Izzy Crane has just moved to the town of Sleepy Hollow, which is obsessed with the Legend of the Headless Horseman. Vicky Van Tassel has to headline numerous themed events about the legend. As their worlds collide, they'll discover if ghosts and curses are real. 

I thought this was a really fun take on a familiar story, with a charming romance thrown in for good measure. They way it ends was a little confusing to me, but overall I really liked it. 

Honestly, I think this book did more to help me understand aroace identities than any other book I've read. Being in Georgia's head helped me a lot, as you view how obsessed with sex society is and how weird that is to someone who doesn't experience it. It was slow-going at first, and some of the British college tropes confused me, but it was worth it. 

This is a great Hunger Games-esque book by Thomas. Ten demigods are selected to compete in trials, the winner becoming the Sunbearer who brings light to all of the realm, and the loser is the sacrifice needed to power the stones. Everyone says it's a great honor, but at the end of the day it's one teen killing another teen and adults are all okay with it. In this world there are three levels of Gods (in addition to mortals) Golds, Jades, and Obsidians. The Obsidians are not included in this trial (they rebelled and are trapped) and usually Jades don't either. But this year Teo and Xio are both competing, not entirely willingly. The trials seem different this year and most are in a bad mood. 

This is a pageturner and I really liked it. 

It was fun to have a duology publish so close together--you would think that it would mean that you wouldn't forget what happens between the two books! However, I still managed to since I read a lot of Chinese influenced fantasy books this year, and I'm sad to say they are blending together. I did enjoy this one, but I found myself trying to remember exactly what happened in the first book. 

It's 2005, when we could burn CDs and DVDs on our computers but we weren't at the Spotify and Pandora realm of things yet. You got bootleg DVDs of stuff you couldn't easily find at your video store, like anime. There's always a chance that what you order isn't what you actually get. Four friends who feel like outcasts get a copy of a racy anime and realize they might be able to make some money by selling it at their Catholic school. Hidden tensions within the group erupt one night at a party, and things are never the same. 

This book doesn't have the most uplifting ending, but it has one that feels very real. I'm concerned about one of the characters, Brooke. 

If you were wondering what it might be like if Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a secret Girl Scout, then this is the story for you. I loved the way a scouting group is a front for a secret society that protects us from aliens. This book also deals a lot with trauma, and what that does to us, and what happens if we don't challenge traditions now and then. 

This is so good and so powerful. I knew about the picture and what it meant, but I didn't know the story behind the athletes. So good.

Here's another marching band story for this year. Yasmin is in her first year of marching band, even though she's a sophomore (thanks to a hurricane). She's determined to be first chair flute, but when a mystery Instagram account leads to the entire low brass section being kicked out of band, she switches to the sousaphone. Will her marching band season be saved? 

I cringed every time Yasmin had an interaction with Sofia, her competition for first chair flute. I could definitely see how what Yasmin thought was a friendly rivalry was also viewed as needling and over-competitive.  Tha'ts not to excuse anything Sofia did, but just to note that I can see where some of the problems started. There's also some stuff with Yasmin's family that I thought was solved too easily. I did like Bloom, and I liked the representation of religion in the book. 

I can see why this is nominated for a National Book Award. In this story, Yami is going to private school with her brother, and she has to pay for it. Honestly, she's lived her entire life taking care of her brother, it seems. Her father has been deported to Mexico, and she has a bit of a contentious relationship with her mom. At this private school, Yami is also going to pass as straight. She came out to her best friend Bianca and it did not go well. There's just one problem--the only out student at school, Bo, is super cute and cool! Yami makes mistakes in this story, but she also fights for the ones she loves. It was a little slow to start, but I loved it. 

I loved this take on The Great Gatsby. I didn't necessarily think of myself as a Great Gatsby fan, but I really enjoyed knowing the beats this story would be built on, and how it would be different based on the changes the author made. Really fun.