Jenny Hubbard’s outstanding debut novel, 2011’s Paper Covers Rock, was set at a boys’ boarding school in the 1980s, where a young man struggled to find his poetic voice while overcoming a personal tragedy. Hubbard’s second novel, And We Stay, explores many of the same themes from a female perspective.

It’s early 1995, and Emily Beam has just started school at Amherst School for Girls, notable for its most famous alumna, Emily Dickinson. No one at ASG knows Emily’s whole story, which she begins to explore via poems, although she’s never before had any inclination to write poetry. As Emily attempts to fit in at ASG and strives to articulate her feelings about the events surrounding her boyfriend’s recent death, she begins to feel a real kinship with Dickinson, whose work proves “to other daughters of America, the ones who endure, who rise like rare birds from the ashes, that they are not alone.”

Hubbard is an accomplished poet as well as a novelist, and Emily Beam’s poems are remarkably good. Writing these poems leads Emily out of the darkness of a New England winter and into a fragile spring—out of tragedy and into something resembling hope.

The Promise of Amazing poses a question: What is the promise of love worth? For 16-year-old Wren Caswell, that’s not a question she’s considered much. Her last relationship ended when her boyfriend dumped her before he went to college. But then Wren meets Grayson Barrett at her parents’ medieval-themed banquet hall and saves his life.

Grayson is a notorious player whose term paper broker business got him kicked out of a prestigious private school. Wren is the quiet, good girl who feels her mediocrity is keeping her from the more exciting life she craves. Grayson and Wren are complete opposites, and yet they are drawn to each other. After nearly choking to death, Grayson feels like Wren did more than save his life. She is genuine and challenges him to be a better man. Wren feels like Grayson is the only person who truly understands her. He doesn’t see her as quiet and unassuming, and he awakens in her a sense of passion and adventure.

But as Grayson’s unscrupulous past comes to light, Wren has to reconcile how much of his misdeeds she is willing to forgive in order to be with him—especially when Grayson’s former best friend is adamant Grayson returns to his old ways.

Told in alternating voices, Robin Constantine’s debut novel is, quite simply, a love story. Grayson’s first-person narrative is singularly important; without it, readers might assume Grayson is an unredeemable player instead of a complex, sympathetic hero. Like many teenagers, Grayson has made mistakes that have endangered his future plans. If not for Wren’s love, he might’ve continued in his downward spiral.

For Grayson, true love is worth the emotional pain of living honestly. For Wren, love is worth forgiveness. Fans of Maureen Johnson and Jennifer E. Smith will devour this romantic read.

Quick question: If you could have any super power, what would it be? OK, quick second question: What would you do if you had that super power, but it was illegal to use it? That’s the question that plagues Marvin, the protagonist of Hero Worship. Marvin and his friends Yvonne and Kent all have powers (Marvin’s is incredible speed), but they’ve been classified as “dirties” and therefore can’t use their powers—for good or evil—without running afoul of the law.

Unlike Yvonne and Kent, Marvin genuinely tries to avoid breaking the law, although sometimes he just can’t help himself if he knows he can save someone who’s afraid and in danger. Secretly, though, Marvin dreams of using his powers as a member of the Core, the exclusive circle of “clean” superheroes charged with upholding the safety and security of Loganstin’s citizens. But when beautiful Core member Roisin offers him just that opportunity, Marvin gradually realizes that his idols might not be quite so heroic after all.

Debut novelist Christopher E. Long is a veteran comic book writer, and Hero Worship reads much like a novelized version of a comic book, with plenty of action, deception, secret identities and sexy situations. The novel’s fast pace sometimes comes at the expense of exposition—readers will likely find themselves asking how Loganstin became such a violent, unstable place, and why “cleans” and “dirties” are defined as they are. But this same breakneck pace also means that Hero Worship is the perfect novel for comics fans ready for something a little more substantial but still lots of fun.

Emma Lazar has laid claim to the title of “Emma the Good” for years. She has always been determined to be the perfect daughter to her widowed dad as he pursues his psychiatric career from city to city. Now a junior, Emma can think of nothing better than to land in sunny L.A and begin school at the prestigious Latimer Country Day. But something happens to Emma’s reliable moral compass from her first day in her new life: The more she seeks to make the transformation to the California girl of her dreams, the more she begins to lose her way.

