Three teens investigate a murder—while each tries to hide their own complicated history with the dead girl—in this thought-provoking novel from award-winning author Pamela N. Harris. Perfect for fans of Karen M. McManus and Tiffany D. Jackson!
Hope Jackson is dead. Everyone is convinced she took her own life, but Liv, one of Hope’s best friends, isn’t so sure. Hope’s boyfriend, Brendan, was always jealous and possessive, and his alibi doesn’t really check out. But in the town’s eyes, Hope was just some nobody who was going to drag down golden boy Brendan.
So with the help of Hope’s other two best friends, Kizzie and Sherie, Liv is determined to bring Brendan’s actions to light. Together, they vow to make him pay.
But as their plans keep escalating, Liv begins to have second thoughts—especially as she’s realizing that Brendan may not be the only one with the motive or opportunity to kill Hope. Is Liv really getting justice for Hope, or is she just helping one of Hope’s so-called friends cover up their lies?
My Review
This book definitely kept me on the edge of my seat. Wow.
One thing that stands out to me about this book is the way that the author uses references to Wuthering Heights. I know to a lot of people, it’s a romantic story, but I can’t help thinking of it as the story of a family who abuse one another through multiple generations. Through Our Teeth had some of the same kinds of toxic relationships throughout.
On the surface, Liv’s friend group seems closeknit, if bent on vengeance– understandable when they believe their friend’s death wasn’t truly a suicide, and no one will listen to them. As the story peels back those surface layers, it’s clear that many relationships bear deep, unresolved wounds. Those hurts drive the characters to hurt back.
Liv isn’t an easy narrator to pin down for most of the story. She has her own secrets, and I found myself vacillating wildly between belief and blame as each new bit of information unfolded. I love that Harris writes complex characters like this. It feels realistic, and it compels readers to remember that people aren’t only their best or worst choices.
Profanity/Crude Language Content Strong profanity used somewhat frequently.
Romance/Sexual Content Kissing. References to sex. A boy shares photos of a topless girl online.
Spiritual Content None.
Violent Content References to an apparent death by suicide. Situations of peril. Reference to police brutality/death. A small group kidnap and drug someone. Someone intends to use a tattoo gun to hurt another person by tattooing harmful messages without consent. Descriptions of hitting someone. Descriptions of self-harm. Characters discover the bodies of murdered teens.
Drug Content Teens attend a bonfire party where some drink alcohol. A teen drugs someone’s drink.
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.
From the instant New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed comes a daring new mystery about a foster teen claiming her heritage on her own terms.
Ever since Lucy Smith’s father died five years ago, “home” has been more of an idea than a place. She knows being on the run is better than anything waiting for her as a “ward of the state.” But when the sharp-eyed and kind Mr. Jameson with an interest in her case comes looking for her, Lucy wonders if hiding from her past will ever truly keep her safe.
Five years in the foster system has taught her to be cautious and smart. But she wants to believe Mr. Jameson and his “friend-not-friend,” a tall and fierce-looking woman who say they want to look after her.
They also tell Lucy the truth her father hid from her: She is Ojibwe; she has – had – a sister, and more siblings; a grandmother who’d look after her and a home where she would be loved.
But Lucy is being followed. The past has destroyed any chance of normal she has had, and now the secrets she’s hiding will swallow her whole and take away the future she always dreamed of.
Sisters in the Wind is a standalone novel, but it has characters in it from Firekeeper’s Daughter. I loved getting to see those characters again. The only downside was that it pulled my attention away from what was happening to Lucy sometimes. (I don’t want to say anything that spoils Firekeeper’s Daughter for anyone who hasn’t read it yet. But I was on the edge of my seat watching the characters reappear in this book.)
The timeline jumps back and forth between Lucy’s past, showing scenes moving toward the present, and the present, in which Lucy knows she’s in danger but we don’t know why. As the story unfolds, the mystery of who’s following Lucy and how much danger she’s in slowly becomes clear, and the tension ratchets upward.
I liked Lucy as a character. Her relationship with her dad shows how young she is when he dies. It’s clear to the reader that her dad has some issues, but Lucy idolizes him in a way that kids do with their parents. Later in the story, she begins revisiting some of the things her dad said to her and some parts of his story that, upon reflection, don’t add up. Her growth there was nicely done and felt pretty realistic.
