth.” When nothing else works, Klara uses her power against the beast, causing the beast to dissolve “until nothing more than a shimmering curtain of gold dust remained.” The scene is described over four pages.
  • Four beasts that “looked as if they were plucked straight from the pits of hell” attack Callum. When the lead beast runs at him, Callum “dropped, flattening his body against the ground to avoid the snarling beast . . . One hand grasped the beast’s muzzle, the other the meat of its neck. Callum felt the crunch of its crooked and uneven teeth under his fingers as he tightened his grip, then used the beast’s own weight to swing it away—and let go.”
  • As the fight continues, “Callum fell to his knee and thrust the dirk upward, catching the creature’s soft belly with his blade. . . The terrible sound of ripping flesh filled his ears. Hot blood splattered in his hair and face. . .” 
  • The beasts almost overtake Callum when one of them “sunk its claw into the front of Callum’s chest. The bite of fang and flesh tore a scream from his lungs.” After Callum fights the beasts, Llaw, a demigod who is trying to kill all of the Pillars, appears and attacks. “Llaw was strong. He stole the remaining breath from Callum’s belly with a sharp kick, sending his body reeling like he had run full force into one of the standing stones. Pain flared in his injured shoulder. Callum fell to his knees. Llaw drove a fist into his chest.”  At the end of the six pages of fighting, Callum’s “vision faded, along with the beat of his heart.”
  • When Klara finds Callum’s body, she pleads to the god Cernunnos. However, Llaw appears. “Llaw’s boot slammed against her chest, pinning her to the ground. The hound by his side. . . crouched. With its sickening sharp claws carving up the earth as it moved, the creature inched toward her until its snapping, snarling jaw was nearly pressed against her throat.” Llaw “pressed his foot down on her chest until a rib snapped.”
  • Klara calls on her powers and is able to distract Llaw. Then, she swung her sword. “The hilt shuddered in her fingers as the blade met resistance—as it cut through the flesh and bone of Llaw’s arm. Then the sword was free again, a swatch of blood on silver the only evidence that she hadn’t missed.”
  • At the end of the fight, Klara stabs Llaw in the chest. “He shuddered violently, like he’d been pushed onto her blade. . . She felt his body go limp.” Klara and Llaw’s fight scene is described over seven pages. 

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Callum thinks back to a time when he had whisky at a pub.     
  • After Callum gets into a fight, Klara calls a doctor. The doctor assumes Callum is drunk. The doctor said, “this young man needs aspirin, water, and perhaps to reconsider his life choices, if he’s already this drunk so early in the morning.” 
  • Klara and Callum go to a bar to listen to a band. Other people are served beer.
  • Klara’s grandmother “smoked a joint every Christmas.”
  • Klara’s father talks about the night before he married Klara’s mother when they had champagne.

Language

  • Profanity is used infrequently. Profanity includes ass, bastard, crap, damn, hell, pissed, and shit.
  • Goddamn is used once.
  • God, oh my God, and Jesus are used as exclamations a few times. 

Supernatural

  • In the woods, Klara and Callum come across an area that looks like a fairy ring. Then, a fog begins to take form. “The air in front of [Klara] began to shimmer as if it was the height of summer—but the air turned suddenly cold. . . The mist grew thicker still with every passing second, until it was a curtain of light and shadow. . . Callum watched in horror as a hand emerged from the mist and reached for her.” A man steps out of the fog. 
  • The story revolves around Samhain, “a Gaelic holiday, similar to Halloween, celebrating the barriers of the human and spirit world thinning out on October 31 through November 1, allowing crossover from both realms.”
  • Callum learns that Thomas was visiting mystical centers. A man tells Callum, “Different centers are thought to be closer to different gods or different locations in the Otherworld. . . Some say energy flows at these sites – at these mystic centers, or thin places— especially at certain times of the year, or with specific celestial events, the power of which is beyond our understanding.”
  • If Klara concentrates, she can feel the “pull of the Otherworld.” While trying to understand her powers, Klara walks into a forest and a stag steps out of the mist. “She watched in awe as the stag fell away, its body transforming until the only thing that remained of the beast were its antlers” that “crowned a man.” The man is Cernunnos, the god of the wilds, of nature, and of life itself. He tells Klara that “my essence is connected to the soil, the leaves, the trees, the ocean.” 
  • Callum wants to find the “bean-nighe” who is part of the Fair Folk. The bean-nighe “appears to those she chooses, and those who will die.” To find a bean-nighe, Callum will need to go to a lake, take part of his shirt, “soak it in your blood, and leave it in the waters. With it, you must swear to leave your life—if the bean-nighe would so choose to take it.” When Callum follows these directions, he asks the bean-nighe for “the strength of ten men” so he can protect Klara.
  • Klara goes to a mystic site. While there, a “pearl of light” appears. “The pearl grew. . . the spin stopped abruptly, and it flattened in the air in front of her, casting her in a blaze of white. . . Klara cried out, at first in shock, then in agony. It felt like she was being scorched alive.” The light takes her through a vision of the past.

