Learning that what you are is not based on what you have is a bold lesson for anyone to learn. But it’s particularly poignant for 13-year-old Irene, whose life in a posh Manhattan penthouse comes crashing down around her when her investment banker father loses his job.

As she watches her world collapse—her father can’t find work, her socialite mother won’t give up her extravagant ways—Irene wonders what will become of them all. With their belongings either stored or sold, Irene’s family drives a rented car out of the city to rural upstate New York to live with Irene’s grandfather on his farm.

Life as she once knew it is gone, but much to her surprise, Irene learns a lot about herself during this exiled summer, thanks to the new neighbors she meets and through the simple encounters of a slower, easier lifestyle.

Possessions no longer matter as much as friends. Family sticks together through good times and bad. And maybe the person Irene thought she was, was just a mirage seen through a gilded mirror.

Award-winning author Corinne Demas is careful not to stereotype Irene as a spoiled teen, full of angst and disrespect. That would be too easy. Instead, the author’s honest depiction of Irene, through authentic dialogue and voice, rings true—making readers honestly like her.

The bright and amiable teenager triumphs over her family’s tragedy, stands up for herself against the odds and, eventually, finds out exactly who she is. Losing it all and finding a new perspective is a topic addressed in many tween and YA novels. But Demas manages to avoid the clichés and create a solid storyline with a realistically drawn protagonist that tween readers will embrace.

Every good story has to have heroes, right? Wizards, crime-fighters, superheroes—the good guys. Not in A World Without Heroes, the first book in Brandon Mull’s exciting new Beyonders trilogy. Eighth grader Jason Walker discovers the world of Lyrian only after getting embarrassed in front of his crush, taking a baseball to the head in a batting cage and falling into the hippopotamus enclosure at the zoo where he volunteers. In fact, he falls not only into the enclosure, but into the gaping mouth of the hippo himself. Jason is not exactly hero material.

When he emerges from the hippo, Jason finds that he has been transported into the mysterious work of Lyrian. After stumbling upon a book bound in living skin that contains the first syllable of a powerful and extremely guarded word, he must make a choice: wait around and suffer a painful death, or attempt to be the hero Lyrian is looking for.

Jason is aided on his quest by a motley cast of characters. His companion for the story is Rachel, a ninth-grade homeschooled girl with a quick wit and (very) sharp tongue. Rachel is also the only other “beyonder,” or person from Earth, to have reached Lyrian in hundreds of years. The pair are joined at different times by Ferrin, a displacer with the ability to detach parts of his body at will, and Jasher, an Amar Kabal, who remains immortal so long as the seed at the base of his neck is replanted each time he dies. But the problem with a world where there are no more heroes is that Jason and Rachel have to figure out who they can trust—or if they can trust anyone.

Author of the best-selling Fablehaven series, Mull is not new to creating stories in which the world you live in is not quite what it seems. A World Without Heroes goes beyond that, transporting readers to an entirely new world filled with new discoveries and new dangers. Readers will be kept off-guard and on the edge of their seats from the first page. Perfect for fans of Rick Riordan and John Flanagan, this is an exhilarating debut in an exciting new series.

In the tradition of Ellen Hopkins and Patricia McCormick, Kimberly Marcus uses free verse to tell the realistic story of one teen’s plight in her debut novel, Exposed. High school senior Liz Grayson, aka Photogirl, lives to find the perfect photographic mood and shot, while her “forever-best friend” Kate has spent most of her life dancing. At their monthly sleepover, Liz berates Kate for her “whipped” boyfriend and for wanting to give up dance, and after the two argue, Liz storms off to sleep in her own bed, leaving Kate alone on the couch.

In the days and weeks that follow, Kate is unusually reluctant to make up with Liz. Thinking Kate’s ongoing avoidance is due to their fight, Liz is shocked when her friend accuses her college-age brother Mike (on whom Kate has had a longtime crush) of raping her the night of the sleepover. Mike denies the accusation, even after being arrested. In Marcus’ searing poems, Liz agonizes over her own culpability about the situation (would anything have happened if she hadn’t fought with Kate?) and who to side with (“So which one’s telling lies?”). Her first-person narration also reveals her anguish as she endures endless school gossip (“Good-bye, Photogirl. / Hello, / Sister of a Rapist.”) and loses her best friend, the brother she thought was easygoing and even her love for photography.

