What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler - MANY

What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler, 336 pages. HarperTeen, 2015. $11 

Language: R (79 swears 5 'f'); Mature Content: R (sexual assault mentioned, condoms mentioned, off page sex) Violence: R (rape- described with innuendo) 

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL 

APPEALS TO: MANY

17yo Kate and Ben have been friends since elementary school and now she wants more than that. They began dating and everything was going well until accusations of assault started happening to Ben’s teammates. Many people want to hide the evidence and pretend nothing happened but Kate can’t get the wrongdoing out of her head. Secrets come out after a video was shared. The aftermath will drastically change lives and the community of Coral Sands, Iowa.

I’m frustrated with the situation the community is dealing with. I’m also frustrated with some of the main character’s actions. The author represents entitlement and community politics well. The ethnicity is predominantly white, with an African American deputy mentioned. 

LynnDell Watson, DHS Librarian

From Cindy - Hartzler's story is heart-breaking and so apt - When someone is raped and the community conspires to cover it up using "boys will be boys" as an excuse - how do you really respond?  So many excellent scenes about how to respond to the different dynamics of the situation - from a teacher handling "funny" comments in the classroom, to trying understand why some think "she deserved it".  The scenes that you might think are descriptive are deftly handled - all innuendo, not graphic except in your imagination.

Immortality: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz - MANY

Immortality: A Love Story (The Anatomy Duology #2) by Dana Schwartz. 400 pages Wednesday Books, 2023. $10. 

Language: PG (6 swears 0 'f'); Mature Content: PG-13 (kissing);  Violence: PG-13 (bloody death) 

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ADVISABLE 

APPEALS TO: MANY

18yo Hazel lives in her family’s manor and continues to help those in need of medical care until she’s arrested for murder. She’s released and brought to the ailing princess to heal her. Hazel still has to fight the societal standards that believe a woman isn’t capable of intelligent work, let alone being a doctor. While at the palace treating the Princess, Hazel receives an invitation to a Companions to the Death meeting. She’s astonished at what she discovers! 

The romance is sweet. Intense parts kept me glued to the pages. I wish there was a third book in this series. The ethnicity is predominantly white with mention of a Black man. 

LynnDell Watson, DHS Librarian

SoulMatch by Declan Ryder - OPTIONAL

SoulMatch by Declan Ryder, 225 pages. Declan Ryder, 2024. $5.

Language: PG (4 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: G

BUYING ADVISORY: ADULTS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW

Sara (32yo) is missing something in her life, and her friend recommends a matchmaking app. She starts talking with Alex, and Sara falls fast and hard. Everything is perfect—until Sara wants to meet and Alex’s excuses start to sound suspicious.

The premise is farfetched but still could have been intriguing, if not for the poor execution. Besides the odd word choices and the repetitive sections of the story, the book was riddled with inconsistencies. It felt like Ryder forgot details from previous chapters when he wrote the next one and didn’t bother to double check.

The characters are implied white. The mature content rating is for alcohol use, kissing, and implied sex.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera - OPTIONAL

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera, 352 pages. Celadon Books (Macmillan), 2024. $27.

Language: R (243 swears, 94 “f”) ; Mature Content: R; Violence R

BUYING ADVISORY: ADULTS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Lucy (29yo) left her hometown five years ago after being accused of killing her best friend, Savvy. Her anonymity in California is shattered when Ben Owens (28yo) starts season two of his true crime podcast, trying to solve the cold case of Savvy’s murder. With her identity exposed, Lucy doesn’t have a reason to say no when her grandma asks Lucy to come back home for her birthday—with the murder fresh on everyone’s minds.

Tintera’s writing is compelling. I was invested from the first sentence—I couldn’t wait to figure out what was true and what wasn’t. With the subject matter at hand, Tintera did a fabulous job of balancing the thriller suspense with dark humor that provided comic relief—I laughed out loud so many times that I lost count. This is the first non-YA book that I’ve read by Tintera, and the only negative thing I have to say is that I’m disappointed that she put so much sexual content in the book. Everything else was great.

Paige is Black, Nina is Latina, and everyone else is implied White. The mature content rating is for drug and alcohol use; innuendo; illegal activity; groping; nudity; mentions of condoms, genitalia, rape, and oral sex; and sex. The violence is for blood and gore, assault, mentions of domestic violence, and murder.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo - OPTIONAL

Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo, 144 pages. Interstellar Flight Press, 2024. $15.