Spiritual Content

  • Arianrhod, the Goddess of the Silver Wheel is “a primal figure of female strength—often associated with the moon, she had dominion over the sky, reincarnation, and even time and fate itself.” The goddess appears to Klara and Callum. Arianrhod shows a vision to Callum. “The fog gathered around them again. . . A familiar form took shape in front of Callum’s eyes. His chest wrenched open with disbelief and wonder.” Callum is shown his friend Thomas, and Arianrhod explains that “Thomas’s life was precious—more precious than most of the humans who walk this earth. There was a power in his blood more valuable than any mortal treasure. . .”
  • The Goddess reveals that Callum’s friends, Thomas, and Klara are both “pillars.” Arianrhod divided her powers “amongst ten human souls that would be born into your world. . . Spread across the centuries, each of the ten chosen ones became a Pillar of Time, with my power sealed within their blood.” 
  • Arianrhod’s son, Llaw, is a demigod who is trying to kill all the Pillars so he can gain their power. The goddess explains that “Llaw has already taken the power from the other nine vessels, but my power can all be restored as long as you live past Samhain.” If Llaw isn’t stopped, chaos will reign and time itself will be destroyed.

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy

Cammie is not over her breakup with Josh, and after the winter break, all she wants is for things to go back to normal. But her mother is keeping secrets, the East Wing of the school is closed off, and an unwelcome intruder on a Covert Operations assignment leaves Cammie and her friends on edge.

It should be mentioned that the Gallagher Academy is an all-girls spy school, so Cammie and her friends are less than prepared when it is revealed that an all-boys spy school exists and—even worse—some of those boys will be attending the Gallagher Academy in an exchange program. Suddenly, Cammie, Bex, Liz, and Macey find themselves at odds with their strange new classmates. Why are the boys really here? Why won’t any of them talk about their own school, Blackthorne? And is Zach just a boy spy on an innocent exchange program who happens to like Cammie, or is something more sinister at hand? When Cammie is blamed for a security breach at the mansion, she knows something is not right. But will Cammie and her friends discover the truth about their male counterparts in time to stop whatever nefarious schemes are underfoot?

Despite being a well-trained spy who could incapacitate a person in under eight seconds, Cammie remains a relatable and lovable character who embodies the awkwardness of a typical girl. Readers will fall in love with Cammie, who has impressive spy skills and yet is completely baffled by boys. At one point, Cammie thinks, “Boys! Are they always this impossible? Do they always say cryptic, indecipherable things?” Because the story is told from Cammie’s point of view, readers will get an inside look at her thoughts and feelings, which makes Cammie an endearing character. At times, Cammie’s jumbled emotions will make readers hurt along with her. Especially when Cammie sneaks off alone and wonders if “maybe crying is like everything else we do—it’s best if you don’t get caught.”

Luckily, Cammie has a group of friends that always has her back. Bex is fiercely loyal, while Liz’s optimistic outlook is a welcome relief. Macey adds a little humor with her boy translations. By the end of the book, readers will feel as if the Gallagher Girls are friends. However, that doesn’t mean that Zach is not a welcome addition to Cammie’s life. While his charm is confusing to Cammie, it’s hard not to fall in love with his tough-boy attitude.

