Category Archives: Young Adult/Teen 12-18

Review: I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm by Mariama J. Lockington

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I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm by Mariama J. Lockington

I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm
Mariama J. Lockington
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Published October 14, 2025

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About I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

When snow falls, sparks fly in this irresistible queer romance from Schneider Family Book Award and Stonewall Honor winner Mariama J. Lockington—for fans of She Gets the Girl and Jennifer Dugan.

High school senior Lyric has always found Christmas to be the hardest season. While other kids got presents and family time by the fire, she was in and out of foster care. An up-and-coming make-up influencer and aspiring cosmetology student who loves a bold lip, Lyric definitely isn’t looking for romance—not when opening up to someone feels a lot like asking to get hurt.

Christmas is Juniper’s favorite time of year. At least, it was, until her moms’ separation. They’re back together now, and Juniper hopes they’ll stay that way. Because if they’re happy, that means Juniper can leave for her gap-year trip after graduation (the one she has yet to tell her parents about, and can’t really afford without their help).

When a chance meeting brings these two opposite personalities together, they should clash . . . only they don’t. Instead Lyric strikes a deal with Juniper: pose as her fake girlfriend in a series of holiday-themed social media posts and they can split the money from her beauty sponsorships. But soon the lines between what’s real and what’s not start to blur. Could it be that sparks are flying both in front of the camera and behind it?

Told from dual perspectives, one in prose and one in verse, I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm is a cozy and modern love story from acclaimed author Mariama J. Lockington that’s perfect for the winter holidays or all year round.

My Review

This festive holiday romance hit all the right notes to start my Christmas season. I love the contrast between Lyric and Juniper as characters. Lyric is closed off and has difficulty trusting others, but she takes great care of her grandmother and works hard at her online beauty-influencer gig, saving money for her future. Juniper is sweet and more down-to-earth, though she’s quiet and reserved. She loves the holidays and romance. Her chapters appear in verse, which supports the romantic feel of her character.

Both girls have painful elements in their pasts that they don’t really want to talk about or acknowledge. For Lyric, it’s her history with her mom, who’s unwell and living unhoused. Juniper’s moms have recently reunited after a troubled relationship and separation. Both have dreams for the future that they’re not sure their families will support.

The girls begin fake dating because their photos and videos gain a lot of clicks on Lyric’s social media, generating some new sponsorship opportunities and income for both of them. They keep insisting they’re just friends and business partners, but sparks will not stop flying when they’re together, and it seems like everyone sees the relationship possibilities before they do.

I really like the balance of characters calling out issues with the main characters and the characters realizing things for themselves. Lockington leaves plenty of room for Lyric and Juniper to come to their own conclusions, but also shows the value of supportive relationships for helping us realize when we’ve missed the mark.

This is the first of Mariama J. Lockington’s books that I’ve read, but she’s won some huge awards for her other work in middle grade and young adult fiction. I’ll definitely be adding more of her books to my reading list.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used fairly frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. References to sex. (Not shown on scene.)

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Lyric recalls a time when she was a small child, and she had a high fever and a seizure. Some of the things her mom did to try to address the fever don’t align with current medical advice. References to anger outbursts when Lyric was younger. In one scene, someone punches a locker and regrets it.

Drug Content
An adult references a time she got in trouble because unbeknownst to her, her date was selling drugs, got caught, and got her in trouble, too. Teenagers sipped vodka from a flask before entering a school dance. (Happens off-scene.) In one scene, two teen girls swipe alcohol from a parent’s liquor supplies and get drunk. They have a rough time the next day.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: A Time Traveler’s History of Tomorrow by Kendall Kulper

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A Time Traveler’s History of Tomorrow
Kendall Kulper
Holiday House
Published November 4, 2025

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About A Time Traveler’s History of Tomorrow

A time-bending love story between a prickly young woman and a carefree stranger, who are tasked with saving the universe—after accidentally destroying it in the first place.

Genevieve Newhouse and Ash Hargreaves weren’t supposed to meet like this. Unless it was always meant to be . . .

Gen is a fastidious science prodigy with a chip on her shoulder, and she can turn herself invisible.

Happy-go-lucky Ash has just escaped a sheltered (read: cultish) childhood, and he can manipulate time.

The gifted eighteen-year-olds cross paths at the 1934 Chicago World’s Fair, where Genevieve’s experimental physics project causes an apocalyptic explosion. Ash tries to avert catastrophe by gallantly rewinding time a few minutes, but instead, he transports them back to 1893. The duo finds themselves trapped in an unfamiliar, unwelcoming era, with no idea how to return to their own time—or if their own time even exists. Their cataclysmic leap across decades might have destroyed the world as they know it . . .

