en-US Wed, 04 Sep 2024 19:29:40 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 181110014 Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, this suspenseful queer YA romance from critically acclaimed author K. Ancrum reimagines the tale of Icarus as a star-crossed love story between a young art thief and the son of the man he’s been stealing from.

Icarus Gallagher is a thief.

He steals priceless art and replaces it with his father’s impeccable forgeries. For years, one man—the wealthy Mr. Black—has been their target, revenge for his role in the death of Icarus’s mother. To keep their secret, Icarus adheres to his own strict rules to keep people, and feelings, at bay: Don’t let anyone close. Don’t let anyone touch you. And, above all, don’t get caught.

Until one night, he does. Not by Mr. Black, but by his mysterious son, Helios, now living under house arrest in the Black mansion. Instead of turning Icarus in, Helios bargains for something even more dangerous—a friendship that breaks every single one of Icarus’s rules.

As reluctance and distrust become closeness and something more, they uncover the bars of the gilded cage that has trapped both of their families for years. One Icarus is determined to escape. But his father’s thirst for revenge shows no sign of fading, and soon it may force Icarus to choose: the escape he’s dreamed of, or the boy he’s come to love. Reaching for both could be his greatest triumph—or it could be his downfall.]]> 382 K. Ancrum 0063285789 Mariko 0 to-read 4.02 2024
author: K. Ancrum
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 196849314 Equal parts tender and edgy, this inventive queer romance imagines what it might feel like to come of age in the afterlife.

Tegan Masters is dead.

She’s sixteen and she’s dead and she’s standing in the parking lot of the Marybelle Motor Lodge, the single most depressing motel in all of New Jersey and the place where Tegan spent what she remembers as the worst weekend of her life.

In the front office, she meets Zelda, a cute and sarcastic girl Tegan’s age who is, in fact, an angel (wings and all). According to Zelda, Tegan is officially in heaven, where every person inhabits an exact replica of their happiest memory. For Tegan, Zelda insists, that place is the Marybelle—creepy minigolf course, revolting breakfast buffet, broken TV, and all.

Tegan has a few complaints about this.

As Zelda takes Tegan on a whirlwind tour through Tegan’s past to help her understand what mattered most to her in life, the stakes couldn’t be higher. If Zelda fails to convince Tegan that the Marybelle was the site of Tegan's perfect moment, both girls face eternal consequences too dire to consider. But if she succeeds…they just might get their happily-ever-afterlife.

Full of humor and heartbreak, The Worst Perfect Moment asks what it means to be truly happy.]]> 320 Shivaun Plozza 082345634X Mariko 0 to-read 4.00 2024
author: Shivaun Plozza
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58665490
It’s the longest day of the year, and eighteen-year-old Brandy Bailey has just received the worst news of her She’s been accepted to a top nursing school, making her mother overwhelmingly proud.

The thing is, Brandy wants to be an artist. She knows all the risks of chasing her dream. She’s heard them from her mother over and over.

On top of that, Brandy’s annoying classmate from high school, the startlingly handsome Ben Nolan, is catching his far-fetched dream of being an actor. Why does he get to be fearless while she has to be practical? Ben is the last thing Brandy wants on her mind, so of course today is the day he decides to glue himself to her hip. Now his perfect face is right there in the cacophony crashing through her head.

Spinning in too many directions, Brandy’s emotions clash with the flashing lights at the town’s summer carnival. Can she have one extraordinary night before everything changes?]]> Ronni Davis Mariko 0 to-read 4.50 2024
author: Ronni Davis
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62601376
At least, not in the way teen movies say she should hate the hot popular girl. They don’t do cat fights, love triangles, or betrayal. To survive their intertwined small town lives, they agree to a truce: complete group projects without fighting, don’t gossip to mutual friends, and stand on opposite sides of photos so it’s easy to crop each other out.

Priya seems to have everything during the school year—social media stardom, the handsome track captain boyfriend, and millions of adoring fans. And Juliette is at peace with that, because she has Fogridge Sleepaway Camp, the one place she never feels like “too much.��

But Juliette’s dreams of five Priya-free weeks in paradise are shattered when her rival shows up on move-in day... as her cabinmate, no less. Juliette is determined to enjoy her final summer at camp, even if it means (gag) tolerating Priya Pendley, but fate seems has other plans. If Juliette can’t find something to like about her situation—and about Priya—she risks hating the only home she’s ever had, right before she says goodbye to it forever.]]> 304 Erin Baldwin 0593622693 Mariko 0 to-read 3.97 2024
author: Erin Baldwin
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61398112 528 Laura Wood 0702303240 Mariko 0 to-read 4.28 2023
author: Laura Wood
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 109253821 Two high school seniors with family trauma keeping them up at night fall in love over a series of secret late-night driving lessons.

“An achingly beautiful coming-of-age story��Midnights With You is everything I’ve ever wanted in a book.�� —Ann Liang, New York Times best-selling author of I Hope This Doesn’t Find You

***

“Where were you thinking of going?��
“N�Ƿɳ�����.��
“Great,�� he says lightly, putting the car in gear. “Then we’ll go there.��

Seventeen-year-old Deedee’s life is full of family ghosts and questions she can’t ask. She longs for an escape, but guilt holds her back—that, and the fact that her strict Filipino single mom won’t let her learn to drive. But one sleepless night leads Deedee down a road she never thought possible: secret driving lessons with the new boy next door, Jay, whose turbulent family life also keeps him up until sunrise.

As midnights stretch into days, Jay helps Deedee begin to unravel her past, and as shared secrets blossom into love, Deedee starts to imagine a life where happiness is possible. But the deeper she digs into the trauma that has shaped her, the more that trauma threatens to tear Deedee and Jay apart. Together, these two must decide if the pain they’ve both inherited has the power to choose their fate, or if they have the power to choose for themselves.]]> 368 Clare Osongco 1368101933 Mariko 0 to-read 4.18 2024
author: Clare Osongco
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/04/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56932229 This YA follows Alina, an aspiring dancer who suffers a devastating injury and must face a world without ballet -- as well as the darker side of her former dream.

Alina Keeler was destined to dance, but then a terrifying fall shatters her leg -- and her dreams of a professional ballet career along with it.

After a summer healing (translation: eating vast amounts of Cool Ranch Doritos and bingeing ballet videos on YouTube), she is forced to trade her pre-professional dance classes for normal high school, where she reluctantly joins the school musical. However, rehearsals offer more than she expected -- namely Jude, her annoyingly attractive cast-mate she just might be falling for.

But to move forward, Alina must make peace with her past and face the racism she experienced in the dance industry. She wonders what it means to yearn for ballet -- something so beautiful, yet so broken. And as broken as she feels, can she ever open her heart to someone else?]]> 337 Mariko Turk 0316703427 Mariko 5 4.32 2021
author: Mariko Turk
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/02/15
date added: 2024/02/15
shelves:
review:

]]> 66087062 A woman risks everything to end her family’s centuries-old curse, solve her mother’s disappearance, and find love in this mesmerizing novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Spells for Forgetting.

In the small mountain town of Jasper, North Carolina, June Farrow is waiting for fate to find her. The Farrow women are known for their thriving flower farm—and the mysterious curse that has plagued their family line. The whole town remembers the madness that led to Susanna Farrow’s disappearance, leaving June to be raised by her grandmother and haunted by rumors.

It’s been a year since June started seeing and hearing things that weren’t there. Faint wind chimes, a voice calling her name, and a mysterious door appearing out of nowhere—the signs of what June always knew was coming. But June is determined to end the curse once and for all, even if she must sacrifice finding love and having a family of her own.

After her grandmother’s death, June discovers a series of cryptic clues regarding her mother’s decades-old disappearance, except they only lead to more questions. But could the door she once assumed was a hallucination be the answer she’s been searching for? The next time it appears, June realizes she can touch it and walk past the threshold. And when she does, she embarks on a journey that will not only change both the past and the future, but also uncover the lingering mysteries of her small town and entangle her heart in an epic star-crossed love.

With The Unmaking of June Farrow, Adrienne Young delivers a brilliant novel of romance, mystery, and a touch of the impossible—a story you will never forget.]]> 320 Adrienne Young 0593598679 Mariko 0 to-read 4.13 2023
author: Adrienne Young
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/02/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 195834343 ��
Noah Nicholson has plenty to be grateful for.��He has��solid grades and great friends, he’s�� finally�� becoming closer with Lucy Martinez—his crush since second grade—and he just might have��a chance to be elected class president next week.��But��despite all that, Noah fixates on the should’ve-beens and could’ve-beens and the belief that he can make his life perfect. Then Noah comes upon an opportunity��to do just that.
��
At the local bowling alley, Noah runs into someone most unexpected: himself. The look-alike is him from nine days in the future, and he insists that if Noah does every ridiculous thing he says—from quacking like a duck in science class to painting himself green—they can achieve their dream of perfection. However, fate may have other plans, and Future Noah may not be entirely honest about what he’s doing there.��

Perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead and Louis Sachar,�� This Again?�� takes readers on an incredible journey through time, mind, and middle school.��]]> 265 Adam Borba 0316553395 Mariko 0 to-read 4.78
author: Adam Borba
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.78
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 134116821 The Fraud Squad.

On paper, Zoe Zeng has made it in New York’s fashion world. After a string of unpaid internships, she’s now a fashion columnist at Chic, lives in a quaint apartment in Manhattan, and gets invited to exclusive industry events.

But life in New York City isn’t as chic as Zoe imagined. Her editor wants her to censor her opinions to please the big brands; she shares her “quaint�� ( small) apartment with two roommates who never let her store kimchi in the fridge; and how is she supposed to afford the designer clothes expected for those parties on her meager salary?

Then one day, Zoe receives a job offer at FitPick, an app startup based in Silicon Valley. The tech salary and office perks are sweet, but moving across the country and switching to a totally new industry? Not so much. However, with her current career at a dead end, Zoe accepts the offer and swaps high fashion for high tech, haute couture for HTML. But she soon realizes that in an industry claiming to change the world for the better, not everyone’s intentions are pure. With an eight-figure investment on the line, Zoe must find a way to revamp FitPick's image despite Silicon Valley’s elitism and her icy colleagues. Or the company’s future will go up in smoke—and hers with it.]]> 384 Kyla Zhao 0593546156 Mariko 0 to-read 3.51 2024
author: Kyla Zhao
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/01/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 11178225
Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny.]]> 348 Ruta Sepetys 039925692X Mariko 0 to-read 4.03 2013
author: Ruta Sepetys
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 129534927 Marco's always done the right thing. But now it's time for wrong answers only.

Marco should be at university, studying biomedicine. Instead, he’s been sent to live on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean with his estranged uncle, all because of a ‘blip�� everyone else is convinced was a panic attack. (Which it most definitely was not.)

And even though Marco’s trip is supposed to provide answers �� about himself, about his family �� all he finds on board the Ocean Melody are more and more questions.

But then his best friend CeCe proposes a new plan: for someone who has always done the right thing, in every possible way, it’s time for Marco to get a few things wrong. And hooking up with a hot dancer from the ship is only the beginning . . .]]> 384 Tobias Madden 0143777408 Mariko 0 to-read 4.14
author: Tobias Madden
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.14
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/10/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 75302266 Angharad—Emrys Myrddin’s epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him—is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s estate, Effy feels certain it’s her destiny.

