Description: Pat O'Toole has always idolized his older brother, Coop, right up until the day Coop ran away from their home just outside Washington, D.C. Now, a year later, he has received a package containing a digital voice recorder and a cryptic message from his brother, which will lead Pat on a strange and dangerous journey to the mysterious Community living beneath the streets of New York.

Review: Beneath is a fast-paced, action packed, and a tightly plotted mystery that incorporates themes of nonconformity and social rebellion. Pat is not surprised when his older brother and best friend, Coop, disappears. Coop has always been quirky: he is an avid tap dancer, collects flashlights, can't drive, won't email, and once dug a tunnel more than a mile long in their Virginia neighborhood before a gas line explosion nearly killed the two of them. After having a one-sided discussion with his parents about his future, Coop decides to leave without saying goodbye to Pat.

Description: Spanning eras and cultures from ancient Rome to medieval England to 1950s Hollywood, Jennifer Wright's It Ended Badlyguides you through the worst of the worst in historically bad breakups. In the throes of heartbreak, Emperor Nero had just about everyone he ever loved-from his old tutor to most of his friends-put to death. Oscar Wilde's lover, whom he went to jail for, abandoned him when faced with being cut off financially from his wealthy family and wrote several self-serving books denying the entire affair. And poor volatile Caroline Lamb sent Lord Byron one hell of a torch letter and enclosed a bloody lock of her own pubic hair. Your obsessive social media stalking of your ex isn't looking so bad now, is it?

Review: It Ended Badly is the perfect Adult to YA crossover narrative nonfiction. It is incredibly funny, entertaining, and educational. Heartache in life is inevitable and it even happens to famous people in history. There are 13 couples in this book that place from ancient Rome up to 1964. The stories depict how much we have and have not changed in our social mores  in regards to love, relationships, double standards, and gender expectations. In each story the author provides background on the couple as well as historical context of the time period and the events leading up to the breakup. Primary and secondary sources are included and used effectively to remind us that these couple are real people because these stories are so outlandish and hard to believe happened in real life.
   I already knew a few of the stories that were included in the book: King Henry VIII and wives Anne Boylen and Catherine Howard, Catherine Lamb and Lord Byron, and Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas. I still read these stories with relish as I learned new tidbits about these powerful people. There many other stories that I did not know of and caused me to jump into many research rabbit holes to learn  more. Wright muses that heartbreak does not distinguish among the rich, poor, and eccentric. Whether their culture tolerated cruelty and murder that was not acceptable in many other time periods (Nero and Poppaea Sabina), condemned homosexuals to a prison sentence or worse (Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas), or even tolerated their bizarre behavior (Oskar Kokoschka and Alma Mahler), each breakup left its mark on the individuals involved. It is odd too see that the ways people break up (i.e. ghosting, making the same mistake twice, body image issues, etc) are not so new and unique to our time period.
 It Ended Badly is the perfect anti-Valentine's Day book. It is also a great read for those who ever thought history is boring and for those that need a page-turner for a weekend read.

Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: This is not the sanitized history we read in history textbooks. There are mentions of sexual assault, domestic abuse, language, and sexual situations. Recommended for older teens and adults.

If you like this book try: Modern Love by Aziz Ansari, Wild Things! Acts of Mischief in Children's Literature by Betsy Bird, How They Croaked by Georgia Bragg

Description: Before Stinkville, Alice didn't think albinism--or the blindness that goes with it--was a big deal. Sure, she uses a magnifier to read books. And a cane keeps her from bruising her hips on tables. Putting on sunscreen and always wearing a hat are just part of life. But life has always been like this for Alice. Until Stinkville. For the first time in her life, Alice feels different--like she's at a disadvantage. Back in her old neighborhood in Seattle, everyone knew Alice, and Alice knew her way around.
  In Stinkville, Alice finds herself floundering--she can't even get to the library on her own. But when her parents start looking into schools for the blind, Alice takes a stand. She's going to show them--and herself--that blindness is just a part of who she is, not all that she can be. To prove it, Alice enters the Stinkville Success Stories essay contest. No one, not even her new friend Kerica, believes she can scout out her new town's stories and write the essay by herself. The funny thing is, as Alice confronts her own blindness, everyone else seems to see her for the first time.

Review: Alice was born with albinism and has only 20/200 vision with glasses. When she was at home in Seattle, Washington, her disability was well known and accepted. She had her best friend to help guide her, she knew everyone and knew her way around. Now that her dad got a new job and the family had to move to Sinkville aka Stinkvile, South Carolina, Alice is struggling in her new setting. She has no friends, doesn't know her way around her neighborhood, and her family is too busy coping with their own problems to help her. Alice must find her own way and be self reliant. When a writing contest offers her a chance to prove she can do anything, Alice and her dog, Tooter, set out to find their own place in their new home.
  I really liked Alice's narrative voice. She is a realistic tween who felt very down to earth and self aware. I also enjoyed her slowly falling in love with Stinkville, particularly with its residents who she easily warmed up to and help her realize the city's goodness. Although some of the characters such as the waitress who knows everyone, the wise yet stubborn senior citizen that Alice befriends, and a bully that is covering up her own shortcoming feel one dimensional, but they all help Alice along the way. I also appreciated the inclusion and mixture of humor with serious topics like depression, disability, and old age. Alice is not confined to her disability, but rather on a journey of independence, compromise, and accepting help when it is needed. Blind Guide to Stinkville would be a good choice for young readers who enjoy reading realistic fiction with a touch of humor.

Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: There is a sick pet in the story. Recommended for Grades 4 and up.

If you like this book try: Blind Guide to Normal by Beth Vrabel

Description: Adam Thorn doesn’t know it yet, but today will change his life. Between his religious family, a deeply unpleasant ultimatum from his boss, and his own unrequited love for his sort-of ex, Enzo, it seems as though Adam’s life is falling apart. At least he has two people to keep him sane: his new boyfriend (he does love Linus, doesn’t he?) and his best friend, Angela. But all day long, old memories and new heartaches come crashing together, throwing Adam’s life into chaos. The bindings of his world are coming untied one by one; yet in spite of everything he has to let go, he may also find freedom in the release.

Review: Release is a heartbreaking story that features a dual narrative that follows Adam, a gay teenager with homophobic parents, and the ghost of a classmate murdered by her meth-addicted boyfriend, over the course of one, defining day. I was immediately grabbed by Adam's story line. Normally, I do not care for books that take place in a day, but there were so many important things happening to Adam or that involved Adam that I often forgot this was all occurring at one time.
  Adam does not lead an easy life. His evangelical father constantly berates him and calls him a disappoint for being gay and not following his shoes into clergy. His first love, Enzo who he may or may not be still in love with, is having a going-away party. His job is also threatened by his lecherous boss who has been sexually harassing him. All of these events are heaped upon Adam's shoulders but he takes them in stride because of his support network and best friend Angela has always been on his side. Except Angela completely sidelines him in announcing that she's moving from Washington State to the Netherlands for senior year. Angela's departure serves as a catalyst that fractures Adam's complacency. Suddenly, he has to navigate and release all of his feelings that he has internalized for so long. Adam's story dominates the narrative and provides a honest, vulnerable, and riveting portrayal of a gay teenager's sexual awakening and rite of passage. There are plenty of nods to Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and Judy Blume's Forever throughout the book from the book's structure, writing style, and themes. I can definitely see why he chose those particular books to influence his book. Release feels cathartic just as it is aptly titled and uncalcuated.
 What dampened by enjoyment of the book is the paranormal story line, which is not as affecting as Adam's. This magical realism story line weaves in and out of Adam's narrative, which disrupted the book's flow and intensity. While it was nicely written and conveys the sense of mystery that we encounter in our daily lives and I can make parallels to Adam's story, it made me bored and I ended up skimming most of it. The book would have been just fine if this story line was edited out of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Words of Caution: There is strong language in the book, mentions of drug abuse, frank discussion on sex, sex scenes, and scenes of sexual harassment. Recommended for Grades 10 and up.

If you like this book try: They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

Description: Long ago, in a small village in the middle of a deep, dark forest, there lived a lonely, deaf girl named Maggie. Shunned by her village because of her disability, her only comfort comes from her vivid imagination. Maggie has a gift for inventing stories and dreams of one day finding her fairy-tale love. When Maggie meets the mysterious Piper, it seems that all her wishes are coming true. Spellbound, Maggie falls hard for him and plunges headfirst into his magical world. But as she grows closer to the Piper, Maggie discovers that he has a dark side. The boy of Maggie's dreams might just turn out to be her worst nightmare.

Review: Piper is a graphic retelling of the Pied Piper of Hamelin fairy tale. The authors attempt to fill in some of the unanswered questions about the fairy tale such as where did the Piped Piper come from and how did he learn how to use music to control people and animals. The graphic novel centers around Maggie, a deaf teen who feels isolated and bullied in Hamelin. She speaks and reads lips to communicate and finds comfort in telling stories to her loving guardian, Agathe, based on the cruelty she receives from the townspeople and dreaming of romance. Hameln has a bigger problem: it is overrun with rats that destroy the village’s resources and rapidly spread disease. Piper stays pretty true to the original story, adding a few changes such as a budding romance between Maggie and Piper, which ends tragically but did not make feel anything. There is a twist on the familiar ending which is just as horrifying as the old one.
   While the art is nicely done, it did not represent Maggie's disability consistently. There are multiple panels in which a character is not in Maggie’s sight lines but Maggie responds as if she has read their lips. The text is also problematic with this representation too where only one or two words are misspoken by Maggie. While there is an attempt to answer unsolved questions about the mysterious Pied Piper, I felt disconnected to the cast characters and did not learn anything new with this fairy tale retelling. I think this story would have been more suitable to a short story instead of a graphic novel.

Rating: 3 stars

Words of Caution: There are some disturbing images. Recommended for Grades 7 and up.

If you like this book try: Breath by Donna Jo Napoli, Through the Woods by Emily Carroll