No matter how hard he tries, Danny can’t get over the fact that after years of battling cancer, his mom died mere weeks before his high school graduation, the one date she’d been trying to hold on for. With his dad killed in a car accident when he was a kid, his big sister in China trying to rediscover her roots and the summer between high school and college stretching out before him, Danny almost resigns himself to three months in his big empty house, grieving for his mom and obsessing over the girl that got away.

When a letter comes from the caretaker of his family’s apartment in Japan, asking what he’d like to do with his mom's leftover medication, Danny is puzzled, thinking she should have taken it all on her last trip. Desperate to figure out the meaning of the spare pills, wanting to know more about the last few months his mother spent without him and needing to get some space from his best-friend-turned-ex-girlfriend who’s suddenly dropping by after a year of ignoring him, Danny books a one-way ticket to Japan.

Daisy Whitney’s novel covers many emotional bases—grief, loneliness, betrayal, hope—and she captures them all incredibly well. Even as Danny tries to make sense of his mother’s final visit to Japan, he's always aware there might not be any logic behind it, that cracking the puzzle is a way to distract himself but may not give him peace. At the same time, he holds out hope that he can get back together with the girl that broke his heart when she dumped him the previous summer, but when she reaches out, he can’t bring himself to reach back, protecting his heart from more damage.

The book’s biggest strength is its unpredictability. The bulk of the novel is spent trying to unravel a specific mystery, yet Danny’s most shocking discovery has nothing to do with his mother. Likewise, Danny’s friendship with his apartment's caretaker’s daughter doesn’t rely on the promise of romance, which is refreshing from a YA novel.

When You Were Here is an engrossing book that draws readers in by being a window to a different culture and leaving its big questions unanswered until the last minute.

Molly Horan has her MFA in writing for children and young adults from The New School.

The ghost of Jacob Grimm has been wandering the earth since 1863, searching for his beloved dead brother—and the other half of the famous fairy-tale-writing duo—Wilhelm. The endless search is what keeps Jacob from leaving the Zwischenraum, the ghost realm, and brings him to the door of 15-year-old Jeremy Johnson Johnson, an outcast in the backwards town of Never Better. Jeremy is the only one who can hear Jacob, and the Brother Grimm quickly becomes the boy’s only friend and protector. And Jeremy can use all the help he can get: His father is a heartbroken shut-in and the bank is ready to foreclose on their home.

Then one day Ginger, the town spitfire, takes a real interest in Jeremy. She invites him to the bakery where the locals claim the Prince Cakes are like a love potion. One bite and suddenly Ginger can't stay away from Jeremy. Is it a budding friendship or a magic spell? Either way, she's determined to help him save his home. But Jeremy needs more than Ginger's help, as an evil lurks in Never Better, and it's coming straight for Jeremy Johnson Johnson.

Far Far Away is an incredibly imaginative modern fairy tale told through the first-person narration of the ghost of Jacob Grimm. In rich language, Tom McNeal intricately weaves the collected tales of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm into Jeremy’s unusual world, thus giving readers the impetus to research the history of these dark fairy tales, far more than any Disney movie could. Suspenseful with a sinister villain, Far Far Away is equally heartwarming as it is scary.

In his newest young adult novel, Bennett Madison tries his hand at emotionally wrestling with a nebulous pack of beautiful, land-bound mermaids. The plot of September Girls progresses slowly—mimicking the passing of the summer in which it takes place—gradually revealing the legend of the cursed mermaids stranded on an obscure beach off the Atlantic coast. Seventeen-year-old Sam finds himself falling for one of these mysterious girls, and his attraction pulls him deeper into their secrets until the book’s sudden ending.

As someone who once described himself as “an open and enthusiastic gay,” Madison’s characterization of virginal, heterosexual Sam is relatable, though somewhat stereotypical. While it may be true that most teenaged boys can’t get sex off their brains, it doesn’t always make for the most interesting of overriding character traits. Nonetheless, the depictions of young flirtation and sexual frustration are right on point and may be the truest imitations of it I’ve read yet, regardless of sexual orientation.

Toying with the extremes of realistic fiction, Madison employs the old adage of “perspective is reality” to unearth the meaning of love, loss and masculinity in a land that may not even really exist, and by the closing chapter, leaves us trying to find the humanity in the mythical. To this end, the narrative device of switching back and forth between the voice of Sam and the ancient, echoed voice of the mermaid collective was intriguing. However, if those two main voices had varied a bit more, used vulgarities more artfully and with less frequency, and had fleshed out further the mythology of the mermaids, this dual perspective could have been even more engrossing for the reader.