But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together clues about Myrddin’s legacy, dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspire against them—and the truth may bring them both to ruin.]]> 378 Ava Reid 0063211505 Mariko 0 to-read 3.73 2023
author: Ava Reid
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57750288 A portrait of the racism faced by America's Japanese population during WWII.

Sam Sakamoto doesn't have space in her life for dreams. With the recent death of her mother, Sam's focus is the farm, which her family will lose if they can't make one last payment. There's no time for her secret and unrealistic hope of becoming a photographer, no matter how skilled she's become. But Sam doesn't know that an even bigger threat looms on the horizon.

On December 7, 1941, Japanese airplanes attack the US naval base at Pearl Harbor. Fury towards Japanese Americans ignites across the country. In Sam's community in Washington State, the attack gives those who already harbor prejudice an excuse to hate.

As Sam's family wrestles with intensifying discrimination and even violence, Sam forges a new and unexpected friendship with her neighbor Hiro Tanaka. When he offers Sam a way to resume her photography, she realizes she can document the bigotry around her -- if she’s willing to take the risk. When the United States announces that those of Japanese descent will be forced into "relocation camps," Sam knows she must act or lose her voice forever. She engages in one last battle to leave with her identity -- and her family -- intact.

Emily Inouye Huey draws inspiration from her own family history.]]> 336 Emily Inouye Huey 1338789961 Mariko 0 to-read 4.43 2022
author: Emily Inouye Huey
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 127482608
It's 2017 at the University of Arkansas. Millie Cousins, a senior resident assistant, wants to graduate, get a job, and buy a house. So when Agatha Paul, a visiting professor and writer, offers Millie an easy yet unusual opportunity, she jumps at the chance. But Millie's starry-eyed hustle becomes jeopardised by odd new friends, vengeful dorm pranks and illicit intrigue.

A fresh and intimate portrait of desire, consumption and reckless abandon, Come and Get It is a tension-filled story about money, indiscretion, and bad behavior.]]> 400 Kiley Reid 0593328205 Mariko 0 to-read 3.32 2024
author: Kiley Reid
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 63892214 Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.

Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.

Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.

When the United States attacks Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.

And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.]]> 371 Isabel Cañas 0593436725 Mariko 0 to-read 3.87 2023
author: Isabel Cañas
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 75498172 Cemetery Boys meets Legendborn in this thrillingly romantic, irresistibly fun YA contemporary fantasy debut following a teenage Chinese American ghost speaker who (reluctantly) makes a deal to raise her nemesis from the dead.

Cara Tang doesn’t want to be haunted.

Look, the dead have issues, and Cara has enough of her own. Her overbearing mother insists she be the “perfect�� Chinese American daughter—which means suppressing her ghost-speaking powers—and she keeps getting into fights with Zacharias Coleson, the local golden boy whose smirk makes her want to set things on fire.

Then she stumbles across Zach’s dead body in the woods. He’s even more infuriating as a ghost, but Cara’s the only one who can see him—and save him.

Agreeing to resurrect him puts her at odds with her mother, draws her into a dangerous liminal world of monsters and magic—and worse, leaves her stuck with Zach. Yet as she and Zach grow closer, forced to depend on each other to survive, Cara finds the most terrifying thing is that she might not hate him so much after all.

Maybe this is why her mother warned her about ghosts.

Delightful and compulsively readable, this contemporary fantasy has something for every reader: a snarky voice, a magnetic enemies-to-lovers romance, and a spirited adventure through a magical, unpredictable world hidden within our own.]]> 368 Miranda Sun 0063252767 Mariko 0 to-read 3.62 2023
author: Miranda Sun
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56978115 Joseon (Korea), 1758. There are few options available to illegitimate daughters in the capital city, but through hard work and study, eighteen-year-old Hyeon has earned a position as a palace nurse. All she wants is to keep her head down, do a good job, and perhaps finally win her estranged father's approval.

But Hyeon is suddenly thrust into the dark and dangerous world of court politics when someone murders four women in a single night, and the prime suspect is Hyeon's closest friend and mentor. Determined to prove her beloved teacher's innocence, Hyeon launches her own secret investigation.

In her hunt for the truth, she encounters Eojin, a young police inspector also searching for the killer. When evidence begins to point to the Crown Prince himself as the murderer, Hyeon and Eojin must work together to search the darkest corners of the palace to uncover the deadly secrets behind the bloodshed.]]> 321 June Hur 1250800552 Mariko 0 to-read 4.13 2022
author: June Hur
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/09/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59808196 We Are Okay meets Wandavision in this novel about loss, and learning to let go.

After the death of his best friend, Eric Ly creates imaginary scenarios in his head to deal with his grief. Until one of them becomes real when a boy he met last summer in Japan finds his way back into his life. When he least expects it, Haru Tanaka walks into the coffee shop and sits down next to him. The only thing is, nobody else can see him.

In a magical turn of events, Eric suddenly has someone to connect with, making him feel less alone in the world. But as they spend more and more time together, he begins to question what is real. When he starts losing control of the very thing that is holding him together, Eric must finally confront his reality. Even if it means losing Haru forever.]]> 304 Dustin Thao 1250762065 Mariko 0 to-read 3.83 2024
author: Dustin Thao
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/07/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 41030850 Struggling to balance the expectations of her immigrant mother with her deep ambivalence about her own place in the world, seventeen-year-old Ocean Wu takes her savings and goes off the grid. A haunting and romantic novel about family, friendship, philosophy, and love.

Ocean Wu has always felt enormous pressure to succeed. After struggling with depression during her senior year in high school, Ocean moves to New York City, where she has been accepted at a prestigious university. But Ocean feels so emotionally raw and unmoored (and uncertain about what is real and what is not), that she decides to defer and live off her savings until she can get herself together. She also decides not to tell her mother (whom she loves very much but doesn’t want to disappoint) that she is deferring—at least until she absolutely must.

In New York, Ocean moves into an apartment with Georgie and Tashya, two strangers who soon become friends, and gets a job tutoring. She also meets a boy—Constantine Brave (a name that makes her laugh)—late one night on the subway. Constant is a fellow student and a graffiti artist, and Constant and Ocean soon start corresponding via Google Docs—they discuss physics, philosophy, art, literature, and love. But everything falls apart when Ocean goes home for Thanksgiving, Constant reveals his true character, Georgie and Tashya break up, and the police get involved.

Ocean, Constant, Georgie, and Tashya are all cartographers—mapping out their futures, their dreams, and their paths toward adulthood in this stunning and heartbreaking novel about finding the strength to control your own destiny.]]> 288 Amy Zhang 0062383078 Mariko 0 to-read 3.23 2023
author: Amy Zhang
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61398917
Khadija Shami is a Syrian American high school senior raised on boxing and football. Saddled with a monstrous ego and a fierce mother to test it, she dreams of escaping her sheltered life to travel the world with her best friend.
��
Leene Tahir is a Syrian refugee, doing her best to adjust to the wildly unfamiliar society of a suburban Detroit high school while battling panic attacks and family pressures.
��
When their worlds collide the result is catastrophic. To Khadija, Leene embodies the tame, dutiful Syrian ideal she's long rebelled against. And to Leene, Khadija is the strong-willed, closed-off American who makes her doubt her place in the world.
��
But as Khadija digs up Leene’s past, a startling and life-changing discovery forces the two of them closer together. As the girls secretly race to unravel the truth, a friendship slowly and hesitantly begins blooming. Doubts are cast aside as they realize they have more in common than they each expected. What they find takes them on a journey all the way to Jordan, challenging what each knows about the other and herself.��
��
Fans of Samira Ahmed’s Love, Hate, and Other Filters and Tahereh Mafi’s A Very Large Expanse Of �� Sea will love Khadija and Leene’s sharp-witted voices in this dual POV narrative. The Next New Syrian Girl ��is a poignant and timely blend of guilt, nostalgia, devotion, and bad-ass hijabees.
��]]> 416 Ream Shukairy 0316432636 Mariko 0 to-read 4.24 2023
author: Ream Shukairy
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/06/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61484963 In this compelling YA contemporary from author Miel Moreland, a bisexual teen's path to political staffer stardom is in jeopardy, until she convinces a cute new candidate to team up with her on the campaign trail.

On the worst day of her life, Madison is dumped by her girlfriend, then fired as said (ex)girlfriend’s campaign manager... plus she accidentally rear-ends the student government advisor—the one person whose good word might help her win a spot at a prestigious youth politics summer camp.

But Madison is nothing if not a girl with a plan, and she isn’t going to let a little thing like heartbreak (or a slightly dented bumper) get in her way. Soon, she has a new junior class president candidate to back—although the two of them might be getting a little too close on the campaign trail. Between navigating her growing crush and corralling a less than enthusiastic election team, Madison has had it with unexpected changes to her carefully laid plans. But when she and a group of queer classmates discover a pattern of harassment within the student government, Madison's forced to shift gears once again.

Something Like Possible is a love letter to ambitious girls, queer solidarity, and how to keep moving forward when the world seems set on pushing you back.

"For every ambitious girl who has been told that they are “too much,�� Something Like Possible is a validating promise that you are enough.�� —Marisa Kanter, author of As If On Cue]]> 380 Miel Moreland 1250845823 Mariko 0 to-read 4.00 2023
author: Miel Moreland
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/04/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61604771
WHO WILL YOU BE AT LYCROFT PHELPS? This is the question all Lycroft applicants want to be asked. It means they’ve been accepted to one of the most prestigious private high schools in the nation. Over 150 years is plenty of time for traditions to bake into the campus’s bricks and ivy. Ceremonies. Athletic rivalries. Secret societies. Pranks taken too far. But navigating it all will��make Charlotte (perfect, straight-A student), Max (scholarship kid and STEM whiz), and Quinn (artist, dreamer, Lycroft legacy) question all they thought they knew about themselves…and the school. Especially when Quinn’s sexual assault becomes public and implicates one of the top-tier athletes on campus. Told in alternating perspectives.]]> 496 Cameron Kelly Rosenblum 0062932101 Mariko 0 to-read 4.07 2023
author: Cameron Kelly Rosenblum
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58891752 A blazing talent debuts with the tale of a status-driven wedding planner grappling with her social ambitions, absent mother, and Puerto Rican roots, all in the wake of Hurricane Maria

It's 2017, and Olga and her brother, Pedro "Prieto" Acevedo, are bold-faced names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan's powerbrokers.

Despite their alluring public lives, behind closed doors things are far less rosy. Sure, Olga can orchestrate the love stories of the 1%, but she can't seem to find her own...until she meets Matteo, who forces her to confront the effects of long-held family secrets...

Twenty-seven years ago, their mother, Blanca, a Young Lord-turned-radical, abandoned her children to advance a militant political cause, leaving them to be raised by their grandmother. Now, with the winds of hurricane season, Blanca has come barreling back into their lives.

Set against the backdrop of New York City in the months surrounding the most devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico's history, Olga Dies Dreaming is a story that examines political corruption, familial strife and the very notion of the American dream--all while asking what it really means to weather a storm.]]> 349 Xóchitl González 1250786193 Mariko 0 4.10 2022
author: Xóchitl González
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2023/02/27
date added: 2023/02/28
shelves:
review:

]]> 57818540
In Side by Side: US Empire, Puerto Rico, and the Roots of American Youth Literature and Culture, author Marilisa Jiménez García focuses on the contributions of the Puerto Rican community to American youth, approaching Latinx literature as a transnational space that provides a critical lens for examining the lingering consequences of US and Spanish colonialism for US communities of color. Through analysis of texts typically outside traditional Latinx or literary studies such as young adult literature, textbooks, television programming, comics, music, curriculum, and youth movements, Side by Side represents the only comprehensive study of the contributions of Puerto Ricans to American youth literature and culture, as well as the only comprehensive study into the role of youth literature and culture in Puerto Rican literature and thought.

