Contemporary Fiction

This is Not the Jess Show

Black Mirror meets My So-Called Life in this fast-paced, timely YA thriller about separating fact from fiction--and how far we'll go to create our own version of reality.

Like any other teenager, Jess Flynn is just trying to get through her junior year without drama ... but drama seems to keep finding her. Between a new crush on her childhood best friend, overprotective parents cramping her social life, and her younger sister's worsening health, the only constant is change--and her hometown of Swickley, which feels smaller by the day.

You Were There Too

Mia Graydon's life looks picket-fence perfect; she has the house, the husband, and dreams of starting a family. Their relocation to small-town Pennsylvania comes with the usual challenges--finding a new job, new friends, new furniture--but the move is nothing the couple can't handle. That is, until Mia finally meets the stranger she has been dreaming about for a decade. And here's the catch: He's been dreaming of her, too. Now Mia must navigate the tangled web that fate has spun her and, with the help ofthe man of her dreams, go in search of answers.

My Dark Vanessa

Asked to help defend an older high-school English teacher with whom she had an affair at age 15, Vanessa struggles to choose between her romantic teen illusions and harrowing adult perceptions.

Long Bright River

 

A young policewoman races to find her missing sister, a homeless addict, amid a vicious killing spree in a Philadelphia neighborhood, in a story that alternates between the investigation and memories of their shared childhood.

The Last Romantics

In the spring of 1981, the young Skinner siblings, fierce Renee, dreamy Caroline, golden boy Joe and watchful Fiona, lose their father to a heart attack and their mother to a paralyzing depression. Caught between the predictable life they once led and an uncertain future that stretches before them, the siblings navigate the dangers and resentments to emerge fiercely loyal and deeply connected.

All-American Muslim Girl

Allie Abraham has it all going for her—she's a straight-A student, with good friends and a close-knit family, and she's dating cute, popular, and sweet Wells Henderson. One problem: Wells's father is Jack Henderson, America's most famous conservative shock jock...and Allie hasn't told Wells that her family is Muslim. It's not like Allie's religion is a secret, exactly. It's just that her parents don't practice and raised her to keep her Islamic heritage to herself.

Felix Ever After

From Stonewall and Lambda Award-winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.

The Art of Breaking Things

In the tradition of Laurie Halse Anderson and Sara Zarr, one girl embraces the power of her voice: rules are meant to be broken and she won’t stay silent.

Seventeen-year-old Skye has her sights set on one thing: getting the heck out of Dodge. Art school is her ticket out and she’s already been accepted to her first choice, MICA. All she has to do is survive her senior year, not get too drunk at parties, and be there for her little sister, Emma. Sure, she’s usually battling a hangover when she drives to pick Emma up, but she has everything under control. Until he returns.