The Lonely Dead

Henry, April. The Lonely Dead. Henry Holt & Co, 2018.

Adele can speak with the dead. Like her mother and grandmother before her, Adele can see and communicate with the dead when she is near the place their remains lie. Diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age, Adele has been taking medication to damper the voices of the dead. But recently she stopped taking her meds, and now her former best friend is speaking to her, right over the place where her body is buried. Soon the murder is discovered, the police are looking for someone to pin the crime on, and Adele is looking like the ideal suspect.

Anyone who enjoys shows like Supernatural or X-Files where people can speak to the dead, combined with shows like Criminal Minds or Bones where there are murder investigations, would enjoy this book. The ending was completely predictable in the way many suspense/thriller endings are, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. This book focuses mainly on the action of the plot, and it is certainly a compelling story. There is not much world-building and not a ton of character development, but if you are looking for a fast-paced story, this is the one for you.

I can't speak to the use of schizophrenia as Adele's diagnosis, but I do hope some #ownvoices reviewers on Goodreads do address this issue. It is unsurprising that she was diagnosed, especially with the history of her mother and grandmother also speaking to the dead, but I don't know how an #ownvoices reviewer would see the way this issue was handled.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: language, attempted murder
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Read-Alike Authors: Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Nick Lake, Lucy Christopher

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley for the purpose of review.

Darius the Great is Not Okay

Khorram, Adib. Darius the Great is Not Okay. Penguin, 2018.

Darius is a socially awkward Trekkie (or Trekker, if you're picky). He doesn't have a lot of friends at school and is obsessed with tea, even though he works in a Teavana-esque store that sells a lot of "tea," which is mostly sugar. Darius and his family go to Iran to visit his maternal grandparents as his grandfather is dying of a brain tumor. This will be Darius's first time in Iran, and he's nervous. His Farsi isn't nearly as good as his younger sister's, and he has been warned that his extended family will not understand his need to take medication to control his depression. While in Iran, Darius learns more about his heritage and befriends the neighbor boy; if he had stayed longer, perhaps they would have been more than friends.

Darius has a lot of hang-ups: he feels like his father doesn't approve of him because he isn't a jock and because he hasn't been able to control his medication-derived weight gain; he is frequently teased at school and his bullies even follow him to his job; he feels invisible in his own family because his little sister's big personality steals the spotlight. It's super awkward for him at first in Iran because his Farsi isn't very good and many of his relatives don't speak English super well, so he's sort of left out. Then he meets Sohrab. Sohrab is a neighbor boy about his same age, and they become friends quickly. Sohrab invites Darius to play soccer and speaks up for him when he won't speak up for himself. When his family finally leaves Iran to return to the United States, Darius is sad to be leaving Sohrab and sad to be leaving a family that feels more real to him than they had when he only knew them via Skype.

I found this book to be very readable. Darius is an awkward teenage boy, and this book reads true to that voice. He refers to his bullies as the Soulless Minions of Orthodoxy, talks about paying attention to various Iranian social cues, and relishes the time he spends watching Star Trek with his dad. Darius doesn't understand why his dad is so hard on him, and he feels like he is constantly disappointing his dad. All of these things would make this book very relatable for many teens. I love the addition of Persian culture and the trip to Iran, and for most of my patrons, this will be a window into a world they've never visited.

For those wondering about the LGBT content: Darius's father has two moms, and it's hinted in the book that Darius might be gay, although that's not something he's quite ready to process yet. His friendship with Sohrab certainly appears to be blossoming into something more before he has to return to the States.

This book definitely fits into the "awkward teen without backbone is having troubles, then grows a backbone and starts speaking for himself and standing up for himself and things are a bit better" category of books, which are ones my teen patrons love, so I can easily recommend this title.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: The bullies at Darius's school call him D-bag and a few other savory terms; the bullies in Iran mock Darius because he is uncircumcised (and they see this in the post-soccer shower room). Darius's extended family doesn't understand his need to medicate for his depression and say things like, "Just don't be so sad," which could be problematic to some readers.
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Jack of Hearts (and other parts); Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel; Jaya and Rasa

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Edelweiss for the purpose of review.