The lies start almost immediately and soon become a way of life. Emma teams up with Siobhan, an intense, sophisticated and bored classmate who loves to skip class, party and flirt with increasingly risky behavior. Siobhan believes in pacts and lists, and she comes up with a list of experiences for Emma to check off before the infamous year-end Latimer Afterparty, guaranteed to put fear into a father’s heart: “Make out. Do shots. Get stoned. Climb out windows. Go to many many parties. Hook up. Hook up all the way. Finish and we go to Afterparty.”

But even as Emma crosses off the milestones on her list, and strays from the “Good Emma” of the past, she begins to gain confidence in setting her own course and making the decisions that are right for her. What she doesn’t anticipate is Siobhan’s violent reaction to what she perceives as Emma’s betrayal of their friendship pact.

Readers will root for Emma as she negotiates difficult choices and a first romance, and grapples with finding her moral compass. But in her heartbreaking portrayal of Siobhan, a young woman spinning out of control with no one able to catch her—not even her best friend—author Ann Redisch Stampler reminds us that losing a friendship can be just as painful as a failed romance.

After four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and an injury that ended his military career, veteran Andy Kincaid “could turn into a werewolf even when the moon wasn’t full,” according to his daughter Hayley, a high school senior. Hayley and Andy have just returned to Andy’s hometown after several years on the road, with Andy driving trucks in an attempt to chase away his demons and Hayley home-schooling herself from the front seat. Now Hayley is attending high school for the first time, theoretically to prepare for college. But she’s not entirely sold on the idea of classrooms and homework, let alone college applications. What’s the point, she wonders, of trying to build a future when she’s constantly rescuing her father from drowning in his past?

Between checking to see if Andy has gone to work that day (or even if he’s gotten out of bed to take a shower) and attempting to manage her own sense of constant panic, Hayley appreciates being aloof. But she can’t help becoming friends with her neighbor Gracie, and then becoming more than friends with attractive but enigmatic Finn. And just as Hayley and Finn are sorting out their feelings for each other, Andy’s former girlfriend Trish—whom Hayley hates for a reason that no one else knows—comes back to town.

Margaret A. Edwards Award-winning author Laurie Halse Anderson doesn’t shy away from difficult subject matter, as with rape in Speak and anorexia in Wintergirls. In The Impossible Knife of Memory, she applies her considerable talent for writing intense, authentic narratives to the timely and moving topic of a teen coping with a parent’s post-traumatic stress disorder. And like Speak, The Impossible Knife of Memory interlaces its serious content with threads of dark humor. (For example, Hayley’s high school is, according to her, populated exclusively by zombies and freaks, interacting with each other according to a well-defined and completely absurd social order.)

Longtime Anderson fans won’t be disappointed, and readers newly discovering her work will understand why she’s earned a reputation as one of the most honest authors writing for teens today.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our Q&A with Laurie Halse Anderson for The Impossible Knife of Memory.

The True Adventures of Nicolo Zen is the survival story of an orphaned boy who learns to rise above tragedy, poverty and urban evils using only his cleverness, his sense of justice and the mysterious powers of his magical clarinet.

In the year 1714, Nicolo’s village is stricken by a vicious outbreak of malaria, and the plague quickly claims his entire family. Alone at 14, Nicolo deserts his disease-ridden home for Venice, taking with him only one item—his enchanted, ivory clarinet. He hopes for nothing more than survival as a beggar, but he quickly learns that he can collect far more coins by playing his clarinet and relying on his cunning. Nicolo is soon dressing up in girls’ clothes, mimicking his deceased sisters’ mannerisms and trying to convince the maestro of the local girls’ orphanage orchestra—Master Antonio Vivaldi, Venice’s greatest musician—of both his musical talent and his feigned gender. He gradually learns to better wield his charmed instrument, which transforms him into a musical prodigy and the subject of much attention, praise and jealousy.

Fate takes Nicolo to the doorstep of Massimo Magnifico, a magician who can explain the supernatural ability of his clarinet. And once they talk, Nicolo’s life is never the same.

Author Nicholas Christopher’s debut YA novel envelopes the reader in a world where anything—be it tragic, beatific or mystic—can happen to anyone.

Here’s a neat trick: a dual-authored story about two prospective college roommates who never meet over the course of the novel. Roomies tells Elizabeth (“E.B.”) and Lauren’s stories through the emails they send during their last summers at home. For E.B., the move is cross-country, away from her single mom and soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend, and toward the gay dad who abandoned her after coming out. Lauren is just moving across the San Francisco Bay, but her family is so large it’s like leaving a small island nation. She really wanted a single room for just this reason.

