The Night Flowers is a lovely and haunting mystery told from multiple perspectives. In 1983, a couple out hiking in New Mexico tumbled down a hill only to knock over barrels that contained human remains. The science revealed the woman and two girls may have been dead for up to twenty years at that point. And the case went unsolved.

About thirty years later, Jean is a cop near retirement who has transferred to the cold cases department. Intent on identifying Jane Doe and the girls, Jean starts looking into the old records but pieces are missing. Across the country in New Haven, MA, Laura is facing her final round of surgery for breast cancer and researching Jane Does is part of how she distracts herself from her own trauma. When Laura begins to piece things together from websites and online records, Jean and Laura's stories converge. 

Interspersed with short chapters from the point of view of the murdered woman, this story is haunting and beautiful in how it focuses on the women- not the male(s) that committed the violence. I am blown away by this debut and gutted that there is no backlist for me to read through while waiting for  

Sara Herchenroether's next book. 

If you like a mystery with multiple perspectives and a past timeline, strong and flawed female characters, and a wrap up that's clean but not too tidy, The Night Flowers delivers all of that and then some. 

Mean Girls + Pretty Little Liars+ Teen Wolf = better than the sum of it's parts, please find a copy of Squad as soon as you can. 

This is a super fun graphic novel with way more character development than I expected in such a short package. This mean girls clique lets in a new member only for her to discover they are werewolves and the hunt for justice. 

That's really all I want to tell you about this. I adored the ending- I love some nuance which you don't always get in YA. Oh and there's some adorable and sexy Sapphic romance too. Don't sleep on this one! 

A Million to One is the Titanic heist story I didn't know I needed. The story centers on Josefa who has been stealing and running cons for a few years. We also read from the perspective of three other young women who she recruits for the heist of a lifetime, to steal a jewel encrusted ancient book that will be traveling on the Titanic and is truly invaluable. These characters are Emilie, Violet, and Hinnah. They each have well developed back stories and lovely character development. 

You might think a book set on the Titanic can't surprise you. You might be wrong. This book gripped me, especially as the hours counted down to the sinking. There is some slow burn queer romance, a lot of found family, and so much heist adventure fun. And the author really did their research, this book is historically accurate where it counts and her decisions around changes for the story are well explained in the author's note. 

If you're looking for a fun, fast historical read with an air of tension, this is it. 

Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World is a gentle, queer coming of age story. Ivy is almost a teenager, and as we meet her we learn she's never had a crush. Everyone else is having them and she's not sure why she doesn't yet. Ivy has a big family, there are twin babies and another sister. Her mother and father are sweet and supportive. But tragedy strikes in the form of a tornado. 

As her family and community recovers from the devastating aftermath, Ivy learns more about herself through writing and drawing. Her "decomposition notebook" is where she puts all of her emotions and secrets. When it goes missing, she is worried about who will find it and what they will think about her. 

I loved how Ashley Herring Blake wrote a story about a queer girl who experiences love all around and is lifted up by her family and community, without hiding that yes, sometimes will be very challenging. This is a book of hope for kids and grown ups. It was an absolute joy. 

Through the Groves is an intimate childhood memoir from a different time and place. Anne Hull grew up in the 1960s in the citrus groves of Florida and from the first paragraph she transports us to her father's old truck, the dirt roads, and the smells of citrus all around her. 

While the time and setting was beautiful and outside the experience of most readers, I found this memoir honest and relatable. Anne grows up with an alcoholic father and the tenuous marriage of her parents around her. When things reach a tipping point for her mother and father, Anne is thrust into a new set of challenges. She recalls these times and specific stories with grace, humor, and sincerity around the horrors of it as well. 

Hull mostly focuses on her childhood, but towards the end we do get a glimpse into her years as a young adult. Fighting to make a way to and through college and then coming out to her family at a time when it was very scary to do so, Anne explains vividly what that time was like and ends the book with a sense of hope. 