Yet her photography serves as a fitting metaphor for the chaos surrounding her as she comes to realize that an entire story lies beneath a single snapshot and that the story, unlike her black-and-white pictures, is filled with shades of gray. Called to be a witness at her brother’s trial, she doesn’t know how to fit her years of memories into yes-or-no responses. If she can ever return to photography, she knows that she’ll have trust her own point of view. Liz’s hard-hitting, multifaceted dilemmas will undoubtedly provoke reactions from readers, who will wonder if justice has been served in the end. 

Escaping an abusive stepfather has left Brent Conboy a homeless street kid. When he tries to swipe some breakfast leftovers off a hotel’s room service tray, he stumbles onto the scene of a crime in progress . . . only the truth is nothing like what’s being reported on the news.

Kitty Pettigrew ran from a terrible mistake made in her childhood and has been running, and making more dangerous mistakes, ever since. Stealing her violent drug-dealer boyfriend’s money and hitting the road is only the most recent.

When these two cross paths, sparks fly. Welcome to the nonstop action of Blink & Caution.

Author Tim Wynne-Jones has created two winning stories here, and combined them into an artful whole. When Kitty—aka Caution, as in “Contents under pressure”—first spots Brent, she easily robs him of a recent ill-gotten windfall. But a lingering sense of responsibility draws her back to him. And Blink (who has a nervous facial tic) tempers his resentment, since having someone so quick on her feet in his corner can only help him. If you smell a love story brewing, you’re not wrong, but it’s an unconventional one to say the least.

Blink & Caution begins in downtown Toronto, portrayed as unsparingly harsh; when the twosome follow up on the crime Blink saw, they’re led into the wilderness. Though they are in grave danger, the trees, water and air are a saving grace that seems to clear Blink’s head, enabling him to strategize instead of merely reacting to whatever happens around him. And Caution’s role as his “guardian angel” is a chance to put right the terrible thing she did years ago.

A fast-paced mystery with intelligence and heart, Blink & Caution snags readers and doesn’t let go. 

Just when you thought it was safe to take off that turtleneck, along comes another teen vampire novel. Throat brings a new twist to the popular genre with the introduction of 17-year-old Emma Cooper, who would like to be recognized for her achievements on the soccer field, but is better known for the “curse” she suffers: not vampirism but epilepsy.

When she’s attacked by Wirtz, a menacing vampire, his meal is cut short when Emma suffers a grand mal seizure. This isn’t such a bad thing; she ends up with heightened senses and powers, but no taste for blood. Even better, she has no problem with sunlight that a pair of shades won’t fix. But Wirtz plans to come back and finish the job, and eat Emma’s kid sister for dessert.

Out of concern for her family’s safety, Emma makes base camp at a NASA space center. With the help of an intern at the center, three vampire “friends” and a Home Depot theft of amazing proportions, she prepares a fortress and waits for Wirtz to find her. The showdown that follows is a doozy.

R.A. Nelson brings work and home together in Throat. The author lives in north Alabama and works at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and both locales are central to the plot. The mix of modern science and vampire lore gives the genre a new twist, and Emma’s hot temper adds a layer of suspense. Will she exercise good judgment or make a fatal mistake by blowing her top? A fast-paced blend of myth and science, Throat grabs readers from the first page and won’t let go.

Lena Haloway is a typical 17-year-old girl. She loves hanging out with her best friend, Hana. She likes to go for long runs and spend time on the beach, and she reluctantly performs household chores for her aunt. She is anxiously awaiting her next birthday, because she is looking forward to being “cured.”

In other words, Lena Haloway is a typical 17-year-old girl in a future United States where love is considered a disease, and everyone is cured—via brain surgery—on their 18th birthdays.