Considering recent debates over diversity in children's and young adult literature and media and the strained relationship between Puerto Rico and the US, Jiménez García's timely work encourages us to question who constitutes the expert and to resist the homogenization of Latinxs, as well as other marginalized communities, that has led to the erasure of writers, scholars, and artists.]]> 243 Marilisa Jiménez García 1496832493 Mariko 0 to-read 0.0
author: Marilisa Jiménez García
name: Mariko
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59042752 Hitch meets The Sun Is Also a Star in this novel about a self-professed teen love doctor with a popular radio segment who believes he can get a girl who hates all things romance to fall in love with him in only three dates.

Prince Jones is the guy with all the answers—or so it seems. After all, at seventeen, he has his own segment on Detroit’s popular hip-hop show, Love Radio, where he dishes out advice to the brokenhearted.

Prince has always dreamed of becoming a DJ and falling in love. But being the main caretaker for his mother, who has multiple sclerosis, and his little brother means his dreams will stay just that and the only romances in his life are the ones he hears about from his listeners. Until he meets Dani Ford.

Dani isn’t checking for anybody. She’s focused on her plan: ace senior year, score a scholarship, and move to New York City to become a famous author. But her college essay keeps tripping her up and acknowledging what’s blocking her means dealing with what happened at that party a few months ago. And that’s one thing Dani can’t do.

When the romantic DJ meets the ambitious writer, sparks fly. Prince is smitten, but Dani’s not looking to get derailed. She gives Prince just three dates to convince her that he’s worth falling for. Three dates for the love expert to take his own advice, and just maybe change two lives forever.]]> 320 Ebony LaDelle 1665908157 Mariko 0 to-read 4.20 2022
author: Ebony LaDelle
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61861030 Anuradha D. Rajurkar Mariko 0 to-read 5.00
author: Anuradha D. Rajurkar
name: Mariko
average rating: 5.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58456287 When Dimple Met Rishi meets Loveboat, Taipei in this hilarious YA rom-com about a Chinese-Filipina girl in Manila whose father sets her up on a marathon of arranged dates in hopes of convincing her to stay close to home for college.

Chloe is officially off the waitlist at USC, and thus one step closer to realizing her dream of becoming an animator in the United States. But before she leaves home, her auntie insists on planning a traditional debut for Chloe’s eighteenth birthday (think sweet sixteen meets debutante ball). To make matters worse, her father, intent on finding Chloe the perfect escort for the party, keeps setting her up on one awkward kaishao—or arranged date—after another. But . . . why does her dad suddenly care so much about her love life? And what happens when she actually starts to fall for one of the guys, only to have to leave at the end of the summer?]]> 320 Mae Coyiuto 0593461630 Mariko 0 to-read 4.03 2023
author: Mae Coyiuto
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58469344
There is Olivia, the beautiful elder Davenport daughter, ready to do her duty by getting married. . . until she meets the charismatic civil rights leader Washington DeWight and sparks fly. The younger daughter, Helen, is more interested in fixing cars than falling in love—unless it's with her sister's suitor. Amy-Rose, the childhood friend turned maid to the Davenport sisters, dreams of opening her own business—and marrying the one man she could never be with, Olivia and Helen's brother, John. But Olivia's best friend, Ruby, also has her sights set on John Davenport, though she can't seem to keep his interest . . . until family pressure has her scheming to win his heart, just as someone else wins hers.

The first book in a breathless new series, The Davenports offers a glimpse into a period of African American history often overlooked, while delivering a totally escapist, swoon-worthy read. Inspired by the real-life story of C.R. Patterson and his family, it's the tale of four determined and passionate young Black women discovering the courage to steer their own path in life—and love.]]> 384 Krystal Marquis 0593463331 Mariko 0 to-read 3.64 2023
author: Krystal Marquis
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/01/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62988344 Francine always has a plan. Ollie wants no part of it.

Francine loves her grandfather, but their time together is running out. He has one final wish: to see a male heir carry on the family traditions. Francine knows his ideas are outdated, but she would do anything for him. Her solution? Ask Ollie Tran, a family friend (and former crush, not that it matters), to pretend to be ceremonially adopted and act like the grandson A Gūng never had.

Ollie generally avoids the odd, too blunt (and fine, sort of cute) Francine, whose intensity makes him uncomfortable. So when she asks him to help deceive her dying grandpa, Ollie’s not down. He doesn’t get why anyone would go to such lengths, even for family. Especially with a backwards (and sexist, Ollie keeps stressing) scheme like this.

Francine, however, is determined to make it happen, and soon Ollie finds himself more invested in her plan—and in her—than he ever thought possible. But as the tangled lies and feelings pile up, Francine must discover what exactly she needs for herself—and from Ollie. Because sometimes the boy you always wanted isn’t what you expected.]]> 332 Michelle Quach 0063038455 Mariko 5 to-read 3.51 2023
author: Michelle Quach
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/12/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60751788 A woman goes head-to-head with the CEO of a corporation threatening to destroy her neighborhood in this fresh and modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice by debut author Nikki Payne.

Liza B.--the only DJ who gives a jam--wants to take her neighborhood back from the soulless property developer dropping unaffordable condos on every street corner in DC. But her planned protest at a corporate event takes a turn after she mistakes the smoldering-hot CEO for the waitstaff. When they go toe-to-toe, the sparks fly--but her impossible-to-ignore family thwarts her every move. Liza wants Dorsey Fitzgerald out of her hood, but she'll settle for getting him out of her head.

At first, Dorsey writes off Liza Bennett as more interested in performing outrage than acting on it. As the adopted Filipino son of a wealthy white family, he's always felt a bit out of place and knows a fraud when he sees one. But when Liza's protest results in a viral meme, their lives are turned upside down, and Dorsey comes to realize this irresistible revolutionary is the most real woman he's ever met.]]> 416 Nikki Payne 0593440943 Mariko 0 to-read 3.75 2022
author: Nikki Payne
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/12/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59237736
Sixteen-year-old Bianca Torre is an avid birder undergoing a gender identity crisis and grappling with an ever-growing list of fears. Some, like Fear #6: Initiating Conversation, keep them constrained, forcing them to watch birds from the telescope in their bedroom. And, occasionally, their neighbors. When their gaze wanders from the birds to one particular window across the street, Bianca witnesses a creepy plague-masked murderer take their neighbor’s life. Worse, the death is ruled a suicide, forcing Bianca to make a choice—succumb to their long list of fears (including #3: Murder and #55: Breaking into a Dead Guy’s Apartment) or investigate what happened.

Bianca enlists the help of their friend Anderson Coleman, but the two have more knowledge of anime than true crime. As Bianca and Anderson dig deeper into the murder with a little help from Bianca’s crush and fellow birding aficionado, Elaine Yee (#13: Beautiful People, #11: Parents Discovering They’re A Raging Lesbian), the trio uncovers a conspiracy much larger—and weirder—than imagined. But when the killer catches wind of the investigation, Bianca’s #1 fear of public speaking doesn’t sound so bad compared to the threat of being silenced for good.

In this absurdist, bizarrely comical YA thriller that is at turns a deceptively deep exploration of anxiety and identity, perhaps the real murder investigation is the friends we make along the way.]]> 384 Justine Pucella Winans 0358721644 Mariko 0 to-read 4.05 2023
author: Justine Pucella Winans
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/12/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56304423 The Haunting of Hill House meets Get Out in this chilling YA psychological thriller and modern take on the classic haunted house story from New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson!

Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California beach town to the embattled Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper.

The renovated picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors has its . . . secrets. That’s only half the problem: household items vanish, doors open on their own, lights turn off, shadows walk past rooms, voices can be heard in the walls, and there’s a foul smell seeping through the vents only Mari seems to notice. Worse: Piper keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari gone.

But “running from ghosts�� is just a metaphor, right?

As the house closes in, Mari learns that the danger isn’t limited to Maple Street. Cedarville has its secrets, too. And secrets always find their way through the cracks.]]> 373 Tiffany D. Jackson 006302909X Mariko 0 to-read 3.81 2021
author: Tiffany D. Jackson
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61273084 The Haunting of Hill House meets Sadie in this evocative and mind-bending psychological thriller following two teen girls navigating the treacherous past of a mysterious mansion ten years apart.

Daisy sees dead people—something impossible to forget in bustling, ghost-packed Toronto. She usually manages to deal with her unwanted ability, but she’s completely unprepared to be dumped by her boyfriend. So when her mother inherits a secluded mansion in northern Ontario where she spent her childhood summers, Daisy jumps at the chance to escape. But the house is nothing like Daisy expects, and she begins to realize that her experience with the supernatural might be no match for her mother’s secrets, nor what lurks within these walls��

A decade later, Brittney is desperate to get out from under the thumb of her abusive mother, a bestselling author who claims her stay at “Miracle Mansion�� allowed her to see the error of her ways. But Brittney knows that’s nothing but a sham. She decides the new season of her popular Haunted web series will uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the mansion ten years prior and finally expose her mother’s lies. But as she gets more wrapped up in the investigation, she’ll have to decide: if she can only bring one story to light, which one matters most—Daisy’s or her own?

As Brittney investigates the mansion in the present, Daisy’s story runs parallel in the past, both timelines propelling the girls to face the most dangerous monsters of all: those that hide in plain sight.]]> 512 Liselle Sambury 166590349X Mariko 0 to-read 4.04 2023
author: Liselle Sambury
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61273097
Arthur Popper helps out in his family’s Boulder, Colorado, junk store, Universal Trash, a place so full of cool stuff it inspires awe in first-time shoppers. When it comes to ukuleles, peppermills, and rhinestones, Arthur knows what’s what. But unlike his motorcycle-riding grandma and his namesake, King Arthur, he’s not brave or adventurous.

Then Arthur finds a chipped teacup, of all things, and realizes it’s the key to solving the perfect crime—a crime only he knows about.

With help from a supernatural sidekick, his best friend, his annoying little sister, and a sad-faced police officer, Arthur embarks on the hard work of detecting. Everyone knows Arthur is good at customer service. Does he have what it takes to solve a mystery and confront a thief?]]> 304 Martha Freeman 1665905352 Mariko 0 to-read 3.62
author: Martha Freeman
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.62
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/14
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 60877625
Ro Devereux can predict your future. Or, at least, the app she built for her senior project can.

Working with her neighbor, a retired behavioral scientist, Ro created an app called MASH, designed around the classic game Mansion Apartment Shack House, that can predict a person’s future with 93% accuracy. The app will even match users with their soul mates. Though it was only supposed to be a class project, MASH quickly takes off and gains the attention of tech investors.

Ro’s dream is to work in Silicon Valley, and she’ll do anything to prove to her new backing company—and the world—that the app works. So it’s a huge shock when the app says her soul mate is Miller, her childhood best friend with whom she had a friendship-destroying fight three years ago. Now thrust into a fake dating scenario, Ro and Miller must address the years of pain between them if either of them will have any chance of achieving their dreams.