The emails between the girls offer a gentle contrast between how we present ourselves online versus who we are IRL, and how much we try to read into correspondence when there’s nothing else to consult for clues. E.B. and Lauren are both going through changes common during the last summer before college, but they sometimes fail to empathize with one another because their surface differences seem so vast. Before they even lay eyes on one another, the girls come close to opting out of the shared dorm. Roomies is a bittersweet and hopeful story of change.

Life is tough in Allen “Ali” Brooks’ Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn. His mother works two jobs just to make ends meet. His father, who’s served time in prison, hustles on the streets and lives in his car, but ultimately wants to take care of his children. And Ali can’t always rely on his best friend, Noodles, a secret comic book geek with an anger management problem.

Nicknamed for the former champion heavyweight boxer, 15-year-old Ali fights the tempting violence and risky opportunities around him by throwing practice punches in the shower and in the neighborhood ring. He tries to stay out of trouble, but how can he and Noodles resist an invitation to one of Brooklyn’s most exclusive parties? When a misunderstanding involving Noodles’ older brother, who has Tourette syndrome, leads to an altercation, Ali jumps in, swinging real punches. In Ali’s biggest battle yet, many lives are at risk, and he begins to question his friendship with Noodles.

Despite his gritty surroundings, Ali’s humor lends an endearing vulnerability and hopefulness that can’t help but touch the rest of the neighborhood. Although he doesn’t seek the spotlight like his namesake, Ali fights to uphold his beliefs. As his world expands, he notices just how hard his family and friends are fighting, too. Jason Reynolds’ debut effort is indeed great, and readers should expect more greatness from this stunning new author.

Ruth Fried’s mutilated body is found hanging from a willow tree in the middle of a cornfield. The small town of Friendship, Wisconsin, handles this horrific crime like it handles everything else: It politely tidies things up and moves on.

With Ruth’s death, Kippy Bushman has lost the one person who could see past the superficial politeness endemic to Friendship. When Kippy receives Ruth’s nearly illegible diary, she learns some shocking secrets about her best friend. But the sheriff, who commands a fleet of police cars emblazoned with smiley faces, is pointedly uninterested in Kippy’s revelations. He has pinned the murder on Ruth’s hell-raiser boyfriend, Colt. Case closed.

Friendship is rich with oddballs, both charming and otherwise. Kippy’s father has raised her alone since her mother died, guiding her with a loving stream of psychobabble. Ruth’s older brother, Davey, has returned from military service overseas and is inflamed with PTSD.

Page-turning tension and cynical humor fuse as Kippy teams up with Davey to find Ruth’s killer. The vivid Wisconsin setting, serving as a stanchion of ordinary life, is continually violated by Kippy’s offhand revelations of unresolved violence, including her own bizarre past. Author Kathleen Hale’s first novel combines Hitchcockian eeriness, the quirky humor of Carl Hiaasen and the bruising romance of a “True Blood” episode.

Set in an undated future where mankind is capable of traveling through hyperspace and terraforming far-off planets, These Broken Stars is the shared survival story of the richest girl in the galaxy inextricably meshed with a lowborn boy “made good” by military commendations.

When the LaRoux Industries intergalactic flagship, the extravagant Icarus, is ripped from hyperspace travel and torn to pieces, teenagers Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen are lucky to be alive after their escape pod crash-lands on the surface of an unknown planet. Lilac, the daughter of the most powerful man in the galaxy and heiress to the LaRoux Industries empire, is confident that her father will locate them soon. A ship holding 50,000 people can’t just disappear unnoticed. Tarver, already a major in the military after two years of fighting rebellions on colonized planet outposts, is less than hopeful. He prefers to rely on his wits and field training, and, as a result, all the delicate social pretenses that once existed between Lilac and Tarver shatter in the name of survival.

As the assumed sole survivors, Lilac and Tarver trek across the seemingly vacant wilderness for over a month, hoping to find some way to call for help and searching for basic supplies. They’re holding up well until they begin to hear whispers on the wind. Pressing onward to either find or forget the voices, they unveil more of their truest selves and gradually discover why this strange planet was left abandoned and hidden.

These Broken Stars, the first in a trilogy, brilliantly unfolds by sharing alternating perspectives on the same ever-advancing story, all the while stressing the importance of subtext in everything the characters say and do. Co-authors Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner take the reader on a well-paced intergalactic adventure that reminds us that we’re still human—with all our weaknesses and awkward moments—continually dancing the intricate dance of society, even in hyperspace.