In terms of Boulley’s other books, this one takes place between Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl, Unearthed. Each book explores a cultural issue and how it affects Native communities. Sisters in the Wind discusses ICWA and how foster care has been used in the past to disrupt tribal connections and culture. That’s not what the story is truly about, but because of Lucy’s experience in care, it comes up and she gets involved in an organization trying to help.
Conclusion
I keep asking myself whether I liked this book as much as or better than Angeline Boulley’s earlier books, and I think that’s the wrong question. There are some similarities between the books, and I was hooked as I read all of them. The question, for me, is whether this book expands the conversation that I think this writer has with her readers about what it’s like to be Native today in America, and how history continues to impact that experience (as it does for us all).
I like how this book builds on her earlier work. I like that it explores a foster care experience, and not totally in a negative way. (Her first placement was wonderful, but subsequent placements were awful. Her caseworker made some huge mistakes.) It also celebrates building one’s own community and learning to hold love for imperfect people.
All in all, loved it. Read this if you were a fan of her other books. If you want to read Firekeeper’s Daughter but haven’t yet, I recommend you start there, since the plot of this one will include spoilers.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 15 up.
Profanity/Crude Language Content Strong profanity used infrequently.
Romance/Sexual Content Lucy developed curves at a young age and feels creeped out by the unwelcome attention boys (and men) pay to her body. One boy tries to assault her. (She fights him off.) References to a child being molested (not shown on scene). A couple of scenes show kissing. Vague reference to Lucy picking up on clues that another couple is having sex. One scene includes a sexual encounter. Descriptions of pregnancy, labor, and delivery.
Spiritual Content Lucy was raised attending church with her dad and honoring the ten commandments. She begins learning about giving thanks and praying according to her Native spiritual beliefs.
Violent Content An explosion injures several people. Mentions of fire destroying a home or building, sometimes causing death. A teen attempts to assault a girl. She fights him, landing him in the emergency room. References to child molestation (not shown on scene). A murderer confesses to killing someone. References to a drug overdose. A man threatens others with a gun, shooting someone.
Drug Content In one scene, teens sit around a campfire with alcohol or marijuana. An adult smokes a cigarette.
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.
When a hurricane uncovers new information in a cold case, the Sherlock Society investigates a decades-old heist in this second book in the action-packed and funny New York Times bestselling Sherlock Society middle grade series from Edgar Award–winning author James Ponti!
When a category three hurricane hits Miami Beach, it uncovers a body buried at the renowned Moroccan Hotel. The body is identified as the man who served as the hotel’s bell captain sixty years ago…and the presumed culprit of the million-dollar jewel heist that took place just before his disappearance.
Since the bell captain clearly didn’t take off with the goods as had been long believed, the Sherlock Society sets their sights on uncovering the real culprit of the theft. But when the thief may also be implicated in the bell captain’s murder, even sixty years later, there are people who want the truth to stay buried.
My Review
I read the first book in the “City Spies” series earlier this year, and I enjoyed it. Going from that book to this one, I couldn’t help noticing how much tighter the writing is in Hurricane Heist. Like, City Spies was good. Hurricane Heist was so smooth. The pacing is quick, the shifts between timelines are well-managed, the characters are consistent and engaging. I probably could have read the whole book in a single sitting without even noticing the passing of time. (I got interrupted and had to stop.)
As a Floridian myself, I’m always a little nervous about books that include hurricanes. I’ve read some hurricane descriptions that truly made no sense in other books, but Hurricane Heist seemed pretty accurate. I think the author also lives in Florida, so I’m not surprised. It was also interesting that the hurricane doesn’t happen at the most intense parts of the story (in terms of plot). I like that Ponti did that– I think a lot of authors would have tried to orient the whole story around the storm, which gets tricky when you’re talking about a mystery that requires people, especially kids, to be out investigating.
The story handles the mystery elements and young characters really nicely, too. They’re involved in the actual investigation, and things get a little tense a few times, but it stays very appropriate to the middle grade audience.
I like that the characters of the Sherlock Society each have specific talents and niche interests, too. That makes them each valuable to the story in a different way.