Highly Illogical Behavior

Whaley, John Corey. Highly Illogical Behavior. Dial Books, 2016.

Solomon hasn't left his house in three years. His panic attacks only strengthen when he thinks about returning to the outside world. Lisa is determined to earn a scholarship for college and get out of her small town, and she thinks Solomon, or more specifically, his agoraphobia, is the ticket out. Lisa is determined to cure Solomon, but along the way she finds him to be more of a friend than a patient. What will Solomon do when he finds out that Lisa has been using him for a scholarship essay?

I didn't like Lisa from the start of this book. She's got an irritating uber-ambitious personality that can really grate on a person. I loved Sol and his nerdiness and his Star Trek references and his obsession with the game Munchkin. I loved the way Lisa and her boyfriend befriended Sol and ended up spending time with him because they were all friends instead of just because they wanted to make Sol their "project." I don't think I've read another YA book about agoraphobia, so this was an interesting new topic for me. The depth of characterization combined with the breezy, conversational style of writing would make this an easy book to recommend to most teens.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: Solomon goes skinny dipping in his backyard at one point. Lisa attempts to have sex with her boyfriend on several occasions. Lisa's best friend makes some very stereotyped comments about Lisa's boyfriend's possible homosexuality.
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: You and Me and Him, The Inside of Out, Everything, Everything

Lily & Dunkin

Gephart, Donna. Lily and Dunkin. 2016.

Lily (nee Tim) is a girl. Her mother and sister both accept her as a girl, but her dad just can't get over the fact that she was named Tim and proclaimed a boy when she was born. He won't let her dress as a girl outside of the house, and worst of all, he won't sign the papers allowing Lily to receive hormone blockers so she won't go through male puberty. Meanwhile, Dunkin (ne Norbert) moves into the neighborhood and befriends Lily. Dunkin and his mom have moved in with Dunkin's grandma because Dunkin's dad and Dunkin both struggle with bipolar disorder. Dunkin is accepted by the basketball guys at his school because he's tall, but he doesn't really play basketball, that is, until he chooses not to take his antipsychotic medication. Will Lily and Dunkin be able to embrace their true selves?

This book packs quite a punch for a book aimed at tweens. Lily is teased at school constantly, regardless of whether she presents in a more feminine or a more masculine way. Dunkin hears voices in his head and makes a series of poor decisions when he stops taking his medicine. I loved the strong characterization in this novel, Lily's best friend and Dunkin's grandmother in particular. My library will definitely have this book on the shelf because all children deserve both windows and mirrors.

Recommended for: tweens, teens
Red Flags: Lily is teased at school and often called a fa%; Dunkin self-medicates with caffeine and donuts and at one point must be hospitalized because of his choice not to take his medication; Lily is cornered in the boys' locker room at school (she is still being socialized as male even though she has told her parents that she is transgender) and some bullies pull down her pants and underwear to see her genitals.
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Cameron and the Girls, George, The Pants Project, Gracefully Grayson

The Weight of Zero

Fortunati, Karen. The Weight of Zero. Delacorte Press, 2016.

Cat is planning to die. She has bipolar disorder, and she knows that her current level of stability will eventually disappear to be replaced with overwhelming depression. The last time that happened it nearly killed her mother. Cat is planning to kill herself before that can happen. She doesn't want to live through the depression and doesn't want to be a burden on her mother. But as Cat continues with her therapy, with school, with life, she realizes that maybe, just maybe she actually wants to live.

