Review: Secrets Never Die by Vincent Ralph

Secrets Never Die by Vincent Ralph cover shows a darkened cell phone screen, shattered.

Secrets Never Die
Vincent Ralph
Wednesday Books
Published August 29, 2023

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About Secrets Never Die

We call it the Dark Place. I don’t know who built it or when but, for us, it’s special.

Every year Sam Hall and his friends hold funerals for their secrets in an abandoned hut in the woods that they call the Dark Place. But this year, their secrets are coming back from the dead…to terrorize them.

Sam is a former child star whose career went up in flames – literally. And no one, not even his best friend knows why. … Continue reading

Review: The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu

The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu cover shows a girl in coveralls holding hands with a tall humanoid AI. Cactus and succulents are immediately behind them. Behind them in the distance is a village.

The Infinity Particle
Wendy Xu
Quill Tree Books
Published August 29, 2023

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About The Infinity Particle

In this gorgeous graphic novel by Wendy Xu, co-creator of the award-winning Mooncakes, a young inventor falls for a lifelike AI and confronts questions of freedom and autonomy.

Clementine Chang moves from Earth to Mars for a new start and is lucky enough to land her dream job with Dr. Marcella Lin, an Artificial Intelligence pioneer. On her first day of … Continue reading

Review: The Reunion by Kit Frick

The Reunion by Kit Frick cover shows four people. A boy with a surfboard faces left with his back to the camera. Two figures stand in profile back to back with their arms crossed in the bottom center. A girl stands in profile, her face toward the right edge of the cover, her hands over her heart.

The Reunion
Kit Frick
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published August 29, 2023

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About The Reunion

From the author of I KILLED ZOE SPANOS comes a YA thriller in the vein of THE WHITE LOTUS and Karen M. McManus’s THE COUSINS following a doomed family reunion gone wrong at a posh Caribbean resort, where old grudges and dangerous secrets … Continue reading

10 Best Middle Grade Books I Read From Summer 2023

10 Best Middle Grade Books from Summer 2023

This summer definitely did not go as I planned. Looking back, I wonder why I imagined I’d have so much more time to do things like create list posts. Ha! Alas, here I am at the end of summer, and instead of a big list of the middle grade books that looked so great, please enjoy a list of the 10 best middle grade books I read from summer 2023.

10 Best Middle Grade Books I Read From Summer 2023

The Gray by Chris Baron cover shows a boy's face in the foreground with flat gray smoke or clouds covering part of his face. A few houses and  … <a class= Continue reading

Review: Guardians of the Dawn: Zhara by S. Jae-Jones

Guardians of Dawn: Zahra by S. Jae Jones cover shows a girl staring forward, her hands hovering over a ball of magic, other magic swirled around her in the colors of the sky at dawn.

Guardians of the Dawn: Zhara
S. Jae-Jones
Wednesday Books
Published August 1, 2023

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About Guardians of the Dawn: Zhara

Sailor Moon meets Cinder in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, the start of a new, richly imagined fantasy series from S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.

Magic flickers.
Love flames.
Chaos reigns.

Magic is forbidden throughout the Morning Realms. Magicians are called abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before.

Jin Zhara already had enough … Continue reading

Review: That’s Debatable

That's Debatable by Jen Doll

That’s Debatable
Jenn Doll
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Published August 30, 2022

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About That’s Debatable

That’s Debatable is a witty, smart, and feminist romantic comedy, author Jen Doll explores what it means to set boundaries while breaking down barriers.

Millicent Chalmers isn’t here to make friends.

She’s here to win, and she’s on track to set a record if–no, when–she wins the state debate tournament for the fourth year in a row. Calm, cool, and always in control, Millie doesn’t care what anyone else thinks of her, least of all the sexist bullies bent on destroying her reputation.

Taggart Strong couldn’t care less about winning debate, … Continue reading