Language: R (8 swears, 6 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG-13

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

On the surface of everyday life, Han-gil is investigating suicides, but his assigned partners keep abandoning him because of his odd behavior—the things Han-gil does to investigate the paranormal murders that appear to be suicides. With his newest partner starting to ask questions and his sister out of town, Han-gil is stuck working with Yoonhae (27yo), an acquaintance from his past.

An outcast of both the normal and paranormal communities, Han-gil is just trying to do the best he can, which is relatable and pulls at the reader’s heartstrings from the very beginning. The magic was interesting, though the final battle felt anticlimactic. Despite that and the questions left unanswered, I still liked the conclusion that ended on a hopeful note.

Han-gil is Korean and bisexual, Azuna is Japanese, and the majority of other characters are Korean. The mature content rating is for transphobia content. The violence rating is for blood and gore, description of corpses, mentions of murder, suicide, and fantasy violence.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

My Father the Panda Killer by Jamie Jo Hoang - OPTIONAL

My Father the Panda Killer by Jamie Jo Hoang, 361 pages. Crown Books, 2023. $19. 

Language: R (81 swears 38 'f'); Mature Content: PG (The whole book is about generational trauma so it's a heavy topic) Violence: R (Graphic descriptions of war-time violence, rape, suicide, and deaths from starvation and violence; repeated child beatings) 

BUYING ADVISORY: HS, ADULT - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW 

It’s 17yo Jane’s last summer at home and she can’t wait to escape her Vietnamese father’s oppression when she goes to UCLA in the fall. Now she just has to figure out how to tell him, and her little brother Paul, who she worries will never forgive her for leaving like their mother did. But she has to get out. Her dad’s unpredictability and physical abuse have made Jane’s life unbearable, but so far she’s been able to shield Paul from the worst of it. Jane knows her dad must have suffered horrors during the war and during his escape to the United States, but Vietnamese people don’t talk of such things. As Jane learns more about his story, she starts to understand some of why he is the way he is, even as she understands that it doesn’t justify his behavior. 

This was a hard read, but an important one, and I openly wept a couple of times at the brutal reality of Jane’s life. Several of the beatings were pretty severe and my heart broke for Jane and Paul. Told in alternating chapters, the story bounces between Jane’s present day and the story of her dad’s life in and escape from Vietnam. We often only learn about the Vietnam War through the American lens and I appreciated the authentic telling of this part of history. It was also a window into the experience of children of refugees and their struggle to live in both worlds. I struggled, though, with a lack of condemnation of the abuse Jane suffered. She sort of just reconciles herself to it as the consequence of her dad’s horrific experiences rather than understanding that she’s being abused and getting help. I can’t say I liked this book, but I’m still glad I read it. Jane is Vietnamese-American. 

Andrea R

King Cheer by Molly Horton Booth, Stephanie Kate Strohm,and Jamie Green - OPTIONAL

King Cheer (Arden High) by Molly Horton Booth, Stephanie Kate Strohm and Jamie Green, 158 pages. GRAPHIC NOVEL Hyperion, 2024. $25 

Language: PG (5 swears, 0 "F") Mature Content: PG (relationship themes/LGBTQ issues) Violence: G 

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

It's cheer captain Leah's senior year and she has a lot on her plate, like getting into her dream college and questioning her identity. Leah has decided to step down and focus on her future, which means appointing a new captain. It isn't as easy as it seems when power hungry twins want to take over the cheer team and the basketball team wants to take over the gym. 

There were so many relationships in this book that it got hard for me to remember who was going out with who, or who wanted to go out with who. The art is colorful, bright, and well drawn, but some of the characters are androgynous, adding to my confusion. There are some good themes of finding oneself, inclusion, and what it means to be a leader. No race is specified, but there is a variety of skin color and identities. 

Michelle in the Middle 

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli - OPTIONAL

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli, 416 pages. St. Martin's Press/Wednesday Books, 2024. $15 

Language: R (25 swears  8 'f'); Mature Content: R (on-page sex); Violence: R (bloody deaths) 

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

18yo Rune lost her only family to witch hunters two years earlier when Nan told Rune to betray her. Nan was a witch who knew her time was up and she wanted to save Rune. Nan made Rune promise to turn her into the witch hunters and denounce everything she grew up knowing and loving. After Nan’s capture and death, Rune became the Crimson Moth; a vigilante who rescues witches and helps get them to freedom. Rune attends social events to discover the witches who are next in line to be captured, so she can swoop in and save them. Her disguise seems to be working but one guard suspects her and will do everything he can to catch her.

I enjoyed the mystery and the reveals. The world building was done well. The danger makes the story even more interesting. The ethnicity consists of mostly white, with ocher and golden skin tones mentioned. 