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy continues the series in a satisfying way, bringing back favorite characters from book one with the welcome addition of the Blackthorne boys. In typical Ally Carter style, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy begins with suspense and leaves the reader turning pages until the very end. Through first-person narration, Carter creates a fun story full of relatable characters and explores teen romance in a wholesome way that is perfect for younger readers. If you haven’t bought the entire series yet, you will want to. Even though there are six books in the series, each book will have readers ready to jump back into the Gallagher Girls’ world.

Sexual Content

  • Zach leans in to kiss Cammie, but they are interrupted. “His hands were warm on the back of my neck; his fingers laced through my hair, and he tilted his head and he moved in. I closed my eyes. And I heard, ‘Oh my gosh! Cammie, is that you?’”
  • Zach kisses Cammie. “The last thing I expected was to feel his arms sliding around me, to sense the whole world turning upside down as Zach dipped me in the middle of the foyer and pressed his lips to mine.”

Violence

  • In P.E. class, Cammie “hauled off and kicked the heavy [punching] bag—hard—and it flew back and hit [Zach] in the stomach. For a second he stood there, doubled over, trying to catch his breath.”
  • Cammie and her friends find their teacher, who had been injured by a thief. “Our teacher fell into their arms. Blood stained the side of his face, and his voice was faint as he lay on the floor and said, ‘He got it.’”
  • Cammie reacts when Zach grabs her. “Without stopping to think, I stepped back into my attacker, tried to flip him over my head, but he countered his weight at that precise time, stopping my momentum.”
  • During what turns out to have been a test of their skills, the Gallagher Girls fight to stop a thief and his guards. “For a moment it seemed to be raining Gallagher Girls. All around me fists flew, kicks landed . . . I’d knocked a guard to the ground and was struggling with a Napotine patch . . . the next time I saw [Liz] she was jumping from the cab, landing on the back of a guard who had been chasing Eva.” The fight continues over four pages.

Drugs and Alcohol

  • Cammie remembers how her “mom gave Josh some tea that’s supposed to wipe a person’s memory blank” to make him forget what he knew about the Gallagher Academy.

Language

  • None

Supernatural

  • None

Spiritual Content

  • None

 

 

Last Night at the Telegraph Club

Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the feeling took root—that desire to look, to move closer, to touch. Whenever it started growing, it definitely bloomed the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. Suddenly everything seemed possible. 

But America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father—despite his hard-won citizenship—Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day. 

When Lily is first introduced, she is shy and reserved which is evident in her interactions with her best friend, Shirley. Shirley is more outgoing and assertive and outshines Lily most of the time. Whenever Lily brings up her ambitions to study space, Shirley quickly dismisses them as boring and insignificant. In part due to her Chinese heritage, Shirley has more realistic goals—getting married and becoming a mother.  

Then, Lily meets Kath. Kath encourages Lily’s ambitions and over time they become extremely close friends. Lily has been curious about the Telegraph Club (a lesbian club) after seeing an advertisement for it depicting a male impersonator. When Kath tells Lily that she has been to the Telegraph Club, Lily only becomes more curious about what is inside.  One night, they decide to visit the club. At the club, Lily discovers a whole new world that makes her question her identity.  Lily begins to explore her sexuality, which brings about an array of conflicts. 

Readers will have no trouble relating to Lily. She is dedicated to her family and culture but simultaneously struggles to find her place in the world. She also wonders whether there is a place for her outside of Chinatown. Some of the chapters are dedicated to discussing Lily’s family members, which allows readers to get to know Lily’s backstory better. This includes her mother, father, and aunt. While these backstories are interesting and provide extra detail to the story, it would’ve been more interesting to hear parts of the story told by Kath or Shirley because they are much more involved in the plot line. 

Another enjoyable part of the story is visual timelines that are provided every couple of chapters. Communism, McCarthyism, and xenophobia are big aspects of conflict within the Chinese community at this time frame. Therefore, these timelines give readers a wider view of what was happening during the 1950s. 

