In January we did two roundups of picture books for Valentine's Day. Young children are not the only ones who celebrate or need to read about love and relationships! Today we are sharing a roundup of novels for ages 10+. They include middle grade novels and young adult novels. These books I have either read completely or at least started but wanted to get them shared before Valentine's Day. We will be sharing them from youngest to oldest readers. The first book is Mountain Upside Down by Sara Ryan. It is recommended for older middle grade readers--ages 10 to 13.
About the Book:
A funny and heartfelt LGBTQIA+ middle grade novel set against the backdrop of family drama and a library funding campaign in a small town.Alex Eager lives in Faillin, OR with her grandmother, a retired librarian. Life should be great for Alex, since she finally worked up the courage to ask her best friend PJ if they could be more than friends and she said yes. But their new relationship will have to be long distance, because PJ is moving. On top of that, Alex is worried that something is wrong with her increasingly forgetful grandmother. And to make matters worse, Faillin is holding a referendum on library funding, and things aren’t looking good. Will anything good for Alex ever last?
Mountain Upside Down is a beautifully crafted story of a thirteen-year-old girl finding her place in her family and her community. It’s a queer-positive story that doesn’t center coming out. It’s a story of a library’s role in a community that doesn’t feature book banning. And it’s a story of long-held family secrets and resentment that focuses not on final resolution but learning how to communicate again.
From Me:
Talk about the world coming crashing down on you. Alex has her best friend/girlfriend moving away, her grandmother's memory slipping away and now the library--an important place in Alex's life being possibly underfunded. I have not finished this book and read a few chapters into it. Alex is worried about everything but needs to figure it all out. The build up to all the issues is great and goes into detail of what Alex is thinking and trying to figure out what is happening with each one. She is being raised by her grandmother, so the memory issues are huge. Her grandmother worked at the library, so the library is like a second home to Alex. PJ is her best friend but also her girlfriend and they have only been dating for a month. PJ's mothers are supportive of the relationship but also are trying to do what is best for their family and PJ. There is a lot there and I haven't gotten to see how it turns out yet. The writing is good and I love that this book is not your traditional coming out story. It has a lot of positives in the craziness of Alex's life. It will be interesting to see how it ends.
Our next book is about those typical tween and teenage crushes in middle school. It is The Scott Fenwick Diaries by Kristin Nilsen. It is recommended for ages 12+.
About the Book:
In the tradition of Judy Blume, a contemporary coming-of-age middle-grade comedy for teens and tweens with the honest truth about the angst and uncertainty of pursuing your first real-life crush.In this laugh-out-loud, feel-good sequel to Worldwide Crush, superfan Millie grows out of her celebrity crush and lands awkwardly in something even more dramatic: her first ever IRL middle school crush.
Is Millie ready to graduate from posters on the wall to a living, breathing boy who sits next to her in Social Studies? By herself, absolutely not. But with a little help from her friends—maybe! Feeling comically unprepared for this next phase of middle school, Millie calls on an adorkable cast of characters for instructions and support: Shauna, her wise bestie who uses her Magic 8 Ball for advice; her two cranky grandmas, who call cute boys “foxes”; Pringles, her beloved bulldog; and her bunny-loving neighbor, Tibbs, who dedicates herself to getting Millie an invite to the bar mitzvah of her dreams. But when a secret game of Truth or Dare at the bar mitzvah leads to her ultimate fantasy—Millie and Scott swaying together on the dance floor—the moment is ruined in humiliating fashion. And Millie doubts she’ll ever be ready for real-world middle school love after all.
Amidst a whirlwind of embarrassing family shenanigans and side-splitting missteps, Millie learns to trust her own instincts, grow up on her own terms, and never, ever sacrifice her friends for a crush.
From Me:
Do you remember middle school crushes? Since I'm teaching middle school this year I get to see some of them firsthand. Or at least hear about them from the kids. The teachers joke about how there are more middle school students dating than the high school students. Middle school crushes are hard. They can be embarrassing. And let's not forget the awkwardness. This book has it all. It has the people who are interested in "helping" or perhaps in teasing and not helping at all. It has all the excitement, the unknown and so much more. I have only read a bit of it and haven't gotten into much of the story besides the note from the boy asking Millie for her number. It brings back so many memories of middle school and the excitement and awkwardness of it all. This is going to be one of those books kids love because they can relate to it, but it also has humor to entertain and laugh at the craziness of these years.
Our next book is a multicultural book that feels like it should be a fairy tale but turns into a horror story or maybe not. It is Deadly Ever After by Brittany Johnson. It is also recommended for ages 12+. It gets into some LGBTQIA+ relationships as well.
About the Book:
Two dead princesses must find true love’s kiss to be brought back to life in this heart-stopping romantic fantasy debut.Amala has spent her whole life trying to be the perfect princess: delicate, quiet, obedient. But when she’s murdered on the night of her wedding, her story is cut short before it begins.
Kha’dasia has been told her whole life that she is too rough, too loud, too much. She’s no ordinary princess but a ruthless warrior on a quest to fulfill her late brother’s dying wish. Except she dies before reaching her destination.
When both girls wake up in a cursed forest, the gods offer them a second chance at life—if they can find true love’s kiss. But there’s a catch, the gods warn. While the right kiss will save you, the wrong kiss will kill you.
On their journey, the princesses must overcome challenges that force them to face the truth of their lives…and their deaths. And as Amala and Kha’dasia grow closer, they can’t help but wonder if true love has been standing right in front of them all along.