LynnDell Watson, DHS Librarian

The Lucky Poor by Mazie Lovie - OPTIONAL

The Lucky Poor by Mazie Lovie, 134 pages.  GRAPHIC NOVEL Iron Circus Comics, 2024. $12 

Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: G; Violence: G 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

Mazie starts out at age five, describing her journey to her first home at age 13, thanks to a gift from Habitat for Humanity. Based on the author's true story, the home becomes transformative for Mazie. Even though a new home can't fix every problem, it offers a second chance for Mazie, her mom, and her autistic younger brother. 

An honest slice of life memoir that helps build empathy for the struggles of others. Nice themes of family, hope, hard work, and charity. The art is bright and colorful, if a little simplistic. May be a good guide for those considering memoir writing. Race is never specified, but there is a variety of skin tones. 

Michelle in the Middle

Time Out by Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner, and Carlyn Greenwald - OPTIONAL

Time Out by Sean Hayes, Todd Milliner, and Carlyn Greenwald. 261 pages. Simon and Schuster, 2023. $19 

Language: R (217 swears 44 'f's); Mature Content: PG-13 (Passionate kissing. Mentions of sex, masturbation, and pornography. Sexually graphic homophobic slurs. Inappropriate images are drawn on a boy's locker.) Violence: PG-13 (Verbal and physical bullying, fist fights. A boy is intentionally hit by a car while riding his bike. A man aims a shot gun at two teenagers.) 

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

Barclay is a high school basketball star and the high school and the town love him. But on his 16th birthday, he decides a pep rally is the best place to announce that he is gay. All of the people he thought loved him have now turned on him. With his team against him, he turns to his best friend Amy. She gets him involved in her voting rights group. Barclay starts to find purpose and new friends off the court. Through the group, he meets the talented and handsome Christopher. It is a slow process but with time Barclay learns that some of his actions have been selfish and how to combat that. He learns to show up for his family who are all still grieving the recent death of their grandfather. He learns how to show up for his friends. And he learns how to be his complete self. 

At its heart, this is a good coming out story. I appreciate that Barclay does not have it all figured out at the beginning but he speaks his truth anyway. Over the course of the book he learns and grows and it is enjoyable to watch. He also learns that he is not the only one struggling with things and figures out that he can help others as well as himself. The book has excessive swear words that distract from the message and the homophobic slurs are sexually graphic in nature. Barclay his family and Christopher are white. No other ethnicity is specifically mentioned. 

A. Snow 

Hopeless in Hope by Wanda John-Kehewin - OPTIONAL

Hopeless in Hope by Wanda John-Kehewin, 216 pages. Highwater Press. 2023. $17 

Language: R (22 swears 5 'f'); Mature Content: PG (Mention of sex sounds coming from mother's room); Violence: PG Bullying, mostly mean girls. 

BUYING ADVISORY: HS, MS - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

14yo Eva (Neveah) lives with her Cree grandmother (Nohkum) and her 4yo brother, and occasionally her alcoholic mother (Shirley) in the small town of Hope near Vancouver. They are barely getting by, but Nohkum keeps them fed - soup and bannock for most meals. But when Nohkum falls on the porch and breaks her hip, mom is left in charge of the children. She promises not to drink until Nohkum is out of the hospital, but while Eva is at school, the police find Marcus miles away from home and discover mom passed out on the couch. Social Services swoops in, and the children are removed to foster care. This is the 2nd time for Eva who is placed in a group home. 

I cried several times reading Hopeless in Hope. It's a poignant, heartbreaking story about generational dysfunction mostly arising from the generation of indigenous children who were taken from their parents and put in residential schools. Eva and her family are trying to break the cycle of parents who have no parenting skills. I like that there are several groups who would see themselves in this title - Native Americans (although Eva is Canadian); kids in foster care and group homes, as well as kids dealing with alcoholic or abusive parents. Eva has a roommate at the group home who is non-binary. 

Lisa Librarian

With a Little Luck by Marissa Meyer - MANY

With a Little Luck by Marissa Meyer, 368 pages. Feiwel & Friends, 2024. $19. 

Language: R (40 swears 0 'f');  Mature Content: G (kissing); Violence: G 

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH 

16yo Jude is shy and doesn’t have much self confidence. He’s had a crush on Maya since middle school but is afraid to ask her out. He’s afraid until he finds a lucky charm that gives him successes and confidence. When he finally gets to take Maya on a date everything seems fine until he loses the lucky charm. The luck changes not just for him but for his family too.

