Contemporary

Stargirl, a classic story that almost everyone's read before, is truly worth reading. The novel follows Leo, a completely average high schooler who meets Stargirl, a new student at his school. Except Stargirl isn't quite as normal as everyone else is. She sings happy birthdays to strangers at lunch, carries around a ukelele, and has a pet rat named Cinnamon that follows her everywhere.
The gist of this story is that it teaches acceptance and how being unique isn't something to be frowned upon. It's a sweet message, and the overall story is pretty light-hearted and innocent. Spinelli also incorporates many magical quotes into the novel such as these lines that describe Stargirl:
"She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl. We did not know what to make of her. In our minds we tried to pin her to a corkboard like a butterfly, but the pin merely went through and away she flew."
Clearly, Spinelli is a beautiful writer, and the story mirrors his lovely words. Stargirl may be a cute and lighthearted story about the problem with fitting in, but I don't think it's just for kids. I think readers of all ages can appreciate this story.
However, I rated the book a four out of five stars because at some points, the story did kind of get a little over-bearing with the "unique= good" message. Stargirl sort of displays some traits that I found a little annoying, since even when kids are embarrassed and tell her not to sing happy birthday to them in front of their whole school, Stargirl ignores their requests and carries on doing whatever she wants. Of course, being unique isn't something to be scorned, but neither is being normal. I'd like it if Spinelli showed both sides, and how being normal wasn't something to be ashamed of as much as being eccentrically different was.

Reviewer Grade: 11

It's definitely hard to describe the plot of Normal People. Let's just say the novel is a complicated "edgy" romance about two polar-opposite high schoolers who connect again in college.
This novel is definitely difficult for many people to get into. I'll admit that it took me two or three reads to finally finish the whole book, but after I got through half of the book, I found myself enjoying it more.
I think whether you enjoy this unusual writing style that lacks speech quotations, and a unique story is entirely up to you. I understand that this kind of story, especially one that has many questionable moments or descriptions won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it. Even after attempting to read this story two or three times, I'm glad that I finally finished it. Though, I warn that this story involves a couple of trigger warnings such as emotional abuse, physically abusive family relationships, manipulation in relationships, and suicide. There are also some mature scenes, so most people recommend that you probably shouldn't read this if you're 18 and under. However, I think if you can handle some mature scenes and are able to understand tougher topics, you could probably empathize and completely understand this story. I do agree that a younger audience shouldn't read this story though, mainly because I don't think they would be able to completely understand or benefit from the whole reading experience of Normal People.
Marianne and Connell are the most painfully realistic and relatable main leads I've ever read about. Even if they made questionable choices, I found myself understanding their thoughts and actions, and I could see why they said or did the things they did.
Sally Rooney does an excellent job of writing characters that aren't perfect and completely redeemable. Instead, she crafted characters that are real, ones that actually act human and aren't the perfectly molded book protagonists we so often see. She also tackles many commonly talked-about topics in a new and fresh way.
Overall, this story is hard-hitting, realistic, and sometimes hard to understand. If you're looking for a standard innocent, fairy-tale ending, and cute love story, I don't think you'll enjoy this read.

Reviewer Grade: 11

They Both Die at the End follows the tale of two teens, Mateo Torrez (18) and Rufus Emeterio (17), who both receive phone calls from Death-Cast, a national service that notifies people who have only 24 hours left to live. Mateo and Rufus, being two complete strangers living in New York City, meet up with each other via the Last Friend app, and decide to spend their last 24 hours alive with each other.
The idea and creativity behind this plot is something I really enjoyed, and the very blunt title already set me up for inevitable sadness. I liked the basic gist of this story, and the romance that formed between Mateo and Rufus was very sweet to read, although as their romance progressed I felt myself getting sadder and sadder as I read because all of us readers knew what was going to happen to end.
However, even though I enjoyed the plot, characters, and unique title, I have to say I was let down a little. They Both Die at the End spiked in popularity, and because everyone was raving about how sad and amazing it was, I couldn't help but feel like it was a little overhyped. Yes, the story was generally good, but I think the internet fame it received made my expectations be way higher than the novel actually was. The writing was fine, the characters were fine, the idea was there, but that was pretty much it. The story was nice, but not as amazing and tear-wrenchingly heartbreaking as everyone claimed. To be honest, I didn't even cry once when reading this book.
Overall, the story and writing were there, but the novel was given way more credit than was needed.

