Reviews written by Kim Baccellia, Staff Reviewer

Glorieta Magdelena Davis Espinosa is proud of her family. When her father remarries after her mother's death, he puts away Glorieta's mother's ashes. Glorieta refuses to believe what her Tia Diosonita and others in her town say about her mother's eternal soul. Her goal is to get her Tia to...

Five years have passed since the 'rehabilitation' camps have been shut down. Suzume 'Zu' is now seventeen years old and working with the new government to help other children who were affected by the camps. Zu is blamed when an horrific act of violence happens at a college rally...

Twelve-year-old Patryk lives in a small Polish town in 1914. He hangs with his group of friends which includes Jurek. One day in August, Patryk finds a button which sets Jurek off in rage. Though Jurek is poor, he declares himself 'King of the Forest' and anything in the forest...

This is a collection of brief biographies of people who stood up and resisted injustices and tyranny. There's a little bit of information on each of these individuals. Kind of like teasers that might lead readers to want to look up more on them. What worked: I...

Bonnie Parker is waiting for Clyde to be released from prison. It's 1931 and she wants him to come home. After he's released, they start their infamous exploits that involve robbing banks in order to have enough money to buy a farm where they won't be bothered. Told through...

Fourteen-year-old Ella is striped down and treated as subhuman by the Nazis and tries to survive. When she hears of an opening at the Upper Tailoring Studio of Auschwitz, she prays she will be given a space. The one way to survive is to work, otherwise she will be killed....

Dahlia 16 just found out her whole life is a lie and that she's not a clone after all. The real clone is Waverly Whitmore, a wealthy teenage royalty star. After Dahlia and Trigger try to escape Lakesview, she is mistaken for Waverly. She then is forced to portray...

All Dahlia 16 knows is that she's just one of five thousand identical girls that's sole purpose is to work for the greater good of her city. Individualism is frowned on. But everything changes when she's stuck on an elevator with Trigger 17. Something about him has her questioning more...

This is a raw, honest portrayal of YA authors struggles with mental health. Thirty-one authors share their stories which include experiences with depression, OCD, PSTD, bipolar disorder, chemical addiction, and anxiety. Each story doesn't hold back and in doing so shows that it's okay to admit you struggle with mental...

Seventeen-year-old Anouk has never left her house in Paris and stares down at the 'Pretties'. She and others in the house have been enchanted from animals to humans by witch Mada Vittora. Anouk cleans the house while wishing she could leave. Then a tragedy hits and Anouk finds out that...

One fateful night best friends Liv and Morgan go out driving with their boyfriends and then tragedy strikes. Liv wakes up in her friend's body and finds out she 'died'. Not only that, but she finds her friend left behind lots of secrets including a betrayal. Liv finds that Morgan's...

Luke and Phoebe both attended the same high school and now are at the same university. Phoebe has had a huge crush on Luke since the eighth grade. Luke has just broken up with his long-time girlfriend Abby. Phoebe runs into Luke after the breakup and hopes her middle...

Sienna just finished her freshman year in college. It’s been two years since she parted from Deni back in Indonesia. She tries to move on with her life and her childhood friend Spider wants much more than a friendship. All this changes when Deni comes back into her life and...

What worked: This is a humorous at times contemporary novel of an Atheist teen who ends up in a Catholic school and a group of 'misfits' who try to take on the school's unfair practices. Michael is an atheist who finds himself in a religious school setting....

What worked: This is one of those books you can't put down! I literally stayed up until the early morning hours reading as I had to know what would happen! Romy Silvers is all alone in space. Both of her astronaut parents are dead and she's set...