Fans of Emma Lord and Alex Light will love this stand-alone contemporary novel with a masterful slow-burn romance at its core.]]> 320 Ellen O'Clover 0063255030 Mariko 0 to-read 3.93 2023
author: Ellen O'Clover
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/10/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 61317673 From the author of Deep in Providence comes a paranormal young adult romance that follows a teen convinced that her best friend–turned-enemy is possessed by a ghost, perfect for fans of White Smoke and Twilight.

Seventeen-year-old Aria Cayetano dreams of ghosts. She used to see them too, but thanks to a special tea brewed by her grandfather, Aria’s connection to the spirit world has been severed. Until a decades old rosebush suddenly dies across the street, convincing Aria that something supernatural is happening in her neighborhood.

She aches to investigate it, but the rosebush sits on her ex best friend Derek Johnson’s front lawn, and she can't question him because he hates her now. Aria doesn't know what drove them apart years ago, but she does know Derek's been acting strange for weeks, sneaking out in the dead of night to who knows where.

Then, days after the rosebush dies, Derek begins speaking to her again. At least Aria thinks it’s him. Until she discovers there’s a ghost inside of Derek that will take his life if it doesn’t find what it’s searching for. As Aria and Derek race to uncover the mystery, another kind of magic takes them by surprise: love. But Aria has to decide how far she’s willing to go to save Derek, especially when helping the ghost means tapping into whatever the tea has buried inside of her.

Bone-chilling and spellbinding, I’m Not Supposed to Be in the Dark is an alluring ghost story that’s about exorcising the past to find a future to believe in.]]> 384 Riss M. Neilson 1250788536 Mariko 0 to-read 3.75 2023
author: Riss M. Neilson
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58484054
A spellbinding young adult fantasy debut following three best friends who turn to magic when they're haunted by a friend's death...and perhaps her spirit, combining the atmospheric thrills of The Hazel Wood with the nuanced realism of Erika L. Sanchez.

For best friends Miliani, Inez, Natalie and Jasmine, Providence, Rhode Island has a magic of its own. From the bodegas and late-night food trucks on Broad Street to The Hill that watches over the city, every corner of Providence glows with memories of them practicing spells, mixing up potions and doing séances with the help of the magic Miliani’s Filipino grandfather taught her.

But when Jasmine is killed by a drunk driver, the world they have always known is left haunted by grief...and Jasmine's lingering spirit. Determined to bring her back, the surviving friends band together, testing the limits of their magic and everything they know about life, death, and each other.

And as their plan to resurrect Jasmine grows darker and more demanding than they imagined, their separate lives begin to splinter the bonds they depend on, revealing buried secrets that threaten the people they care about most. Miliani, Inez and Natalie will have to rely on more than just their mystical abilities to find the light.

Thrilling and absorbing, Deep in Providence is a story of profound yearning, and what happens when three teen girls are finally given the power to go after what they want.

“Magic runs like a glittering thread through this densely woven tale of friendship, grief, and identity, and what begins as a backbeat of creeping dread deftly builds into a landscape of supernatural terrors. Neilson balances her page-turning fantasy narrative against the coming of age of a trio of bereaved best friends with grace, delicacy, and startling humanity.�� ―Melissa Albert, New York Times -bestselling author of the Hazel Wood series and Our Crooked Hearts]]> 480 Riss M. Neilson 1250788528 Mariko 0 to-read 3.81 2022
author: Riss M. Neilson
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56755542 Emergency Contact meets Moxie in this cheeky and searing novel that unpacks just how complicated new love can get…when you fall for your enemy.

Eliza Quan is the perfect candidate for editor in chief of her school paper. That is, until ex-jock Len DiMartile decides on a whim to run against her. Suddenly her vast qualifications mean squat because inexperienced Len—who is tall, handsome, and male—just seems more like a leader.

When Eliza’s frustration spills out in a viral essay, she finds herself inspiring a feminist movement she never meant to start, caught between those who believe she’s a gender equality champion and others who think she’s simply crying misogyny.

Amid this growing tension, the school asks Eliza and Len to work side by side to demonstrate civility. But as they get to know one another, Eliza feels increasingly trapped by a horrifying realization—she just might be falling for the face of the patriarchy himself.]]> 384 Michelle Quach 0063038366 Mariko 5 to-read 3.63 2021
author: Michelle Quach
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2022/09/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57608914 A tropical island full of secrets. Two Victorian ghosts, trapped for eternity. And a seventeen-year-old girl determined not to be next.

Eulalie Island should be a paradise, but to Addie Spencer, it's more like a prison.

Forced to tag along to the remote island on her mother's honeymoon, Addie isn't thrilled about being trapped there for two weeks. The island is stunning, with its secluded beaches and forests full of white flowers. But there's something eerie and unsettling about the place.

After Addie meets an enigmatic boy on the beach, all the flowers start turning pink. The island loves you, he tells her. But she can't stop sleepwalking at night, the birds keep calling her name, and there's a strange little girl in the woods who wants to play hide-and-seek. When Addie learns about two sisters who died on the island centuries ago, she wonders if there's more to this place, things only she can see.

Beneath its gorgeous surface, Eulalie Island is hiding dark, tangled secrets. And if Addie doesn't unravel them soon, the island might never let her go.]]> 368 Nicole Lesperance 0593465377 Mariko 0 to-read 3.89 2022
author: Nicole Lesperance
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 62119767
Luis’s attention soon turns to something more and they have sex at a party—while Ari didn’t say no, she definitely didn’t say yes. Before she has a chance to process what happened and decide if she even has the right to be mad at Luis, the rumor mill begins churning—thanks, she’s sure, to Luis’s ex-girlfriend, Shawni. Boys at school now see Ari as an easy target, someone who won’t say no.

Then Ari finds a mysterious note in her locker which eventually leads her to an unlikely group of students determined to expose Luis for the predator he is. To her surprise, she finds genuine friendship among the group, including her growing feelings for the very last girl she expected to fall for. But in order to take Luis down, she’ll have to come to terms with the truth of what he did to her that night—and risk everything to see justice done.]]> 315 Sonora Reyes 0063060329 Mariko 0 to-read 4.30 2023
author: Sonora Reyes
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.30
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/09/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58784932
High school junior Michie is struggling to define who she is for her scholarship essays, her big shot at making it into Brown as a first-generation college student. The prompts would be hard for anyone, but Michie's been estranged from her mother since she was seven and her concept of family has long felt murky.

Enter new kid and basketball superstar Derek de la Rosa. He is very cute, very talented, and very much has his eye on Michie, no matter how invisible she believes herself to be.


When Michie's mother unexpectedly reaches out to make amends, and with her scholarship deadlines looming, Michie must choose whether to reopen old wounds or close the door on her past. And as she spends more time with Derek, she'll have to decide how much of her heart she is willing to share. Because while Michie may not know who she is, she's starting to realize who she wants to become, if only she can take a chance on Derek, on herself, and on her future.]]> 368 Lane Clarke 0759556709 Mariko 0 to-read 4.18 2022
author: Lane Clarke
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/07/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58842731 A debut novel about a queer Mexican American girl navigating Catholic school, while falling in love and learning to celebrate her true self.

Sixteen-year-old Yamilet Flores prefers to be known for her killer eyeliner, not for being one of the only Mexican kids at her new, mostly white, very rich Catholic school. But at least here no one knows she's gay, and Yami intends to keep it that way.

After being outed by her crush and ex-best friend before transferring to Slayton Catholic, Yami has new priorities: keep her brother out of trouble, make her mom proud, and, most importantly, don't fall in love. Granted, she's never been great at any of those things, but that's a problem for Future Yami.

The thing is, it's hard to fake being straight when Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, is so annoyingly perfect. And smart. And talented. And cute. So cute. Either way, Yami isn't going to make the same mistake again. If word got back to her mom, she could face a lot worse than rejection. So she'll have to start asking, WWSGD: What would a straight girl do?]]> 385 Sonora Reyes 006306023X Mariko 0 to-read 4.27 2022
author: Sonora Reyes
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 35297380
With everything her parents have sacrificed to make her cushy life a reality, Mei can't bring herself to tell them the truth--that she (1) hates germs, (2) falls asleep in biology lectures, and (3) has a crush on her classmate Darren Takahashi, who is decidedly not Taiwanese.

But when Mei reconnects with her brother, Xing, who is estranged from the family for dating the wrong woman, Mei starts to wonder if all the secrets are truly worth it. Can she find a way to be herself, whoever that is, before her web of lies unravels?]]> 311 Gloria Chao 1481499106 Mariko 0 3.77 2018
author: Gloria Chao
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/05/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 50998103
Once Ana meets Hayden, a transgender boy new to the rink, thoughts about the princess program and gender identity begin to take center stage. And when Hayden mistakes Ana for a boy, Ana doesn't correct him and finds comfort in this boyish identity when he's around. As their friendship develops, Ana realizes that it's tricky juggling two different identities on one slippery sheet of ice. And with a major competition approaching, Ana must decide whether telling everyone the truth is worth risking years of hard work and sacrifice.]]> 380 A.J. Sass 0316458619 Mariko 0 to-read 4.35 2020
author: A.J. Sass
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55334246 This book is for everyone. Because we can all be allies.

As an ally, you use your power—no matter how big or small—to support others. You learn, and try, and mess up, and try harder. In this collection of true stories, 17 critically acclaimed and bestselling YA authors get real about being an ally, needing an ally, and showing up for friends and strangers.��

From raw stories of racism and invisible disability to powerful moments of passing the mic, these authors share their truths. They invite you to think about your own experiences and choices and how to be a better ally.

There are no easy answers, but this book helps you ask better questions. Self-reflection prompts, resources, journaling ideas, and further reading suggestions help you find out what you can do. Because we’re all in this together. And we all need allies.��

A portion of the proceeds from this book goes to supporting charities.��
]]> 240 Shakirah Bourne 0744039916 Mariko 0 to-read 4.34 2021
author: Shakirah Bourne
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 59689787 A Black teen dancer with dreams of landing a spot in a prestigious ballet company must learn to dance on her own terms in this explosive debut about the healing power of art and friendship, perfect for fans of Heartstopper and Tiny Pretty Things.

Ballet is Aisha’s life. So when she’s denied yet another lead at her elite academy because she doesn’t “look�� the part, she knows something has to change–the constant discrimination is harming her mental health. Switching to her best friend Neil’s art school seems like the perfect plan at first. But she soon discovers racism and bullying are entrenched in the ballet program here, too, and there’s a new, troubling distance between her and Neil. And as past traumas surface, pressure from friends and family, a new romance, and questions about her dance career threaten to overwhelm her. There’s no choreography to follow–for high school or for healing. Aisha will have to find the strength within herself–and place her trust in others–to make her next move.]]> 320 Maya Ameyaw 177321781X Mariko 0 to-read 3.94 2023
author: Maya Ameyaw
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/02/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 58163787
June Chu is the “just good enough�� girl. Good enough to line the shelves with a slew of third-place trophies and steal secret kisses from her AP Bio partner, Rhys. But not good enough to meet literally any of her Taiwanese mother’s unrelenting expectations or to get Rhys to commit to anything beyond a well-timed joke.

