Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist

General YA Fiction

VG/A. Sundquist, Josh. Love and First Sight. Little, Brown and Company, 2017. 281p. 978-0-316-30535-8. 17.99.

William Porter was born blind, and until recently he went to a school for the blind.  Now, at 16-year-old, Will is determined to go to a mainstream school and be as normal a teenager as possible.  His first few days at school don’t go quite as planned.  He finds himself in a few embarrassing situations: accidentally groping a girl, making another girl cry when he stares at her a bit too long, sitting on someone’s lap at lunch, and mistakenly walking into the girls’ restroom.  Soon things start to look up. Will’s one favorite class is journalism, and he teams up with Cecily (the same girl he made cry) to report on the Van Gogh exhibit at the museum.  Will becomes good friends with Cecily and the other members of the academic quiz team, despite the initial misunderstandings.  He also becomes a candidate for experimental surgery that may give him eyesight, allowing him to see for the first time in his life.  Even with successful surgery, Will has even more hardships ahead of him.  He will actually have to learn how to see.  This is Sundquist’s debut young adult novel, and it is highly recommended.  

White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

High School Fiction

G/A. Armentrout, Jennifer L. White Hot Kiss. HarlequinTEEN, 2014. 382p. 978-0-373-21110-4. $9.99.

Layla is half demon and half gargoyle.  She feels as though she doesn't fit in anywhere. Her human friends don't know that she's really not human.  She can't shape shift like the other gargoyles or Wardens. And she constantly has to deal with her demon half that craves the stealing of souls.  She's lived in relative safety all her life with an adopted Warden family, but now that she's seventeen, the number of demons coming topside has skyrocketed and too many have been hunting Layla. She meets Roth, a high level demon who claims he's there to protect her.  Layla doesn't believe him; demons are the enemy after all.  Yet he's saved her life more than once.  Roth challenges her perception of demons in general and gets her to take a closer look at them, at herself, and even at him.  Roth is nothing like Zayne, the Warden she's been in love with forever, but who only looks at her as just a younger sister.  While Roth may be a vain and sarcastic demon, he's not evil.  There's more to him than what she initially assumed, and as her distrust of him lessens, her feelings and attraction to Roth grows.  With the demon threat against her life growing, Layla decides that she can't just stay at home.  She and Roth strike a bargain to work together discover the demon who's after her and maybe together they can stop what is sure to be the coming apocalypse if they fail. 

The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die

Young Adult Fiction

VG/A Henry, April. The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die. Henry Holt, 2013. 213p.978-0-8050-9541-8. 16.99.

Cady wakes up sore, beaten and bloody. She is tied to a chair and two men are talking about taking her out back and finishing her off. To make matters even worse, she has no idea who she is or how she got in this situation. Author Henry opens this suspenseful novel with our heroine barely surviving this scene, and the pace and the danger never let up. The plot threatens to become preposterous at each twist (and there are many) but Henry manages to make the resolution of the mystery believable and satisfying. Highly recommended for all teens looking for a good mystery or an action-packed thriller. Philip Levie, LAPL, Panorama City

Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

General Young Adult Fiction

G/A. Grant, Michael & Katherine Applegate. Eve & Adam. Feiwel and Friends, 2012. 978-0-312-58351-4. $17.99.

When Evening gets hurt in a car accident, her mother, Terra Spiker, head of Spiker Pharmaceuticals has her transferred to a private hospital. While she’s recovering, her mother gives her a project to design the perfect boy using a computer simulation program. She meets Solo, her mother's employee and ward. But Solo is more than just the gofer that he appears to be.  He is working to uncover the secrets of Spiker Pharmaceuticals that involve not only Eve and the program she's working on, but also dangerous secrets that may implicate Eve's own mother. 

Chasing the Skip by Janci Patterson

General Young Adult Fiction

F/A. Patterson, Janci. Chasing the Skip. Christy Ottaviano Books, 2012. 978-0-8050-9391-9. $16.99.

When Ricki’s mom leaves her, she has no choice but to go live with her dad.  As a bounty hunter, his job takes him everywhere, and Ricki rides along with him as he tracks down skips. When her dad picks up seventeen-year-old Ian Burnham, Ricki finds herself instantly attracted to this bad boy. Despite, her father’s warnings that Ian is dangerous, Ricki believes that Ian is merely misunderstood. Little does she realize what dire consequences her assumptions about Ian will have. 

Embrace by Jessica Shirvington

High School Fiction

F/A. Shirvington, Jessica. Embrace. Sourcebooks Fire, 2012. 978-1-4022-6840-3. $16.99.

On her seventeenth birthday, Violet Eden finds out that her life is not what it seems. Her friend and crush, Lincoln has been lying to her.  Like her, he is part angel and part human.  Now Violet is set with a difficult decision; she must fully embrace her angel side or deny her powers even if it costs Lincoln his life.  For fans of Lauren Kate’s Fallen or Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush.   

Summer of the Mariposas

General YA Fiction


VG/A. McCall, Guadalupe Garcia. Summer of the Mariposas. Lee and Low, 2012. 352 p. 9781600609008 $19.95



Odilia and her four sisters have been struggling since their father left to pursue his music career. Their mom works long hours at a restaurant to support them. When they find a dead man by the creek with a photo of his family in his wallet, they are determined to reunite them in Mexico. With La Llorona serving as Odilia’s guide, the girls set off on an adventure that combines elements of Aztec mythology with Homer’s Odyssey.

Sarah Mae Harper, CoLAPL- AC Bilbrew

Return to Daemon Hall

Young Adult Fiction

G/A Nance, Andrew. Return to Daemon Hall. Henry Holt. ISBN: 978-0-8050-8748-2. 240 p.; $16.99. 2011.

This is a sequel to Daemon Hall. However readers need not read the first novel. R.U. Tremblin is hosting a second short story contest for aspiring writers. He invited 5 students to his house this time instead of Daemon Hall. Each of the five students is given a chapter to write and the titles are from the Book of Daemon Hall. Among the five, one of them is last year’s winner Wade. Demarius, Matt, Millie and Lucinda joined Wade at Mr. Tremblin’s house to read their story. Strange things began to happen as they read their stories. They began to transport to the past and re-live the life at Daemon Hall. As they reveal each of their stories, they discovered that the stories were not written by them but by the spirit of Daemon Hall. For some strange reason Wade has not written the last chapter yet. Wade was actually glad because the first four chapters have gotten them living the past of Daemon Hall, and maybe if he write the last chapter to their advantage, they can actually get out of Daemon Hall. The he begins writing “The Leaving.” The tale has not ended there, and the author might have another tale of Daemon Hall after this novel. Each of the five stories told in this novel has very different flavors and each will chill you to your bones. For those who love horror stories, this will do the job. Dora Ho – Los Angeles Public Library

Harmonic Feedback

Young Adult Fiction

VG/A Kelly, Tara. Harmonic Feedback. Henry Holt. ISBN: 978-0-8050-9010-9. 280 p.; $16.99. 2010

Sixteen-year-old Drea moved into her grandmother’s with her mother. She encounters two other new students – Justin and Naomi. Naomi lives across the street and they became instant friends because they are both passionate about music. The three of them decide to form a band and perform. Each of the three characters has their share of troubles. Naomi is a drug addict, Drea has Asperger’s Syndrome, and Justin has a violent past. However the three of them developed friendship, love and determination to start over. Readers will find this novel very heart warming and heart breaking at the same time. Seeing how Naomi continues to struggle with her drug addition and later died from overdose and Drea overcome her illness of Asperger’s Syndrome and began a love relationship with Justin. Dora Ho – Los Angeles Public Library