Overall, Last Night at the Telegraph Club is a great depiction of young romance, especially LGBTQ romance. Kath and Lily’s love story is not straightforward, but has many twists and turns along the way which makes the plot more realistic. The book won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2021. This was the first time a book with a female LGBTQ lead won the award. 

Sexual Content  

  • Lily has a sexual awakening after seeing a book featuring “two women on the cover, a blonde and a brunette. The blonde wore a pink negligee and knelt on the ground, eyes cast down demurely while the shapely brunette lurked behind her.” 
  • The girls go bowling. When their movements expose parts of their legs, some men “eye the girls and grin at each other.” 
  • Lily and Kath have a brief sexual interaction in an empty classroom where “Kath put her hand between Lily’s legs, and Lily helped her, fumbling with her underwear.” 
  • When Shirley is changing into a dress, Lily begins to feel awkward and “couldn’t help but notice the soft rise of Shirley’s breasts over the cups of the bodice; the way they shifted when she twisted back and forth.” 

Violence  

  • Police raid the Telegraph Club. During the raid, Lily and Kath are separated. Lily reads the newspapers account of the raid, using the terms “sexual deviates” and “lewd conduct” to describe the club’s attendees and activities. 
  • Lily tells her mother about her sexuality. To this, her mother reacts extremely negatively, slapping Lily and saying, “there are no homosexuals in this family.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • While at the Telegraph Club, Lily has her first beer which she describes as tasting “frothy and a little like soapy water, but it was cold and went down more easily than she anticipated.” 
  • After she finishes the beer, Lily says she feels “a little warm, but not unpleasantly so.” 
  • While at a friend’s house, Lily impulsively smokes a cigarette hoping it “might burn away the haze of wine and the horrible day she’d had.” 
  • After the Telegraph Club is raided, a newspaper article discusses how “marijuana cigarettes were offered, and Benzedrine, known as ‘bennies,’ were for sale” at the club.   

Language                                                                                                                                               

  • None 

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None

500 Words or Less

Nic Chen doesn’t want to spend her senior year known as the girl who cheated on her lovable boyfriend with his best friend and made him transfer schools. She doesn’t want to continue to be ostracized. She doesn’t want to be stared at as she walks down the hallway or have people write “whore” on her locker in lipstick. So, when an opportunity arises to write a classmate’s college admissions essay, Nic tries to use it as an opportunity to rebrand herself and change her reputation. 

As Nic is asked to write more and more essays, she begins to walk in her classmate’s shoes. But the more essays Nic writes, the more unsure of herself she becomes. Weighed down by the guilt of cheating on her ex-boyfriend and writing other people’s essays, Nic questions the person she is becoming and if she is still the perfect straight A, Ivy League-bound teenager society wants her to be. 

Written in poetic verse, 500 Words or Less is very approachable and is a great introduction to poetry and novels written in verse. Interestingly, Rosario includes the essays that Nic writes for her classmates throughout the book. Told mainly from Nic’s perspective, the reader will see Nic’s journey as she learns to move on from her failed relationship, deals with the heartache of breaking up with her first love, and rebuilds herself knowing she acted terribly wrong. Nic is a complex character. She is a determined, passionate girl, who has admittedly made mistakes. Readers will relate to Nic’s struggles with self-confidence, knowing who she is, and wondering if her actions define her. She explains, “I’m still the girl / who cheated on her boyfriend, / the girl who cheated / on those essays, / the girl who cheated / because maybe / that’s who I am.” Throughout this book, Nic learns to forgive and accept herself as well as forgive the people who have hurt her. 