While June’s mother insists she follow in her (perfect) sister’s footsteps and get a (full-ride) violin scholarship to Northwestern (to study pre-med), June doesn’t see the point in trying too hard if she’s destined to fall short anyway. Instead, she focuses her efforts on making her relationship with Rhys “official.�� But after her methodically-planned, tipsily-executed scheme explodes on the level of a nuclear disaster, she flings herself into a new relationship with a guy who’s not allergic to the word “girlfriend.��

But as the line between sex and love blurs, and pressure to map out her entire future threatens to burst, June will have to decide on whose terms she’s going to live her life—even if it means fraying her relationship with her mother beyond repair.]]> 352 Anna Gracia 1682633713 Mariko 0 to-read 3.36 2022
author: Anna Gracia
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2022/01/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 38397799 Six Swans, The Flight of Swans follows Ryn's journey to save her family and their kingdom.

Princess Andaryn's six older brothers have always been her protectors--until her father takes a new Queen, a frightening, mysterious woman who enchants the men in the royal family. When Ryn's attempt to break the enchantment fails, she makes a bitter bargain: the Queen will spare her brothers' lives if Ryn remains silent for six years.

Ryn thinks she freed her brothers, but she never thought the Queen would turn her brothers into swans. She never thought she'd have to discover the secret to undoing the Queen's spell while eluding the Otherworldly forces that hunt her. And she never thought she'd have to do it alone, without speaking a single word.

As months as years go by, Ryn learns there is more to courage than speech . . . and that she is stronger than the Queen could have ever imagined.]]> 448 Sarah McGuire 1512440272 Mariko 5 4.41 2018
author: Sarah McGuire
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.41
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/12/31
shelves:
review:

]]> 53137979
Swan Dive pitches us into the fascinating, dizzying lives of the dancers in one of the most revered ballet companies in the world. Georgina Pazcoguin, the New York City Ballet’s first Asian American soloist, tells her unfiltered story of leaving small-town Pennsylvania for New York City and training as a professional athlete, miles away from her parents, before finishing high school.

Rocked by scandal in the wake of the #MeToo movement, NYCB sits at an inflection point, inching toward progress in a strictly traditional culture, and Pazcoguin doesn’t shy away from ballet’s dark side. She continues to be one of the few dancers openly speaking up against the sexual harassment, mental abuse, and racism that in the past went unrecognized or was tacitly accepted as par for the course—all of which she has painfully experienced firsthand.

But along with her desire for justice and a deep respect for her craft, Pazcoguin has an unapologetic sense of humor about the cutthroat, literally survival-of-the-fittest culture of ballet. She relishes telling us about the torture (but economic necessity) that is the holiday “Nutbuster�� season and holds nothing back in relaying the face-plants, backstage fights, and raucous company bonding sessions. You'll never see a ballerina, or a ballet, the same way again.]]> 272 Georgina Pazcoguin 1250244307 Mariko 0 to-read 3.75 2021
author: Georgina Pazcoguin
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/11/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 48909025
Weston Winters isn’t an alchemist--yet. Fired from every apprenticeship he's landed, his last chance hinges on Master Welty taking him in. But when Wes arrives at Welty Manor, he finds only Margaret and her bloodhound Trouble. Margaret begrudgingly allows him to stay, but on one condition: he must join the hunt with her.

Although they make an unlikely team, Wes is in awe of the girl who has endured alone on the outskirts of a town that doesn’t want her, in this creaking house of ghosts and sorrow. And even though Wes disrupts every aspect of her life, Margaret is drawn to him. He, too, knows what it's like to be an outsider. As the hunt looms closer and tensions rise, Margaret and Wes uncover dark magic that could be the key to winning the hunt - if they survive that long.]]> 384 Allison Saft 1250623650 Mariko 0 to-read 3.84 2022
author: Allison Saft
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.84
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52439531
To receive her inheritance, Avery must move into sprawling, secret passage-filled Hawthorne House, where every room bears the old man's touch -- and his love of puzzles, riddles, and codes. Unfortunately for Avery, Hawthorne House is also occupied by the family that Tobias Hawthorne just dispossessed. This includes the four Hawthorne grandsons: dangerous, magnetic, brilliant boys who grew up with every expectation that one day, they would inherit billions. Heir apparent Grayson Hawthorne is convinced that Avery must be a conwoman, and he's determined to take her down. His brother, Jameson, views her as their grandfather's last hurrah: a twisted riddle, a puzzle to be solved. Caught in a world of wealth and privilege, with danger around every turn, Avery will have to play the game herself just to survive.]]> 386 Jennifer Lynn Barnes 1368052401 Mariko 0 to-read 4.13 2020
author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 39085455 Get Out meets Danielle Vega in this YA horror where survival is not a guarantee.

Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It’s hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don’t interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about ghosts and the rules to life itself go out the window as Sawyer begins haunting him and bodies turn up in his neighborhood. High school soon becomes a survival game–one Jake is not sure he’s going to win.]]> 246 Ryan Douglass 198481253X Mariko 0 to-read 3.42 2021
author: Ryan Douglass
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.42
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55835951 Fourteen-year-old Iranian-American Parvin Mohammadi sets out to win the ultimate date to homecoming.

Parvin has just had her heart broken when she meets the cutest boy at her new high school, Matty Fumero--with an emphasis on fumero, because he might be the smoking hot cure to all of her boy troubles. If Parvin can get Matty to ask her to homecoming, she's positive it will erase all the awful and embarrassing feelings He Who Will Not Be Named left her with after the summer. The only problem is Matty is definitely too cool for bassoon-playing, frizzy-haired, Cheeto-eating Parvin. Since being herself has not worked for her in the past (see aforementioned relationship), she decides that to be the girl who finally gets the guy, she should start acting like the women in her favorite rom-coms. Those girls aren't loud, they certainly don't cackle when they laugh, and they smile much more than they talk. Easy enough, right?

But as Parvin struggles through her parent-mandated Farsi lessons on the weekends, a budding friendship with a boy she can't help but be her unfiltered self with, and dealing with the ramifications of the Muslim Ban on her family in Iran, she realizes that being herself might just be the perfect thing after all.]]> 320 Olivia Abtahi 0593109422 Mariko 0 to-read 3.90 2021
author: Olivia Abtahi
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/10/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56980402 Jenny Han meets The Bachelorette in this effervescent romantic comedy about a teen Korean American adoptee who unwittingly finds herself at the center of a competition for her heart, as orchestrated by her overbearing, loving family.

Jasmine Yap’s life is great. Well, it’s okay. She’s about to move in with her long-time boyfriend, Paul, before starting a nursing program at community college—all of which she mostly wants. But her stable world is turned upside down when she catches Paul cheating. To her giant, overprotective family, Paul’s loss is their golden ticket to showing Jasmine that she deserves much more. The only problem is, Jasmine refuses to meet anyone new.

But…what if the family set up a situation where she wouldn’t have to know? A secret Jasmine Project.

The plan is simple: use Jasmine’s graduation party as an opportunity for her to meet the most eligible teen bachelors in Orlando. There’s no pressure for Jasmine to choose anyone, of course, but the family hopes their meticulously curated choices will show Jasmine how she should be treated. And maybe one will win her heart.

But with the family fighting for their favorites, bachelors going rogue, and Paul wanting her back, the Jasmine Project may not end in love but total, heartbreaking disaster.]]> 400 Meredith Ireland 1534477020 Mariko 0 to-read 3.94 2021
author: Meredith Ireland
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55873089 To All the Boys I Loved Before meets World of Dance in this delectable love story that combines food, dance, and a hint of drama to cook up the perfect romance.

Radha is on the verge of becoming one of the greatest Kathak dancers in the world . . . until a family betrayal costs her the biggest competition of her life. Now, she has left her Chicago home behind to follow her stage mom to New Jersey. At the Princeton Academy of the Arts, Radha is determined to leave performing in her past, and reinvent herself from scratch.

Jai is captain of the Bollywood Beats dance team, ranked first in his class, and an overachiever with no college plans. Tight family funds means medical school is a pipe dream, which is why he wants to make the most out of high school. When Radha enters his life, he realizes she's the exact ingredient he needs for a show-stopping senior year.

With careful choreography, both Radha and Jai will need to face their fears (and their families) if they want a taste of a happily ever after.

A delicious YA rom-com full of heart, flavor, and just enough heat. -JULIE MURPHY, New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin'

A tasty treat! Nisha Sharma always delights. -MEG CABOT, author of The Princess Diaries

A sumptuous tale of dance, food, and culture. I savored every last page! - PINTIP DUNN, New York Times bestselling author]]> 336 Nisha Sharma 0553523295 Mariko 0 to-read 3.72 2021
author: Nisha Sharma
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/09/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 56605592 In this delightfully modern spin on Pride and Prejudice, love is a goal, marriage is a distant option, and self-discovery is a sure thing.

Welcome to Bennet House, the only all-women’s dorm at prestigious Longbourn University, home to three close friends who are about to have an eventful year. EJ is an ambitious Black engineering student. Her best friend, Jamie, is a newly out trans woman studying French and theater. Tessa is a Filipina astronomy major with guy trouble. For them, Bennet House is more than a residence—it’s an oasis of feminism, femininity, and enlightenment. But as great as Longbourn is for academics, EJ knows it can be a wretched place to find love.

Yet the fall season is young and brimming with surprising possibilities. Jamie’s prospect is Lee Gregory, son of a Hollywood producer and a gentleman so charming he practically sparkles. That leaves EJ with Lee’s arrogant best friend, Will. For Jamie’s sake, EJ must put up with the disagreeable, distressingly handsome, not quite famous TV actor for as long as she can.

What of it? EJ has her eyes on a bigger prize, anyway: launching a spectacular engineering career in the “real world�� she’s been hearing so much about. But what happens when all their lives become entwined in ways no one could have predicted—and EJ finds herself drawn to a man who’s not exactly a perfect fit for the future she has planned?]]> 365 Eden Appiah-Kubi 1542029163 Mariko 0 to-read 3.77 2021
author: Eden Appiah-Kubi
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/08/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 57390604
Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe.

But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all.

Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.]]> 417 Zoulfa Katouh 0316351377 Mariko 0 to-read 4.48 2022
author: Zoulfa Katouh
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/07/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 54017865
Eva, Celeste, Gina, and Steph used to think their friendship was unbreakable. After all, they've been though a lot together, including the astronomical rise of Moonlight Overthrow, the world-famous queer pop band they formed in middle school, never expecting to headline anything bigger than the county fair.

But after a sudden falling out leads to the dissolution of the teens' band, their friendship, and Eva and Celeste's starry-eyed romance, nothing is the same. Gina and Celeste step further into the spotlight, Steph disappears completely, and Eva, heartbroken, takes refuge as a songwriter and secret online fangirl...of her own band. That is, until a storm devastates their hometown, bringing the four ex-best-friends back together. As they prepare for one last show, they'll discover whether growing up always means growing apart.

" It Goes Like This was everything my music nerd heart needed AND wanted. Lyrical and heart-wrenching...beautiful representation, sweetest longing and the pop-star romance of my dreams; Swifties will swoon happily with this story tattooed on their hearts." ―Erin Hahn, author of You'd Be Mine and More Than Maybe]]> 352 Miel Moreland 1250767482 Mariko 0 to-read 3.97 2021
author: Miel Moreland
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53457092
Shiori'anma, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted. But it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.

A sorceress in her own right, Raikama banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes. She warns Shiori that she must speak of it to no one for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.

Penniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and uncovers a dark conspiracy to seize the throne. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in a paper bird, a mercurial dragon, and the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she's been taught all her life to forswear--no matter what the cost.