I imagined a very different ending for this book than what I found. What I found was not a devastating, "the character I have grown to love dies" kind of ending, nor was it a Disney-esque "happily ever after" ending, either. But it was a satisfying ending. I appreciated this author's use of research to portray teens with various disorders and issues in a balanced light. I was glad for the realistic portrayal of Cat's family struggling to make ends meet as they pay for her various therapies, which would ring more true to my patrons than a teen who has an endless supply of funds for whatever types of therapy are needed. I'm especially glad for the not "happily ever after" ending: Cat doesn't find a magical cure for bipolar disorder. Her former friends don't see the light and give tear-filled apologies and become besties again. What Cat gets is a real life, complete with its ups and downs.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: discussion of suicide, Cat plans to lose her virginity (she doesn't), teen alcohol use at a party, language, members of Cat's therapy group struggle with eating disorders, OCD, and other issues which could be triggering
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Butter, All the Bright Places, Everything, Everything

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley for the purposes of review.

Calvin

Leavitt, Martine. Calvin. Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2015.

Worth the read if you enjoy books about mental illnesses, but not a stand-out among its peers.

Calvin is convinced his life is closely tied to that of the fictional Calvin from Bill Watterson's comic strip. Once he receives his diagnosis of schizophrenia, he decides that he will be completely healed if only he can convince Watterson to draw one last comic strip of Calvin, without Hobbes and without any mental illnesses. Because real-life Calvin has been seeing Hobbes everywhere.

This is a standard "kid with mental illness takes journey for healing" type of story, with the added twist of a middle of winter cross-lake trek. Calvin is pretty up-front about the fact that he can see Hobbes following him everywhere, and he even acknowledges that he has an illness and that Hobbes, in fact, is not really there. Other than the Calvin and Hobbes connection, this particular story doesn't stand out among the dearth of teen books featuring mental illness, particularly those books published recently.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: Other than the "mild peril" of a person walking across a lake, nothing really
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Read-Alike Suggestions: Challenger Deep, Going Bovine, Mosquitoland, I Am the Cheese

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley for the purposes of review.

Everything, Everything

Yoon, Nicola. Everything, Everything. Random House, 2015.

Madeline has SCID (aka "bubble baby" syndrome), so she has never left her house. She only ever sees her mother, who is also her doctor, and a nurse who cares for her when her mother is away. Then one day a new family moves in next door, and Madeline is captivated by the boy whose window faces her own. Madeline thinks she loves this boy, but how can she have a relationship with a person she can never meeet?

Like many other reviewers, I was intrigued by the concept of this book. A "bubble baby" who has never left her house? Interesting! A biracial main character? Awesome! Unfortunately, this story fell flat on many levels. The following paragraph contains spoilers, so please consider yourself forewarned.

Madeline's SCID seemed sketchy to me from the beginning. There's simply NO WAY her entire house could be completely sealed off and disinfected. I don't believe that the magic airlock her mother and her nurse go through each day could kill all the germs she'd be dealing with. The original "bubble boy" lived in an environment where he was never, ever touched by human hands. Yet Madeline wanders about the house and likely eats food that has come in from outside. She even escapes the house on more than one occasion, yet her mother doesn't take her to the hospital to get things checked out? I don't buy it. Then her mother shows her a picture from a family vacation when Madeline was four months old and her family visited Hawaii. Nope. Not possible. And it turns out I was right. Madeline's mom has a mental illness and has been trying to keep Madeline close to her since she lost both Madeline's father and brother in a car accident, so she invented SCID as an excuse to keep Madeline at home FOR HER ENTIRE LIFE.

All in all, this story is just another spin off of The Fault in Our Stars, complete with an impossible trip and an impossible insta-boyfriend.

Recommended for: young adults
Red Flags: Madeline and insta-boy have sex when they're in Hawaii. The description isn't very explicit, but it's pretty obvious what happens
Read-Alikes: The Fault in Our Stars, All the Bright Places, Broken

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley for the purposes of review.

Mosquitoland

Arnold, David. Mosquitoland. Viking BYR, 2015.