Since it is too dangerous (likely deadly) to have the surgery prior to full maturity, kids hope not to be afflicted with “the deliria” before being cured. Symptoms of “amor deliria nervosa” include difficulty focusing, periods of euphoria and despair, erratic behavior and even emotional or physical paralysis. It’s not hard to understand why the government identified love as a disease and a threat to humanity.

Yet when Lena herself falls in love—the thing she has always dreaded—the deliria forces her to question everything she has been taught. Is love really a life-threatening disease? Or is it actually the most wonderful experience a person can have?

Lena must face her fear and decide if she is strong enough to defy overwhelming authority. Will she risk everything for love, and will she actually find that the binds of her dystopian society are more suffocating than protecting? As author Lauren Oliver answers these gripping questions within the pages of her second novel, the reader is transported to a futuristic world filled with oppression and abusive control.

In this intense and exciting page-turner, Oliver more than lives up to the promise of her acclaimed debut, Before I Fall. Her sophomore novel is a big genre departure from her first, but the artfulness of her prose and her ability to build excruciating tension are still very much present in Delirium.

Every 16-year-old girl gets one—the XVI tattoo. It’s for protection, it’s a symbol of female status, or it’s a curse, depending on whom you ask. To 15-year-old Nina, it’s dangerous; if she could drag her feet a little more and slow time, she would. XVI means girls are legal, and while this means most “sex-teens” can finally lure in guys, Nina knows it comes with serious sacrifices.

After Nina’s family is shattered by her mother’s death, what little protection she had left as a 15-year-old evaporates. With her dying breath, Nina’s mom tells her to find her father, who was supposed to be dead, and to keep her little sister Dee away from Ed, a violent government official who holds a little too much sway over Nina’s family.

Nina soon finds herself flirting with the world of the rebel NonCons. Though being a NonCon will get you killed, Nina’s connection to these hidden denouncers of the Governing Council cannot be avoided. She turns to her friends for help, but a mysterious boy named Sal seems to be the only one who can help her hide in a world where no one is hidden, not even their thoughts.

Julia Karr’s Orwellian novel, XVI, depicts a world where present problems have been pushed to their extremes. Society is dominated by whatever the media says, girls are too blinded by the rush to impress and reel in boys, and sometimes it feels as though technology has left no privacy in the world. Karr’s novel is perfect for girls who have begun to ask questions about themselves and about how they are supposed to act under the barrage of sexual influences. Our heroine Nina lives within every girl who is willing to fight to define herself all on her own.

In Tantalize, Cynthia Leitich Smith introduced readers to Quincie Morris, the budding vampire and plucky teenage owner of Austin’s hottest dining spot, Sanguine’s: A Very Rare Restaurant. In Eternal, she introduced them to Zachary, a guardian angel in mourning for his lost love. Now, in Blessed, Smith brings these two stories together, as Quincie—with Zachary’s invaluable assistance—must delve into one of the oldest, most classic tales of vampire lore.

Just before he disappeared (hopefully) forever, Sanguine’s chef and secret vampire Bradley Sanguini served dozens of adventurous restaurant-goers his signature dessert—baby squirrels simmered in orange brandy and covered with a honey cream sauce. This delicacy was also laced with the infection that would turn these unknowing diners into vampires in a matter of weeks. Inspired by her new chef—who is also Zachary’s mentor—Quincie turns to Bram Stoker’s Dracula for clues about how to reverse the effects of the infection. Of course, this is only one of her problems. What with the protests of the Bat Anti-Defamation League, the struggles to find decent help and her own insatiable thirst for human blood, Quincie feels like she’s up to her neck in problems. If only she could get a little divine intervention….

As in the previous installments of this smart, sexy trilogy, Cynthia Leitich Smith doses every page with winking pop-culture references and groan-worthy one-liners. In this final volume, her homage to Stoker’s classic novel is most apparent, as she uses the book’s characters for inspiration, its plot for structure and its themes for a rich background that will lead many readers to (re)discover the original Dracula even as they enjoy this darkly humorous send-up.