All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the first one, too, and I’m already eager to read the next installment in the series.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.
Profanity/Crude Language Content None.
Romance/Sexual Content None.
Spiritual Content None.
Violent Content Situations of peril. References to murder and theft.
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.
Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday
I’m sharing this post as a part of a weekly round-up of middle-grade posts called Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday. Check out other blogs with posts about middle-grade books today on Marvelous Middle-Grade Mondays at Always in the Middle.
After high school graduation, Piper Sail isn’t quite sure what her future holds—until a possible murder case lands in her lap. Filled with both the glitz and glamor of high society and the dark mafia underbelly of 1920s Chicago, The Secret Investigator of Astor Street is perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Maureen Johnson.
Piper Sail knows what she to become a detective. After all, she already solved the case of her missing best friend, and there’s no shortage of crime in 1920s Chicago. But for an eighteen-year-old society girl—even one who’s currently dating a police investigator—it simply isn’t done.
That is, until a girl asks her to dig into her brother’s recent death. The police ruled it a suicide, but she’s convinced it was murder. And she wants Piper to help her prove it.
In this companion to The Lost Girl of Astor Street, Piper once again grabs her notebook and plunges into the underworld of mafia-controlled Chicago. But she’ll need all her wits and courage if she wants to become The Secret Investigator of Astor Street.
My Review
I really enjoy Stephanie Morrill’s writing, so it was a no-brainer for me to read this book. If Piper Sail and Astor Street seem familiar to you, it’s because of The Lost Girl of Astor Street, the first book in which we meet Piper and follow her as she unravels the mystery of her best friend’s disappearance. That book was published in 2017, so it’s very possible you hadn’t heard of or remembered the book, either. (If so, the good news is that now you have two new mysteries to read.)
This story is set in 1920s Chicago. Piper has graduated from school, and her family expects her to enroll in college and/or find a prospective husband and start a family. The last thing Piper wants to do is have children, and she’s not ready to settle down. She has some doubts about the direction of her current relationship with Mariano, a detective who helped her in the first book.
I loved the way the story explored Piper’s questions about her direction for her life. She knows she doesn’t want to have kids. She isn’t ready to get married. But how can a young woman work as a private investigator? It’s not something that’s done. Whose permission does she need? How will anyone ever take her seriously?
The story makes space for Piper to explore these questions as her investigation into a supposed suicide unfolds. The balance between this theme and the mystery is perfectly done. We get a deeper understanding of Piper and follow her character development, but it never slows down the narrative.
Conclusion
If you enjoy historical mysteries, put this one on your list. I hope that this book marks a revival of the Piper Sail Mysteries as a series. The ending definitely leaves room for a new story.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 12 up.
Profanity/Crude Language Content None.
Romance/Sexual Content Kissing.
Spiritual Content Reference to last rites (based on Catholic beliefs). I think there’s a brief reference to Piper noting that Mariano is Catholic, though she attends a different church.
Violent Content Situations of peril. References to suicide. (Not shown on scene.) References to murder.
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.
This original, interactive thriller from debut author Jay Martel follows a brilliant teenage girl as she races across D.C. to decode the clues her father left behind, which may just be the key to saving the country from a devastating tragedy.
Mia Hayes has peaceful plans for the summer—find a part-time job at a coffee shop and work on her application for Harvard. Those plans are shattered one night when government agents arrive unannounced at her home seeking something they believe her father has taken. When the dust settles, her mother is dead and her father is gone, a fugitive on the run.
Three weeks later, and still reeling from her father’s betrayal, Mia spends her seventeenth birthday at a protest in the heart of D.C., where she meets Logan, a rebellious and charming hacker. Just as she’s enjoying her first happy moment since the night her world exploded, a voicemail from her father arrives to upend everything she believed about her family, her past, and what really happened that night three weeks ago. Even more, the voicemail hides another encoded message inside which, once Mia solves it, sets her and Logan off on a mission from her sleepy suburb straight into the heart of the federal government.
With the same agents now hot on their trail, Mia and Logan must navigate their way through American history’s most iconic sites and uncover its most well-hidden secrets to reveal the truth about her family and stop a deadly attack.