Mim lives with her father and stepmother in Mississippi, but when she hears her mother has been hospitalized, she steals money and sneaks away on a Greyhound bus so she can be with her mother. The bus crashes, she's nearly raped, and many other crazy mishaps happen along the way.  This is definitely a book that is more about the journey than the destination.

Confession: I really didn't like this book. I didn't hate it, and I have hated some books, but I did NOT like this one. Mim is not a likable character, and I find it disturbing when I read a book and can't sympathize with or identify with the main character at all.  I find it hard to believe that Mim was able to steal all of that money and run off with no one looking for her.  I find it equally hard to believe that the Greyhound bus would crash and everyone would get a free hotel room and then GET ON ANOTHER BUS WITH THE SAME DRIVER THE VERY NEXT DAY.  I don't like the way this book treats the beliefs and rituals of Native peoples.  I don't like the way this book treats a character with Down syndrome. It was very difficult to be inside Mim's head on this very unbelievable journey.

It's pretty obvious by now that mental illnesses are the next "big thing" in young adult literature, but I think there are better books out there. Read if you must, especially if you believe all the 5-star reviews this book has gotten, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: Mim struggles with a mental illness and is medicated for much of this book. She discusses her medication (which has a very similar name to a medication currently on the market IRL) and takes a very anti-meds stance throughout the book. Mim is nearly raped by a creepy man on the bus; this event happens suddenly enough that rape survivors should take gentle care.
Overall Rating: 1.5 / 5 stars - some of the writing is pretty, even if it is pretty unbelievable

Read-Alikes: Challenger Deep, Cameron and the Girls, All the Bright Places, Every Last Word

Challenger Deep

Shusterman, Neal. Challenger Deep. HarperCollins, 2015.

Caden is in high school and is afflicted with a mental illness that makes him think he is on a ship in the middle of the ocean, traveling toward the Marianas Trench. His parents and teachers are concerned about him and he ends up spending time in a hospital where he is cared for while his medications are adjusted. Caden's struggle to trust his parents and doctors as well as his desire to break free from his illness are evident throughout out both stories.

The chapters in this book alternate between Caden's adventures on the high sea and his real-life adventures as people work to help him control his illness. I will definitely say that this is a powerful book and that it was well-written, but it is definitely not my thing. The ocean adventures seem very random, and it's very difficult to flip back and forth from reality to fantasy. I understand that this was likely the author's intention as it gives a better glimpse into the life of a person struggling with mental illness, but I did not enjoy or appreciate the two separate stories, in spite of their connections. We have a copy in our library's collection, and I will still recommend this book to strong young adult readers or to those interested in mental illnesses, but it's not for me.

Recommended for: young adults
Red Flags: none
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Read-Alikes: The Ruining, Cameron and the Girls, Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets

Every Last Word

Stone, Tamara. Every Last Word. Disney-Hyperion, 2015.

Sam is one of the popular girls in her class; she and her besties, "The Crazy Eights," have been friends since kindergarten. Sam has kept a secret from the Eights, though: Sam has OCD. When Sam seeks refuge in her school's theater, she meets Caroline, who introduces her to a completely different group of friends in the Poetry Corner. Sam isn't sure how to balance her friendship with the Eights and her new-found friends in the Poetry Corner. She's feeling closer to "normal" than ever, but will she ever be able to tell everyone the whole truth?

I can't reveal much more about this book without divulging spoilers of an epic proportion. The author clearly did her research into purely-obsessive OCD, and the twist in the book genuinely surprised me. Sam's struggle between staying with her lifelong, controlling friends and branching out on her own is clear, and teens will enjoy reading about a secret poetry group meeting on a high school campus. This book will definitely be a part of my library's teen collection and will be an easy book to book talk.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: underage alcohol use, mild profanity, bullying, Sam is intimate with her boyfriend at one point, although it is not described in detail
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Say What You Will

McGovern, Cammie. Say What You Will. Harper Teen, 2014.

