Oh, these four beautiful teen boys who have such a wonderful friendship. I love how they all learn something about themselves and each other over the course of one summer. I think I responded to Reese and Heath best, although part of me wonders if that is because I prefer their audiobook narrators. 

An overview of what it's like to live with ADHD, autism, learning disorders, and a few mental illnesses, set in Japan. There are nine different essays with different perspectives, a few somewhat happy, many heartbreaking.

Luvvie Jones is a fairly popular speaker and writer, and this is one of her books adapted for teens. It's a look at how you can fight for injustice as a teen and use your voice. It highlights the "good kind of trouble" that John Lewis talked about. 

Monique is a pastor's daughter with a boyfriend, who her parents trust. If they only knew that Monique and Dom have been trying to have sex for months, but can't because it's too painful for Monique. When Dom breaks up with her because of it, Monique is overwhelmed and focused on finding a way to fix it. Two unlikely sources of help in the form of a straight-laced Christian girl from Monique's church (Sasha) and the "bad boy" who is going there to be reformed (Reggie) help her with her issue: vaginismus. Her muscles contract to prevent penetration, probably because of shame or past trauma. But even if Monique can fix this issue, does she really want Dom back?

I love the journey Monique goes on in this book, from realizing what a jerk Dom is to learning about how different two people are from her first impressions. I very much loved Sasha. Religion is never put down in this book as a bad thing, just the way people apply it. It's also very sex positive, as well as positive about choosing to wait. It does wrap up a little neatly, but honestly, a lot of people could learn from this book. 

Jo loves wrestling, the sport her father was the local high school coach for until he died four years ago. She's hobbled along since then, living with her mom and stepdad and four year old stepsister. Jo's friends are basically just the wrestling team, and her best friend is Sam. One day, at a party, Jo overhears that guys on the team consider her a "practice girl," someone they can practice having a physical relationship with before they get into a real relationship. Angry and embarrassed, Jo quits being the wrestling team manager and starts evaluating different parts of her life, from the girls she didn't believe she could be friends with to her family to Sam's wrestling archrival, Dax. 

I thought there was a lot of interesting stuff going on in this book. It covers complicated divorce feelings, complicated friendships with both genders, being a girl in a sport traditionally dominated by men, and more. The book does not shame Jo for her past, and neither does it let her off the hook for the mean things she has done. 

Zhang Ning comes from a line of shennong-tu, people who can do magic through tea. She blames herself for serving the poison tea that kills her mother and makes her sister gravelly ill. There's only one way to fix it--to enter the palace competition for a new shennong-tu and win a favor from the royal princess. Ning isn't prepared for the world of palace intrigue, but she finds a way to fight through all the challenges. 

I enjoyed Ning and her friends, and I liked the idea of tea being magical. It's a fun fantasy, with an added bonus of book 2 being available the same year!

Sunny's older brother Goldy died about a year ago from an alcohol overdose. Today is a ceremony to honor his death, and it's also prom night. Sunny has removed some of the things that indicate the fact that he's Sikh (the turban, cut his hair, shaved his face) and he isn't ready to talk about why. He's also going to skip the Snollygaster Soiree, a fandom convention where his metal tribute band is supposed to play. During prom, Mindii Ving, a Hmong classmate, steals his journal, the one thing he has left of Goldy. Mindii and Sunny make a series of rash decisions over the course of the evening that bring the two of them closer together, as well as help Sunny make sense of his life as it currently stands.

I enjoyed this book. I learned about Sikh and Hmong customs, as well as some of Sunny's friend Ngozi's family customs (Nigerian/Ghanaian British). I love the way it all blends together. There were also funny moments of being in Sunny's head. I loved the balance of serious parts and funny parts, and I like that it happened over the course of an evening. I also thought the treatment of Goldy's alcoholism was well done.

At this time, I really need to concentrate on YA and I couldn't devote the time to this that I wanted.

Anna Lynn James needs a partner for her marching band duet, and the only available person is Weston, a boy everyone in her small town in Texas thinks is bad news. He says yes though, and Anna and Weston find something in each other that has been missing their whole lives. Weston isn't who the town thinks he is. Tragedy still strikes though, and can the remaining teen find their way through?

Religion is not a problem in this book, it's presented as just a part of life, which I liked. Anna and Weston were a joy to get to know, and though you know something is coming, it's still shocking when it happens. The ending is hopeful, but it does talk a bit about the grief that never quite goes away. 

Amber McCloud has dreamed of being cheer captain her whole life. Sure, the team is a little bit down ever since QB Robbie died in a drunk driving accident last spring, but she can bring it back. There's a new QB, Jack, and he might be great! Until it's discovered Jack is short for Jaclyn. Oops. The football team and the rest of the squad hates Jack. How will Amber balance her dream with the fact that Jack is very, very cute?

This book gives you both Amber's (a closeted cheerleader) and Jack's (female quarterback with some self esteem issues) perspectives. I really enjoyed seeing both of them. This book is just so cute! But also serious. There's a lot of homophobia and Robbie is being treated like a saint when he actually wasn't.