Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2023) Featured Review of My Dearest Darkest by Kayla Cottingham

My Dearest Darkest by Kayla Cottingham
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Imprint: Sourcebooks Fire
Release date: March 29, 2022
ISBN: 9781728236414

Finch receives a scholarship to the school of her dreams after almost dying in the car accident that killed her parents. But soon after arriving at the elite prep school she takes a trip down to the tunnels under the campus where a chance encounter with Selena St. Clair, resident popular girl, leads to her accidentally summoning something ancient from beneath the school. Soon Finch, Selena, and their friends are promised everything they want in exchange for small favors that become increasingly gruesome. Together they must solve the mystery of the creature’s existence to escape its control.

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Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (#QP2022) Featured Review of Poison Ivy: Thorns by Kody Keplinger, Art by Sara Kipin

Poison Ivy Thorns Cover Art

Poison Ivy: Thorns by Kody Keplinger, Art by Sara Kipin
DC Comics 
Publication Date: June 1, 2021
ISBN: 9781401298425

This original graphic novel offers a gothic take on the origin story of DC’s antihero/sometimes villain Poison Ivy. Teenager Pamela Isley’s father has taught her to keep her head down to avoid drawing attention to the horrible things going on in their mansion at night. Without any real friends and facing bullying and harassment at school, Pamela finds comfort in plants — her true passion. It often feels like no one else cares about plants like she does, and she finds herself turning to dangerous methods to save a nearby park. One day, a cute goth girl shows interest in her, and Pamela has to decide whether it’s worth the risk of being found out, both for her family’s secrets and her own.

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Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2021) Nominees Round Up, July 10 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Best Fiction for Young Adults nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.


The Voting Booth
by Brandy Colbert

Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: July 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1368053297

As eighteen-year-old Marva exits the polling place where she just cast her first-ever ballot, she notices another Black teen having some kind of problem at the entrance. Because she is passionate about voting and civic involvement, she goes over to see what the issue is. Apparently, Duke–who is also trying to vote for the first time–isn’t listed on the registration roll, possibly because he lived at a different address when he first registered. Rationalizing that getting the vote out is more important than her first-period class, Marva volunteers to drive Duke to the correct location. Neither realizes that helping Duke get his vote in will turn into a day-long process that will include surprising insights, subtle (and not so subtle) racism, an adorable Internet cat, and even a little romance.

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Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2020) Nominees Round Up, October 4 Edition

Click here to see all of the current Best Fiction for Young Adults nominees along with more information about the list and past years’ selections.

Wilder Girls by Rory Power
Delacorte Press / Penguin Random House
Publication date: July 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-0525645580

On an island off the coast of Maine, the students of an all-girls boarding school and the wilderness of the island – suffer from an infection of “the tox” which ravaged their bodies and minds as the fight for survival. Friends Hetty, Byatt, and Reece are pushed to extremes as they attempt to uncover the truth behind the mysterious disease while their classmates continue to die after gruesome flair ups of perplexing and grotesque symptoms while they wait for a cure and fight over rations delivered by boat from the mainland.

Continue reading Best Fiction for Young Adults (#BFYA2020) Nominees Round Up, October 4 Edition