Weaving together elements of The Wild Swans, Cinderella, the legend of Chang E, and the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.]]> 454 Elizabeth Lim 0593300939 Mariko 0 to-read 4.19 2021
author: Elizabeth Lim
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53039484
While critical and popular attention afforded to twenty-first-century young adult literature has exponentially increased in recent years, classroom materials and scholarship have remained static in focus and slight in scope. Twilight, The Hunger Games, The Fault in Our Stars, and The Hate U Give overwhelm conversations among scholars and critics--but these are far from the only texts in need of analysis.

Beyond the Blockbusters: Themes and Trends in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction offers a necessary remedy to this limiting perspective, bringing together essays about the many subgenres, themes, and character types that have until now been overlooked. The collection tackles a diverse range of topics--modern updates to the marriage plot; fairy tale retellings in dystopian settings; stories of extrajudicial police killings and racial justice. The approaches are united, though, by a commitment to exploring the large-scale generic and theoretical structures at work in each set of texts.

As a collection, Beyond the Blockbusters is an exciting entryway into a field that continues to grow and change even as its works captivate massive audiences. It will prove a crucial addition to the library of any scholar or instructor of young adult literature.]]> 254 Rebekah Fitzsimmons 1496827139 Mariko 0 to-read 4.00
author: Rebekah Fitzsimmons
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.00
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/05/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 45156468 A social media influencer is shipped off to a digital detox summer camp in this coming-of-age story.

Sunny Song's Big Summer Goals:
1) Make Rafael Kim my boyfriend (finally!)
2) Hit 100K followers (almost there��)
3) Have the best last summer of high school ever

Not on Sunny's list: accidentally filming a PG-13 cooking video that goes viral (#browniegate). Extremely not on her list: being shipped off to a digital detox farm camp in Iowa (IOWA??) for a whole month. She's traded in her WiFi connection for a butter churn, and if she wants any shot at growing her social media platform this summer, she'll need to find a way back online.

But between some unexpected friendships and an alarmingly cute farm boy, Sunny might be surprised by the connections she makes when she's forced to disconnect.]]> 249 Suzanne Park 1728209439 Mariko 0 to-read 3.76 2021
author: Suzanne Park
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 51591631 A gothic fantasy about monsters and magic, set on the banks of a cursed lake. There are monsters in the world. When Violeta Graceling arrives at haunted Lakesedge estate, she expects to find a monster. She knows the terrifying rumors about Rowan Sylvanan, who drowned his entire family when he was a boy. But neither the estate nor the monster are what they seem. There are monsters in the woods. As Leta falls for Rowan, she discovers he is bound to the Lord Under, the sinister death god lurking in the black waters of the lake. A creature to whom Leta is inexplicably drawn�� There’s a monster in the shadows, and now it knows my name. Now, to save Rowan—and herself—Leta must confront the darkness in her past, including unraveling the mystery of her connection to the Lord Under.]]> 384 Lyndall Clipstone 1250753392 Mariko 0 to-read 3.45 2021
author: Lyndall Clipstone
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.45
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55784444 #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything and The Sun is Also a Star Nicola Yoon is back with her eagerly anticipated third novel. With all the heart and hope of her last two books, this is an utterly unique romance.


Evie Thomas doesn't believe in love anymore. Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began . . . and how it will end. After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually.

As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything--including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he's only just met.

Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it's that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?]]> 304 Nicola Yoon 1524718971 Mariko 0 to-read 4.04 2021
author: Nicola Yoon
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 54776573 This is no ordinary apocalypse...

Hannah Ashton wakes up to silence. The entire city around her is empty, except for one other person: Leo Sterling. Leo might be hottest boy ever (and not just because he's the only one left), but he's also too charming, too selfish, and too devastating for his own good, let alone Hannah's.

Stuck with only each other, they explore a world with no parents, no friends, and no school and realize that they can be themselves instead of playing the parts everyone expects of them. Hannah doesn't have to be just an overachieving, music-box-perfect ballerina, and Leo can be more than a slacker, 80s-glam-metal-obsessed guitarist. Leo is a burst of honesty and fun that draws Hannah out, and Hannah's got Leo thinking about someone other than himself for the first time.

Together, they search for answers amid crushing isolation, but while their empty world may appear harmless . . . it's not. Because nothing is quite as it seems, and if Hannah and Leo don't figure out what's going on, they might just be torn apart forever.]]> 368 Brianna Bourne 1338712632 Mariko 0 to-read 3.87 2021
author: Brianna Bourne
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55959425 The past never forgets...

Before an ambush by enemy soldiers, Lord Cassia was an engineer's apprentice on a mission entrusted by the king. But when plague sweeps over the land, leaving countless dead and devastating the kingdom, even Cas�� title cannot save him from a rotting prison cell and a merciless sickness.

Three years later, Cas wants only to return to his home in the mountains and forget past horrors. But home is not what he remembers. His castle has become a refuge for the royal court. And they have brought their enemies with them.

When an assassin targets those closest to the queen, Cas is drawn into a search for a killer�� one that leads him to form an unexpected bond with a brilliant young historian named Lena. Cas and Lena soon realize that who is behind the attacks is far less important than why. They must look to the past, following the trail of a terrible secret—one that could threaten the kingdom’s newfound peace and plunge it back into war.]]> 324 Makiia Lucier 0358272092 Mariko 0 to-read 4.04 2021
author: Makiia Lucier
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/03/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 54110109 Fans of Netflix's On My Block, In the Heights, and readers of Elizabeth Acevedo and Ibi Zoboi will love this debut novel about a girl whose life is turned upside down after one local act of vandalism throws her relationships and even her neighborhood into turmoil.

Chinelo, or Nelo as her best friend Kate calls her, is all about her neighborhood Ginger East. She loves its chill vibe, ride-or-die sense of community, and her memories of growing up there. Ginger East isn't what it used to be, though. After a deadly incident at the local arcade, all her closest friends moved away, except for Kate. But as long as they have each other, Nelo's good.

Only, Kate's parents' corner store is vandalized, leaving Nelo shaken to her core. The police and the media are quick to point fingers, and soon more of the outside world descends on Ginger East with promises to "fix" it. Suddenly, Nelo finds herself in the middle of a drama unfolding on a national scale.

Worse yet, Kate is acting strange. She's pushing Nelo away at the exact moment they need each other most. Nelo's entire world is morphing into something she hates, and she must figure out how to get things back on track or risk losing everything⁠—and everyone⁠—she loves.]]> 416 Louisa Onomé 1443459941 Mariko 5 3.62 2021
author: Louisa Onomé
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2021/01/26
shelves:
review:
I was lucky enough to read an ARC of Like Home, and it’s such a lovely, funny, bittersweet book! It deals with big, complex questions about gentrification and change, but also delivers so many quiet, sweet, beautiful moments. The friendships and the ensemble cast really stood out to me. You could feel the long history between the characters, and the banter was so well done it had me giggling at so many points. There’s also some adorable flirting and a hint of romance, though the main focuses are Nelo’s relationships with her best friend and their hometown, which felt exactly right for this story. Can’t wait to buy a copy when it’s out for real!
]]> 53086843
Heartbroken, Julie skips his funeral, throws out his things, and tries everything to forget him and the tragic way he died. But a message Sam left behind in her yearbook forces back memories. Desperate to hear his voice one more time, Julie calls Sam’s cellphone just to listen to his voicemail.

And Sam picks up the phone.

In a miraculous turn of events, Julie’s been given a second chance at goodbye. The connection is temporary. But hearing Sam’s voice makes her fall for him all over again, and with each call it becomes harder to let him go. However, keeping her otherworldly calls with Sam a secret isn’t easy, especially when Julie witnesses the suffering Sam’s family is going through. Unable to stand by the sidelines and watch their shared loved ones in pain, Julie is torn between spilling the truth about her calls with Sam and risking their connection and losing him forever.]]> 296 Dustin Thao 1250762030 Mariko 0 to-read 3.64 2021
author: Dustin Thao
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2021/01/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 41197399
But when Mum finally gets out of bed, things go from bad to worse. And as Mum’s condition worsens, Anna and her family question everything they understand about themselves and each other.]]> 392 Wai Chim 1760631582 Mariko 0 to-read 4.01 2019
author: Wai Chim
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/11/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 51342671
Every day, in dance studios all across America, millions of little girls line up at the barre and take ballet class. Their time in the studio shapes their lives, instilling lessons about gender, power, the value of their bodies and minds, and their place in the world both in and outside of dance.

In Turning Pointe, journalist Chloe Angyal captures the intense love for ballet that so many dancers feel, while also grappling with its devastating shortcomings: the power imbalance of an art form performed mostly by women, but dominated by male choreographers and ballet masters, the impossible standards of beauty and thinness, and the racism that keeps so many people out of ballet.

A new generation of dancers is confronting these issues head on. If ballet is going to survive the 21st century and forge a path into a more socially just future, this reckoning is essential.]]> Chloe Angyal Mariko 0 to-read 4.83 2021
author: Chloe Angyal
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.83
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52305778 An urban fantasy debut following a teen witch who is given a horrifying task: sacrificing her first love to save her family’s magic. The problem is, she’s never been in love—she’ll have to find the perfect guy before she can kill him.

After years of waiting for her Calling—a trial every witch must pass in order to come into their powers—the one thing Voya Thomas didn’t expect was to fail. When Voya’s ancestor gives her an unprecedented second chance to complete her Calling, she agrees—and then is horrified when her task is to kill her first love. And this time, failure means every Thomas witch will be stripped of their magic.

Voya is determined to save her family’s magic no matter the cost. The problem is, Voya has never been in love, so for her to succeed, she’ll first have to find the perfect guy—and fast. Fortunately, a genetic matchmaking program has just hit the market. Her plan is to join the program, fall in love, and complete her task before the deadline. What she doesn’t count on is being paired with the infuriating Luc—how can she fall in love with a guy who seemingly wants nothing to do with her?

With mounting pressure from her family, Voya is caught between her morality and her duty to her bloodline. If she wants to save their heritage and Luc, she’ll have to find something her ancestor wants more than blood. And in witchcraft, blood is everything.]]> 496 Liselle Sambury 1534465286 Mariko 0 to-read 3.95 2021
author: Liselle Sambury
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52239058 A rare, searing portrayal of the future of climate change in South Asia. A streetrat turned revolutionary and the disillusioned hacker son of a politician try to take down a ruthlessly technocratic government that sacrifices its poorest citizens to build its utopia.

The South Asian Province is split in two. Uplanders lead luxurious lives inside a climate-controlled biodome, dependent on technology and gene therapy to keep them healthy and youthful forever. Outside, the poor and forgotten scrape by with discarded black-market robotics, a society of poverty-stricken cyborgs struggling to survive in slums threatened by rising sea levels, unbreathable air, and deadly superbugs.

Ashiva works for the Red Hand, an underground network of revolutionaries fighting the government, which is run by a merciless computer algorithm that dictates every citizen’s fate. She’s a smuggler with the best robotic arm and cybernetic enhancements the slums can offer, and her cargo includes the most vulnerable of the city’s abandoned children.

