Diary of a Confused Feminist by Kate Weston

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Teenagehood dealt with humor and love.

15yo Kat wants to become a feminist but constantly struggles with the frustrations of teenage life. She deals with these struggles with the help of her three best friends and her loving and understanding parents. Kat wants to embrace maturity and she does her best despite bullies and boy problems. Humor helps her with her frustrations. Her parents help her with the anxiety she tries to hide.

Likes/dislikes: This book is humorous. Encompasses dramatic nature of teenage hood and the stress of life that feels overwhelming at that age. Contains good messages and awareness of mental health.
Language: R for 110 swears and 14 f-words.
Mature content: PG for implied sex on page, self-pleasuring.
Violence: PG for bullying.
Ethnicity: Black and white

I Will Find You Again by Sarah Lyu

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Chase, 17, is an overachieving senior in Meadowlark who struggles with depression to the point that she’s suppressing memories. She misses her ex-best friend and girlfriend, Lia, and she’s confused about why they’re not together or talking anymore. Little by little, as she’s looking to understand, she discovers that she’s been through trauma. Chase also learns that she does need to rely on others and she needs their help and support. The truth will help her heal or completely break her. This story is a mystery tied into the trauma and overwhelming stress of two high school students, 4 stars!

Likes/dislikes: The unraveling of the mystery surrounding Chase and Lia is very interesting. The author includes a resource list for anyone needing help or knowing someone who needs help for suicide or mental health struggles. I appreciate Chase’s honesty and the sisterly bond she has with her younger sister.

Mature Content: PG-13 for underage prescription drug addiction (Focentra/Adderall), thoughts of suicide, lingering kiss, suicide by drowning.
Language: R for 43 swears and 84 f-bombs.
Violence: PG for suicide by drowning.
Ethnicity: The ethnicity is mixed with Korean, Italian American, White, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Dutch and French.

Gone Dark by Amanda Panitch

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Her survival skills might keep her alive!

Zara’s father is a survivalist that lives on a compound. Zara and her mother used to live on the compound too, until seven years ago. Now she lives with her mother and attends public school far away from her father’s compound. Her father’s survival lessons are drilled into Zara’s head and she replays them often. When there’s a widespread blackout, Zara uses her survival knowledge to get away from a strange man chasing her, to find her mother and to help her friends. As they travel looking for safety and to reach her father’s compound for protection, they come across a lot of danger and strange, sometimes creepy situations, cult communities, religious communities, families stealing supplies from them and people that will do anything for self preservation. Interesting, unique dystopian story, 4 stars!

Turning by Joy L. Smith

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A story that gives readers perspective!

Genie is a dancer who has lost the ability to walk. Ballet has been her life and was going to be her future but she fell and everything changed. Genie now uses a wheelchair to get around. She’s keeping a secret hidden from her family and she has more than one secret that’s pulling her down. Her ex-boyfriend is pushy and she has to force him to listen to anything she tries to say. This frustrates Genie tremendously and she wants to move on. She meets Kyle in physical therapy and he has his own tragedy that he’s struggling with. The two of them become friends. When her secrets are revealed, Genie will hopefully have the love and support she needs. A realistic fiction story that helps readers realize that troubles and struggles could be much worse. 4 stars!

Working with Worry by Melissa Kilbride, LISCW and Samantha Sweeney, PhD

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Working with Worry by Melissa Kilbride and Samantha Sweeney.
I wish I would have had this book when my kids were little. It’s a therapeutic workbook for the parent, as well as the children. Self-reflection for the parent is one of the first sections in this book. Anxiety basics are covered. We all worry sometimes but when that worrying takes over every part of our day or thoughts, it’s good to get some help from a professional. The KYST method of Keep Your Stuff Together helps parents be the example of how to deal with anxiety in healthy ways. Pages of activities offer something for everyone. Relaxation Haven and the Coping Skills Toolbox are wonderful ideas for dealing with anxiety. A useful guide to help with handling life’s stresses, 5 stars!

You Were Here by Cori McCarthy

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You Were Here by Cori McCarthy
On the fifth anniversary of her brother’s death, his graduation night, Jaycee is spending her own graduation night trying to lose herself in the memories that she’s been holding tightly to. She’s revisiting the places he enjoyed but she feels him slipping away. She reluctantly lets people tag along as friends on the adventures and each of them experiences something eye-opening that shoves them into adulthood. I love this book and even though I just finished it, I want to read it again. The circumstances that start the story, the character development and growth, the uniquely different characters and the setting work together to build a wonderful book, 5 stars!

The Bookworm Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts

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A lighthearted story that takes on a few serious issues!
Bookworm Crush, by Lisa Brown Roberts and Entangled Teen, opens as Amy is sneaking around town at night. She sneaks out to decorate for a social media challenge so she can win a meeting with her favorite author. The winner also receives a scholarship. Toff happens to drive by as Amy is running scared because she heard a noise and falls. He stops to help Amy, not knowing that he’s Amy’s crush. Since it’s past curfew, a police officer pulls them over to question the reason they aren’t home. They feign a relationship, pretending that they lost track of time. Amy’s terrified of getting in trouble but Toff plays it cool and the police officer lets them go. Toff takes Amy home and her brother notices the two of them as she’s sneaking into the house. Her brother Brayden assumes they’re dating. This is the beginning of Toff having his eyes opened to Amy. He coaches her for the author competition and helps Amy build her “swagger”. His confidence rubs off on her and together they create fun, interesting social media posts. Meanwhile, Toff’s father is remarrying and Amy’s father is looking for a job. This lighthearted story takes on a few serious issues and character growth, 4 stars!

Stuck With You by Christina Mandelski

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Tough life decisions!
Thanks to Entangled Teen and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review. Stuck With You by Christina Mandelski!
Caleb’s driving across a few states to spend time alone and getting his focus ready for his college experience that will begin in the fall. He and his dog Mo drive from Florida to Texas so they can spend a quiet week at the beach house on the Gulf of Mexico that his family co-owns with their flooring business partners. When he arrives, he realizes that someone is already there, Catie, the daughter of the business and beach house co-owners. She’s just finished her junior year of high school and is with her two best friends relaxing and having a few fun days at the beach. Catie and Caleb have known each other since they were young children and their families went into business together. The two of them had an annoying sibling-type relationship according to Caleb but Catie had a crush on Caleb for quite a while. Things might be starting to change. They both have life decisions that they need to make and can both use some thinking time and space. Hopefully they won’t get in each other’s way. Cute young adult romance, 4 stars!

Paper Girl by Cindy R. Wilson

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Fun romance!
Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for the opportunity to read and review Paper Girl by Cindy R. Wilson!
Zoe is home-schooled and Jackson is homeless and they play chess together online, not knowing each other’s true identities. Before things changed for Zoe, she talked to Jackson at a basketball game her sister was cheering at. Zoe and Jackson think about each other from before she was home-schooled but neither of them realize that. Since Zoe needs help with Math and Physics, her mother hires Jackson for tutoring and their relationship grows into more than just friendly acquaintances. They help each other deal with personal struggles, Zoe’s anxiety and Jackson’s relationship with his father. Paper Girl is therapeutic and a cute young adult romance, 5 stars!

The Wicker King by K. Ancrum

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The Wicker King by Kayla Ancrum blew me away and I am still processing it! Wow, an interesting, twisted story about two teen boys, their acquaintances, family lives and their long-lasting friendship. The relationship between the young men becomes increasingly unhealthy and worries their friends, who try to help them. Things get worse before anything changes and authorities intervene. Food for thought in so many ways, 4 stars!