I enjoyed the humor. The story is sweet. It’s a fun read that inspires the reader to work towards their dreams. The ethnicity includes white, Asian, Mexican American, and Korean American. 

LynnDell Watson, DHS Librarian

Duel Across Time by Bret Baier - ADVISABLE

Duel Across Time (The History Club #1) by Bret Baier, 130 pages GRAPHIC NOVEL Aladdin Paperbacks (Simon and Schuster), 2023. $20 

Language: G (0 swears) Mature Content: G Violence: G 

BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

The History Twister has traveled through time to alter the outcome of America's most famous duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Enter the History Club: four wildly different middle school students who together have the power to restore history and save the world from the ensuing chaos. 

Interesting premise, and Hamilton comes off as super wise. One does wonder why middle schoolers are chosen to travel through time to save the space/time continuum, but save it they do. They will obviously be off for another adventure. The art is well done and there are some nice nuggets of actual history. Background knowledge of Hamilton would be helpful to the reader, but could be a great jumping off place for learning more. Members of the History Club come from different races and backgrounds. 

Michelle in the Middle 

I Will Find You Again by Sarah Lyu - OPTIONAL

I Will Find You Again by Sarah Lyu, 298 pages. Simon & Schuster, 2023. $20 

Language: R (36 swears 80 'f'); Mature Content: R (Suicide by drowning, suicidal thoughts, cheating ring, kissing, underage prescription drug addiction (amphetamine)); Violence: PG (death by suicide) 

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE 

Chase is a high-achieving, successful 17yo high school senior. She is the student body president and track team captain and is applying to Stanford. She is also involved with a cheating ring at school and is addicted to prescription amphetamines. She misses her ex-best friend and ex-girlfriend Lia who goes missing and later turns up dead from suicide. Even though she is no longer with Lia, she is determined to find out what happened to her. Through it all she is dealing with her own depression, suicidal thoughts, and high expectations placed on her by her father. 

The story of Lia and Chase's relationship is told through flashbacks and it comes across as being very toxic. I did like the process of unraveling the mystery. It was especially interesting once she realized she was suppressing memories due to her trauma. I liked that by the end Chase realized that she needed help and was finally willing to ask for and receive the help she needed. There is a resource list at the back of the book for help with depression, suicide, and addiction. Chase, Lia and Chases family are Asian. Lia's adoptive family is Italian American. 

A. Snow

Eragon by Christopher Paolini and Sidharth Chaturvedi - ESSENTIAL

Eragon by Christopher Paolini, illustrated by Sidharth Chaturvedi, 360 pages. Young Adult Knopf (Random House), 2023. $46 

Language: G (0 swears); Mature Content: PG (loss, grief, danger);  Violence: PG-13 (battles, killings) 

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS, ADULT, GIFT - ESSENTIAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH 

15yo Eragon discovers he is more than a poor farm boy, but a Dragon Rider, when he discovers a blue rock that hatches into a dragon. Adventure, magic, and incredible danger ensue as he finds himself thrust into a power struggle that could save or destroy the Empire. 

This is the first illustrated version, and it coincides with the 20th anniversary of the book's hardcover release. The illustrations are beautifully done and add to the mystique of the book. Fans of the Inheritance Cycle will love it. The book's size is larger (9 1/2x11) but will make a statement on any bookshelf. The main characters come from a wide variety of races and cultures found in fantasy. 

Michelle in the Middle 

Hatchet Girls by Diana Rodriquez Wallach - MANY

Hatchet Girls by Diana Rodriquez Wallach, 326 pages. Young Adult Delacorte (Random House), 2023. $19 

Language: R (86 swears 0 "F"); Mature Content: PG-13 (allusions to sexual activity);Violence: R (two axe murders) 

BUYING ADVISORY: HS, ADULT - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH 

Could history repeat itself? 17yo Mariella Morse, daughter and heiress of the Morse family fortune in Fall River Massachusetts accuses her boyfriend, Vic, of killing her parents with an axe. Admittedly, the facts look grim since he is found standing over the bodies with a bloody axe, though he has no memory of the killings. Vic's sister, Tessa, is convinced he is innocent. As she retraces Vic's steps, she will be facing a darkness older than Lizzie Borden and the town itself. 

Told in non-linear form, the story jumps around, which maintains the tension. The author has done a lot of research on the setting, which becomes an integral part of the story. The characters are interesting and though there are no deep issues, the story is gripping. The story is more interesting if you're familiar with the Borden story, but you may want to book a tour of Fall River and its nearby haunted forest after you finish reading. Vic and Tessa are Portuguese. 