Through Nic and her classmate’s experiences in their senior year of high school, 500 Words or Less takes a look at the pressures of high school and of getting into the right college. Nic explains that she and her classmates “waited for our lives to change / with a single e-mail / from a university / that wanted us.” Furthermore, Nic explores the pressure she and her classmates receive from their parents to be successful and get into the right school. When Jordan, an old friend, tells Nic he is no longer going to Princeton, he explains, “I was always supposed to go / to Princeton. / Because I was supposed to become / my father, / and my father is an asshole.” In the end, Nic and Jordan end up not going to Princeton. Rather than following their parents’ dreams for them, Nic and Jordan decide to do what’s best for themselves, showing that getting into the perfect college will not make or break someone’s life and that any path after high school is valid. 

500 Words or Less also touches on the topic of sexism. Nic points out that while people began to alienate her and write “whore” on her locker, everybody still likes Jordan, the guy she cheated with. She thinks to herself “was there even a male equivalent / to the word ‘whore?’/ There were words/ but none that carried / the same weight.” While Nic is outcasted, Jordan remains the popular kid, showing the blatant misogyny in the treatment of men and women even when they both make the same mistake. 

The book also touches on racism. When Jordan asks Nic for help on homework in Japanese, Nic says, “You know I’m part Chinese, Jordan.” Jordan responds, “It’s like the same thing- / Chinese, Japanese, Korean.” In another instance, a friend tells Nic that she’s “lucky because / half-Asians were always prettier than/ white girls like her.” Nic feels uncomfortable when her friend tells her this. However, Nic isn’t the only person who feels stereotyped. In a college application essay, an African American classmate writes, “I want to attend [this college] because I want to be more than a football player. In America, this is not what young black men are supposed to do . . . I want to be more than an athlete, more than a black man who has a great arm.” Although people would like to “forget that race exists,” Nic points out the subtle ways racism leaks into society, negatively affecting people of color.  

Furthermore, 500 Words or Less examines classism, as Nic’s school is predominantly full of upper-class students whose parents can afford to “[donate] handsomely to the school” they are applying to. Nic herself comes from a wealthy family. She admits that even though she charges $300 per essay, she doesn’t need the money. However, there are a few students who are lower class and do not have the same opportunities as the richer students. Unlike the rich students who know they can go to college no matter what, to some of these students going to college “means everything” as it is a path to upward social mobility.  

Overall, 500 Words or Less is an engaging book, written uniquely with a diverse cast of characters. However, it’s best for mature readers because of the profanity, alcoholism, and normalized teenage drinking. Readers who are applying to college and figuring out what they want to do after high school will relate to Nic’s story and learn that getting into the perfect school is not everything. Furthermore, 500 Words or Less explains that the choices you make in high school do not define you. If you’re ready to jump into another engaging book with a protagonist who is trying to figure out who she is, grab a copy of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez. 

Sexual Content  

  • At a party Nic throws, she and her boyfriend went into her father’s office to find a drink. Nic remembers she was “drunk / on love / and alcohol. / I ran my fingers along the side of his body. / He squirmed / and smirked / and grabbed my hand in his. / He pulled me closer. / Our lips met.” He begins to tug at “the zipper on my dress, / fumbled with the clasps on my bra. / I unlocked my lips and stepped away.” Nic is worried someone will find them and leads Ben up to her room. She describes, “I untangled my hand from his / and fell on top of my bed . . . / [He] fell on top of me . . .  / [and] this time I didn’t stop him.” 
  • On a date, Nic and her boyfriend stop for a bite to eat. As the two eat, Nic thinks, “I wanted to kiss him.” 
  • At Jordan’s party, Nic and Jordan “ended up / upstairs” and have sex. It is suggested that they have sex once or twice more.  