Sophomore and rising basketball star Scotty Weems is going through the motions of a typical school day when the first signs of a blizzard appear in southern New England. As seven lingering students wait for a ride home from Tattawa High School (“in the boondocks, the sticks, the butt-end of nowhere”), readers of Michael Northrop’s nail-biting Trapped learn on the first page that some of the kids “weren’t going to get picked up, not on that day and maybe not ever.”

The nor’easter stalls over three states, gaining strength instead of weakening and dumping nonstop snow for days. There are no warm Breakfast Club moments as students from all social levels are forced together. Marooned at the school with Scotty are his best friends Jason, who’s secretly building a go-kart in the shop wing, and Pete, an all-around “normal” guy; school thug Les; strange, antisocial Elijah; and attractive freshman Krista and her good friend Julie.

What starts out as a novelty—a night at school with no adults, with the most annoying aspect being the inability to access Mafia Wars via cell phone—turns to sheer survival as one by one they lose communication, light, heat and food. With boredom, fatigue, fear and desperation mounting as fast as the snow, Scotty and readers alike begin to wonder if and how they’ll die, especially when some of the students begin getting injured and disappearing.

Readers will continuously change their minds about potential suspects as Northrop spins a series of fast-paced twists and turns. They’ll also want to make sure they have plenty of time to read this thriller, because once they sink into it, they won’t want to surface until they reach the dramatic ending.

After stealing a sandwich from an attendant and also beating her face in the process, 17-year-old Shavonne has earned herself more time in the juvenile correction center. And after spending the last three birthdays in different lock-ups and giving birth to a daughter who doesn’t even know her now, she wonders if it’s even possible to wish for a better life.

With gritty details, Shavonne observes the covert injustice and violence toward her and her fellow inmates, many of whom are pregnant or mentally challenged—or both—and all of whom come from broken homes and long for a mother or simply a kind word or touch. She copes with the day-to-day oppression by scheming outlandish plans and lashing out whenever her temper starts to rise. As she nears her 18th birthday, Shavonne is running out of options and faces transfer to an adult facility with no end date in sight.

When Mr. Delpopolo, a man with a troubled past of his own, takes over as her new counselor, Shavonne just may have found the path to the hope she’s been searching for. With a blend of compassion and a no-nonsense attitude, Mr. D. gives her writing exercises that force her to confront her guilt, destructive behaviors and a secret so haunting that she fears she’ll never deserve forgiveness. If Shavonne can prove her worthiness within the Center—and to herself—she may have a shot at making her hope a reality. Shawn Goodman’s intense young adult debut, Something Like Hope, is a painful reminder of America’s teens in trouble and the difference one individual can make.

Over the course of her high school career—and three previous novels—Ruby Oliver has developed quite a reputation, at least in her own mind. She’s the unstable girl, the one who has to see a shrink, the constant worrier who’s prone to panic attacks. As readers have also discovered, however, Ruby’s also very, very funny, a hyper-verbal observer of high school and family life, and a vulnerable, endearing heroine who’s both realistically flawed and thoroughly likable.

Not surprisingly, as Ruby starts her senior year in Real Live Boyfriends, her life is in crisis yet again. Senior year’s scary for everyone; Ruby compares it to being on the edge “of this precipice . . . of the end of high school, of college, of love, of scary, complicated, adult-type relationships.” As if that weren’t frightening enough, her parents are both acting less mature than Ruby herself, her friends can’t be trusted, and her very own “real live boyfriend” has come back from New York all cagey and weird. When Ruby’s the most level-headed person in her life, something must be very wrong. Or maybe Ruby’s just discovering that she might have to rewrite her own opinion of herself after all.

E. Lockhart’s novels featuring Ruby Oliver have all been startlingly perceptive, genuinely poignant and extremely funny. Ruby’s genuine empathy and whip-smart narration belie her many self-doubts. Readers long ago figured out that, in spite of everything, Ruby Oliver was going to be just fine; now, in the fourth and final volume in her story, Ruby’s finally figuring that out, too.