Amy has cerebral palsy, so she uses a walker to walk and has a device that allows her to talk as well. Matthew is struggling with OCD, and he and Amy meet when he is hired to be one of her student assistants during her senior year of high school. They fall for each other and spend the rest of the book deciding whether or not they can be together.

This is a romance novel, so it doesn't have a big, amazing plot to follow, but there definitely was plenty of character development. The author does an amazing job at allowing the reader to see the struggles of a disability as well as the struggles of mental illness. Because of all of this, I was glad I read this book.

But.

I wish Amy hadn't been so controlling/bossy toward Matthew. She kept pushing him and pushing him to work on his OCD, so the tone of the book seemed almost to say, "It's okay to struggle with cerebral palsy, but if you have a mental illness, you'd better work hard at getting better." I wanted Amy to be more compassionate toward Matthew, especially since she herself struggles with things other people take for granted, like being able to walk unassisted. Nonetheless, this was a good book, one that I'm glad to have read, and I will definitely be adding it to my library's collection.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: underage drinking, language
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: All the Bright Places, The Fault in Our Stars

The Carnival at Bray

Foley, Jessie. The Carnival at Bray. Elephant Rock Productions, 2014

Maggie's family has moved to Ireland so her mother can live with the husband-of-the-month. Maggie misses Chicago, her grandmother, and most importantly, her Uncle Kevin. Uncle Kevin is quite unconventional and continually encourages Maggie to live life to the fullest, including suggesting that she travel to Rome to see Nirvana in concert. When her uncle dies, Maggie decides to fulfill his wish and travel to Rome, no matter the cost.

I have mixed feelings about this book. The story itself is not a bad one, per se, and I appreciated the "follow your dreams" theme and the road-trip-esque portion where Maggie and Eoin go to Rome. I was glad that Maggie felt things deeply and decided to really live rather than just going through the motions and accepting her fate.

***SPOILERS ABOUND BEYOND THIS LINE***

What I thought could have been better: Why did we need a setting of 1993? No teenager alive in 2014 would have been alive in 1993, which means this book is tipping dangerously into historical fiction territory a la Eleanor & Park. Would it not have been possible for Maggie's uncle to be obsessed with another band or type of music, etc., and for this same story to take place in the 2010s, with Maggie listening to her iPod instead of a Discman? I was also bothered by Maggie's first sexual experience (which occurs in chapter 7, if you need to take care and skip it). It's borderline rape; she's very drunk, she doesn't really pay attention to what's going on, so I wouldn't call that consent at all. Afterward she seems unaffected, which I found really odd. Also, the sudden appearance of this scene can be very triggering for abuse survivors. I know it's a good contrast to later events, but it was very abrupt and rather early in the story and I almost - almost - put the book down right then.

Bottom line: This will probably be an easy book to book talk to teens, but the mature content means I will only recommend it to older teens or to readers I know well enough to know they can handle it. This is not a "oh, the kid has a book report, let's grab this and be done with it" kind of book.

Recommended for: older teens, new adults
Red Flags: graphic sex scene in chapter 7, language (in both standard American and Irish slang), lots of alcohol use by kids and adults both; Uncle Kevin is a drug addict; Eoin's mother suffers from schizophrenia and attempts to kill him
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Eleanor & Park, Just Call My Name, Golden Boy,Charm & Strange

Every Ugly Word

Salter, Aimee. Every Ugly Word. Alloy Entertainment, 2014

Ashley is not popular. Not by a long shot. Her classmates tease her relentlessly while she hangs on the fringes of the in-crowd, hoping to fit in. Her mom is no better, telling her she'd have more friends if she tried harder or spent more time on her appearance. Ashley does spend a lot of time looking in the mirror, though, because when she looks in a mirror, she sees her future self, and that future self is giving her advice and trying to help her survive. But there are some things that even Future Ashley can't stop.

This book is weird. Seriously weird. In alternating chapters we hear the story of an incident that landed Ashley in a mental institution and also the story of Ashley as she's speaking with her therapist and hoping for release from said institution. Any more description would involve spoilers, so I'll have to leave it there. I didn't really like this story or feel any sympathy for Ashley, but the theme of mental illness is so important for young adult collections that I would definitely add this to my library's collection regardless of my personal feelings about the book.

Recommended for: young adults
Red Flags: bullying, abuse, alcohol use
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: I Am the Cheese, Big Fat Disaster, Going Bovine

The Killing Woods

Christopher, Lucy. The Killing Woods. Chicken House Ltd, 2013.

Emily's dad has been accused of murdering Ashlee, a popular teen girl whom Emily's dad carried out of the woods near her house one night. Emily's dad doesn't remember killing Ashlee, but he suffers from PTSD and assumes he killed her during a flashback while in the woods. Emily is determined to clear his name, but to do so she has to investigate what might actually have happened to Ashlee.

This book definitely sounds like it would be suspenseful and creepy, the perfect book to read around Halloween. Unfortunately, while the story does have a mystery element, the suspense aspect fell flat, as did the thrilling, must-turn-the-next-page aura that I expect from a book designated as a thriller. I also didn't feel like I got to know Emily or her father at all, even though both have starring roles in this story. I had high expectations for this book, but I was definitely disappointed. For teens who like thrillers or compelling reads, I'd recommend books by Nick Lake instead.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: murder, underage drinking and teen drug use, a soldier's PTSD flashbacks
Overall Rating: 3/5 stars

Read-Alike Suggestions: The Impossible Knife of Memory, The Girl Who Was Supposed to Die, Stolen: A Letter to My Captor

All the Bright Places

Niven, Jennifer. All the Bright Places. Knopf, 2015.

Theodore and Violet meet on the bell tower at their school, and one of them is able to talk the other one out of jumping. These unlikely acquaintances develop into friends as they work together on a school project. Violet is grieving the loss of her old sister while Theodore is battling demons of his own. [Sorry, more info would constitute a spoiler.]

This book has been heralded as a mash-up between The Fault in Our Stars and Eleanor and Park. At first I wasn't sure this book would live up to the hype and was afraid I'd be disappointed, but I wasn't. Violet's grief over the death of her sister is very real, and it has colored her world for the past year. Theodore is battling bipolar disorder, which apparently has run in his family and which he refuses to acknowledge or relieve through medication. This book has death, life, love, mental illness - all the things a teen adores in fiction. Recommended.

Recommended for: teens

Red Flags: language

Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Belzhar

Wolitzer, Meg. Belzhar. Dutton Juvenile, 2014.

Jam has been sent to a special school for "highly intelligent and emotionally fragile" teens. She hasn't been able to get over the death of her boyfriend, Reeve. To her surprise, Jam is placed in a very special English class where there are only four other students. She soon discovers that there's more to this class than meets the eye.

This book is an excellent example of a story with an unreliable narrator. We hear the tragedies of the other characters throughout the book, but it isn't until the very end that we discover the truth about Jam and why she's been sent to this school.  This was a really interesting, appropriately mysterious book that I could readily recommend to any teen. I finished it in a single afternoon because I couldn't stand the thought of not finding out what happened.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: a couple of drunk parties mentioned, the mention of a character who had smoked pot, some language
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: We Were Liars, Never Let Me Go

Paper Cowboy

Levine, Kristin. The Paper Cowboy. Putnam Juvenile, 2014.

Tommy is a bully who gets away with things because he's a cute kid. He picks on the weaker kids and school and even picks on his own friends. At home, though, Tommy has a lot to deal with. His mom has an undiagnosed mental illness and frequently vacillates between extreme happiness and beating Tommy for the smallest infraction. Also, Tommy blames himself for an accident that happens to his older sister, so he's feeling guilty on top of taking care of his younger sisters and his house and covering his older sister's paper route. Things come to a head as Tommy realizes that all actions have consequences and that sometimes all a person needs to do is ask for help.