Violence  

  • Nic’s boyfriend dies in a tragic snowboarding accident. Nic explains “teenagers didn’t die in avalanches/ they died in / car crashes, / drunk-driving accidents, / drug overdoses, / gunshot wounds, / or suicide.” After the accident, Nic heavily researches avalanches to understand how he died. She finds out “the force alone / of snow / sliding down a mountain / can kill you,” or “one suffocates after being trapped / in the snow / for thirty minutes.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • During a family dinner, Nic’s father drinks wine. 
  • Nic’s mother was a heavy drinker. Nic remembers how her mother “couldn’t / French braid / my hair / because she was / drunk.” Her father would often find her mom “slumped in a chair” with “an empty bottle of wine” when he came home from work.  
  • Nic remembers how “Mom poured herself another / from a bottle of chardonnay / on one of the last nights / before she disappeared.”  
  • When Nic and her friend Kitty arrive at a party, they are greeted by the host, who smells like “a pitcher of margaritas.” At this party they find “handles / of cheap vodka, rum, and whiskey / wafting toxic smells on the kitchen counter,” along with a variety of mixers.  
  • At the party, Kitty pours “everything- / and I mean everything, / including the dredges of empty bottles- / into a plastic cup” and takes “a large gulp.” Nic leaves the party without checking on Kitty, leaving her “shit-faced” and extremely “drunk.” 
  • Nic reminisces on the party she threw two years ago where she first reconnected with her boyfriend. “Strangers filled empty spaces, / squeezing by, / finding friends / and a beer.” Nic found him in the kitchen drinking “a Keystone Light/ slowly.” The pair go into Nic’s father’s study and she offers him “whiskey, bourbon, or scotch” and pours the two of them “a glass of Glenrothes 1970 / single-malt whiskey,” which Nic explains is a “five-thousand-dollar bottle / of whiskey.” 
  • In a draft of an essay Nic is writing for someone else, she writes about this person’s mother who “is an alcoholic, which leads me to my biggest fear in college—drinking. . . I go to parties all the time. . . But I don’t drink. I haven’t drank.” 
  • At a barbecue, someone asks Nic to “grab a beer for me.” 
  • Nic reminisces about how it all went wrong with her ex-boyfriend. She thinks, “it was polishing off a bottle of Jameson / with Jordan / last summer, / at his party.” As Nic leaves this party she encounters “stragglers smok[ing] / cigarettes and weed.” 
  • Nic remembers previous Christmases where here mom “drank a bottle of Riesling / and passed out under the tree.” 

Language    

  • Profanity is used often. Profanity includes whore, shit, bitch, goddamn, fuck, slut, ass, and asshole.  
  • After the school finds out that Nic cheated on her boyfriend, her peers begin to bully her, calling her names like “slut” and repeatedly writing “whore” on her locker.  

Supernatural  

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • None 

The Way You Make Me Feel

Sixteen-year-old Clara Shin doesn’t take life too seriously, but when she pushes one joke too far, her dad sentences her to a summer working on his food truck the KoBra. Clara was supposed to go on vacation to Tulum to visit her social media influencer mom; she was supposed to spend lazy days at the pool with her buddies. Instead, she is stuck in a sweaty Korean-Brazilian food truck all day, every day? Worse still, she is working alongside her nemesis, Rose Carver. It’s definitely not the carefree summer Clara had imagined.  

But as time goes on, it turns out that maybe Rose isn’t so bad. And maybe the boy named Hamlet (yes, Hamlet) who’s crushing on Clara is pretty cute. And perhaps Clara actually feels invested in her dad’s business. What if taking this summer seriously means Clara has to leave her old self behind?  

Clara doesn’t mind being the center of attention if she’s carrying out a prank or causing mischief. Because of her bad attitude, Clara is a surprisingly unlikable protagonist who always focuses on herself. Even though Clara befriends Rose and Hamlet, the reader is left wondering why two nice, over-achieving teens would spend time with Clara. When forced to work at her father’s food truck, Clara matures slightly. Unfortunately, Clara’s personal growth doesn’t make up for her poor attitude and her transformation at the end of the book is not believable. 

While there is a host of other characters in the book, none of them are well-developed. Clara’s nemesis, Rose, seems like a well-adjusted teenager, yet she has no friends. Rose’s lack of friends is not believable because it is never explained why she has no friends. Plus, after years of hating each other, the girls quickly become besties, which is a little unrealistic. In addition, Clara’s father ignores his daughter’s outrageous behavior and temper tantrums. Even when Clara travels out of the country to visit her mother without telling him, her father’s reaction is mild. Because Clara is the only character who is well-developed, readers are left confused—why do Rose and Clara’s father act as they do? 

