By Nico
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Kayla is expecting today to be normal. After all, she goes to the state fair with her mom and younger brother every year—what’s going to be different today? But that’s before a mysterious, peculiar man slips them into another world filled with danger and magic.

All Kayla and her family wants is to go home as soon as possible—but that may be far trickier than she’s bargained for. Because Kayla was been brought to this strange world for a reason: her late father was a powerful Dark Lord. And everyone expects her to be his successor—a position that might hold Kayla’s only shot at getting home.

As Kayla navigates a castle full of secretive relatives with dubious loyalties and a bevy of nasty Dark Lord Traditions—including frequent beheadings, waging wars, and absolutely atrocious clothing—she must decide: can she be a new kind of Dark Lady? And if she can’t, will they ever make it home?

Patricia C. Wrede (also the author of one of my all-time favorite books, Dealing with Dragons) crafts a clever, lighthearted, and quirky spoof on classic fantasy stories perfect for fans of other quirky twists on tropes like Saving Fable and The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. I really like the reimagining of all the classic Dark Lord tropes from the point of view of someone expected to live up to them—Kayla’s utter confusion in the initial scenes when people keep asking her if she’s going to behead them made me truly connect with her character. The worldbuilding was excellent, a mix of classic fantasy and unique details that brought it to life, and Kayla’s slow discovery of its various aspects never felt forced or contrived. I highly recommend The Dark Lord’s Daughter to readers ages nine and up who like fantasy books with lots of twists and humor. 

By Lina
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Ari Mendoza - Aristotle, if you want to annoy him - is fifteen. A fifteen-year-old boy, in summer, with a father who holds the Vietnam war silent inside him and an irritatingly perceptive mother who adores him. One with a brother in prison, leaving him with questions his parents will never answer, and two grown-up sisters, making him a sort of fake only child, which is pretty depressing, when you think about it. 

Ari’s not particularly interested in making friends - most people know to leave him alone, and that’s just fine with him. But then he meets Dante Quintana, an irrepressible, erudite boy who appears at the local pool and offers to teach him to swim. Ari doesn’t like accepting help. But for whatever reason, he says yes to Dante. 

Ari is moody rain and fierce loyalty, a self-professed expert loner. Dante is sunlight and poetry and smart-aleck comebacks. They’re utterly different. They’re remarkably alike. 

Together, they might discover the secrets of the universe. 

By the time I read Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, not only did I have high expectations, I felt I had a pretty good sense of the overall trajectory of the story. Historical queer romance? Coming-of-age tale? When you read a lot, you often go into books with a decent sense of what they’ll be like based on the loose sketch you’ve gotten from the flap and - when they’re as acclaimed and successful as this one - the reviews and recommendations. While each is unique, they often fit semiconscious, overall molds. 

Not this one. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe was entirely different than I was expecting, carrying on in its own way, politely brushing my expectations aside each time I thought I knew what was going to happen next. Instead of the standard three-act love story I was expecting, I was launched into a stunning meditation on growing up, on figuring out who you are, and on the complexity of families and secrets and being a teenager, all while remaining unwaveringly fresh and authentic. Some books - just a few - capture that ineffable essence of growing up, of hovering on that border between childhood and adulthood; The Perks of Being a Wallflower comes to mind. This is one of them. 

It’s rare for me to fall in love with an entire cast of characters, but it happened here. All the characters, including both sets of parents, are complex and flawed and effortlessly human, and all felt real; their dialogue is particularly strong and believable. Ari is a captivating protagonist, messy, witty, wickedly smart and surprisingly introspective, while Dante’s brilliance, quirkiness, and indescribable individuality shine. I was especially struck by Sáenz’s remarkable ability to tell readers a great deal without outright saying anything of the sort, particularly concerning Ari himself: one is so deeply enmeshed in his mind, his life, and his feelings that one often viscerally understands his emotions and thoughts without his actually admitting to them. 

A tale of family, friendship, secrets, love, growing up, and, at its very heart, being human, I would highly recommend this raw, thoughtful, beautiful story to readers ages 14 and up. It’s also excellent on audio.

By Nico

​On the ice, Mars is at home. Everywhere else, they have to deal with the realities of seventh grade, the recent death of their father, and the knowledge that they’ll never be able to tell him that they’re nonbinary. But when they’re skating, all of that disappears. Here, they’re free to be themself.

Of course, ice skating also requires competing in the girl’s division, something Mars barely considers until they’re challenged by another skater—the new skating partner of their best friend—to see if they can beat him in a real competition. That means Mars competing in the boy’s division, something that would be far less problematic if it didn’t mean keeping so many secrets.

As Mars’s plans to beat the other skater develop, they must reckon not just with their grief and strained friendships but also what it means to be nonbinary in a relentlessly binary world.

In the constant debate about trans kids in sports, particularly youth sports, nonbinary kids are too often forgotten entirely—so when I came across Skating on Mars, I immediately knew I had to check it out. It didn’t disappoint! Thoughtful, authentic, and fast-paced, this book delves into the complicated realities of being a nonbinary kid in sports today. I really liked Mars—their conflict and struggles felt utterly relatable, and I particularly liked the realism with which they interacted with the supporting cast. If you loved Ana on the Edge, or want a realistic fiction novel with the same defiant fire of Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston, definitely check this one out! I highly recommend Skating on Mars to readers ages ten and up.