Jude is the youngest of the four Hernandez sisters. She has lived her life in the shadows of her older sisters, but she has also learned a lot of important and wonderful lessons from them. One lesson they won’t let her forget is to never get involved with a Vargas brother. Two of her sisters were left heartbroken by Vargas boys, so the girls don’t want Jude to fall victim to a boy from that family.

Jude tries to keep her promise, but when her beloved father becomes ill, she wants to refurbish his vintage motorcycle as a way to show him how much she loves him and to help him capture some memories. To accomplish this, she has to enlist the help of Emilio Vargas, the youngest brother of the two young men who broke her sisters’ hearts. 

In Jude’s attempts to connect with her father, who is fading away by the day, she finds herself drawn to Emilio. Her sisters were right about Vargas boys being irresistible, but were they right about them all being heartbreakers? While Jude’s focus may be on doing something wonderful for her father, her attention is also drawn—quite magnetically—to Emilio.

With grippingly realistic portrayals of family relationships, Sarah Ockler manages to create vivid characters that jump off of the page and move in with the reader. The love between Jude and her father, as he succumbs to the dementia of Alzheimer’s, is moving and painful. Her relationship with her sisters is sweet, but their control over her is frustrating.

The Book of Broken Hearts is a story of loves: between father and daughter, between sisters, between a young woman and man finding true love. This poignant story will stay with readers long after the book is finished.

Emily Booth Masters reviews from Nashville, Tennessee.

In June 1867, 17-year-old Verity Boone returns to live with her father in her hometown of Catawissa, Pennsylvania. Sent away to relatives as a 2-year-old, Verity is used to a bustling, friendly household filled with children—so different from her father’s silent home.

Still, Verity will not be with her father and his stern housekeeper for long; she has come home to meet her future husband. She accepted Nathaniel McClure’s proposal based on their correspondence and the glimpses of his personality through the gifts he sent— especially the book of sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Verity isn’t expecting to feel awkward with Nate, or to meet a handsome young physician’s assistant who makes her laugh.

And then there is the mystery of her mother’s death 15 years before. Verity is shocked to find that both her mother and aunt by marriage are buried in graves that lie inside ornate iron cages, but outside the hallowed ground of the cemetery. Both young women died on the same day, and no one seems to know anything about the mysterious illness that struck them. Are the cages there because the women were accused of witchcraft, or could it have something to do with rumors of long-lost gold, stashed away during the Revolutionary War?

Verity believes the answer must exist in the memories of townspeople or hidden in her mother’s journals. But as her investigations lead her deeper into the past, she finds herself face-to-face with present-day danger.

Author Dianne Salerni once found two real caged graves in the town of Catawissa. Although she never found out why the graves were caged, she was inspired to create this appealing romantic mystery. But who knows? Perhaps, like Verity, the author might still discover an answer to the riddle.

It’s the summer between high school graduation and the start of college, and Emaline longs for a transformative summer, the kind she imagines many tourists encounter when they visit her small beachfront community of Colby, North Carolina. But it seems hard to have that kind of wild, crazy and carefree summer when her days are filled with handing out towels and checking in renters for the several properties managed by her family’s realty company.

Just when Emaline is convinced that this summer will be just like every other—except for her impending departure to a nearby state university at summer’s end—everything changes. She and her longtime boyfriend, Luke, have hit a rough patch in their relationship. Her birth father—with whom Emaline had a cordial relationship up until a recent betrayal—shows up in Colby with Emaline’s 10-year-old half brother, Benji, in tow. And one of the summer renters, Theo, who is in town from New York to assist with a documentary film project, seems to offer Emaline the kind of different, glamorous, romantic summer she thought she always wanted.

Sarah Dessen is an expert at depicting young women on the verge of big changes, either in their family lives or in their romantic relationships. She also excels at tying story to place, in this case the fictional community of Colby, which has been the setting for several of her novels (readers will appreciate cameo appearances by several of Dessen’s previous characters here). In Emaline’s story, this link between setting and character is particularly strong, as she gradually realizes that she can discover her own identity apart from the place that has always defined her. The Moon and More is the perfect summer read, full of steamy days, romantic nights and life-changing possibilities.