The Way You Make Me Feel has a unique premise that revolves around a food truck; however, most of the conflict comes from Clara and Rose bickering, which becomes tedious. Several times throughout the story, Rose’s old friends appear—however, they are equally unlikable and add little to the story. The lack of character development and the absence of genuine conflict make The Way You Make Me Feel a book that will be quickly forgotten. While The Way You Make Me Feel is a disappointing read, Maureen Goo’s other books—Somewhere Only We Know and I Believe in A Thing Called Love—are excellent books that will make your heart swoon. However, If you’re hungry for a food-related romance, both A Pho Love Story by Loan Le and Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch are sure to please. 

Sexual Content  

  • While at a school dance, Clara and her friends “passed the time by taking Snapchats of people making out or groping one another on the dance floor.” 
  • One of Clara’s neighbors saw Clara “making out with my boyfriend” and doused them with a hose. 
  • Clara tells a friend that she and her boyfriend “made out so many times.” 
  • After Hamlet and Clara go on a date, Clara kisses him. Clara “took a step forward, and tugged him by his shirt until our hips bumped. . . I got up on my tippy-toes to reach his lips, and brushed them over his. . . He drew me in closer until our bodies were pressed against each other, one of my hands still clutching his shirt, the other wrapped around his neck, curling into his hair.” 
  • Hamlet’s mom “bought an American customer-service telemarking company in Beijing but didn’t realize until weeks into it that it was for sex toys.” 
  • After coming back from a trip, Hamlet picks Clara up from the airport. “Then he leaned over and kissed me. Kissing Hamlet felt like coming home, for real. I stood up on my toes to deepen the kiss. . .” They kiss several other times, but it is not described. 

Violence  

  • While at prom, Clara and her friends pull a prank. After being voted the prom queen, one of Clara’s friends dumps a bucket of fake blood on her. Rose, who helped plan the prom, got angry and grabbed onto Clara’s wrist. “Rose growled as she let go of one of my wrists to take another swipe at my crown. . . There were a few people onstage now, dragging us apart.” The two girls slip on the fake blood and knock over a lantern that causes a fire. 

 Drugs and Alcohol  

  • In ninth grade, Clara smoked a cigarette in the school bathroom. It was her first time trying a cigarette, but she got caught and was suspended. 
  • Clara and her friends go to a party and drink beer. 
  • Clara and her mom go to a party. While at the party, Clara “continued to drink—people kept offering me shots and various frosty cupped drinks with fruit in them.” Clara gets drunk and has a hangover the next morning. 
  • The morning after the party, one of Clara’s mom’s friends was drinking a Bloody Mary. 

Language    

  • Clara calls people names including jerk, nutjob, dick, butt-kisser, incompetent clown, and total fascist. 
  • Clara’s dad tells her that she is acting like a “little butthole.” 
  • Oh my God, God, and Jesus are all occasionally used as exclamations.  
  • Profanity is used sometimes. Profanity includes ass, damn, crap, freaking, piss, and WTF.  

Supernatural 

  • None 

Spiritual Content  

  • When Clara’s friend Patrick gets injured, he texts her saying his parents “think Jesus was punishing them for letting me date you.” 

What My Mother Doesn’t Know

When Sophie Stein enters high school, she finds herself falling in love with a boy named Dylan. However, as she goes through some difficult self-discovery, she realizes that she and Dylan are not compatible. Instead of being attracted to Dylan’s intellect, Sophie is only attracted to him physically. Meanwhile, the ups and downs of this romance lead Sophie to chat online with Chaz. At first, Chaz gives Sophie the validation she seeks, but Chaz isn’t prince charming. Instead, Chaz makes sexual comments toward Sophie, who finds herself alone again. 

Then Sophie meets Murphy, an unpopular boy who isn’t conventionally attractive. Despite this, Sophie becomes enamored by him and they start hanging out. Sophie discovers that she has more in common with Murphy than she initially thought, and she eventually falls in love with him. In this relationship, her connection with Murphy is stronger than anything she had previously experienced. However, Sophie has a difficult time telling her two best friends about the romance, since most of the school has spent many years making fun of Murphy.  