Fate and free will intertwine in this page-turning historical romance that sets two irresistible strangers down a chaotic, potentially apocalyptic path. “Will they or won’t they” takes on a whole new meaning as Gen and Ash fight for survival while falling in love.

Hand to fans of Immortal Longings and Anatomy: A Love Story, and don’t miss companion novels Murder for the Modern Girl and A Starlet’s Secret to a Sensational Afterlife.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

My Review

I read The Starlet’s Secret to a Sensational Afterlife by Kendall Kulper, which is about Genevieve’s sister Henny, two years ago, so I was excited to read this companion novel. The historical setting has the same noir feel as the other book, which I love. Most of the story takes place in Chicago in 1893, in and around the World’s Fair.

The chapters alternate from Genevieve and Ash’s perspectives, and I enjoyed both characters. I like that she is the scientist and he is the romantic, people-oriented person in the partnership. It would have been easy to write the characters the opposite way, and I like that Kulper challenged some gender expectations with these characters. Genevieve also finds a talented Black woman in 1893 who mentors her. That created some opportunities for the narrative to note the ways that misogyny didn’t only affect white women, but also women of color.

The pacing in the last quarter of the book felt so fast to me. I loved how quickly things unfolded, though I think I lost the thread of the character arcs for both Genevieve and Ash as they prepared for their big move to save the world and un-pretzel the timeline.

Despite that, I had a lot of fun reading this book. I didn’t realize that Genevieve and Henny’s older sister, Ruby, has her own novel: Murder for the Modern Girl. So I’m definitely adding that one to my reading list.

Definitely check out Kulper’s books if you enjoy a good historical novel with a bit of magical realism or fantasy elements.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used fairly infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have supernatural abilities, like traveling through time and turning invisible. At the beginning of the story, one character lives in a highly controlling religious cult community.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Two scenes include a person nearly falling to their death. Two scenes include someone nearly drowning. One person dies in the water. Someone collapses with some kind of apparent medical crisis. Reference to death in a fire (not shown on scene).

Misogynistic and racist characters restrict the ability of talented women and people of color to participate in the science field and/or receive credit for their work. References to the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893 and the Indigenous people and people of color incarcerated at the fairgrounds as part of an exhibit. The narrative also acknowledges the fact that certain cultures and people groups were excluded from exhibits on progress and science.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Demon and the Light by Axie Oh

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Demon and the Light (The Floating World #2)
Axie Oh
Feiwel & Friends
Published October 21, 2025

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About The Demon and the Light

Final Fantasy meets Shadow and Bone in The Demon and the Light, the hotly anticipated follow-up to Axie Oh’s The Floating World.

The battle is over, but the war is just beginning…

With the help of her friends and allies, Ren managed to topple the General’s insurrection, but the Floating World and its territories are still under threat of attack from the rival Volmaran Empire. And far worse, she was powerless to save Sunho from being overcome by the monstrous power in his blood. Now he’s gone, transformed into a feral, deadly creature that doesn’t even recognize her anymore, and her heart aches for the sweet boy she’s grown to love.

But the escalating war will not pause for her grief. Seen by some as a heavenly savior and others merely a figurehead to be manipulated, Ren must use all her courage and cunning to survive the royal court’s game long enough to find Sunho and bring him home before he loses himself to the Demon forever.

My Review

The Demon and the Light is the second part of a duology that began with The Floating World, which came out last spring. This book is a lot more focused on the romance between Sunho and Ren than I remember the first book being. Ren faces some uncertainty about her future as queen, and a powerful enemy rises to destroy her people, so she and Sunho have more going on than the question of whether or not they’ll be together. Their feelings for one another are never far from their thoughts, though, which keeps the romance a central focus.

The story also follows Jaeil, Ren’s childhood friend and now military adviser, who relates some of the political turmoil and observes Ren and Sunho’s relationship. A romance blooms between him and Ren’s adopted uncle (he’s one year older than Ren) as well.

Just like the first novel in the duology, this book is packed with Final Fantasy vibes. We learn more about the experiment that led to Sunho’s demon transformation. Ren learns more about her ancestry and her mother’s life and death. A powerful villain rises, intent on destroying the world in revenge. All we need are wild hairstyles and a super giant sword.

I remember racing through the first book in the duology, so eager to read every chapter. I enjoyed this second book a lot, too. It’s awesome that we got both books in the duology in the same year.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Ren is descended from a goddess and has some supernatural abilities. By entering a dreamlike state, she revisits her ancestors. Some characters transform into beings with monstrous characteristics and violent natures, referred to as demons.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Reference to execution. Some battle scenes.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends by Kylie Lee Baker

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends
Kylie Lee Baker
Feiwel & Friends
Published November 18, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends

A teen descendant of a Japanese dragon god must team up with a cute rogue agent to subvert a corrupt time travel organization and find out the truth of what happened to her missing sister in acclaimed author Kylie Lee Baker’s magical new YA romance, I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends.

