I'm not sure why there are so many marching band books being published this year, but I shouldn't complain too much! As a band geek in high school, I looked forward to this trend. Harper goes to an elite private school, where her mom is the dean. Her father is also the Republican candidate for the presidency. She has a few good friends, but a lot of people treat her differently because of those things. At the beginning of her senior year, she discovers someone has made a fake Tinder profile for her and has been sending messages to one of their classmates, Margot. Harper isn't sure what label she would pick for her sexuality, but she knows that her homophobic parents won't approve. They already have cut off her older brother for partying on campus. Of course, what happens when she starts to fall for Margot. 

It took me a little while to get into this book, but once I was there, I was all in. I liked the way it covered food allergies and asthma, and the joy of being in band (although unlike Harper, I prefer concert band to marching band). I did figure out who put up the profile early in the book, and I was pretty sure I knew what twist would come. That didn't stop me from enjoying it though!

I loved this! Parvin made me laugh so hard, and her thought process just felt so much like a 14 year old in the best way. I wish I had read this the year it was published. 

Anna Lucia Bell's parents seem perfect for each other, yet they seem to be getting a divorce anyway. She's not talking to her best friend (who has found a new friend), her mother is also selling the family bookstore, and now she's going to vacation for the summer in Rockport, Massachusetts. She hasn't been there since she was a child. The narrator of this books is 14, and feels 14. She's learning about herself, and what it means to be a friend, and some truths about her parents (who sometimes feel too good to be true). This would definitely be classified as a "clean read" if you had someone looking for that.

I liked Browne's previous book, which felt a bit like a meditating. This one felt a bit more plot heavy, as Angel slowly figures out what happened to her in California. I like the way Browne teases it out, and shows us how, other than her family, Angel didn't have a ton going on in California, but in New York, she finds people to bring out the best sides of her. One thing I found interesting is that I couldn't always tell from the audiobook whether it was prose or poetry. It felt like it was going back and forth.

This book is so powerful. Noor and Salahudin are best friends living in Juniper, California. Neither has a happy life. Noor is feeling trapped by her uncle, the only family she has left. Salahudin's mother is sick and his father is an alcoholic, and they are at risk of losing their family motel. The writing is so beautiful, and even though it is heartbreaking, you keep reading because there is that little bit of hope. A joy.

Hazel Sinnett wants to be a surgeon. As the daughter of an army captain, financially she has the ability to pursue her own dreams (a distracted mother helps too.) While Hazel is pursuing her dreams, poor people are turning up dead, or missing body parts, and not remembering how or why. 

The path to being a doctor or surgeon is not easy for Hazel. She briefly dresses as a man to attend classes until she is discovered. Her fiancé doesn't believe in her dreams. Her older brother died before the start of the book, and her mother spends all her time protecting and doting on the younger brother who is now the heir. All this is in addition to meeting Jack Currier, a resurrection man who digs up dead bodies for doctors to study. 

This book is a captivating mystery set in a time we were still learning about surgery and inoculation. The surgical parts were a little too descriptive for me at times and I found myself skimming them.  

Ayo has lived her whole life in a "Black Lives Matter"-like group in Harlem called "See Us," which her mother runs. She is tired of it. She wants to have a normal life, not just think about racism all the time. Plus, she's not as strong as her mother! The first third to half of the book sets up this dynamic, and then at a protest, her mother gets hurt. This makes Ayo think a lot about what she really wants. With the help of her friends and a scavenger hunt from her mother, she will figure it out. 

I really loved this one. I think it relates a lot to the weight of expectations from our parents, and figuring out what we really want in relation to that. The police brutality issues are covered accurately to the way they seem to go in the real world. I think this is a powerful novel most should read.

I couldn't figure out how exactly to word it for the content warnings, but there is a brief description of an adult male leering at a 15 year old. I picked sexual harassment but thought maybe being more specific would help.

This is an enjoyable super hero origin story, even if it is especially vague. Lolo lives with her brother, James. She bumps into Michael one day and powers are awoken in both of them. Michael's come to life when he's being bullied, and Lolo's when her brother is being needlessly caught by the police. A local drug dealer learns about both Michael and Lolo and wants to recruit both of them. Of course there's a showdown at the end, which is open-ended enough for sequels.

I really enjoyed this one. I didn't know anything about the Romanian revolution, which is not surprising. Sepetys does a great job of uncovering lesser-known stories and bringing them to life. It's hard to imagine how paranoid life would be and for how long, and how brave these kids had to be to stand up to power. So good.