Truly Devious is about a girl, Stevie, who goes to a school that is for genius students. At this school, two murders have happened. One from 1936 and one from when Stevie was there. Throughout the book, Stevie attempts to solve both murders. With her parents concerned about her safety, and her friends concerned about her sanity, Stevie digs into the deep and dirty details of the murders.
I loved this book! It kept me intrigued and I couldn't put the book down. The chapters were packed with detail and it was like I was solving the mystery as well. There is also a sequal, called the Vanishing Stairs, which is just as good!

Kami Garcia's Broken Beautiful Hearts is a heart-felt teenage romance that highlights the importance of mending broken hearts and learning how to trust again. As a high school senior with a scholarship for soccer, Peyton is thrown into a dark time when she and her boyfriend, Reed, are at odds and he pushes her down a staircase causing a big injury that puts her out for many months. When it becomes uncomfortable to live in her town due to her pushy ex, she moves in with her twin cousins and uncle. There, she meets Owen, a fighter in the same league as Reed. Peyton distrusts the feelings she begins to feel for Owen because of the hurt from her past. As their relationship grows, Peyton learns how to trust again, and the heart Reed broke is slowly healed by Owen. If romance and healing hearts are your pace, Broken Beautiful Hearts will be a great fit.

If I Stay is about Mia, a 17 year old girl who used to have everything: a family that she loved, a boyfriend that cared about her, and a future with music. After, a tragic accident everything she loved is taken away from her. She has a choice to live or die, which will she choose?
I loved this book so much that I read it in under three hours. This is definitely a book to get lost in, you will forget that you are reading. I could relate so much to Mia and the thoughts that she was having when she making her choice to live or die. This book was also made into a movie, which is really good. It follows the book almost perfectly. This book is one of my favorites and it gets readers thinking about life, and what it means to live.
Reviewer Grade: 10

‘Between life and death there is a library,’ she said. ‘And within that library, the shelves go on for ever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?’-Matt Haig- The Midnight Library is a fantasy novel, written by Matt Haig and published on 29 September 2020 by the editorial Penguin Publishing Group. This novel was an instant bestseller and a BBC Two Between the Covers Book Club pick and was winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction 2020. The Midnight Library is a book about life and its ending, focusing on the choices people make, how these affect them and how they regret so many things throughout their lives, always wishing they could undo the mistakes they made, which in real life is impossible, but in the Midnight Library this is a totally different story. It is fundamental that in life you have a passion, something you live for, something that makes you wake up every single morning, something that makes you feel enthusiasm, something that gives you happiness and something that fuels your heart.

Nora Seed, a 35 year old woman from Bedford, England, decided to kill herself. Twenty-seven hours before she decided to die, she sat on her sofa scrolling through other people’s happy lives, waiting for something to happen. Nine and a half hours before she decided to die, she lost her job. Nine hours before she decided to die, she received a text from a loved one telling he wanted to talk with her, something she did not do, not because she didn’t feel things for him, but because she did. Eight hours before she decided to die, Nora entered a newsagent, where she saw a magazine with a black hole and she realised that was what she was. Seven hours before she decided to die, she had no one to talk to, so she texted her friend Izzy, even when things had dried up between them, and she didn’t get an answer from her. Four hours before she decided to die, Nora passed her elderly neighbor and she comprehended that no one needed her and that everyone would be better without her in their lives. Two hours before she decided to die, Nora was regretting almost everything she did in life; she opened a bottle of wine and left her brother a message telling him how much she loved him and that nothing was his fault, he couldn’t do anything. It was twenty two minutes past eleven and the only thing Nora knew was that she didn’t want to reach tomorrow. She took a piece of paper and wrote her last letter, her suicide note, where she explains that she blew all the chances she had in life, that if she felt it was possible to stay she would had, but this wasn’t the case, and so she couldn’t because she made everyone’s life miserable. She took an overdose and faded away. At 00:00:00, she woke up at a place that looked magical and she found her school librarian from her younger days in Bedford, Mrs Elm. This old woman explained to Nora that between life and death there was a library, full of books that provide the possibility to try another life they could have lived. In this way, Mrs Elm became Nora's imagined guide through the Midnight Library and the wonderful and unexpected things that happen throughout this story.

Nora Seed was a woman who had everything to make her life great, but she didn’t because of her outstanding depression and anxiety, the reason why she decided she didn’t want to live anymore. Joe Seed is Nora's brother, an extremely talented musician who struggled with addiction. Mrs Elm is the librarian from Nora’s school, 19 years before Nora decided to die they had a conversation about the future and all the possible lives ahead of her. Dan is Nora’s ex-fiance, which she loved and regrets not marrying.