When you’re ready, come find me. I will keep you safe. -Hana

Descended from a Japanese dragon god, Yang Mina was born with the power to travel through time, and has spent her life training to take her place in the Descendants, a secret organization whose purpose is to protect the timeline. Then Mina’s world is uprooted when she moves to Seoul and finds a note from her sister–a sister who no one remembers, as if she had been erased. The only people who could have made her sister vanish so completely are part of the very agency that she’s been working so hard to join. So now Mina has a new mission, infiltrate the agency as quickly as possible to find her lost sister.

And, as if things weren’t complicated enough, a strikingly handsome rogue agent has determined that Mina is the only person who can help him put an end to the Descendants’ corruption. Placed in an impossible situation, Mina must decide how much she’s willing to risk to find the truth.

My Review

At first, this story might look like a love triangle between Mina, Jihoon, the boy she’s supposed to seduce into a kiss, and Yejun, the rogue agent desperate for her help righting a wrong in the timeline. It becomes clear pretty quickly, though, that poor, sweet Jihoon really doesn’t stand a chance against the unpredictable Yejun.

It took me a long time to invest in the Mina-Yejun connection. He seemed too pushy, and too determined that she should just take orders from him, no questions asked. That didn’t sit well with me. It seemed like it was exactly the same way that her superiors within the organization treated her. He was asking her to go rogue, risk her life, and just trust him that it would all be okay. Seemed like a big ask to me.

I’m glad I stuck with the story, though. I don’t want to give spoilers. But I will say that by the time I reached the end of the story, I understood why certain things happened the way they did. It’s a pretzel-y story, which I enjoyed. For example, both Mina and Yejun encounter future versions of themselves in the present taking action to alter what happens. Later, we see those same scenes, and they make a lot more sense from the vantage point later in the story.

Time travel stories have got to be hard to write. I love that this one plays with some of the common tropes and elements of time travel. I also grew to appreciate the love story as the full landscape of what was going on became clear.

If you’re looking for a time travel romance, check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Some characters are descended from the gods and have magic abilities. They use these abilities to navigate to different parts of the timeline and make changes.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Brief gun violence. References to tragedies that caused deaths, such as a bridge collapse. One character witnesses allies punishing a woman by “erasing” her from the timeline. (They force her to eat her own magic and she disappears.)

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed

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When Stars Are Scattered
Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed
Dial Books
Published April 14, 2020

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About When Stars Are Scattered

A National Book Award Finalist, this remarkable graphic novel is about growing up in a refugee camp, as told by a former Somali refugee to the Newbery Honor-winning creator of Roller Girl.

Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, have spent most of their lives in Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya. Life is hard there: never enough food, achingly dull, and without access to the medical care Omar knows his nonverbal brother needs. So when Omar has the opportunity to go to school, he knows it might be a chance to change their future . . . but it would also mean leaving his brother, the only family member he has left, every day.

Heartbreak, hope, and gentle humor exist together in this graphic novel about a childhood spent waiting, and a young man who is able to create a sense of family and home in the most difficult of settings. It’s an intimate, important, unforgettable look at the day-to-day life of a refugee, as told to New York Times Bestselling author/artist Victoria Jamieson by Omar Mohamed, the Somali man who lived the story.

My Review

After reading this graphic novel, I’m completely unsurprised that this book was a finalist for the National Book Award. What an incredible story. It’s definitely one of those books that is more than the sum of its parts, too. While the storytelling follows Omar’s experience from his childhood living in a refugee camp in Kenya to his adulthood, the relationships in the book shine like its true stars.

Omar takes care of his brother Hassan, who is mostly nonverbal and has seizures. As Omar attends school, he worries about Hassan being on his own. He realizes, though, that Hassan has a whole community of people who know and love him. And he helps everyone around him, as well.

At school, Omar makes friends with Maryam and Nimo, two girls who study hard, hoping to one day earn a scholarship that would take them to college in Canada. His best friend, Jeri, keeps Omar grounded when his emotions get the best of him.

Omar’s life experiences are so different than a lot of kids face. An up-close account showing what it’s like to live day after day with so little and no promise that life will ever change helps readers develop empathy and understanding for refugees who might join their classrooms.

The backmatter shows some photos of Omar and Hassan as well as a continuation of Omar’s life story.

