Our last batch for May features spy girls, PTSD, a European road trip, and...wait for it...a Western romance! I stinkin' LOVE Westerns, and there are hardly any published for teens. Three to watch: City of Spies (historical spy fiction), Meet Me Here (PTSD), and Crow Mountain (the Western romance).
  | Every Exquisite Thing (Matthew Quick) High school overachiever Nanette O'Hare finds the rebel within after reading an out-of-print cult classic. Love, living, and self-discovery ensue. Contemporary romance. |
  | Wanderlost (Jen Malone) Aubree likes playing things safe, but when her sister Elizabeth gets into trouble, Aubree heads to Europe, pretending to be Elizabeth and taking over her job as bus tour guide to senior citizens. Contemporary romance. |
  | Lies I Live By (Lauren Sabel) Callie is the government's youngest psychic spy, living a life full of secrets that her family, friends, and long-time boyfriend have no clue about. Paranormal, spies, crime, mystery. |
  | Frannie and Tru (Karen Hattrup) Let's hope people don't judge this book by that boring cover. When his family kicks him out for coming out, Frannie's cousin Truman moves in with her family. Tru is everything shy Frannie is not--he's rich, confident, and sarcastic. Contemporary, GLBT. |
  | City of Spies (Nina Berry) Sequel to: The Notorious Pagan Jones Looking for something different? I had never heard of the first book until I started researching the sequel, but it seems like one of those books that gets overlooked by mainstream publishing. Both are set in the 1960s; the first one in Berlin, the second in Buenos Aires. Pagan Jones is a disgraced Hollywood starlet given the chance to get out of jail and live as an undercover spy. Historical fiction, mystery, spies. |
  | Meet Me Here (Bryan Bliss) I was hesitant to include this book on the list this week because the Goodreads rating is a little low--3.59 with only 22 ratings. But Meet Me Here fills an underrepresented niche. Today, Thomas graduates from high school. Tomorrow, he leaves for the army, just like his brother Jake, a decorated army hero. But Jake's PTD struggles have shaken Thomas's confidence in his own future. Is the army the right thing for him? Contemporary fiction. |
  | Crow Mountain (Lucy Inglis) Crow Mountain was released last year in the UK and will be available in the USA this week. I've already pre-ordered it for myself because I'm a huge sucker for Western romances. There are two parallel stories here, both about British girls stuck in the same Montana cabin. Both girls are there with a stranger boy who knows about survival. The cool part? The stories are set 100 years apart. I am so excited to read this one! Western, historical fiction, romance. |