Trillions of miles from Earth, a massive spaceship, the Empyrean, hurtles toward a goal they only know as New Earth. On board are dozens of families, their children destined to settle and repopulate New Earth with the next generation. For 43 years the Empyrean has traveled without seeing any of the other ships that are traveling the same journey.

All that is about to change.

Traversing a nebula that disrupts their communication and navigation tools, the Empyrean catches sight of a second ship, the New Horizon. But the messages coming from the ship are confusing and contradictory. Are its inhabitants friends or foes? Soon the two ships are engaged in a disorienting power struggle, wrapped up in the desire to perpetuate the next generation.

At the center of the conflict are young lovers Kieran, the untested heir apparent to the role of Empyrean's Captain, and Waverly, who loves Kieran but still has doubts about becoming a wife and mother at age 15. When Waverly and the rest of the Empyrean's girls are taken aboard the New Horizon, these two must determine whether they can trust anyone—even each other.

On the surface of things, Glow is a cracking good science fiction tale, full of action and nonstop plot twists. It's also, however, an exploration of philosophical and historical concepts. The New Horizon's philosophy and way of life—down to the sermons proclaimed by their leader, Anne Mather—are inspired by Puritan principles. Meanwhile, as indicated by its name, the Empyrean abides by a more rational approach. Reason vs. faith—how will this conflict play out when the future of the human race is at stake? Readers will have to wait for the next installment in the tension-packed Sky Chasers trilogy.

Willa lives a quiet life with her mother, stepfather and two stepsisters. She sings in the school choir and doesn't mind that her sisters can afford expensive vacations and tennis coaching while she hesitates to ask for voice lessons. Besides, she has a secret coping strategy: When she feels stressed, she cuts herself, letting the pain wash away the difficult feelings.

Willa's contentment is shattered when a phone call brings frightening news: Her birth father, Dwayne, has killed his current wife and two of their daughters and is on the run with the third—and may be making his way toward Willa's family next. Fearing for their lives, her family hides with friends and in motel rooms, watching the news and waiting for an attack. When the immediate danger is resolved, Willa finds herself drawn to her mother's hometown. She tells her family that she wants to attend the funerals of her father's victims, but her real motivation is to seek answers to questions that threaten to overwhelm her. Why has her mother never spoken of the time before she met Jack, Willa's stepfather? What family and friends did she leave behind? What might have caused Dwayne to solve his problems with violence . . . and how much like him is Willa herself? As secrets of her mother's former life are revealed, cracks also begin to appear in the perfect facade of Willa's blended family.

In Blood Wounds, Susan Beth Pfeffer's simple, direct writing style keeps her difficult subject matter accessible, and Willa's first-person narration allows the reader a window into her evolving emotions. The concluding scenes neatly tie together Dwayne's past, Willa's present and her family's future in an endingthat leaves the reader feeling satisfied and hopeful.

Having tackled amnesia and the afterlife in previous novels, Gabrielle Zevin turns to the future in All These Things I’ve Done. Unlike many of the proliferating dystopias that have taken over young adult literature, this glimpse at the year 2083 is funny and romantic as 16-year-old Anya Balanchine looks back at one wild year in the heart of New York City.

In a Prohibition-like age in which speakeasies dole out illegal chocolate and caffeinated beverages, Anya is just trying to keep her family out of trouble until she turns 18. With her notorious chocolate crime boss father and former CSI mother dead from “mafiya” hits, an older brother with mental challenges from an unsuccessful hit, an overlooked genius little sister and a grandmother kept alive as guardian with a host of machines, Anya has become the real head of the household.

Her life becomes even more complicated when her ex-boyfriend is poisoned by bars of her family’s black-market chocolate—and she’s the prime suspect. To make matters worse, her brother has gotten involved in the family business, and Anya can’t resist new student Win Delacroix, whose father is running for District Attorney. With her head and her heart constantly at odds, feisty Anya must decide what’s right for her in the face of unusual family and relationship dynamics.

Anya’s predicaments are reason enough to like this witty story, but her amusing narration, complete with notes to the reader, adds to the enjoyment. Although she doesn’t understand the significance of such sites as “Little Egypt,” a club that used to be a museum with a grand collection of Egyptian art, or such dated expressions as “OMG” from the era of her grandmother (born in 1995), readers will appreciate the humor. Just like chocolate, the story’s dark bitterness is sweetened by Anya to form a delicious treat.

Harlan Coben’s young adult debut might be a new direction for the internationally best-selling author, but Shelter treads familiar and much-loved terrain. Coben has written 10 books on wisecracking sports agent Myron Bolitar, and the end of the latest, Live Wire, left the Bolitar legacy in the hands of Myron’s nephew, Mickey Bolitar.

Mickey resembles his uncle in many ways, including his 6-foot stature and basketball wizardry. Unfortunately, the two don’t get along—but after Mickey’s parents vanish from his life (his father dies in a car accident; his junkie mom admits herself to rehab), he’s stuck with Uncle Myron as a guardian.