Sophie is a relatable character dealing with the average struggles of a teenager. Throughout the novel, she attempts to discover who she is in both her romantic life and family life. She also combats peer pressure and her own insecurities. In the end, Sophie overcomes her fears of becoming unpopular and is no longer afraid to show her affection toward Murphy. One of the big themes of this novel is that attempting to be popular and well-liked should not come above what brings happiness. Another theme is to not judge a book by its cover. At first, Sophie judges Murphy, but when she looks beyond his appearance Sophie forms a beautiful relationship with him. These messages will resonate with many teens. 

The story’s conclusion is predictable because from the first time Murphy appears Sophie finds herself dealing with a strange attraction toward him. Plus, the story lacks conflict and the ending is a bit too happily ever after. Because Sophie is a teenager, she can act a little childish at times. She approaches many things, like romance, for the first time in her life. Therefore, she comes across as a bit naive when dealing with these new situations. Since Sophie focuses a lot on her blooming sexuality and the intense attraction she feels towards the men in her life, only big romance fans will enjoy What My Mother Doesn’t Know.  

What My Mother Doesn’t Know is told through a series of poems and diary entries that Sophie writes, making it a quick read. While the novel is told entirely from the perspective of the main character, readers won’t find it difficult to relate to other characters in the book. Not only are Sophie’s romantic interests well-developed, but so are her best friends and parents. Overall, the story is a cute tale of teenage romance.

Sexual Content  

  • After sitting on a guy’s lap in a car, Sophie said it felt like “some R-rated movie and everyone else in the car was just going to fade away and this guy and I were going to start making out.” 
  • Sophie makes sexual references to prove that her father is not actually listening to her. When he asks how her day at school was, she says, “We played strip poker during third period and I lost.” Her dad replies, “‘That’s nice,’ without even looking up from his meatloaf.”  
  • Sophie has to listen to her friend, Grace, “moan about how horny she is.” 
  • Sophie says her “breasts have been growing so fast lately that if [she] were to sit there and watch them for a while . . . [she] could actually see them getting bigger.” 
  • Sophie discusses how her mother has never talked to her about safe sex or birth control, yet her mother is still scared Sophie will “get pregnant or something.” 
  • Sophie and her friends go to the ice cream shop wearing no clothes under their coats: “This afternoon before we put on our raincoats, we took everything else off!” 
  • Sophie talks about how she only really liked Dylan physically, saying, “If Dylan and I had met by chatting on the Net . . . instead of face to face and I hadn’t seen his lips or the way he moves his hips when he does that sexy dance and I hadn’t had a chance to look into his eyes and be dazzled by their size and all that I had seen were his letters on my screen, then . . . I think I would have liked him less.”  
  • Chaz tells Sophie that one of his favorite things to do is “jerk off in libraries.” 
  • While waiting for her mother after the school dance, a boy grabs Sophie’s breast on a dare. “The guy standing closest to me is suddenly bursting out laughing and grabbing my breasts with his slimy paws.” 
  • While having breakfast at a hotel, Sophie imagines “what it would be like to be lying naked underneath a sheet while a strange man rubbed oil all over my body.” 
  • Sophie dreams about having a man “remove every stitch of [her] clothes.” The man in her vision turns into Murphy and she dreams of “how his hands will feel cupping the lace of [her] bra.” 

Violence  

  • When a boy grabs Sophie’s breast after the school dance, she “slams [her] knuckles into his chin” and “smashes [her] foot into his friend’s knee.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

  • Sophie briefly mentioned how her mother is “stuffing Hershey’s Kisses into her mouth, chain-smoking, watching her soaps, and weeping.”  

Language                                                                                                                                               

  • None 

Supernatural  

  • None 

 Spiritual Content  

  • Sophie flashes back to a confrontation with a group of girls where she is ridiculed for her faith. The girls ask Sophie’s friends, “Don’t you know you aren’t supposed to play with anyone who doesn’t go to church?” 
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