Perhaps if I had known the book was a part of the series, I wouldn’t have been so angry when I got to the end… which was clearly not an end since there were too many story lines left open. My frustration aside, the book was good enough for me to recommend it. I liked the character building and the similar travels and travails as those in Grapes of Wrath. There were also some scientific twists that I did not see coming. A definite read for sci-fi and dystopia fans!

My Friend Dahmer is a terrible, dark story, and is even more horrifying because it is so accessible, even familiar, to those who grew up in a small town with one weird kid in your class. What makes this story scary isn’t what happens, so much as where. It’s unsettling that a place as seemingly peaceful as this town, as your town, could produce a serial killer.

What makes this all the more poignant is that Backderf doesn’t try to sugar-coat his own complacency. He’s very frank about his own relationship with Dahmer. They weren’t exactly friends, because it was impossible to connect with Dahmer. This story very simply explains the complicated social hierarchies that exist in high schools. Even decades later, the landscape doesn’t look all that different.

The story very obviously addresses bullying, teenage alcoholism, animal cruelty/abuse, homosexuality, and mental illness, but the reader is left to draw his own conclusions about the extent these factors contributed to his dark deeds. Through his own memories and meticulous research, Backderf presents the facts but doesn’t assign causality. It’s a tragic and insightful if disturbing portrait of a person that captures the reader’s imagination, even if the subject matter is distasteful.

I don’t have much experience with graphic novels. I usually find it disorienting to try and read the text and interpret the photos. I found Backderf’s style easy to read and engaging, for what it’s worth, but I don’t have much of a frame of reference for comparison.

Fans of novels like I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga or Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff should check out this award-winning graphic novel!

– Molly

This book starts out fast and has great pacing throughout. Meg’s race to help the man she wronged before her time runs out is hilarious, touching, and hopeful. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes snarky spirits, funny boy/dog monster combinations, and teen girls helping curmudgeonly old men fix the mistakes in their lives. Second chances are the best!

People in YA lit talk a lot about strong heroines…there’s Katniss and Katsa, of course, but I loved Liyana, and think more people should be talking about her!

Liyana has long ago accepted her fate, and dutifully trained for the ceremony in which the goddess of her tribe will take over her body and guide her people. Then, though she is pure of heart and dances perfectly, her god does not come. The elders decide that the goddess must have decided she was unworthy, and they abandon her in the desert.

But Liyana perseveres, surviving two days in the desert, alone, before a young man appears, bearing the same tattoos that mark her as a vessel. It’s Korbyn, the trickster god, who made it to his vessel even though the gods of several other tribes, including Liyana’s, have been kidnapped. Korbyn and Liyana set out on a quest to find the other empty vessels before their clans do worse than simply abandon them so together they can save their gods, who are crucial to their survival in their harsh environment.

Liyana and Korbyn journey across the desert together, gathering other vessels, defeating horrendous beasts, swapping stories and fables, and teaching each other magic and dance.

They might even be falling in love, which does not bode well, as Liyana is the vessel for Korbyn’s beloved, the goddess Bayla of the Goat Clan.

The struggles of this band of vessels as they travelled through the dessert were riveting. Fennick of the Horse Clan, Pia of the Silk Clan, and Raan of the Scorpion Clan were all compelling characters. The mystery of who had captured the missing gods was intriguing and the magic and mythology of the Turtle People was unique. I love the characterization of the gods as fallible and susceptible to human emotions. They aren’t all powerful or all knowing, and they can make mistakes.

The world-building felt effortless, as if these were the kind of stories I had grown up with all my life, although I couldn’t trace the influences. It’s rare when the antagonist can be so sympathetic. I love it when an author respects readers enough to invite them to see that even those who seem evil often believe they have noble intentions.

This is a novel about challenging what one has always been told and making room for a new paradigm or world view. It’s about the nature of sacrifice and standing up for what one believes in. It’s about tradition and faith as much as about adaptation and instinct. I loved it because it explored a love that is beyond romantic and made room for many different kinds of love.

This is a perfect fit for fans of YA fantasy like Graceling orFinnikin of the Rock, especially those interested in a desert setting.

– Molly, YA 

First daughter in the Balanchine family is Anya; a sixteen year old trying to take care of her dying grandmother, younger sister, and mentally injured older brother. All while trying to just get through high school. She doesn’t want anything to do with the family business because it has gotten both of her parents killed. But when her ex boyfriend is poisoned by the family product, she is accused and becomes the new focus of the DA who has decided to crack down on the rampant crime in the city. Unfortunately for Anya, the DA’s son is very handsome and very interested in her…

Intrigued yet? You should be! This book is amazing. It blends reality and familiarity with the fantastic and suspenseful. Anya is a character I really wish I could be friends with in real life. And it takes the issue of prohibition to a whole new, scary level.

