Twenty-four Seconds from Now … Jason Reynolds. 2024. Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books. 253 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher courtesy of Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.] How many times do Black boys get to be the center of a love story? I don’t mean a coming of age novel with hints of dating among the minutiae of teen life. I mean a story that is completely focused on the evolution of a romantic relationship and its growth over time into new depths and discoveries. With Twenty-four Seconds from Now, Jason Reynolds has created an ode to the complexities of love with all its myriad questions, feelings, and fears, and centers a character that is too often ignored when considering how teens understand and engage around romantic relationships. What immediately stood out to me about this book is that it’s a love story told in reverse. It actually starts with the main character, seventeen year old Neon, psyching himself up for his first time with his girlfriend Aria. From wondering why nobody warned him about the sensory overload he’d experience to questioning if he lotioned his legs, Neon allows the reader an glimpse into the inner world of a…

Invisible Son. Kim Johnson. 2023. Random House. 416 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]  For so many, the months leading up to and at the height of Covid are this surreal period of time. It was inevitable that the days ran together and to some degree we lost the benefit of time reference. For me, Covid occurred alongside some major life moments that force exact time/date memorization…reading Invisible Son took me through the highs and lows of those emotions/days. Expertly written, I appreciate that Johnson dropped me down the rabbit hole of the little known history of the Albina area. Her ability to give enough that it captures your attention without taking away from her actual story is awe-inspiring. As always, her characters are real – far from perfect – but unapologetically relatable. On numerous occasions I thought I figured it out, but I never did and honestly the ending left my mouth hanging open. 5 stars. Recommended for every teen that now has a global pandemic as part of their memory. Published & currently available online and in your local stores – support the author and this book.

Promise Boys. Nick Brooks. 2023. Henry Holt & Co. 279 pages. [Source: ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.] The beloved principal of Urban Promise Prep is dead from a single gunshot to the head. Three suspects — his own students — are in custody. While police work to find a motive for who would murder a man working to save so many at risk boys, the three students are seeing the futures they’ve worked for crumbling in front of them. Promise Boys follows J.B., Ramon, and Trey as they try to prove their innocence. To outsiders, they each appear to have a compelling motive to hurt Principal Moore, who seems to have a penchant for humiliating them under the guise of discipline. J.B. is described as quiet and smart, but with a size that intimidates and strength that hurts. Ramon is an aspiring entrepreneur whose affiliation with a local gang constantly asks him to choose between the life he wants and the reality he’s in. Trey has already been labelled a troublemaker, but the profile he brings to the school’s basketball team is hard to ignore. Almost immediately, the community erupts into a…

Chaos Theory. Nic Stone. 2023. Crown Books. 288 pages. [ARC provided courtesy of publisher via NetGalley for an unbiased review.] Nic Stone earned stars before I read the first line of the book. The transparency of her author’s note (I never read those, but read this one) and content warning was so endearing and a testament to who I imagine she is in her everyday life. Yes, she wants you to read her work but the reality of her acknowledging and ensuring you know this may be a mirror riddled with triggers was so-selfless. After swooning for a few moments, and taking the time to send a few “omg, I got it … you need to preorder this … the content warning was OMG,” messages I dove head first into Shelbi and Walter (can I call him that or will I get some random email that says “Andy to you”?). I always love Stone’s use of text messages in her books – it puts you fully in your YA mind and becomes a subtle reminder that in this day and age, that is the bulk of many peoples communication style. The characters were amazing, fully developed, with tons of Life…

Paperback Crush. Gabrielle Moss. 2021. Quirk Books. 257 pages. [Source: Public library.] Be still, my heart. As a child of the ’80s, I longed for few things more than the day the Scholastic book flyer was distributed at school or a Saturday spent at the mall with my friends, roaming through Sam Goody & Waldenbooks while figuring out when we’d get our Cinnabon and Orange Julius fix. My world has always been consumed by books, but nothing brings on nostalgia like remembering the thousands of hours I spent devouring teen fiction. Series like The Baby-Sitters Club, Sweet Valley High, and, of course, R.L. Stine’s Fear Street had a chokehold not just on me, but countless teen readers and Paperback Crush is a retrospective of the genre with attention paid to heavy hitters and lesser-known books. With Paperback Crush, Moss revisits some of the most seminal teen fiction of the 1980s and ’90s with remarkable depth. While it’s not a scholarly read, it’s clear Moss conducted extensive research on the history of teen fiction and its content’s evolution over time. There are readers who would argue that this era of teen fiction is a “golden era” of sorts, without considering what…