From Me:
This book is so interesting. It pulls you in. It begins with Amala preparing for her wedding. It discusses the various members of her fiancée's family including his younger brother who is her best friend. During her wedding reception she is killed. She wakes up in a strange garden with a gardener who asks her if she wants to live. When she answers yes, she is sent through a magical port into a magical forest. In chapter three it switches to Kha'dasia's story. She is in the magical forest and has not seen anyone for three days. She is just trying to survive and find her way out. Then she sees Amala. These two princesses are nothing like one another besides both being Black. At first, they don't like each other but as they soon discover the gods are giving them another chance at life. If they work together and can get to a certain destination and have true love's kiss they will live. There are many dangers on their journey, and they each have to face some hard truths about their lives. Then they have to figure out who their true love actually is. Is it Amala's husband or perhaps it is Kha'dasia?
The book is thrilling and interesting. It delves into a world of made-up religions and how the various kingdoms have their own which are not actually about the real gods. Amala's father was abusive in the name of their god. She discovers the god doesn't exist. She discovers she hardly knew any of the people in her life and has her world crash down upon her. Kha'dasia is living in a state of grief from losing her brother and has to face what he really wanted for her. Both of them face many obstacles and dangers on the journey and they both find their desire to live as well as perhaps a reason to live.
Our next book is a fantasy where humans and demons live near each other. A young woman's little lie to get out of social engagements turns into a nightmare of having a demon following her around. The book is A Practical Guide to Dating a Demon by Hannah Reynolds. It is recommended for ages 14+.
About the Book:
A student finds herself accidentally betrothed to a demon—and investigating his connection to the magical irregularities plaguing her city—in this cozy, whimsical YA romantasy.As a scholarship student at the magical Lyceum, Naomi would rather focus on deciphering ancient scrolls than dating. Especially since the only boys asking her out are less interested in a night in Naomi’s company than an introduction to her influential aunt.
So Naomi devises an excuse to turn down her persistent suitors: She claims to be betrothed to a demon.
Her story works perfectly. Until she arrives home one night and finds the demon Daziel lounging in her rooms, insisting he’s her betrothed. Naomi knows he’s lying—after all, the betrothal was never real—but the gorgeous and infuriating demon is surprisingly resistant to her banishing spells. And with his penchant for baking and home décor, it’s not so bad having him around.
Besides, she has other worries—like the ancient scroll she’s trying to translate, and the way the city’s magic has become suddenly unstable. But the more Naomi learns about the scroll, and the more she gets to know Daziel, the more it seems like she might be at the center of something bigger than she could have imagined.
From Me:
This book pulls you in right away. Daziel shows up in the story pretty quickly and Naomi and Daziel have an interesting dynamic. It also shows how those little white lies we tell to get out of things can have consequences. I have not gotten very far in this book but want to read it. What I have read is fascinating. The characters are built quickly and well done. The premise is also really interesting. Naomi's aunt is powerful and famous. Naomi is being asked by boys to go to a big event so they can get to know her aunt. She made up a lie about being betrothed to a demon to turn them all down. One pushes her to find out the name and more information. She doesn't realize she names a real demon until he is sitting in her room waiting for her. She is at a new school in the city as a scholarship student. She doesn't really know anyone including the boys asking her out. It is obvious that there is more stuff going on in the city with magic and nature and Daziel gets concerned when he sees some of the strange nature happening as well. Naomi also starts to see Daziel more as not what she thought demons were like. I honestly want to continue reading it to see what really happens.
Our final book for this roundup is another LGBTQIA+ novel that I have shared as on my shelf since this summer. It is Right Beside You by Tucker Shaw. It is recommended for ages 14 to 18.
About the Book:
In this fresh, speculative blend of queer romance and coming-of-age, Eddie meets Theo in present-day New York and Francis in a New York of the past... torn between eras and his heart, he must make a decision that will change his life forever.High school has just ended and Eddie is at a loss for what's next. He had a falling out with his best friend, and he never really related to the rest of his peers in the sleepy Colorado town he calls home. The future is bleak.
Until his ancient and eccentric great aunt Cookie asks him to care for her in New York City as she recuperates from an illness. Eddie leaps at the opportunity. Soon after he arrives at her tiny Greenwich Village apartment, homebound Cookie asks Eddie to use her vintage polaroid camera to snap pictures of her favorite places she can no longer visit. But something's unusual about this camera. When he takes a photo, he's launched back in time to an entirely different New York of the early 20th century.
As Eddie explores the underground queer life of the 1930s, he discovers new undercurrents of his own identity. Not to mention a dangerously handsome boy in scuffed boots and tattered stovepipe trousers who keeps popping up in his visions of the past.
But when Eddie begins to develop a crush on the mercurial Francis, a cute baker named Theo enters the picture—and he's in the present. Caught between timelines and feelings, Eddie must make a decision about what he's willing to chase: his romantic fantasies of the past or a reality that might just be what he's wanted all along.
From Me:
This book is so fascinating. I have only read a short bit and am pulled in by the characters and the writing. Eddie wants to escape his small town in the Rockies and dreams of living in New York. When his almost 100-year-old great, great aunt wants him to come take care of her in New York City, he jumps at the chance. He has only met the aunt once when he was six or seven, yet he has fond memories. When he gets to New York it is not like anything he imagined. He has very creative daydreams about what his life will be like in New York but comes to the crashing reality that the city can be overwhelming. I have not gotten to the part where he meets either love interest but can tell just from what his aunt is like it is going to be a great book. I cannot wait to finish this one!
