Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of These Deadly Games by Diana Urban

These Deadly Games

by Diana Urban

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Imprint: 

Release date: 

ISBN: 9781250797193

16-year old Crystal Donovan is laser focused on the upcoming Mortal Dusk gaming tournament, which she will be competing in with her e-sports team.  Suddenly everything changes when she begins receiving frightening messages on an app that mysteriously appears on her phone. Someone has kidnapped her sister Caelyn, and to get her back, Crystal will have to play the most dangerous game of her life. Although the tasks seem harmless enough at first, it becomes increasingly clear that they are aimed at hurting Crystal’s closest friends and teammates. Could the person behind the app be a Mortal Dusk competitor? Or could it have to do with an event that happened five years ago that Crystal and her friends swore to keep secret? 

Urban constructs a fast-paced, contemporary thriller. Although the twists in the story are slightly predictable, the plot remains engaging throughout. Flawed characters and complicated friendships between Crystal and her teammates are realistic and relatable. The focus on games and technology will also appeal to today’s tech-savvy and connected teens. Librarians should be aware that the title contains contents dealing with  death, domestic abuse, panic attacks, anorexia, and racism.

Fans of fast-past thrillers and suspense, who don’t mind a bit of violence will enjoy this book.  Hand this to teens who enjoyed Two Truths and a Lie by April Henry, Dead End Girls by Wendy Heard, The Wild by Owen Laukkanen, or Out of the Fire by Andrea Contos.

— Julianne Novetsky

Other Nominated Titles

Two Truths and a Lie by April Henry  (May 24, 2022)

Live, Laugh, Kidnap by Gabby Noone (May 20, 2022)

Trigger by N. Griffin (March 29, 2022)

Counting Scars by Melinda Di Lorenzo (August 16, 2022)

Jumper by Melanie Crowder  (June 21, 2022)

Gold Mountain by Betty G. Yee (April 5, 2022)


The Selected Lists teams read throughout the year in search of the best titles published in their respective categories. Once a book is suggested (either internally or through the title suggestion form), it must pass through a review process to be designated an official nomination.

Each week, the teams feature a review of one of the officially nominated titles. Additional titles to receive this designation are listed as well. At year’s end, the team will curate a final list from all nominated titles and select a Top Ten.

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of A Girl’s Guide to Love & Magic by Debbie Rigaud

A Girl’s Guide to Love & Magic
by Debbie Rigaud
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
Imprint: Scholastic Press
Release date: August 2, 2022
ISBN: 9781338681741

Cicely’s favorite day of the year is the West Indian Day Parade, which also happens to fall on her fifteenth birthday. Even better, her Hatian Vodou practicing aunt turned social media influencer has invited her and her best friend, Renee, to her podcast interview with mega-star Papash! But everything goes haywire when one of her aunt’s clients performs a ritual that causes her aunt to be possessed by a mischievous, beauty-loving spirit. Cicely, Renee, and Cicely’s crush, Kwame, are in a race around Brooklyn to locate the items they need to exorcise the spirit while avoiding Cicely’s parents, Kwame’s rowdy friends, and the angry client–all before the podcast taping! 

Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of A Girl’s Guide to Love & Magic by Debbie Rigaud

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle

Love Radio

Love Radio

by Ebony LaDelle

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 

Imprint: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 

Release date: May 31, 2022

ISBN: 9781665908153

Prince is a romantic at heart, but he has not got time for love unless it’s helping the callers on his radio show, Love Radio. Dani is focused on her plan to receive a scholarship to study in New York and become a famous author. She doesn’t have time for love. Then Dani and Prince meet. Prince has had a crush on Dani since middle school and wants to prove he’s worth her time. He gets Dani to promise him three dates, and if after that she’s not in love with him he’ll leave her alone. Dani agrees, and as the dates go on she finds herself falling for the sweet, sincere romantic. But a trauma in Dani’s past just might get in the way of these two finding true love.

Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw 

Long Live the Pumpkin Queen

by Shea Ernshaw

Publisher: Disney Enterprises, Inc

Imprint: Disney Press

Release date: August 2, 2022

ISBN: 9781368069601

Sally finally has her happily ever after; she’s married to her love, Jack Skellington, and crowned Pumpkin Queen of Halloween Town. However, being Pumpkin Queen isn’t as easy as Sally imagined. When she discovers a doorway to one of the ancient realms, Sally inadvertently unleashes the long forgotten Sandman on both the holiday and the human worlds. With the Sandman hunting her across the worlds, Sally must find a way to reverse his sleeping spell on everyone before it’s too late. 

Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw 

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Hometown Victory: A Coach’s Story of Football, Fate, and Coming Home by Keanon Lowe 

Hometown Victory: A Coach’s Story of Football, Fate, and Coming Home

by Keanon Lowe

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Release date: May 10, 2022

ISBN: 9781250807632

After the death of a former teammate, Keanon Lowe left his position coaching the San Francisco 49ers to return to his hometown of Portland, Oregon. Brokenhearted, he answered a Craigslist help wanted ad for a head coach of the Parkrose High School football program. Little did he know that rebuilding the team’s confidence would ultimately be an opportunity for his own healing.

Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Hometown Victory: A Coach’s Story of Football, Fate, and Coming Home by Keanon Lowe 

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of In Harm’s Way: the Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Story of Its Survivors (Young Readers Adaptation) by Doug Stanton and Michael J. Tougias

In Harm’s Way: the SInking of the USS Indianapolis and the Story of Its Survivors (Young Readers Adaptation)

by Doug Stanton and Michael J. Tougias

Publisher: Macmillan Publishers

Imprint: Henry Holt and Company

Release date: February 8, 2022

ISBN: 9781250771322

The USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by the Japanese on July 30, 1945 killing hundreds on impact; however that was only the beginning of a four day ordeal of survival.  Thrown into the South Pacific Ocean with only life vests, a few rafts, and no supplies, nearly 1,000 sailors  had to endure dehydration, injuries, the sweltering sun, and the worst – the sharks that fed on them each night. 

Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of In Harm’s Way: the Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Story of Its Survivors (Young Readers Adaptation) by Doug Stanton and Michael J. Tougias

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Hotel Magnifique by Emily Taylor

Hotel Magnifique

by Emily Taylor

Publisher: Razorbill

Release date: April 5, 2022

ISBN:  ‎ 9780593404515

Jani has always dreamed of Elsewhere. Her daily life, devoted to supporting her younger sister Zosa by working in a harsh tannery, is turned upside down when the Hotel Magnifique comes to town. The Hotel is magical not only in its marvelous enchantments, but also in its ability to appear in a new location every day. Jani and Zosa can’t afford to be guests at the Hotel, but they do apply for and receive coveted jobs that get them through the door. Once inside the Hotel Magnifique, though, Jani realizes that behind all the sparkly beauty, danger lurks.

Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Hotel Magnifique by Emily Taylor

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Cold by Mariko Tamaki

Cold

by Mariko Tamaki

Publisher: Macmillan 

Imprint: Roaring Brook Press

Release date: February 8, 2022

ISBN: 9781626722736

Todd is dead and now watches over his own naked corpse while trying to determine how he died. Georgia didn’t know Todd when he was alive, but is mildly obsessed with his death. Why does he seem so familiar to her? What do they have in common? 

Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Cold by Mariko Tamaki

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren

Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren

Publisher: Penguin Random House

Imprint: Underlined

Release date: February 1, 2022

ISBN: 9780593483480

Every YouTuber dreams of making it to that one million subscriber mark, including Chase. He is the impetus for the Ghost Group, a foursome of friends who make money off of going to haunted places in and around Las Vegas and searching out paranormal activity.  What makes this bunch of ghost hunters different is that they have Chrissy, who can see ghosts.

Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren

Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Mirror Girls by Kelly McWilliams

Mirror Girls by Kelly McWilliams
Publisher: Hachette
Imprint: Little, Brown and Company
Release date: February 8, 2022
ISBN: 9780759553873

After the death of their grandmothers, two biracial twins, one who appears black and one who has been passing as white, are reunited in Jim Crow Georgia. Nana’s dying wish is to be buried back home in Georgia so civil rights activist Charlie leaves Harlem to return to her familial roots, the place where her parents were killed. Magnolia was raised as a white southern belle but as her grandmother lies dying she reveals a family secret – Magnolia is biracial. As she learns the truth a powerful curse is unleashed and Magnolia can no longer see herself in mirrors.  Surrounded by the ghosts of dead slaves and murdered family members, the girls must break the curse that has the power to kill them and confront the racism that tries to tear them apart.

Continue reading Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of Mirror Girls by Kelly McWilliams