When Ashiva crosses paths with the brilliant hacker Riz-Ali, a privileged Uplander who finds himself embroiled in the Red Hand’s dangerous activities, they uncover a horrifying conspiracy that the government will do anything to bury. From armed guardians kidnapping children to massive robots flattening the slums, to a pandemic that threatens to sweep through the city like wildfire, Ashiva and Riz-Ali will have to put aside their differences in order to fight the system and save the communities they love from destruction.]]> Olivia Chadha Mariko 0 to-read 3.59 2021
author: Olivia Chadha
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50892338
A flying demon feeding on human energies.

A secret society of so called “Legendborn�� students that hunt the creatures down.

And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a “Merlin�� and who attempts—and fails—to wipe Bree’s memory of everything she saw.

The mage’s failure unlocks Bree’s own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there’s more to her mother’s death than what’s on the police report, she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating the Legendborn as one of their initiates.

She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society’s secrets—and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur’s knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she’ll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down—or join the fight.]]> 502 Tracy Deonn 1534441603 Mariko 0 to-read 4.32 2020
author: Tracy Deonn
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 52848685 Fans of Shannon Hale and Kelly Barnhill will delight in this charming and richly imagined middle grade fantasy debut, featuring a wicked queen, magical animals, a henchman with a golden heart, and a small girl with a great destiny.

Many years ago, in the kingdom of Fenwood Reach, there was a powerful Windwitch who wove the seasons, keeping the land bountiful and the people happy. But then a dark magic drove her from the realm, and the world fell into chaos.

Brida is content in her small village of Oak Hollow. There, she’s plenty occupied trying to convince her fickle magic to actually do what it’s meant to in her work as a hedgewitch’s apprentice—until she accidentally catches the attention of the wicked queen.

On the run from the queen’s huntsman and her all-seeing Crow spies, Brida discovers the truth about her family, her magic, and who she is destined to be—and that she may hold the power to defeating the wicked queen and setting the kingdom right again.]]> 448 Jennifer Adam 0062981323 Mariko 0 to-read 4.47 2021
author: Jennifer Adam
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 45160370 the best style in sixth grade. That--and hanging out with his crew (his best friends since little-kid days) and playing video games--is what he wants to be thinking about at the start of the school year, not the protests his parents are always dragging him to.

But when a real estate developer makes an offer to buy Kensington Oaks, the neighborhood Wes has lived his whole life, everything changes. The grownups are suppposed to have all the answers, but all they're doing is arguing. Even Wes's best friends are fighting. And some of them may be moving. Wes isn't about to give up the only home he's ever known. Wes has always been good at puzzles, and he knows there has to be a missing piece that will solve this puzzle and save the Oaks. But can he find it . . . before it's too late?

Exploring community, gentrification, justice, and friendship, Take Back the Block introduces an irresistible 6th grader and asks what it means to belong--to a place and a movement--and to fight for what you believe in.]]> Chrystal D. Giles Mariko 0 to-read 4.78 2021
author: Chrystal D. Giles
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.78
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/10/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50892212
A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.

But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.

Perfect for fans of The Last Magician and Descendant of the Crane, this heart-stopping debut is an imaginative Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, with rival gangs and a monster in the depths of the Huangpu River.]]> 449 Chloe Gong 1534457690 Mariko 0 to-read 3.82 2020
author: Chloe Gong
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 49399658 A reserved Bangladeshi teenager has twenty-eight days to make the biggest decision of her life after agreeing to fake date her school’s resident bad boy.
How do you make one month last a lifetime?

Karina Ahmed has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents�� rules—even if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything.

Karina is my girlfriend.

Tutoring the school’s resident bad boy was already crossing a line. Pretending to date him? Out of the question. But Ace Clyde does everything right—he brings her coffee in the mornings, impresses her friends without trying, and even promises to buy her a dozen books (a week) if she goes along with his fake-dating facade. Though Karina agrees, she can’t help but start counting down the days until her parents come back.

T-minus twenty-eight days until everything returns to normal—but what if Karina no longer wants it to?]]> 464 Tashie Bhuiyan 1335209972 Mariko 0 to-read 4.01 2021
author: Tashie Bhuiyan
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53331354 The behind-the-scenes access of Almost Famous meets the searing revelations of #metoo in this story of a teen journalist who uncovers the scandal of the decade.

Ever since seventeen-year-old Josie Wright can remember, writing has been her identity, the thing that grounds her when everything else is a garbage fire. So when she wins a contest to write a celebrity profile for Deep Focus magazine, she’s equal parts excited and scared, but also ready. She’s got this.

Soon Josie is jetting off on a multi-city tour, rubbing elbows with sparkly celebrities, frenetic handlers, stone-faced producers, and eccentric stylists. She even finds herself catching feelings for the subject of her profile, dazzling young newcomer Marius Canet. Josie’s world is expanding so rapidly, she doesn’t know whether she’s flying or falling. But when a young actress lets her in on a terrible secret, the answer is clear: she’s in over her head.

One woman’s account leads to another and another. Josie wants to expose the man responsible, but she’s reluctant to speak up, unsure if this is her story to tell. What if she lets down the women who have entrusted her with their stories? What if this ends her writing career before it even begins? There are so many reasons not to go ahead, but if Josie doesn’t step up, who will?

From the author of Full Disclosure, this is a moving testament to the #MeToo movement, and all the ways women stand up for each other.]]> 320 Camryn Garrett Mariko 0 to-read 3.99 2021
author: Camryn Garrett
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 46189814 He saw the darkness in her magic. She saw the magic in his darkness.

Wren Southerland’s reckless use of magic has cost her everything: she’s been dismissed from the Queen’s Guard and separated from her best friend—the girl she loves. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate, Colwick Hall, to cure his servant from a mysterious illness, she seizes her chance to redeem herself.

The mansion is crumbling, icy winds haunt the caved-in halls, and her eccentric host forbids her from leaving her room after dark. Worse, Wren’s patient isn’t a servant at all but Hal Cavendish, the infamous Reaper of Vesria and her kingdom’s sworn enemy. Hal also came to Colwick Hall for redemption, but the secrets in the estate may lead to both of their deaths.

With sinister forces at work, Wren and Hal realize they’ll have to join together if they have any hope of saving their kingdoms. But as Wren circles closer to the nefarious truth behind Hal’s illness, they realize they have no escape from the monsters within the mansion. All they have is each other, and a startling desire that could be their downfall.

Allison Saft’s Down Comes the Night is a snow-drenched romantic fantasy that keeps you racing through the pages long into the night.

Love makes monsters of us all.]]> 400 Allison Saft 1250623634 Mariko 0 to-read 3.78 2021
author: Allison Saft
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 43744298 From the author of the New York Times bestseller Dear Martin-comes a pitch-perfect romance that examines class, privilege, and how a stroke of good luck can change an entire life.

Meet Rico: high school senior and afternoon-shift cashier at the Gas 'n' Go, who after school and work races home to take care of her younger brother. Every. Single. Day. When Rico sells a jackpot-winning lotto ticket, she thinks maybe her luck will finally change, but only if she--with some assistance from her popular and wildly rich classmate Zan--can find the ticket holder who hasn't claimed the prize. But what happens when have and have-nots collide? Will this investigative duo unite...or divide?

Nic Stone, the New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin and Odd One Out, creates two unforgettable characters in one hard-hitting story about class, money--both too little and too much--and how you make your own luck in the world.]]> 345 Nic Stone 1984829629 Mariko 0 to-read 3.98 2019
author: Nic Stone
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 51238609
In the vein of romances like Love and Gelato, this is the perfect summer adventure for anyone looking to get swept away in the City of Love.]]> 320 Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau 0593173570 Mariko 0 to-read 3.73 2021
author: Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50209373
On the surface, Rosalind Ling Geraghty and Benjamin Burns are completely different. Aspiring rocket scientist Ro normally has a plan for everything. Yet she’s reeling from her dad’s unexpected death, and all she has left of him is a half-built model rocket and a crater-sized grief that she doesn’t know how to cope with. Artist Benji loves superheroes and comic books. In fact, he’s convinced his long-lost dad, who walked out on his family years ago, created his favorite comic book series, Spacebound--but has no way to reach him. ��

Ro and Benji were only supposed to be science class partners. But when a mix-up turns the unlikely pair into friends, Benji helps Ro build her rocket, and Ro helps Benji search through his comics—and across the country—to find out where his dad truly could be.

As the two face bullying, loss, and their own differences, Benji and Ro try to piece together clues to some of the biggest questions in the universe.]]> 303 Christina Li 0063008904 Mariko 0 to-read 4.59 2021
author: Christina Li
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53301280 Nicole D. Collier Mariko 0 to-read 4.71 2022
author: Nicole D. Collier
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.71
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/09/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 54860258 Sadie meets The Glass Castle in a smart, gripping, and twisty YA debut about a girl seeking to reveal the truth about her mother-and herself.

Seventeen-year-old Phoenix has spent much of her life drifting from town to town with her mom Nina, using their charms to swindle and steal to get by. Now they've made it to their ultimate destination, Mom's hometown of Jasper Hollow. The plan: bring down Ellis Bowman, the man who ruined Nina's life.

When Phoenix gets caught spying on Ellis, she spins a convincing story that inadvertently gives her full access to the Bowman family. As she digs deeper into their secrets (and begins to fall for daughter Melody), she finds herself entrenched in the tale of a death and a disappearance that doesn't entirely line up with what Mom has told her.

But there's even more to this story Phoenix doesn't know. Who, if anyone, is telling the whole truth about what happened? Debut author Brooke Lauren Davis explores the murkiness of right and wrong, of choices and consequences, of heroes and villains, in an eerily compelling and thought-provoking small-town saga.]]> 375 Brooke Lauren Davis 1547606118 Mariko 0 to-read 4.11 2021
author: Brooke Lauren Davis
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40144224
As each act becomes more and more risky and the number of missing magicians piles up, three are forced to reckon with their secrets before the darkness comes for them next.

The Star: Kallia, a powerful showgirl out to prove she’s the best no matter the cost

The Master: Jack, the enigmatic keeper of the club, and more than one lie told

The Magician: Demarco, the brooding judge with a dark past he can no longer hide

Where Dreams Descend is the startling and romantic first book in Janella Angeles�� debut Kingdom of Cards fantasy duology where magic is both celebrated and feared, and no heart is left unscathed.]]> 464 Janella Angeles 1250204356 Mariko 0 to-read 3.65 2020
author: Janella Angeles
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 46223352 Now That I've Found You is a YA novel about searching for answers, love, and your eccentric grandma in all the wrong places.

Following in the footsteps of her überfamous grandma, eighteen-year-old Evie Jones is poised to be Hollywood’s next big star. That is until a close friend’s betrayal leads to her being blacklisted . . .

Fortunately, Evie knows just the thing to save her floundering career: a public appearance with America’s most beloved actress—her grandma Gigi, aka the Evelyn Conaway. The only problem? Gigi is a recluse who’s been out of the limelight for almost twenty years. Days before Evie plans to present her grandma with an honorary award in front of Hollywood’s elite, Gigi does the unthinkable: she disappears.

With time running out and her comeback on the line, Evie reluctantly enlists the help of the last person to see Gigi before she vanished: Milo Williams, a cute musician Evie isn’t sure she can trust. As Evie and Milo conduct a wild manhunt across New York City, romance and adventure abound while Evie makes some surprising discoveries about her grandma—and herself.]]> 336 Kristina Forest 1250295025 Mariko 0 to-read 3.81 2020
author: Kristina Forest
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 55038226
As the second son of a decorated hero, Ekon is all but destined to become a Son of the Six—an elite warrior—and uphold a family legacy. But on the night of his final rite of passage, a fire upends his plans. In its midst, Ekon not only encounters the Shetani—a vicious monster that has plagued the city and his nightmares for nearly a century—but a curious girl who seems to have the power to ward off the beast. Koffi's power ultimately saves Ekon's life, but his choice to let her flee dooms his hopes of becoming a warrior.