 Michelle in the Middle

An Inconvenient Letter by Julie Wright - OPTIONAL

An Inconvenient Letter by Julie Wright, 256 pages. Shadow Mountain Publishing, 2024. $17.

Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Sometimes writing out her feelings helps Marietta (17yo) handle her feelings of unrequited love. They’re secret letters in a secret drawer of her desk that happen to be addressed properly. When they accidentally get sent out, Etta and her sister rush to the neighbor’s house to retrieve them—but Etta doesn’t save all three.

If you’ve been dreaming of a Victorian era version of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, look no further. Misunderstandings, blackmail, and a fake relationship make the weeks before the Season much more exciting than Etta had anticipated. The story was fun overall, though I felt that time and some of the antagonistic characters were not always consistent.

All of the characters are English. The mature content rating is for alcohol use and kissing, and the violence rating is for assault.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Midnight Strikes by Zeba Shahnaz - OPTIONAL

Midnight Strikes by Zeba Shahnaz, 435 pgs. Delacorte Press, 2023. $20.

Language: R (32 F, 57 other swears); Mature Content: PG (kissing); Violence: PG-13 (grisly deaths, fighting, bloodiness, mortal peril)

BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

17yo Anaïs is prepared to accept her fate. She’ll go to the ball, find a suitable husband, and live the life her mom wants her to, but that doesn’t mean she has to be happy about it. What she isn’t prepared for is the explosion that rocks the palace at midnight, killing the royal family, their guests, and Anaïs. She’s even less prepared for what happens when she wakes up the next morning as if none of it had happened and when the same thing happens again, and again, and again. As Anaïs struggles to figure out what is happening to her and her kingdom, not to mention how to stop it, she’ll need all the help she can get, from allies she never would have expected. 

I thought the time loop was an interesting premise, especially in a fantasy/fairytale setting, but I felt like it bogged down in the middle. The main character tried different things to get out of the time loop, but some of it could definitely have been combined or cut out completely. I liked the main character and her determination to succeed, but I felt like there could have been some more world building around the reasons behind the violence, as well as some more fleshing-out of the secondary characters. The huge number of F-words felt out of place and annoyed me. I thought the ending was a bit rushed after spending so many cycles trying to get there. All told, I did like the book, but I think it missed the mark in a few ways.

Reviewer: Andrea R.

Shattered Midnight by Dhonielle Clayton - OPTIONAL

Shattered Midnight (The Mirror #2) by Dhonielle Clayton, 297 pgs. Hyperion, 2021. $19.

Language: PG (5 swears); Mature Content: PG (racial discrimination, off-page sex); Violence: PG-13 (death, bloodiness, fights, forced kissing and sexual harassment)

BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

18yo Zora doesn’t want to move to New Orleans to live with her Aunt Celine and her snooty cousins, but after what her magic had done, she had no choice. She would need to learn to keep her magic under control if she wanted to survive as a mixed race girl in the South. Luckily, her job singing at the Petit Sapphire Saloon gives her a way to escape into her music, as well as a place to be herself. But, when she meets and falls for the white piano player, Philip, circumstances beyond their control threaten to spoil Zora’s peace and happiness. 

I wanted to like this book, but it was a bit too dark. It is supposed to connect to Broken Wish, but the magic thread that links them wasn’t strong enough. The books could be completely independent without affecting the plot at all. I didn’t like the main character very much and the level of violence and the adult issues included were more than I would expect for a middle grade novel. I thought it would be more like a fairytale, but it ended up being much more serious. I did like the setting and enjoyed the historical fiction aspect of New Orleans in the 1920s. I also liked the idea of music being magical, but the explanation of how it can be used as a weapon was a little iffy. 

A Roundy

Sacred Days, Sacred Songs by Michael D. Young - GIFT

Sacred Days, Sacred Songs by Michael D. Young, 85 pages. NONFICTION. Shadow Mountain Publishing, 2024. $16.

Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: PG

BUYING ADVISORY: HS, ADULT - GIFT

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

Young presents two hymns for each day of Holy Week, Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. Each day focuses on an attribute of Christ and talks about the history of the hymns and those who wrote them.

Following along with this book is a beautiful way to use music to celebrate the Easter season. There is power in the magic of lyrics, and the songs mean more when they are coupled with the history of how they came to be written. We are not the first ones to hear and sing these songs with sincerity, and we will not be the last.

Songs are included from European, American, and African American writers. The violence rating is for discussions and  mild descriptions of blood, animal sacrifice, and crucifixion.

Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen