Older Readers
And Then There Was Us.
By Kern Carter.
Apr. 2024. 232p. Tundra, $17.99 (9781774883402). Gr. 9–12.
When Coi was 14, her father won complete custody of her and she moved out of her mother’s house. For Coi, it was a relief to escape her mother’s abuse, but she also had to cut off all contact, including with her half sister, Kayla, and stepfather, Dave. Five years later, her mother gets in a car accident and, after a while in a coma, she dies. Coi’s reunion with her estranged family is awkward and strained, especially when she refuses to go to her mother’s funeral. All Coi can remember is her mother’s anger and abuse, and her rigid grandmother Lady doesn’t help, since she tears Coi down at any opportunity. But Coi begins to have lucid dreams featuring her mother, leading her to find out more about her, though she can’t forget the abuse. Coi displays significant growth over the course of the novel as she navigates the path between “me” and “us.” The novel is well paced and populated with strong and sympathetic characters who help Coi along the way. —Donna Scanlon
Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet.
By Molly Morris.
June 2024. 336p. St. Martin’s/Wednesday, $20 (9781250290069); e-book, $11.99 (9781250289711). Gr. 10–12.
Every 10 years, there’s a Welcome Back contest and ceremony in Lennon, California. The person being “welcomed back” is someone who has died; the contest is to decide who gets to choose the Returned. Wilson chose her ex–best friend Annie, who dropped Wilson and their other friend Ryan when she started attending an expensive private school. Now, Wilson has one month with Annie to prove to her town that Annie deserves to stay alive beyond that month. No one knows the secret to earning a second life, but Wilson is sure reuniting Annie and Ryan will fix things. Between past reminiscences of what things were like before Annie ghosted them and present-day Wilson’s attempts to heal her friend group, there may be hope—but there’s also plenty of confusion. The continual countdown to Annie’s return to the afterlife gives the story tangible stakes, though the rules of the Welcome Back could be covered a bit sooner. This is a clever, lightly magical title that might hit just right for teens who prefer a standalone novel. —Stacey Comfort
Another First Chance.
By Robbie Couch.
May 2024. 368p. Simon & Schuster, $19.99 (9781665935302). Gr. 9–12.
Gay 18-year-old River has to see it every day on his drive to school: the billboard with his dead best friend Dylan’s picture under the headline “Don’t Drext Like Dylan Did.” Yes, Dylan died texting while driving and River blames himself because it was he whom Dylan was texting. Today is Dylan’s one-year deathiversary, and River has clandestinely spray-painted a mustache on his friend’s face—he has his (benign) reasons. Unfortunately, someone knows he’s the one who did the deed and blackmails him into participating in a national study called the Affinity Mind and Body Trials that examines social connections. Nineteen other students are participating, including Mavis, Dylan’s girlfriend, who hasn’t spoken to River since Dylan’s death. Students participating in the Trials are sequestered in a wing of their school for a week. They are fitted with a small disk affixed to their temples so the administrators can monitor what’s happening in their brains. River is the first-person narrator of the compelling story, but the flashback interludes are narrated by Dylan on the day he died. The narrative grows in strangeness as Couch expertly ratchets up suspense. A superb, thought-provoking effort that is sure to delight readers who enjoy original, beautifully imagined efforts. —Michael Cart
The Ballad of Darcy and Russell.
By Morgan Matson.
May 2024. 400p. Simon & Schuster, $19.99 (9781481499019). Gr. 9–12.
Though she’s stranded at a bus station in Nevada the night before she’s supposed to leave for college and with no money or phone charger, things are looking up for Darcy. Because also at the bus station is Russell, a very cute guy, and Darcy, a true romantic, might be smitten. They’re both heading home from the same music festival—where Darcy saw the Nighthawks, her dad’s favorite band, who wrote the song she was named after—and they both have dead phones. With the next bus not coming until morning, they set out into the night, ultimately finding themselves on an unexpected adventure. There are a few twists here, and readers will likely see them coming long before Darcy does, but the plot’s not really the point: this is an intimate character study of a girl on the precipice of change and an examination of how love changes as we begin to really know someone. Fans of all-in-one-day stories, like Nicola Yoon’s The Sun Is Also a Star (2016), will eat it up. —Maggie Reagan
Deep Is the Fen.
By Lili Wilkinson.
Apr. 2024. 416p. Delacorte, $19.99 (9780593562703). Gr. 9–12.
What others call , Merry calls : she can see magic, but she wants no association with the witches she knows killed her mother. Besides, in Anglyon, where she lives, there are 100 legal, government-sanctioned magical spells, and the witches, who flout the restrictions, are widely feared. For the most part, Merry loves her simple life with her father and her two best friends, Teddy and Sol. And while she’s started to dream of more with Teddy, he’s dreaming of something else: the Toadmen, an all-male secret society that Merry, whose instincts are better than most, finds ominous. Out of fear for Teddy—and fear of losing him—Merry joins forces with her longtime schoolyard nemesis to investigate a Toadmen ritual, but