In this non-stop thrill ride, the reader has the chance to test their own codebreaking skills alongside Mia, lending an exciting interactive element to this page-turning thriller packed with action, romance, and life-changing revelations.
My Review
One of the really clever things about this book is that it allows and encourages readers to break the codes along with Mia. Once the reader has all the information necessary to break a code, a certain symbol appears on the page. At that point, you can pause and break the code or keep reading and see Mia reveal the answers. I love that concept, and I had fun figuring the codes out myself as I read.
The story also kept me engaged. It’s fast-paced with short chapters, so it felt like I was reading really fast. I liked both Mia and Logan, and appreciated that the authors balanced Mia’s focus and intelligence with her fresh grief. There was one thing that I guessed before it was revealed. I don’t think it altered my enjoyment of the story.
Codebreakers feels like a great book for readers aging out of middle grade and into young adult fiction who like intense, action-packed stories. The interactive element would be great for kids interested in codes. I hope there are more books like this in our future!
Content Notes for Codebreaker
Recommended for Ages 12 up.
Profanity/Crude Language Content A few instances of profanity.
Romance/Sexual Content Kissing.
Spiritual Content None.
Violent Content Situations of peril. Gun violence. Death of a parent. In two scenes, a person with a gun threatens to harm someone else unless Mia cooperates with them.
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.
You might remember the short story, “The Lady or the Tiger” from your reading in school, but this YA author brings a fresh take on that concept. Lady or the Tiger author Heather M. Herrman is here via Q&A to talk about what inspired her to create this gritty, Wild West murder mystery.
We’ll talk about misconceptions about the Wild West time period and why we need stories beyond romance in YA. We’ll also discuss the importance of telling stories with complex heroines and challenging tropes. It’s awesome stuff!
Let’s get right into it, shall we? Here are some details about the book for some context before we get into the Q&A.
A twisty, darkly seductive murder mystery, starring a teenage killer whose trial in the Wild West is upended when her first victim, her husband, arrives alive with a story to tell.
When nineteen-year-old Belle King turns herself in for murder, the last thing she expects to see is her abusive husband standing outside her Dodge City jail cell. He was the first man she ever meant to kill (but certainly not the last!). Somehow, though, her husband is there, hale and hearty, and very much not dead. With his arrival her plans in jail are jeopardized, and she’ll be forced to resort to all the tricks in her arsenal to prevent him from ever being in control of her again. But as a girl in the 1880s Wild West, the last thing anyone will believe is a woman—even when she confesses to her own crimes.
This story—of how Alice Springer, a mountain girl from Kentucky, became the infamous Belle King, of how she found the tiger in her heart, becoming the wickedest woman in the Wild West—is a love story that cuts through time and patriarchal ties.
Q&A with Heather M. Herrman
1. Is there a particular idea that inspired you to write Lady or the Tiger?
First of all, thank you so much for including me on The Story Sanctuary. I really love and respect the important work you’re doing on your site. And thank you so much for reading Lady or the Tiger!
In terms of this particular story, I started with the germ of an idea about a possibly possessed young woman in the Wild West who cuts out men’s hearts and replaces them with stolen diamonds. But from there, the story grew to be more of a response to the current landscape of the Young Adult genre.
In the past few years, I’ve noticed a trend of YA becoming synonymous with Romance. I think some of this is due to the age of YA readers, with polls suggesting that over fifty percent of readers are actually adults. I love a great romance and am in awe of the incredible authors out there giving us spice. Teen readers, too, need romance as they begin to navigate their own relationships. But they also need other stories.
Unlike adult readers who often read for escape, teen readers are still in the process of forming an identity. Romance by its very nature centers the pleasure—and in some ways value—of its female heroines on an external source instead of providing examples of girls who please themselves. I want to see more complicated girls and women in young adult stories who are allowed, even encouraged, to first fall in love with themselves—shadow and all—before worrying about someone else.
2. In both The Corpse Queen and Lady or the Tiger, you’ve written strong female characters who make difficult choices. I love that! Do you think female anti-heroes are underrepresented in teen fiction? And/or what do these stories bring to the genre that we need more of?