Astrid Krieger has pretty much everything she needs to be happy: a rocket ship prototype on her parents’ estate to live in, good looks, money to burn and a grandfather who both loves her and can be counted on to bail her out of a jam (even the kinds of jams that require diplomatic immunity). So she’s more than a little upset when her latest shenanigan lands her in—horror of horrors—public school. Not that she had a choice in the matter; her expulsion from the Bristol Academy sealed the deal. Astrid may be a Firecracker, but she’s no match for the kids at Cadorette High.

Author David Iserson’s writing background is in film and television (“SNL,” “New Girl”), and his debut novel benefits from his ability to frame a comic scene for maximum laughs. When Astrid makes two very left-of-popular friends, her observations of one’s birthday party—which includes her sort-of-boyfriend’s attempt to get the nonexistent crowd dancing to an iPod full of French horn music—are priceless: “It was a depressing party. I’m sure there have been memorial services for school buses crashing into puppy stores with more celebration.”

Astrid has some lessons to learn about life, love, school dances, fake friends and the penalties for arson, but for every touching moment there are big laughs, foul language and new, strange characters to meet. If there’s a lot to keep track of, it’s all smart, fantastical fun. Firecracker will start your summer reading off with—it has to be said—a bang.

A reader looking to pigeonhole Winger into a traditional genre category may be in for a surprise. It’s a laugh-out-loud funny sports story set at a boarding school, but it’s also a serious look at the many different forms of love—and a subtle meta-narrative about the process of telling a story.

Ryan Dean West is an anomaly at his preppy boarding school—he’s 14 and already a junior—when his involvement in a petty crime forces his transfer from the boys’ dorm to Opportunity Hall, a bare-bones, prison-like residence for troublesome students. Despite this inauspicious start, Ryan Dean is determined that this will be the year he reinvents himself. As he gears up for rugby season, dodges an intimidating new roommate, navigates girl trouble and develops a growing friendship with a gay teammate, Ryan Dean relates his story in a combination of bar graphs, line graphs, cartoon panels and imagined conversations with himself.

But something sinister lurks under the hilarious antics of the rugby team, and when Ryan Dean is finally confronted with a situation he can’t laugh about, he finds that nothing in his familiar box of narrative tricks is enough to describe it.

Reminiscent of Looking for Alaska, Winger packs a punch that will leave readers rethinking their assumptions about humor, friendship and the nature of storytelling—and about the broad range of emotions of which teenage boys are capable.

When 17-year-old Michael and his 5-year-old brother run away from their abusive stepfather and into the West Virginia forest on Halloween eve, they know their world is about to change. But they don’t expect the rise of the undead.

To prevent the anxiety-prone Patrick from panicking, Michael convinces his brother that their flight is all a “Game,” just like the videogames they love. A Game Master gives them new instructions each night, the rules are always clear and no cheating is allowed. But when a zealous, enigmatic military captain brings the runaways to a Safe Zone that’s anything but safe, the structure of the Game begins to deteriorate. Without the stability and sense of meaning that the Game provides, how will Michael keep Patrick from a meltdown . . . or decide who deserves his trust in a world that’s been reset to a completely new level of play?

Like Carrie Ryan in The Forest of Hands and Teeth series, T. Michael Martin rarely refers to his walking dead as “zombies.” Instead, they're “Bellows,” “Zeds” or just “the Infected.” Whatever they’re called, Martin’s monsters are just as grotesque, scary and unpredictable as the best undead creatures from classic horror movies. At times the authorial voice is inconsistent, and readers may get frustrated with Michael’s unreliability as a narrator. But the clever blending of the perpetually popular zombie apocalypse motif with the lingo of an emerging video game culture remains a winning combination, making The End Games a post-apocalyptic tale full of spooky action and twisty surprises.

Nikki Dougherty is blinded by her love for Dee. Her friends caution her that he is no good, but she just can’t see it. She is so in love with him that she simply can’t imagine him doing anything truly wrong—even when he involves her in a crime and asks her to lie to the police. She is convinced that she has a future with him, so she is willing to do anything he asks.

Dee is clearly unfaithful, violent and dangerous, but Nikki is determined to see only the good in him and remain faithful to him. She loses the trust of her own friends and family, but still she hangs onto her relationship with Dee. Even after she is arrested for being party to a murder and experiences the humiliating process of being booked, she can’t quite bring herself to face up to the truth.

In this troublesome, gritty portrayal of misplaced love, Terra Elan McVoy paints a jarringly realistic picture of a young woman who confronts very real consequences for her loyalty to the wrong young man. The images of life inside prison are particularly devastating, and Nikki’s genuine agony as she fights to come to terms with the reality surrounding the man she loves is quite tangible.

