Review: Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

Title: Words in Deep Blue
Author: Cath Crowley
Release Date: June 6, 2017
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Pages: 273

Content Warnings: death of a sibling, drowning, alcohol, bullying, assault, depression

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This is a love story.
It’s the story of Howling Books, where readers write letters to strangers, to lovers, to poets.
It’s the story of Henry Jones and Rachel Sweetie. They were best friends once, before Rachel moved to the sea.
Now, she’s back, working at the bookstore, grieving for her brother Cal and looking for the future in the books people love, and the words they leave behind.

Review: Every Other Weekend by Abigail Johnson

Title: Every Other Weekend
Author: Abigail Johnson
Release Date: January 7, 2020
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Pages: 512

Content Warnings: abuse, sexual assault, death of a sibling, divorce

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Can life begin again…every other weekend?

Adam Moynihan’s life used to be awesome. Straight As, close friends and a home life so perfect that it could have been a TV show straight out of the 50s. Then his oldest brother died. Now his fun-loving mom cries constantly, he and his remaining brother can’t talk without fighting, and the father he always admired proved himself a coward by moving out when they needed him most.

Jolene Timber’s life is nothing like the movies she loves—not the happy ones anyway. As an aspiring director, she should know, because she’s been reimagining her life as a film ever since she was a kid. With her divorced parents at each other’s throats and using her as a pawn, no amount of mental reediting will give her the love she’s starving for.

Review: Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin

Title: Foul Is Fair
Author: Hannah Capin
Release Date: February 18, 2020
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Pages: 336

Content Warnings: sexual assault, rape, rape culture, gender-based violence, abusive relationship, physical violence, gore, murder, bullying, transphobia, suicide, underage drinking, drug use, vigilantism, revenge

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Elle and her friends Mads, Jenny, and Summer rule their glittering LA circle. Untouchable, they have the kind of power other girls only dream of. Every party is theirs and the world is at their feet. Until the night of Elle’s sweet sixteen, when they crash a St. Andrew’s Prep party. The night the golden boys choose Elle as their next target.

They picked the wrong girl.

Review: What I Want You to See by Catherine Linka

Title: What I Want You to See
Author: Catherine Linka
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 384

Content Warnings: homelessness, anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD, suicide, hospitals, death of a parent

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Winning a scholarship to California’s most prestigious art school seems like a fairy tale ending to Sabine Reye’s awful senior year. After losing both her mother and her home, Sabine longs for a place where she belongs.

But the cutthroat world of visual arts is nothing like what Sabine had imagined. Colin Krell, the renowned faculty member whom she had hoped would mentor her, seems to take merciless delight in tearing down her best work—and warns her that she’ll lose the merit-based award if she doesn’t improve.

Desperate and humiliated, Sabine doesn’t know where to turn. Then she meets Adam, a grad student who understands better than anyone the pressures of art school. He even helps Sabine get insight on Krell by showing her the modern master’s work in progress, a portrait that’s sold for a million dollars sight unseen.

Review: How to Speak Boy by Tiana Smith

Title: How to Speak Boy
Author: Tiana Smith
Release Date: January 7, 2020
Publisher: Swoon Reads
Pages: 256

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Quinn and Grayson have been fierce speech and debate rivals for years. They can’t stand one another, either in competition or in real life.

But when their AP Government teacher returns their school assignments to the wrong cubbies, they begin exchanging anonymous notes without knowing who the other is.