This was an excellent book, although it wasn't an easy book to read. Tommy is not a likable character, but the glimpses into his home life help explain why he is such a jerk to the people around him. I could very easily use this book as a read-aloud in an upper elementary or middle school classroom. There is a great discussion of the Cold War and McCarthyism throughout this book, as well as dealing with bullying, abuse, and mental illness.

Recommended for: middle grade, tweens
Red Flags: abuse (mom beats the kid on several occasions)
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alikes: Paperboy, Okay for Now, Dead End in Norvelt

We Were Liars

Lockhart, E. We Were Liars. Delacorte Press, 2014.

Cadence's family is rich, rich enough to own an island where her grandparents had one house and her mother and her aunts each had their own house as well. Each summer the family gathers there to vacation together, to socialize, to relax. This summer, though, Cadence is having difficulty relaxing. An accident a couple of summers ago has left holes in her memory and no one seems willing to help her fill in the gaps. Any more details would constitute epic spoilage, so I will leave it at that.

This is an excellently written book. The lyrical writing style draws the reader in, as does the mystery of what has happened to Cadence. The ending was not remotely surprising to me, but I truly enjoyed the journey of this book.

Recommended for: teens
Red Flags: language, alcohol use
Overall Rating: 5/5 stars

Broken

Lyons, C.J. Broken. Sourcebooks Fire, 2013.

Scarlet wants to go to high school, and in spite of a serious heart condition that could cause her to die at any moment, her father and stepmother allow her to try high school for one week. This leads to Scarlet learning some things about herself and her very sheltered life that she would never have found out otherwise. In taking a risk with her life, Scarlet saves herself.

Wow. This book was crazy. I guessed at the end long before we got there, but I still enjoyed the story and found it to be a compelling read. This story takes place over the course of only five days, so it is fairly fast-paced.

Recommended for: young adults, adults
Red Flags: stepmother has Munchhausen's, so she murders one of her stepchildren and makes the other one sick; also she poisons a football player and frames someone else for it
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-Alike: Mother, Mother

Mother, Mother

Zailckas, Koren. Mother, Mother. Crown, 2013. 

I don't even know where to start in my description of this book. The mom is a narcissistic nutcase who lives her life through her first child and lies and manipulates everyone so she can get her own way. When her oldest daughter gets pregnant, she guilts her into having an abortion and then guilts her into suicide for having an abortion. Then she covers up the girl's disappearance and tells everyone she ran away. Since daughter #2 is the black sheep of the family, the mom has her committed to a mental hospital so she can work on her latest project: Child #3. Her son, who is 12, has been diagnosed with Asperger's and a seizure disorder (after visits to three specialists because the first two wouldn't diagnose him), so mom home schools him, brushes and flosses his teeth, BATHES him, and picks out his clothes. Oh, and the dad turns to alcohol to avoid the entire family dynamic in all its awfulness.

This story is told in alternating perspectives of the two living children, so I would label this book as one with an unreliable narrator, too, since one kid's in a mental institution and the other one is being manipulated by the mother so that he lies to the police about how he was injured and doesn't know how to choose his own clothes for the day.

I hated reading about how horrible this mother was. I kept waiting for something awful to happen to her, and I finished the book just because I wanted to find out if everyone was able to escape her insanity (and to find out what really happened to Daughter #1 since we already knew the mom was a pathological liar). Crazy stuff. My students would LOVE this book, since they like books about people in horrible situations. I would not reread this one, since the mom drives me crazy, but it was very well-written.

Recommended for: young adults, fans of psychological thrillers
Red Flags: Dad's an alcoholic, Daughter #2 smokes while she's in the mental institution and does drugs beforehand, Daughter #1 commits suicide, Mom is uber-abusive to the entire family and drugs the dad and tries to kill Daughter #2, the son describes his masturbation habit
Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

Read-alikes: Broken by C.J. Lyons