From my point of view this book has a strong and meaningful lesson, and it is that the average human being spends their life regretting every wrong move they made. This drains their energy, and is not worth it because instead of worrying about things that you clearly can’t undo, you should be focusing on learning about your errors and put all you have on being better everyday, understanding that everyone makes mistakes and the most important is to keep going and never look back, only forward.

I recommend this novel to everyone that is struggling with mental health issues, because it can help you to appreciate things and it can also teach you many valuable lessons, such as finding your purpose in life so you can actually enjoy it. As well, this is an inclusive publication, taking in consideration that Nora’s brother, Joe, is homosexual. I enjoyed all the fantasy this book has, reading this is like travelling to the Midnight Library, feeling all the powerful emotions that take place there, and lastly but not least, connecting with every character’s story. The main lesson that this awesome book gave me is that it is ok to get lost, as long as you find your way back; and also there is people that are all the colors in one at full brightness, but some situations in their lives can turn them off, that’s why you should always be there to support your loved ones.

Chloe Wynn Berringer is a privileged teen in Beverly Hills who leads a normal life, with a movie star mom, a genius sister, and a cool best friend. But everything is flipped on its head when Chloe's mom is arrested as part of the famous admissions scandal. As the paparazzi swarm her house, as she loses old friends, as the nation turns again her, and as the charges are brought forward, Chloe must grapple with her part in the matter. Will this ruin her family? Do they deserve it? Did she know? Or did she choose not to know?
This story was very interesting, as it takes the average admission scandal story and flips the perspective. Instead of shaking our heads from the sidelines, the audience is meant to sit in her perspective, in the shoes of the child who must grapple with their worth after their parents spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and commit hundreds of misdemeanors and crimes to get them into college. It also forces the reader to confront the toxic culture of college applications in America. The parents in this book often end up in prison just to get their child a name-brand college. It exposes the obsessive culture of the elite, while also exploring the way wealthy parents feel obligated to give their children everything their wealth can buy. The characters in this book all play a part in this narrative of privilege and college culture. Every part of the story is focused towards the main goal, with no throwaway side characters, which made the story tight and more memorable, in my opinion. While the prose wasn't excessive in this book , the thing that bumped it up to 4 stars for me was the main character, Chloe, and her development. Chloe goes from believing herself a complete victim, to questioning herself, to reconsidering her life of privilege and her worth. Another notable thing is, in the end, everyone gets what they deserved. No punches are pulled, and the characters are forced to learn from their mistakes. Overall, while this was in no way a perfect book, it was a page turner, and I really enjoyed it!
Reviewer Grade: 11

The Skin I'm In by Sharon G. Flake is a realistic fiction novel from the point of view of seventh grade Maleeka. Maleeka has low self-esteem and poor body image because of people teasing her for being too black and too tall. When Maleeka meets Miss Saunders, the new English teacher, who has messed up skin from a rare skin condition, Miss Saunders is taunted by the children. But, she never lets it get to her. Throughout the book, Maleeka rethinks her biases and her insecurities. This book's story is powerful, and there is a lesson to be learned through Maleeka's experience about overcoming low self-esteem. The author illustrates the problems of this century perfectly and guides the reader through a rollercoaster of emotions.

Neverwhere is the story of a regular man who is thrown into a completely nonsensical world beneath the London streets. Richard Mayhew is just a normal person, with an accounting job and a troll collection. When he does a good deed for Door, a street kid who's more than she seems, he is plunged into a grimy, grim, and glorious world full of Hunters and rat-speakers and angels, where's the two of them fight to escape the clutches of an unfathomable enemy and his unbeatable henchmen.
I was originally recommended this book, and had enjoyed previous books by Neil Gaiman, so I gave it a shot. All in all, I loved it. London Below is painted in vivid, horrible detail. It was definitely interesting in having a magical, fantastical world that didn't feel like somewhere one would want to live, but did feel like it was somewhere adventure happened. The final antagonist was amazing, as were the smaller one's as the story passed! They were just so full of personality, like almost all of the characters in the book. The story was crooked and strange and often sad, but beautiful and hopeful all the same. And the ending was perfect! I'd definitely recommend to any fantasy or adventure fans, although the language and content and gore makes this book not for the too faint of heart.