Will Porter is blind and has been since birth. At 16, he’s making his first foray into a mainstream school, but using what he learned at the school for the blind doesn’t stop him from making mistakes, including almost sitting on someone in the cafeteria. That someone is Nick, who—along with academic quiz team members Ion and Whitford—quickly befriends Will. Will also meets Cecily, the fourth member of the academic quiz team, in his journalism class. Will is drawn to Cecily, but there’s something about her appearance that Will’s friends aren’t telling him, and it will come to the surface when he undergoes experimental surgery that allows him to see for the first time.

But before Will learns of this secret, he must acclimate to life as a sighted person. Debut novelist (and Paralympian) Josh Sundquist illuminates this surprising and frustrating process with profound insight: It’s like learning a language when you don’t know what language is. When Will first awakes from the surgery, his eyes are bandaged shut, but he immediately senses a difference in the darkness. To Will, this new darkness is a sound, a thundering noise in his brain that he wishes would go away. Upon first opening his eyes, his brain is flooded with so much visual stimuli that he becomes dizzy and sick.

Best suited for older teens, Love and First Sight will leave readers questioning the definition of beauty and thankful for the gift of eyesight.

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Reagan started martial arts training at the age of 4. At 10, she was shooting high-powered assault rifles. As the daughter of two Black Angels, Reagan is destined to join the elite, top-secret group of international operatives. As Kristen Orlando’s novel begins, Reagan and her parents narrowly escape the attack of a hit man, forcing them to abandon their home and, not for the first time, start anew with fresh identities. Now 17, Reagan is tiring of these abrupt relocations. She likes living in their current location, where an adorable JROTC student named Luke lives next door. 

But this pleasant life may already be compromised. Reagan has spotted a school janitor who stares at her a bit too intensely and a gray van that shows up a bit too frequently. It could be Reagan’s own amped sense of anxiety that has her on edge, but for a girl trained to kill, paranoia is a learned necessity. 

This action-packed suspense novel is the first in a new series that features a kick-ass female protagonist whose training regimen and smoldering love interest rival that of Divergent’s Tris Prior. The lightness of the contemporary high school setting is offset by an undercurrent of grisly violence, and Reagan’s tortured contemplation of her own future offers a choice between the happiness of ordinary life and the darkness of the Black Angels legacy. A cliffhanger ending ensures a following of eager readers.

Diane Colson is the Library Director at City College in Gainesville, Florida.

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Through 80 chronological vignettes divided into five dated segments, all set to a lilting prose, Jeannine Atkins brings to life the poignant story of a half Native American, half African-American artist’s persistent journey to greatness. While Edmonia Lewis is best known as a neoclassical sculptor as well as for her affiliation with Oberlin College, details of her life remain a mystery. Regardless of the lack of data, Atkins offers a believable fictionalized biography in Stone Mirrors: The Sculpture and Silence of Edmonia Lewis. 

In 1862, while attending the recently racially integrated Oberlin College, Edmonia is falsely accused of poisoning two of her classmates. Days later, she is viciously raped and beaten. Although acquitted of the poisoning charges, Edmonia is accused of stealing art supplies, and her one-year stay at the historic college is terminated and she is sent to Boston. While working as a housekeeper, Edmonia is given the opportunity to learn sculpture. During the next two years, Edmonia hones her craft and travels to Rome, the “City of Marble.” Over the course of 10 years, Edmonia creates a grand piece she titles “The Death of Cleopatra,” which she presents at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia.

Combining imagination and the power of words, Atkins’ powerful narrative aptly highlights the harsh indifference and discrimination that Edmonia faces as she forges ahead to fulfill her dreams. Stone Mirrors provides a window into the achievements of a tenacious woman of color in a white man’s world.

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

BookPage Teen Top Pick, January 2017

Julian and Adam are friends turned brothers by way of tragedy. Though years apart in age and on opposite ends of the personality spectrum, the boys bond over their shared disabilities, their respect for one another’s differences and the fact that they save each other’s lives—more than once.

Adam is a charismatic high school senior with ADHD. Julian is his shy and sweet former foster brother, an incoming freshman with dyslexia. Prior to the start of school, the last time they’d seen each other was five years ago, when Julian’s parents died in a sudden and horrific car accident. Back then, Adam cared for Julian like an older, patient brother, helping him cope with his tragic loss. That was until Julian’s uncle showed up out of nowhere and ripped him from the safe and healthy life he’d had with his foster family. Julian’s strict uncle has no patience for his “odd” behavior, his quietness or his appreciation for children’s books. And even though everything looks fine to outsiders, all of Julian’s pain is boxed up and pushed beneath the surface. When Adam finally begins to notice the signs, it falls to him to save the sensitive Julian from a dangerous home.

Debut author Robin Roe drew from experiences counseling and mentoring at-risk teens to create A List of Cages. In the same vein as The Perks of Being a Wallflower, this is a raw and eye-opening story, destined to spark important and necessary conversations.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read a Q&A with Robin Roe for A List of Cages.

Justin Barisich is a freelancer, satirist, poet and performer living in Atlanta. More of his writing can be found at littlewritingman.com.

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Set in modern-day Baltimore and steeped in the racial inequalities and police brutalities that have long plagued the city, AIR is the story of an unlikely hero who discovers himself, his inner peace and his truest power through high-octane sports, used as a unique form of civil disobedience.

Grey Monroe is 17 years old when his father murders his mother in their Colorado home, and soon after her funeral, his family splits him up from his younger siblings and sends him to live with his aunt in Baltimore. Days later, Grey befriends Akil Williams, a secretive teen who lives nearby with dirt bikes in his den. That same night, Akil convinces Grey to take a wild ride with him through the streets of downtown Baltimore, and from then on, Grey is absolutely hooked on the freedom and adrenaline the bike brings.