Readers will feel sympathy for and anger toward Nikki. She is so pitifully delusional that the only possible relief is for her to wake up and see her beloved Dee for what he really is. Readers won’t be disappointed, and the story along the way is absolutely riveting.

Emily Booth Masters reviews from Nashville, Tennessee.

In the near-future world of Suzanne Young's new novel, teen suicide has reached epic proportions, with one in three teenagers killing themselves before their 18th birthdays. Sloane knows this statistic as well as anyone: Her older brother Brady killed himself, and Sloane’s parents are desperate to keep their only daughter from following in his footsteps. And they’re not alone. A massive undertaking known only as “The Program” aims to save depressed kids from themselves—but at what cost? Teens who spend six weeks at The Program return to their old lives spacey and clueless, unable to remember anything or anyone who might have once triggered their depression.

Despite grieving Brady’s death, Sloane feels a measure of protection; she’s madly in love with her long-term boyfriend James, Brady’s best friend and the only person who can help her through the depths of her sadness. But when one of their friends commits suicide, both James and Sloane might be unable to escape their own time in The Program—but what will that mean for their future together?

Suzanne Young’s novel is divided into three parts, detailing Sloane's time before, during and after The Program, each of which challenges and changes readers’ expectations, simultaneously building suspense and sympathy. Readers will certainly identify parallels between Sloane’s scarily dystopian society and their own, and they’ll consider issues as wide-ranging as the nature of depression, the necessity of memory and the concept of true love.

Sloane is a flawed but thoroughly believable and sympathetic character, and readers will cheer for her through every act of resistance and moment of weakness. There are a lot of unanswered questions at the end of The Program, but that's okay—this is just the first book in a projected series that’s bound to further explore Sloane’s character and uncover the true breadth of The Program.

Laurence Roach is a 15-year-old boy with a plan: save his family, no matter what it takes. You’d think that trying to win a radio trivia contest with a grand prize of a luxury holiday might be enough, but unfortunately, things don’t quite work out the way Laurence plans.

Instead, one day his mother simply doesn’t come back from work. Saving himself and his little brother Jay from the long arms of social workers takes all of Laurence’s considerable talents. He employs everything from complex lies to investigative detection to, well, cross-dressing.

But if that’s what it takes to keep his family together, Laurence is not about to give up, even when things get really bad: “Jay’s moaning that he’s hungry. He wants some breakfast. But there isn’t any food left and we’ve run out of money again.”

Set in England and written by London author Dave Cousins (who began writing at age 10), 15 Days Without a Head manages to be gritty and heartbreakingly funny at the same time. The book examines serious issues of alcoholism, suicide, parenting, trust, honesty and responsibility, but never in a heavy-handed way. And even while Laurence is negotiating the complexities of the adult world, school and the authorities, he also makes tentative first steps in a relationship with a girl his own age named Mina.

By the end, teen readers will pull for Laurence, his mum and little Jay to win that top prize: making it as a family.

“It wasn’t just the world that had changed with the coming of the Others. We changed. I changed,” 16-year-old Cassie writes in her diary, the book that shares space in her backpack with canned sardines, bottled water and her little brother’s teddy bear. Ever since the alien invasion’s first four “Waves” wiped out most of the human race, Bear has been Cassie’s only companion—not counting her M16 rifle, of course.

Cassie’s on a mission to find her younger brother, who was stolen away along with other child residents of a supposedly safe refugee camp. But two other teens are on missions, too—missions that might help or hinder Cassie’s. Like all those who weren’t killed by power outages, floods, pestilence or roaming snipers, Cassie and her fellow survivors find themselves constantly wondering how anyone can hold onto hope in a world where human idealism is rapidly becoming the enemy’s best weapon. What shape will the upcoming 5th Wave take . . . and what new horrors will it bring?

Set on a future Earth where aliens look human, humans look alien and no one can be trusted, Printz Honor-winning author Rick Yancey’s post-apocalyptic adventure story mixes high-energy action with sharp psychological tension. Narrative sections become shorter and faster-paced as the dénouement looms, echoing the characters’ increasingly rapid choices as they navigate between individuality and conformity and between loyalty and paranoia. Fans of dystopias and suspenseful thrillers won’t want to miss this exploration of the limits of human tenacity in a world gone horribly wrong.