YA contemporary. Hani and Ishu are Bengali-Irish teens living in Dublin. They are among the only desi girls in their school, are very different people, and are not friends. But when Hani is trying to figure out how to stop her white Irish friends from their quite aggressive refusal to accept her identification as bi, …
YA speculative fiction. A prequel to Emezi’s wonderful book Pet. That one is set in a city that is a generation past a revolution won under abolitionist politics (though that language is never used), while this one is set in the midst of that revolution. The protagonist of Bitter, after whom the book is named, …
YA sci fi. Set on a future earth that is well down the path to climate apocalypse. Follows two teen girls, one living as a scientifically brilliant (and seemingly neurodivergent?) high-status resident of one of the aerial eco-cities that an older generation created as an attempt to reduce humanity’s impact on the planet, and the …
YA contemporary fantasy. A young Black woman in Brooklyn whose touch, and sometimes mere presence, causes plants to grow, bloom, move. From a hitherto unknown relative, she inherits an old mansion outside a small town in upstate New York. Adventure ensues and she learns more about her powers and the heritage she has been born …
YA contemporary. Traces the experiences of two young women (and their respective best friends) at a massive music festival, and their trajectory from strangers to much more. Sweet and funny, and it certainly provides the kind of emotional journey that one reads this sort of book to have, so I’m sure it will have many …
YA contemporary. Canadian. Two teen cousins who live on opposite coasts are brought together in Ontario by the death of their grandfather. After the funeral, they find themselves together at the family cottage that neither has been to since they were kids. Both are queer and Toronto Pride weekend is fast approaching, and they (plus …