First of all, 17-year-old Sadie didn’t even want to go to that party with her older sister, Carla. She knew from past experiences that Carla, notorious for her reckless behavior, was oblivious to responsibility. And, sure enough, as soon as the sisters arrive at the party, Carla is chugging drinks and clinging to a guy whom Sadie nicknames “Scuzzy.” Completely out of her element, Sadie passes time playing beer pong with Scuzzy’s friend, “Dreadlocks.” When a near-comatose Carla finally reappears, Scuzzy and Dreadlocks ask for a ride to get more beer. Don’t do it, says a small voice in Sadie’s head.

When she drives them to the 7-Eleven, the guys ask her to park in the back. Weird, thinks Sadie. Scuzzy and Dreadlocks then disappear. Unbeknownst to Sadie, a backpack full of weed sits in the back seat next to Carla. Minutes later, the girls are arrested by an undercover cop.

Carla is legally an adult with two priors and a 3-year-old daughter. As Sadie is a minor, a good student and a gifted basketball player who might receive comparably light punishment, Sadie’s family asks her to take the fall. She does, landing a six-month sentence in a juvenile detention center.

Sadie is shocked by the way inmates are dehumanized in juvie. Small infractions bring harsh punishment. Some of the girls in her unit are deeply disturbed, guilty of terrible crimes. Still, Sadie finds it challenging to suppress her caring instinct. But she begins to realize that good will must be tempered by caution and that she is responsible for the consequences of her actions, even if she sublimates the motive. This is an important concept for many teens, who may greatly underestimate their own complicity when passively supporting risky behavior.

“Will you forgive me if I tell you the ending? There’s a girl . . .”

So begins Karen Foxlee’s new young adult novel, a web of prose as lush and mysterious as the story’s Australian setting. Fifteen-year-old Rose Lovell and her alcoholic father drift into a trailer park in the beach town of Leonora. Moving to a new place is something they’ve done many times before, so Rose doesn’t expect anything to be different. Then she meets Pearl Kelly, who almost immediately begins to wear her down with unexpected kindness.

Dynamic and irresistible, Pearl sweeps Rose into her plans for the Harvest Parade, where all the girls wear beautiful dresses at the town’s celebration of the sugar cane harvest. At first Rose can’t imagine taking part. “Rose Lovell does not wear dresses. Rose Lovell does not need friends. Yet all she can smell, even with the huge sky and the evening storm clouds brewing, is coconut oil and frangipani.”

Unable to afford a dress, Rose visits the old dressmaker, Edie Baker, who is rumored to be a “dabbler in the dark arts.”  Here she falls in love with a dress, the color of midnight blue, which, under Edie’s tutelage, is painstakingly taken apart and made anew. On the night of the parade, Edie gives Rose some blue slippers, and Rose, transformed, decides, “I am someone else.”

In the end, though, this is no Cinderella tale. With rich, evocative language, Foxlee threads together a complex tale of friendship, murder and betrayal. The Midnight Dress is compelling, heartbreaking and, most of all, impossible to put down.

Reena Montero has always loved Sawyer LeGrande. She and her best friend, Allie, watch his every move and examine every word he says. He is a veritable hobby for the two girls. When Sawyer and Allie begin dating, Reena holds her feelings in and tries to accept their relationship, but she just can’t bear to see her best friend and the boy she thinks may be her one true love grow closer and closer, so her friendship with Allie comes to an abrupt halt.

Just when Reena’s dream of a relationship with Sawyer begins to seem like a real possibility, tragedy strikes. She is left to cope with more guilt and pain than she ever could have imagined. Against the odds, she and Sawyer manage to come together at last, but his problems may be too much for Reena to bear. When she’s close to giving up, she finds out she’s pregnant, and shortly after, she watches Sawyer drive away.

Three years later, Reena has managed to piece together a life for herself and her daughter Hannah when Sawyer reappears and turns her world upside-down again. Their connection is real and convincing, but it’s difficult to imagine how they could possibly build a life together.

Katie Cotugno’s debut novel takes readers on a roller coaster ride of emotions. Reena is a believable young protagonist who evokes empathy in the reader, and it would be tough not to root for her, even as she makes one bad decision after another.

How to Love is a story of first love, true love and the quick decisions that can change lives forever. The romance is provocative, and the storytelling is both compelling and gripping. Readers may find themselves taken back to their own first loves and wondering what might have been.

Emily Booth Masters reviews from Nashville, Tennessee.