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| Solo by Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand HessAs the son of a rock star who's notorious for his addictions, 17-year-old Blade Morrison's privilege has always been shadowed by his dad's neglect and unreliability. Still, Blade's own music provides him with a creative outlet -- or it used to, until a shocking family secret upended his life and sent him on a journey from California to Ghana in search of answers. Combining Blade's authentic first-person voice with his original lyrics and references to classic rock, this novel in verse is a "rhythmic, impassioned ode to family, identity, and the history of rock and roll" (Booklist). |
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Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Katie OrmsbeeAfter a shout-out from one of the Internet's superstar vloggers, Natasha "Tash" Zelenka suddenly finds herself and her obscure, amateur web series, Unhappy Families, thrust in the limelight: She's gone viral. Her show is a modern adaption of Anna Karenina--written by Tash's literary love Count Lev Nikolayevich "Leo" Tolstoy. When Unhappy Families is nominated for a Golden Tuba award, Tash's cyber-flirtation with a fellow award nominee suddenly has the potential to become something IRL--if she can figure out how to tell said crush that she's romantic asexual. Tash wants to enjoy her newfound fame, but will she lose her friends in her rise to the top? What would Tolstoy do?
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Honestly Ben by Bill KonigsbergBen Carver is back to normal. He's working steadily in his classes at the Natick School. He just got elected captain of the baseball team. He's even won a full scholarship to college, if he can keep up his grades. All that foolishness with Rafe Goldberg the past semester is in the past. Except... There's Hannah, the gorgeous girl from the neighboring school, who attracts him and distracts him. There's his mother, whose quiet unhappiness Ben is noticing for the first time. School is harder, the pressure higher, the scholarship almost slipping away. And there's Rafe, funny, kind, dating someone else, and maybe the real normal that Ben needs.
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I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene GooDesi Lee believes anything is possible if you have a plan. That's how she became student body president. Varsity soccer star. And it's how she'll get into Stanford. But she's never had a boyfriend. In fact, she's a disaster at romance, a clumsy, stammering humiliation magnet whose botched attempts at flirting have become legendary with her friends. So when the hottest human specimen to have ever lived walks into her life one day, Desi finds guidance in the Korean dramas her father has been obsessively watching for years―where the hapless heroine always seems to end up in the arms of her true love by episode ten. But when the fun and games turn to true feels, Desi finds out that real love is about way more than just drama.
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A Psalm for Lost Girls by Katie BayerlTess da Costa is a saint—a hand-to-god, miracle-producing saint. At least that’s what the people in her hometown of New Avon, Massachusetts, seem to believe. And when Tess suddenly and tragically passes away, her small city begins feverishly petitioning the Pope to make Tess’s sainthood official. Tess’s mother is ecstatic over the fervor, while her sister Callie, the one who knew Tess best, is disgusted—overcome with the feeling that her sister is being stolen from her all over again. The fervor for Tess’s sainthood only grows when Ana Langone, a local girl who’s been missing for six months, is found alive at the foot of one of Tess’s shrines. It’s the final straw for Callie. With the help of Tess’s secret boyfriend Danny, Callie’s determined to prove that Tess was something far more important than a saint; she was her sister, her best friend and a girl in love with a boy.
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| Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie PerkinsRomance. As a costume designer, 17-year-old San Franciscan Lola thinks nothing of expressing herself with loud patterns, wigs, and sequins. Figuring out exactly what she needs to express, however, is a little more challenging. Despite her two dads' disapproval, Lola is happy with her older rock-musician boyfriend, Max...until Cricket Bell, aspiring inventor and Lola's first love, moved back into the house next door, and Lola begins questioning what (and who) she truly wants. Sweet, steamy, and filled with quirky characters, Lola and the Boy Next Door is natural choice for fans of Becky Albertalli or Rainbow Rowell. |
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| The Wrath & the Dawn by Renée AhdiehFantasy. When Shahrzad marries Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan, she has only revenge on her mind. Her best friend was one of the many brides that the caliph has killed, and Shazi plans to take him down, even if it means abandoning Tariq, her betrothed. Yet after the wedding, Shazi finds herself strangely drawn to Khalid, and even as Tariq plots to storm the palace, her feelings for Khalid grow, leading to a high-stakes love triangle and a high-drama cliffhanger ending (resolved in the sequel, The Rose & the Dagger). For another lush fantasy inspired by Middle Eastern folk tales, pick up E.K. Johnston's A Thousand Nights. |
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| To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny HanFiction. The letters were never supposed to be sent. For awkward 16-year-old Lara Jean, writing secret love letters to help herself get over her crushes was just another hobby, like knitting or scrapbooking. So when the letters are accidentally mailed, Lara Jean freaks out. Embarrassed by her letter to her sister's ex-boyfriend, Josh, Lara Jean denies her feelings for him by pretending to date Peter, one of her other former crushes. Things only get messier from there. With memorable characters and realistically complicated relationships (especially among Lara Jean's tight-knit Korean-American family) this series opener is a charmer. |
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| Inheritance by Malinda LoScience Fiction. It's not exactly a typical setup for a love triangle: Reese and her boyfriend David share unusual abilities after being injected with alien DNA, yet Reese still feels a strong connection to her ex-girlfriend Amber, who turned out to be an alien. In fact, all of humanity has just learned about the presence of aliens on Earth, a revelation that forces Reese, David, and Amber into the center of a wide-reaching conspiracy. Though you'll need to start with the previous book, Adaptation, to understand this sequel, Inheritance will appeal to readers who crave an unconventional approach to both science fiction and romance. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books! |
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Manatee County Public Library System 1301 Barcarrota Boulevard West Bradenton, Florida 34205 (941) 748-5555www.mymanatee.org/library |
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