On a later ride, Grey and Akil end up saving Kurtis—an internet-famous, motorsports daredevil who blurs the lines between social activism and criminal behavior—during one of his stunts. The three teens grow closer, but when Akil is run down by a vindictive police officer, something shifts inside Grey, and he becomes an urban rebel with a bigger cause than he ever could have imagined.

In AIR, author Ryan Gattis (of All Involved critical acclaim) once again captures the pulse and plights of America’s urban youth, particularly those trying to survive in black and brown bodies. Crucially, his characters are more than just caricatures, and they must do anything they can to fight an establishment that seeks to eliminate them under the guise of safety—despite whatever freedoms, or however many breaths, it may steal from them.

Justin Barisich is a freelancer, satirist, poet and performer living in Atlanta. More of his writing can be found at littlewritingman.com.

To strangers, growing up the daughter of rock stars Meg and Kieran Ferris seems like a life of fame and adventure. But high school senior Phoebe, who would rather write a lyric than carry a tune, feels both caught in the middle and left out of the talent and drive of her musical family. In Janet McNally’s debut novel, Phoebe searches for her place within her broken family and the world beyond.

Finding out the truth about herself is difficult, however, when her mother remains silent on why she left the rock world and notoriety to raise children in Buffalo, New York; she hears her father’s new songs on the radio but hasn’t seen him in three years; and her older sister, Luna, appears to be following their mother’s footsteps, dropping out of college to tour with her own band.

Just before school starts, Meg sends Phoebe to New York City to try to convince Luna to return to her studies. Instead, Phoebe spends this time reconnecting with Kieran and trying to figure out love, loss, family and friendship. It’s all great fodder for lyrics, which the teen’s secretly sending to the bassist—and potential boyfriend—in Luna’s band. Periodic chapters told in Meg’s voice further reveal that Phoebe may be more like her mother than she ever considered.

In this beautifully layered story with understated imagery, McNally’s biting realism leaves readers with hope and resilience to ponder rather than solve all of Phoebe’s unanswered questions.

Dennaleia has been training all her life to leave her home in Havemont, marry Prince Thandilimon and become Queen of Mynaria. So when she arrives in her new home and her fire Affinity—a forbidden magical power she’s kept hidden for years—grows unwieldy, she fears the life she’s trained for is about to be ripped out from under her. What’s more, shortly after her arrival in Mynaria, an assassination attempt on the King leaves the kingdom in shock. When Dennaleia joins forces with her betrothed’s sister, Mare, to find the culprit, the friendship becomes something more than she’d bargained for, and she begins to question whether the life she’s always envisioned is the life she wants after all.

Audrey Colthurst’s debut novel, Of Fire and Stars, is a captivating story that follows the young royals as they grapple with the roles they’ve been assigned and their true passions. Dennaleia and Mare are a compelling pair—both whip smart in their own ways, with complementary talents and plenty to teach one another. Supporting characters, from palace guards to Dennaleia’s fiancé, are complex and relatable, and grow over the course of the novel.

If Colthurst’s world is a bit underdeveloped—the rules of both physics and magic are sometimes unclear—she makes up for it in sharp prose and characters whose spirit, tenacity and deep humanity drive the story from beginning to end. 

In Tara Sim’s young adult debut novel, Timekeeper, time does wait for man—and one man in particular. To keep the balance in this steampunk Victorian London world, special people who can sense the fibers of time are trained to be mechanics who keep the clocks in the towers running spritely.

At 17, Danny is the youngest person to become a fully instated mechanic. Although Danny has achieved this milestone, his life is angst-filled and complicated. Danny has had the recent misfortune to be working on a clock when it inexplicitly explodes. The scar on his chin from the accident is minor compared to the mental scars he tries to hide. He is fearful of being in another explosion—or worse, trapped like his father in a town where time stopped because the clock spirit abandoned the tower.

Furthermore, the first love of Danny’s life is forbidden, not because the object of his affection is a male, but because the boy is a clock spirit. Danny knows the romance is dangerous and tries to stay away from the spirit, but life puts them together in unexpected heart- and time-stopping ways. Since no one will believe Danny, he must race against time itself to save those he loves and those to whom he has a responsibility.

This is an enjoyable start to a promising new trilogy.

It’s the second semester of senior year at Janus Academy, an exclusive performing arts school, and five friends are preparing for the rest of their lives while struggling with the demands of the present. Joy’s dream is ballet, but the odds of success are slim—as her parents keep reminding her. Liv is stringing Ethan along by starring in his play (though she really likes her co-star Dave) and has a secret that threatens to be her undoing. Diego has been Joy’s friend forever but is ready for more. By the end of You in Five Acts, one of them will be dead.

Author Una LaMarche beautifully captures street scenes in New York City and breathes life into the school setting. It may be prestigious, but everything is a work in progress, from the cobbled-together theater sets to the students themselves. Each chapter, narrated in turn by one of the five characters, ends with an ominous reminder that someone is going to die. Clues feint one way or another, then lead to an unexpected conclusion. This structure creates the unusual problem of making the reader impatient for the tragedy to strike, and when it does, the reader doesn’t have time to process it.

Perhaps the strongest elements of You in Five Acts are the friendships between these characters and the different ways their dedication to art can be a saving grace or a curse. Book clubs will have a lot to say about the choices made regarding the ending and the references to current events, such as the use of excessive force by police against people of color.

This article was originally published in the November 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.