Absolutely. I think the world is still very uncomfortable with a woman choosing to do something that doesn’t serve other people but, instead, serves herself. This, coupled with the discomfort surrounding a woman’s sexual autonomy and desire, often gives us girls who can save the world but don’t know how to save themselves. This is why I’m so drawn to the antihero in fiction. These women are allowed to be exactly who they are without cowtowing to the demands the status quo places on them to be both helpful and beautiful.
Including more female antiheroes in young adult books gives readers a chance to see the parts of themselves they’ve often been asked to discard—their shadow selves or “outlaw energies” as Jungian psychologist Lisa Marchiano dubbs them—being accepted and valued instead of ignored. Girls and women deserve to be whole. And only by accepting our shadows can we ever truly shine our light.
3. What’s your favorite thing about Belle King?
I love that she is completely unapologetic about being herself. As a trained people-pleaser, I personally often find that hard, and I know a lot of other girls and women do too. Our culture often teaches us to meet others’ needs before our own. I love that Belle is willing to consider what she wants first.
4. What made you choose the 1880s Wild West as a setting for Lady or the Tiger?
I think that the setting is an interesting one because we typically think of the “Wild West” as a white, straight, male-dominated space. This was absolutely not the case. But this misconception does show exactly what a woman was up against in that time period and by comparing and contrasting our current climate, it also reveals what she continues to face today. By pushing back on certain tropes prominent in typical westerns, I got a chance to challenge these ideas.
For example, the “damsel in distress” trope has always stood out to me—Western films and novels often revolve around cowboys rescuing beautiful women or, if not rescuing them, using their untimely deaths as backstory for the hero. Often, these women serve as justification for a hero’s violence. I wanted to subvert that convention by placing a woman at the heart of the story rather than on its margins. I also wanted to give her the same depth and moral complexity typically reserved for the rugged male outlaws and antiheroes that dominate the genre. And I also tried to challenge the myth of a homogenous, cisgender American frontier by including diverse characters and historically grounded details that reflect the cultural richness that existed long before white settlers arrived and continues to exist today.
5. Is there a scene or character that was the most fun to write, or something in the book that you couldn’t stop thinking about, even after you finished the scene or draft?
I mean I loved the ending. That was really fun to write. But I think I also had a great time crafting the scene with Alice, Ama, and Dom on the riverbank. They really reveal themselves to each other there and admit things that other people would maybe judge them for because they know that it’s a safe, accepting space. That was a real moment of trust for the characters, and I think it brought back all the beautiful friendships I’ve been lucky enough to have over the years. I wanted Lady or the Tiger to be a love story, just not a traditional one. Because of this, I wanted it to also highlight some of the more important love stories that we maybe don’t always talk about. For me, my girlfriend growing up were life-changing, and I wouldn’t be who I am today without them.
6. What do you most hope that readers take away from your novel?
First and foremost, I hope they enjoy it. Creating Belle was a wild ride, and I’m so excited for readers to get to know her. Beyond that, I hope seeing her be exactly who she is without apology will maybe stick with them. That in some future moment, however small, they remember Belle and feel free to choose themselves instead of trying to please someone else.
7. What is your favorite question readers have asked you about your books?
I had a reader ask me which character from my books I’d most like to go to dinner with, which I thought was such a cool question. Not sure what it says about me, but I immediately chose the murderer.
Heather Herrman is the author of the adult horror novel, Consumption, and the Junior Library Guild selected Young Adult Novel, The Corpse Queen. The Lady or the Tiger, a new YA novel by Heather about a female serial killer in the Wild West will be available from Nancy Paulsen Books June 10, 2025.
Heather’s fiction seeks to explore the relationship between body and landscape, utilizing genre as a medium. She believes that American Horror Fiction provides a lens through which we can undress and view the timeless dis/ease of our society.
Heather holds an MFA from New Mexico State University. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in various publications including the Dark Screams Anthology:Volume 10, Cemetery Dance, The Alaska Quarterly, South Carolina Review, and Snake Nation Review. Her fiction has earned the Frank Waters Prize, an Individual Artist Grant from the Nebraska Arts Council, and a scholarship to the Prague Summer Program for Writers.
She is represented by Barbara Poelle from the Word One Literary Agency.
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.