In the second book, Because It is my Blood, Anya must escape New York or face imprisonment. She escapes to Mexico where she learns the production side of making chocolate. There, she realizes the only way she will be able to return to New York is to figure out a way to make the family business legal again. What follows is quite an in depth look at what could be compared to the country’s current issues with the legalization of marijuana, except we’re talking about caffeine!

I can not wait for the third book in the Birthright series to come out. I highly recommend the first two book and will be first in line for the last!

Alyssa is a skateboarding artist who makes murals out of dead bugs she captures herself. She hears the voices of flowers. She is also the descendant of Alice Liddell, the little girl who inspired Lewis Carroll’s original Alice in Wonderland. A curse has followed the female descendants of the original Alice, which manifests as mental illness. Alyssa’s mother is so disturbed she is often not lucid and appears to be a danger to herself, and her father has finally signed off on giving her electroshock therapy. In order to save her mom from that fate, Alyssa follows a few clues left by a strange moth through the looking glass in an attempt to right the wrongs Alice left in Wonderland and reverse the curse on her family. Jeb, the boy-next-door she’s crushing on, follows her, and crazy Wonderland antics ensue.

And this trip to Wonderland is crazy. And bizarre. And downright mad.  Alyssa has a series of trials she must get through in order to save Wonderland — draining the sea of tears, waking up the sleeping guests of the Mad Hatter’s tea party, and other familiar scenes from the original, now with a new, dark twist. She has her fellow skater to help her, not to mention that moth, who turns out to be Morpheus, a strange and sexy Wonderland creature also vying for Alyssa’s affection. In fact, though Jeb and her are determined to make it out of Wonderland, Morpheus may want her to stay and Alyssa’s connection to this dark, magical underworld may be more than her heritage.

It’s no wonder Tim Burton gets a nod in the acknowledgments, because it definitely has that grotesquely beautiful feeling his work always does, and if it were ever adapted for film, it would have to be done in the style of The Nightmare Before Christmas. This is a story I think would have done very well as a graphic or illustrated novel, because the text is full of so much visual description. The imagery is at times overwhelming. There are dazzling description of the landscape of Wonderland, and the unique circus punk fashion of Alyssa and Jeb (whose style seems perfectly in harmony with that of Wonderland) is detailed. You’ll never think about the White Rabbit, the Red Queen, the Mad Hatter, or the Chesire Cat the same way after meeting them in Splintered.

Melissa Marr  raved about Splintered and says it is perfect for fans of her Wicked Lovely series. Teen readers who are looking for a new twist on paranormal romance and enjoy a good love triangle should check it out. While this isn’t a story for everyone, fans of retellings will enjoy this dark and fantastical Wonderland as re-imagined by A. G. Howard.

–Molly, YA staff

I generally go for more straightforward fantasy than Dust Girl, but I enjoyed the book enough that I finished it in a couple of days. Since it is the first in a series,  I realize that the author will do more character development in later books. However, my disappointment in this book was that most of the characters were either too confusing or too short lived for me to really invest in them emotionally. On the other hand, I really liked Callie and Jack’s dynamic and I look forward to their character development. I also really enjoyed the backdrop of Dust Bowl Kansas. Even though the story is a fantasy, it has the aspect of historical fiction as well and the details of that time period make the book intriguing as well as entertaining. Overall, I definitely recommend Dust Girl!

Enter Bob, a young non-human being, whose mother won the rights for her son to rule the Earth in a game of cards. Now enter Lucy, a classically beautiful young woman, who works at a zoo and is the object of affection by Bob. Lucy finds herself strangely attracted to Bob, but can’t quite figure out why as he is almost everything she dislikes in a person: a lazy lying sexist. And, Bob, smitten by Lucy, can’t control his powers and puts the Earth and it’s inhabitants in danger with constant weather changes, natural disasters, and all-out craziness. In the background are the stories of an animal that is the last of his kind and might just be the tastiest meat in the galaxy, a young goddess trying to find her place in the universe, and an assistant god-being who has earned his due. This is a quirky book, reminiscent of The Hitchikers’s Guide to the Galaxy and Good Omens , and definitely a great read to stave off boredom.