Ryn is fidgeting on a plane, circling the Denver airport in a snowstorm, asking Google questions about turbulence, if planes can land on ice, and why some people live and others die. Ryn is en route to San Francisco, where she’s moved with her divorced mother. But San Francisco is not home. Nowhere is home anymore.

Ryn’s best friend—red-haired, risk-taking Lottie—died a year ago in a car crash, and as a result, Lottie is stuck. She’s stuck with anxiety, stuck with a mother she can’t talk to and stuck with Lottie’s voice in her head.

Because Ryn toes the line between her own headspace and reality, she is never truly present. This makes navigating the world a bit difficult. When a distracted Ryn trips on a moving walkway and drops her phone, she’s helped to her feet by a guy Lottie would have described as “hot.” Later, as the delays mount for her connecting flight, Ryn’s phone pings. It’s the hot guy. Ryn realizes she’s actually holding his phone, which is identical to hers. They arrange to meet in order to make the switch.

The blizzard eventually shuts down the airport, so Ryn can’t get home before the first anniversary of Lottie’s death. But while she’s stuck at the airport, she makes a friend or two, is arrested by security and finally opens her heart despite herself.

Anyone who has lost a friend, a family member or even a pet will love Jessica Brody’s The Chaos of Standing Still. Brody brilliantly captures the complex landscape of Ryn’s mind and nudges her protagonist back to a place of hope. Pick up this novel for any teen, but read it before you pass it on. You’ll be glad you did.

Billie B. Little is the Founding Director of Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, a hands-on museum in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

With grace and humor, author Marcella Pixley’s Ready to Fall captures the intricacies of a teenage boy with crippling grief and an illness he believes is all too real.

Max has a problem, and it’s in his head. When his mother dies of cancer, he invites her brain tumor into his head in a misguided attempt to stay close to her. Max is now convinced the tumor lives in his head, and it’s a really bad tenant. He imagines that it throws parties and bangs around at all hours of the day and night, belching and shouting. As a result, Max finds it impossible to think, feel or do much of anything.

Max’s concerned guardians send him to an artsy new school with hopes that a fresh start will get him involved in life again. Their plan begins to work as Max joins the cast of the school’s production of Hamlet. To bond, the cast participates in trust falls (hence the title of the book), and even though he’s unable to complete the trust fall, Max does begin to feel comfortable with his new friends, even to the point of sometimes forgetting about his raucous tumor. However, family complications—such as seeing his father kiss an attractive single mother from his school—threaten to shatter any tenuous emergence from his darkness.

Readers will ache for Max, but they will also revel in his effervescent teen spirit.

Cynthia Hand’s newest novel is a modern-day retelling of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol with a clever, otherworldly twist.

Holly Chase hates Christmas. The last thing the 17-year-old snooty fashion junkie expects is to be visited by three actual ghosts on Christmas Eve. But she refuses to change her horrible ways, making her a failed Scrooge. Then Holly dies, and now she’s a ghost (or more like a quasi-zombie) who works for a secretive New York-based company called Project Scrooge. As their new Ghost of Christmas Past, she hasn’t been fazed by much in her afterlife until she’s assigned to rich teen Ethan Winters, Scrooge number 173. When she starts researching him for the job, she discovers that they have similar backgrounds. But things get out of hand when she decides to meet him in real life.

Hand has produced an unforgettable behind-the-scenes tale with a clever cast of characters pulled from many of Dickens’ works. As with Dickens’ beloved 1843 Christmas novella, The Afterlife of Holly Chase incorporates themes of life, death, self-improvement and, of course, a little bit of romance.

Hilarious yet poignant while supplying a delightful blend of clichéd and unexpected moments, Hand’s latest novel is earmarked to be a new Christmas favorite.

Seventeen-year-old Hadley appears to have everything—a wealthy dad who donates to the school, a mother who is president of the PTA, a beautiful home and a promising college future. But the secret of her life-shattering abuse is well kept. As she believes, “We’re a rich white family. No one is going to believe me.”

Hadley continues to take her father’s tyrannical physical and mental abuse—and endure her mother’s drinking—in order to protect her younger sister Lila, who still can't quite grasp what's wrong. But when Hadley begins to see Charlie—even though dating is strictly against her father’s edicts—her life begins to change in many ways. Her father’s rage escalates, her future (and Lila’s) looks more uncertain, and eventually, Charlie discovers her secret and calls Child Protective Services.

Things quickly spiral out of control. Afraid to admit the abuse, Hadley dreams up a solution in her head—one that leads to the book’s shocking climax.

Told in alternating chapters titled “Then” and “Now,” Hadley’s chilling present and uncertain future come together by the end of this heartbreaking, powerful debut novel. Author Amy Giles’ honest and vivid portrayals of abuse, a suicide attempt and alcoholism are balanced by Hadley’s protective love for her sister and her longing to be loved. A painful, powerful and necessary read that is tinged with hope.

Julie Mayhew’s The Big Lie takes place in 2014—but in a world very different from our recent 2014. In this alternative history, the Nazis won World War II and are the harsh ruling party. Free thoughts, freedom of expression and any orientation other than heterosexual are crimes against this state.

Jessika Keller is a patriotic schoolgirl, a talented ice skater and a citizen of the Greater German Reich in England. Jessika’s next-door neighbor and best friend says things about governmental leaders that make Jessika uncomfortable and confused. Whenever she has dinner at her friend’s house, the dinner conversation evolves into politics, with her friend’s parents speaking out against the current regime. At first, she is shocked, but gradually she begins to question aspects of her life and society that she never thought about before these conversations.

Also confusing Jessika are her mixed feelings towards two peers: one a member of her own sex and one of the opposite sex. She knows that romantic feelings towards girls are in direct opposition to her father’s beliefs, but can she deny this part of herself? In this coming-of-age story, Jessika must grapple with several very real and scary ideas, ultimately deciding what she stands for and what she’s willing to risk, whether it affects her family, her friends or her country. Mayhew includes helpful historical notes and English translations of the German used in this fast-paced, imaginative story.