I'm so glad I read this memoir, the only thing I can say is I wanted more time with Anne and her stories, more about her transition to healing and adulthood. Read by the author, I highly recommend this as an audiobook.

Ruby Lost and Found is a tender coming of age middle grades novel. Ruby lives in San Francisco, a city she knows well thanks to her grandfather. He recently passed away and now she is spending lots of time with her Nai-Nai, partially as punishment. 

As the story goes on we learn about Ruby's relationship with her deceased Ye-Ye, what got her into trouble with her parents, and how things are changing with her Nai-Nai. This story centers a grandparent and grandchild relationship in a beautiful way and is a very realistic portrayal of the beginnings of dementia or Alzheimer's. 

I enjoyed this book. I felt so much for Ruby and had so many complicated and upset feelings about the adults in her life with unreasonable expectations. This is not an easy middle grades read, but I think it will find its audience. 

When Alice walks down the isle on her wedding day, she realizes it is not the right groom staring back at her. With this shocking and scary introduction, The Silent Bride launches into a well pace, easy to read psychological mystery with some thriller aspects. 

I liked how the author gradually addressed the obvious guesses a reader might have. The writing style was the kind I like to consume before bed, well done and not overly flowery, tense but not to scary to fall asleep to, and not so complicated that I can't remember what happened when I pick it back up the next evening. This is a very specific kind of writing that fits that bill and I think it's vastly underappreciated! 

Back to the meat of this novel, the twists at the end really did get me a little bit. I enjoyed this, a solid quick read and I'll return to this author again. 

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen is a must read memoir by Jose Vargas. Jose arrived in the United States as an adolescent from the Philippines. He was sent without his mother and he doesn't discover until later in life that his papers were forged. This memoir details his experience coming to terms with that and learning to live his life (as best as he could) while also trying to protect himself. 

Jose is in a unique position as the most famous undocumented citizen in the US. He came out publicly years ago and has a notably successful journalism career. However, even his success has been full of challenges and fear. 

There is so much about the immigration system that people of all opinions probably don't know or understand. This memoir is an excellent place to start learning and to develop or build empathy for those suffering at the hands of this very intentional system. 

Going Bicoastal is a super cute romance a la Sliding Doors for YA readers that don't know that movie ever existed or adults like me who can enjoy a good callback. To set up the story,  Natalya Fox has only one day to decide if she will spend the summer before her senior year in NYC with her father or in LA with her mostly estranged mother. She can't decide so the book plays out both summers side by side for readers to enjoy. 

In LA, Natalya falls for a cute guy and explores what her future might hold after high school. Meanwhile in NYC, Natalya focuses on exploring the city, repairing her relationship with her mother via long distance, and crushes hard on an attractive girl. With positive storylines in both cities, this book is an uplifting and positive story about how you can explore yourself and enjoy life wherever you find it and it showcases bisexual joy. 

There are some spicy kisses and one brief spicy scene, but overall I'd rate this as appropriate for YA readers in high school. I loved the portrayal of Judaism, bisexuality, being an only child, and divorced family dynamics. I highly recommend this if you want a sweet book for your next read. 

Thank you to NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio for an ALC in exchange for my honest review. 

Brenna Thummler has delivered an incredible resolution to the Sheets graphic novel series with this third installment. After absolutely loving Sheets and Delicates, I was eager to request an ARC of Lights. In this final book of the series, Marjorie, Eliza, and Wendell will finally fully solve the mystery of Wendell's death. 

And along the way, there is so much more. Marjorie and Eliza struggle to figure out what friendship means when Marjorie makes new friends who Eliza doesn't like. Eliza searches for what it means to embrace her self proclaimed weird identity but also crave acceptance and friendship. And of course, there are beautiful, poignant lessons about what grief looks and feels like for different folks. 

I tried to keep this review relatively spoiler free in case you haven't read the first two books, and let me say GO READ THEM NOW. Thank you to NetGalley and Oni Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. This one is truly top tier.