I’m a huge fan of When Stars Are Scattered, and I hope to share it with lots of young readers.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to marriage. One of Omar’s friends, a girl who is around fifteen years old, marries an older man.

Spiritual Content
References to morning prayer, studing the Quran, and celebrating holidays like Ramadan and Eid.

Violent Content
Omar revisits his life in Somalia in fragmented memories (he fled when he was around three years old). One panel shows that Omar heard shots fired after soldiers approached his dad. The text doesn’t specify what he saw, but we understand that he witnessed his dad’s death, and that remembering it was deeply upsetting to him. One line references a suicide (not shown on scene). References to domestic abuse.

People in the camp call Omar’s friend Jeri “Limpy” to make fun of him for his disability. Omar and Jeri talk specifically about this and how it’s wrong and bothers Jeri. Omar sticks up for his friend.

Drug Content
One character’s dad sits with other men chewing Khat leaves, which act like a stimulant.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I purchased a copy of this book from Scholastic Book Fairs. All opinions are my own.

Review: Skipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Skipshock
Caroline O’Donoghue
Walker Books
Published June 3, 2025

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Skipshock

Set in a universe where time is key to power and privilege, this dazzlingly inventive, genre-defying fantasy romance is the first in a duology by best-selling author Caroline O’Donoghue.

Margo is a troubled schoolgirl. After the death of her father, she’s on her way to a new boarding school in a new city.

Moon is a salesman. He makes his living traveling through a series of interconnected worlds on a network of barely used train lines.

They never should have met. But when Margo suddenly appears one day on Moon’s train, their fates become inextricably linked. If Margo wants to survive, she has to pass as a traveling salesman, too—except it’s not that easy.

Move north on the train line and time speeds up, a day passing in mere hours. Move south and time slows down—a day can last several weeks. Slow worlds are the richest you live longer, your youth lasting decades. Fast worlds are sharp, cruel, and don’t have time for pleasantries. Death is frequent. Salesmen die young of skipshock. That is, if they’re not shot down by the Southern Guard first.

As Margo moves between worlds and her attachment to Moon intensifies, she feels her youth start to slip between her fingers. But is Moon everything he seems? Is Margo?

Told through the eyes of both naive Margo and desperate Moon, the unforgettable realm of Skipshock will shake the way you think about love, time, and the fabric of the universe. The first in a planned duology from the best-selling author of the Gifts series, this utterly original epic is a must-read.

My Review

I really like how different this book is than a lot of the other YA fantasy that’s out right now. This is almost sci-fi adjacent. There’s a train that can jump from one world to another, and it’s tightly controlled by a coalition government. There’s another important piece of tech. The story doesn’t deeply explore how the train works; its really something the characters take for granted, and I didn’t mind that. I think if the story had centered that element more, that would have pulled into more of a sci-fi direction, and I’m not sure whether that would have been a good thing.

Moon and Margo visit other worlds with days of different lengths, some as short as 2 hours and others longer. Jumping from world to world too often causes a condition called Skipshock, and once someone starts experiencing the symptoms, it progresses quickly. This created some intense stakes. As Moon got sicker, I worried so much that every jump to a new world would be his last.

I also like how young this story feels. There’s a lot of fantasy marketed as YA that doesn’t feel as anchored in the teen experience as this does. Margo is still in school. She keeps having these moments where she has to take a breath, because here she is faced with saving the world, and she’s still a child. She also confronts Moon about his youth, and especially about his feelings of guilt over something awful he did as a child. I felt like the book stayed aware of itself or its audience more than some of the other books marketed as YA fantasy that I’ve read this year. I really appreciated that.

Margo and Moon have such a sweet relationship, too. It’s a bit obvious from the setup that there will be romance blossoming between them, but I loved the way that played out and how sweet they were with each other.

Skipshock has at least one starred review, and I feel zero surprise about that. It’s a fresh, interesting story with high stakes and an adorable romance. I’m here for wherever this series goes next.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. Brief nudity. One scene leads up to a sexual encounter, then fades to black.

Spiritual Content
The story world involves lots of different worlds connected through special, highly controlled train lines. Moon is part of a race of people called Lunati, who celebrate faith traditions relative to the full moon.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. A man hits another man with the butt of a gun. References to arson. One instance of arson killed a group of people. Moon begins experiencing symptoms of Skipshock, a progressive medical disorder that is fatal, unless caught early and treated. A battle between soldiers and rebels causes fatalities. A bomb kills several people and injures others. Someone appears to have been beaten by soldiers. Moon endures racist comments and prejudice about his identity as one of the Lunati.

Drug Content
Characters drink alcohol in a couple scenes.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.