Desperate to redeem himself, Ekon vows to hunt the Shetani down and end its reign of terror, but he can't do it alone. Meanwhile, Koffi believes finding the Shetani and selling it for a profit could be the key to solving her own problems. Koffi and Ekon—each keeping their true motives secret from the other—form a tentative alliance and enter into the unknowns of the Greater Jungle, a world steeped in wild magic and untold dangers. The hunt begins. But it quickly becomes unclear whether they are the hunters or the hunted.]]> 496 Ayana Gray 0593405692 Mariko 0 to-read 4.18 2021
author: Ayana Gray
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 41735874 A Mexican American teen discovers profound connections between immigration, folklore, and alien life.

It’s been three years since ICE raids and phone calls from Mexico and an ill-fated walk across the Sonoran. Three years since Sia Martinez’s mom disappeared. Sia wants to move on, but it’s hard in her tiny Arizona town where people refer to her mom’s deportation as “an unfortunate incident.��

Sia knows that her mom must be dead, but every new moon Sia drives into the desert and lights San Anthony and la Guadalupe candles to guide her mom home.

Then one night, under a million stars, Sia’s life and the world as we know it cracks wide open. Because a blue-lit spacecraft crashes in front of Sia’s car…and it’s carrying her mom, who’s very much alive.

As Sia races to save her mom from armed-quite-possibly-alien soldiers, she uncovers secrets as profound as they are dangerous.]]> 432 Raquel Vasquez Gilliland Mariko 0 to-read 3.77 2020
author: Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 49338226 Alternate cover edition of ASIN B082B9CSYQ


Snow White's stepmother wanted to get rid of the beautiful stepdaughter who was challenging her title of 'most beautiful' - by any means necessary. Was Snow White poisoned? What happens to the poisoned, and the poisoner?

Jennifer Donnelly turns her feminist eye to this most delicious of fairy tales and shows Snow White as she's never been seen before.]]> 333 Jennifer Donnelly Mariko 0 to-read 3.76 2020
author: Jennifer Donnelly
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53183779 In every story there is a hero and a monster.

It should have been the perfect summer. Sent to stay with her late mother's eccentric family in London, sixteen-year-old Joan is determined to enjoy herself. She loves her nerdy job at the historic Holland House, and when her super cute co-worker Nick asks her on a date, it feels like everything is falling into place.

Then a Good Samaritan attempt gone wrong sends Joan spinning through time, and her life quickly begins to unravel.
Her family aren't just they're monsters, with terrifying, hidden powers.And Nick isn't just a cute he's a legendary monster slayer, who will do anything to bring them down.

As she battles Nick, Joan is forced to work with the beautiful and ruthless Aaron Oliver, heir to a monster family that hates her own. She'll have to embrace her own monstrousness if she is to save herself, and her family. Because in this story . . .

. . . she is not the hero.]]> 368 Vanessa Len 1529380073 Mariko 0 to-read 3.91 2022
author: Vanessa Len
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/08/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 42603984
Welcome to Niveus Private Academy, where money paves the hallways, and the students are never less than perfect. Until now. Because anonymous texter, Aces, is bringing two students' dark secrets to light.

Talented musician Devon buries himself in rehearsals, but he can't escape the spotlight when his private photos go public. Head girl Chiamaka isn't afraid to get what she wants, but soon everyone will know the price she has paid for power.

Someone is out to get them both. Someone who holds all the aces. And they're planning much more than a high-school game...]]> 470 Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé 1474967531 Mariko 0 to-read 4.15 2021
author: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 40864798 A debut young adult rom-com about an African American ballerina who finds love on the road to an audition.

When Chloe Pierce’s mom forbids her to apply for a spot at the dance conservatory of her dreams, she devises a secret plan to drive two hundred miles to the nearest audition. But Chloe hits her first speed bump when her annoying neighbor Eli insists upon hitching a ride, threatening to tell Chloe’s mom if she leaves him and his smelly dog, Geezer, behind. So now Chloe’s chasing her ballet dreams down the east coast—two unwanted (but kinda cute) passengers in her car, butterflies in her stomach, and a really dope playlist on repeat.

Filled with roadside hijinks, heart-stirring romance, and a few broken rules, Kristina Forest's I Wanna Be Where You Are is a YA debut perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sandhya Menon.]]> 272 Kristina Forest 1250294886 Mariko 5 3.77 2019
author: Kristina Forest
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/07/30
date added: 2020/07/30
shelves:
review:
This book is lovely! It has lots of my favorite YA contemporary elements: ballet, a driven and lovable heroine, a ‘bad�� boy who is actually not bad, and a secret road trip. The gradual swoon (and tense history between Chloe and Eli) is very well done, and Chloe and Eli’s banter is funny and super sweet. Highly recommend this for contemporary romance fans!
]]> 51862518 A story of first love, familial expectations, the power of food, and finding where you belong.

Penelope Prado has always dreamed of opening her own pastelería next to her father's restaurant, Nacho's Tacos. But her mom and dad have different plans—leaving Pen to choose between disappointing her traditional Mexican American parents or following her own path. When she confesses a secret she's been keeping, her world is sent into a tailspin. But then she meets a cute new hire at Nacho's who sees through her hard exterior and asks the questions she's been too afraid to ask herself.

Xander Amaro has been searching for home since he was a little boy. For him, a job at Nacho's is an opportunity for just that—a chance at a normal life, to settle in at his abuelo's, and to find the father who left him behind. But when both the restaurant and Xander's immigrant status are threatened, he will do whatever it takes to protect his newfound family and himself.

Together, Pen and Xander must navigate first love and discovering where they belong in order to save the place they all call home.]]> 384 Laekan Zea Kemp Mariko 0 to-read 4.29 2021
author: Laekan Zea Kemp
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/21
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53152636
Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Her only ally in this inhospitable abode is the family’s youngest son. Shy and gentle, he seems to want to help Noemí, but might also be hiding dark knowledge of his family’s past. For there are many secrets behind the walls of High Place. The family’s once colossal wealth and faded mining empire kept them from prying eyes, but as Noemí digs deeper she unearths stories of violence and madness.

And Noemí, mesmerized by the terrifying yet seductive world of High Place, may soon find it impossible to ever leave this enigmatic house behind.]]> 320 Silvia Moreno-Garcia 0525620788 Mariko 0 to-read 3.66 2020
author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 43839830
But sharing a "life skills" class with him and his new girlfriend, Brynn? AND getting partnered with a "family" of misfits (A.J., the loudmouth; Isaiah, the horse-racing obsessive; and Luke, the tattooed stunt-biker)?

It's a recipe for certain disaster...until an in-class competition allows Ellie to channel her angst into beating Hunter and Brynn's team, and she unexpectedly bonds with her own group–especially Luke–in the process.

But as Ellie soon discovers, it will take more than classroom triumphs to heal her broken heart–and find herself again.]]> Karen Bischer Mariko 0 to-read 4.16 2021
author: Karen Bischer
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 53098416 The world of K-Pop has never met a star like this. Debut author Lyla Lee delivers a deliciously fun, thoughtful rom-com celebrating confidence and body positivity—perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Julie Murphy.

Skye Shin has heard it all. Fat girls shouldn’t dance. Wear bright colors. Shouldn’t call attention to themselves. But Skye dreams of joining the glittering world of K-Pop, and to do that, she’s about to break all the rules that society, the media, and even her own mother, have set for girls like her.

She’ll challenge thousands of other performers in an internationally televised competition looking for the next K-pop star, and she’ll do it better than anyone else.

When Skye nails her audition, she’s immediately swept into a whirlwind of countless practices, shocking performances, and the drama that comes with reality TV. What she doesn’t count on are the highly fat-phobic beauty standards of the Korean pop entertainment industry, her sudden media fame and scrutiny, or the sparks that soon fly with her fellow competitor, Henry Cho.

But Skye has her sights on becoming the world’s first plus-sized K-pop star, and that means winning the competition—without losing herself.]]> 328 Lyla Lee 0062936921 Mariko 0 to-read 4.00 2020
author: Lyla Lee
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50037611
Carey Parker dreams of being a diva, and bringing the house down with song. But despite their talent, emotional scars from an incident with a homophobic classmate and their grandmother's spiraling dementia make it harder and harder for Carey to find their voice.

Then Carey meets Cris, a singer/guitarist who makes Carey feel seen for the first time in their life. With the rush of a promising new romantic relationship, Carey finds the confidence to audition for the role of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in the school musical, setting off a chain reaction of prejudice by Carey's tormentor and others in the school. It's up to Carey, Cris, and their friends to defend their rights--and they refuse to be silenced.

Told in alternating chapters with identifying pronouns, debut author Steven Salvatore's Can't Take That Away is both a romance, and an affirmation of self-identity.]]> Steven Salvatore Mariko 0 to-read 4.38 2021
author: Steven Salvatore
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 50518920
And that's when Aiden comes roaring back into her life �� as a VIP guest at the resort.

Aiden is now one-third of DJ Bacchanal �� the latest, hottest music group on the scene. While Reyna has stayed exactly where he left her, Aiden has returned to Tobago with his Grammy-nominated band and two gorgeous LA socialites. And he may (or may not be) dating one of them��

Inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion, Where the Rhythm Takes You is a romantic, mesmerizing novel of first love and second chances.]]> 352 Sarah Dass Mariko 0 to-read 3.97 2021
author: Sarah Dass
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/07/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 34542172 128 Aleshea Harris 0998276316 Mariko 5 4.36 2017
author: Aleshea Harris
name: Mariko
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/07/05
shelves:
review:

]]> 43822758 Some legends never die��

Traveling with her treasure-hunting father has always been a dream for Theodora. She’s read every book in his library, has an impressive knowledge of the world’s most sought-after relics, and has all the ambition in the world. What she doesn’t have is her father’s permission. That honor goes to her father’s nineteen-year-old protégé—and once-upon-a-time love of Theodora’s life—Huck Gallagher, while Theodora is left to sit alone in her hotel in Istanbul.

Until Huck returns from an expedition without her father and enlists Theodora’s help in rescuing him. Armed with her father’s travel journal, the reluctant duo learns that her father had been digging up information on a legendary and magical ring that once belonged to Vlad the Impaler—more widely known as Dracula—and that it just might be the key to finding him.

Journeying into Romania, Theodora and Huck embark on a captivating adventure through Gothic villages and dark castles in the misty Carpathian Mountains to recover the notorious ring. But they aren’t the only ones who are searching for it. A secretive and dangerous occult society with a powerful link to Vlad the Impaler himself is hunting for it, too. And they will go to any lengths—including murder—to possess it.]]> 372 Jenn Bennett 1534431993 Mariko 5 3.67 2019
author: Jenn Bennett
name: Mariko
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2020/07/05
shelves:
review:
I've always wanted to describe a book as a "romp" and I feel like I honestly can with this one. I've read so many delightful Jenn Bennett contemporaries, and even though this book is a different genre, it kept the same fun yet emotional tone of her other books.
]]>