Despite Myron’s experience in digging himself out of danger, Mickey has no interest in seeking help from his uncle when things start to get weird at his new high school. His sort-of-girlfriend vanishes and the crazy Bat Lady who lives in a dilapidated mansion sends him a disturbing message: His father is not dead. Mickey is soon sneaking into strip bars, questioning tattoo artists and chasing down the suited man who seems to be following him—all in search of the truth.

In true Coben spirit, Mickey acquires two ragtag sidekicks in the course of his search: Ema, a sharp-tongued Goth girl, and Spoon, a geeky guy whose easy access to security tapes and personnel files secures his place on the team.

Shelter has all the twists and turns of a Coben classic, but on a teen scale—including run-ins with the hottest girl in school and confrontations with a brutish bully. Full of mystery that stretches back through Mickey’s and Myron’s past, Shelter will turn more than a few young readers into excited Coben fans.

Amy Reed sets her new novel, Clean, in a drug and alcohol rehab clinic for teens. Actually, she tosses us in and locks the door behind us until graduation, and it’s a tough but fascinating sentence to serve.

Clean follows five teens through treatment: Christopher (“the nerdy guy”), Kelly (“the pretty girl”), Jason (“the tough guy”), Eva (“the emo/Goth girl”) and Olivia, who just got there. Through journal entries, medical forms and transcribed group therapy sessions with hard-nosed counselor Shirley, we learn each person’s story a little at a time. While the path to becoming an addict is always bleak, teasing out the details makes Clean unfold like a mystery. Is the guy climbing in Christopher’s bedroom window real or imaginary? Olivia is “just” hooked on diet pills; does she really belong here?

With a subject as broad as addiction, Reed uses small moments to show us daily life in rehab.  A simple thing like watching a movie now requires kids to sit two feet apart with no blankets, after previous residents were busted in a moment of intimacy under the covers.

When it’s time for graduation, we don’t know who will stay sober, but the characters in Clean make us hope for the best, for them and for anyone facing a similar challenge.

Good girl Lacey Anne Byer longs for nothing more than to play the part of “Abortion Girl” in her church’s Hell House production over Halloween weekend. As a lifelong member of the House of Enlightenment Evangelical Church, and the daughter of the youth pastor, she plans to turn the role into her “movie moment.”

The scenes in Hell House—which deal with abortion, gay marriage, drunk driving—all seem like cut-and-dried ways to go straight to Hell as far as Lacey is concerned. She is so firm in her beliefs that she has trouble recognizing the new feelings that wash over her when “new guy” Ty Davis sends her on a wild ride of emotions.

For the first time in her life, Lacey is forced to stop and think about her faith, her friendships and what she wants for her future. Even as her feelings for Ty grow, and are returned, she finds her conversations with him challenging and frustrating. Ty is not someone who is willing to simply accept the beliefs and standards that are handed to him by authority figures. He insists on examining what seems right to him, and Lacey finds herself drawn down the path of introspection as well.

In Small Town Sinners, Melissa Walker tackles difficult subjects with a unique approach. Hidden within this sweet and engrossing story of first love is one of an intelligent young woman with strong moral values, discovering her own truth. Young readers will find themselves enchanted by the likable characters and challenged to examine their own convictions.

After 62 years in stasis, a chemically induced hypersleep that suspends the aging process, Rosalinda Samantha Fitzroy—or simply Rose—awakens, still 16 years old, to discover not only that she’s been slumbering in a forgotten subbasement all these years, but that she’s the sole surviving heiress, a princess if you will, to an interplanetary empire known as UniCorp. In Anna Sheehan’s futuristic young adult debut, A Long, Long Sleep, this sleeping beauty bears no resemblance to the Disney princess. Rose’s chilling story explores the emotional aftermath of lost time, dreams and love.

As Rose tries to assimilate in her new Uni Prep school (the best in the solar system), she learns the history of the last half-century, including the Dark Times, in which a population boom was followed by a resurgence of tuberculosis and bubonic plague, as well as widespread infertility. Flashbacks to Rose’s youth slowly reveal her numerous stays in stasis (really making her 100 years old), the long-term effects of her abusive parents and her first love with Xavier, whom she met when he was an infant and she was seven years old, though he grew to surpass her in age.

Although Rose finds some comfort in her friendships with princely, handsome Bren and Otto, a mute human-alien hybrid created by UniCorp who understands the briar patch she has formed around her heart, she still longs for Xavier. And adjustment would definitely be easier if there weren’t a Plastine, a plasticized human corpse, programmed to find and kill her. Outrunning this nearly indestructible assassin and finding its original programmer add layers of adventure and mystery to this already intriguing science fiction story.

Whether comparing Rose’s story to other Briar Rose and Sleeping Beauty variants, wondering about her complicated situation or simply enjoying the thrilling suspense, readers will hope that Rose can find some happiness ever after in a complex world.