By Nico

The Haunting of Lake Lucy will be released on May 14, 2024.

Jayce is just expecting to enjoy a normal vacation with his family and twin sister, Evie, at a summer house on Lake Lucy. But that’s before he starts seeing odd lights and movement in the windows of the abandoned house next door…oddities that call to mind the ghost that lurks in the corners of his dreams.

With Evie’s help, Jayce starts sending letters to the ghost to uncover the truth about it—and what it wants from him. But to do that, he’ll have to truly understand the story behind the haunting of Lake Lucy. And that might prove far more dangerous than he could’ve expected.

The Haunting of Lake Lucy is a fast-paced novel-in-verse that I highly enjoyed. I love novels in verse, but as someone who often steers clear of stories whose central plot reduces me to tears, I often sample the genre somewhat liberally. The Haunting of Lake Lucy satisfied my wish for an interesting, multilayered verse book that left me excited and wishing I could read more. Green’s well-written, descriptive verse propels the story forward and dropped me directly into Jayce’s thoughts and feelings, a level of personal intensity lent by the format which truly brought the story alive. It took me a few poems to orient myself to the characters and setting, but once I’d gotten to know them, I was able to truly absorb myself in the story. The setting felt particularly well-imagined to me—the mythos surrounding Lucy and the descriptions of the lake were notably vivid—and helped immerse me in the story. Although parts of this book were definitely creepy, I still found it appealing and engaging as someone who doesn’t always like horror-leaning stories (I’d place the level of creepiness around, or slightly less than, books like The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle and The Thickety). Overall, I recommend The Haunting of Lake Lucy to readers ages eight and up.
 
Thank you to Sandy Deutscher Green for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

By Nico

Oliver Bennet’s life does not seem too promising. With the impending threat of marriage only the latest reminder that the world still thinks he’s the girl he’s never been, his current solace—slipping out at night dressed in boy’s clothes, getting to be himself after pretending all day—looks on the verge of slipping out of reach. How can he hope to survive in a world, let alone in a marriage, that denies his very existence?

But Oliver meets Darcy, who not just treats him cordially, but seeks out his friendship. At first, Oliver is just glad that Darcy sees him as the boy he truly is. He never would’ve imagined that their friendship could become something more—or that someone could love the real Oliver.

Stuck between a false life, where he’s forced to wear petticoats and respond to a name that’s never been his, and a real one where he slips out at night to meet Darcy and discover the path he’s always dreamed of, Oliver knows that this precarious balancing act can’t last forever. With his family on the verge of learning the truth about him, Oliver must decide on his own terms how he wants to live his life, even if that means risking the only family he’s ever known.

I loved both The Wicked Bargain and Pride and Prejudice, so I knew going into Most Ardently book that it probably wouldn’t meet my extraordinarily high expectations. I was absolutely wrong. Gabe Cole Novoa delivers one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, which brought me several times to tears of joy (not something that often happens!) and, to be honest, gave me hope for the future.

To begin with, Oliver is absolutely fantastic. I immediately fell in love with his palpable longing, his strong friendships, and his worldview, all combined in a character who spoke to me so deeply that I struggled to put Most Ardently down. Due to the book’s short length, there were certainly characters I would’ve loved to see played with more (Mr. Collins and Wickam are the most obvious ones that jump out at me), but the flipside of this meant getting to spend the majority of the book with a smaller cast of characters, allowing me to get to know each of them incredibly well. I particularly loved how Gabe Cole Novoa created Darcy’s character, which felt incredibly true to the original while also gaining its own spark.

Novoa sticks to the original story but is never afraid to branch out to create a book that truly feels like it could’ve existed behind Pride and Prejudice all these years. The plotlines with Mr. Bennet and Wickam particularly leaps to mind, but honestly there wasn’t a single point in this book where my absorption in the story and suspension of belief were broken—something I very rarely see in a retelling, and yet was executed so flawlessly I didn’t even register it until the end.

The only place that might’ve felt a little too perfect was the ending, but honestly, I was so happy for all the characters that I couldn’t bring myself to mind! I highly recommend Most Ardently to readers ages twelve and up, particularly those who love historical fiction or feel-good trans romance. 

By Nico

Homeschooler Shai has grown up with their struggling mom and their best friend, Mille. Life hasn’t always been easy, but their family and friends have supported them through everything, including coming out as genderfluid a few months ago.

But back when COVID started, Shai started picking at the hair on their arms—and even though lockdown is long over, they haven’t managed to stop. Luckily, they have a plan to break the habit: they’ll strike out and make a new normal for themself. A new normal that includes going to public school for the first time.

Their plan, though, doesn’t predict her entering as a ninth grader instead of an eighth grader when her test scores place her ahead. Or her growing distance from Mille as she gets to know new friends at school. Or a project that leaves them exploring their Jewish heritage for the first time.

As public school turns out to be a little more than Shai bargained for, they’ll have to find a normal for themself that’s not just new, but right, too.

I’ve loved every book A. J. Sass has written, and Just Shy of Ordinary is not just no exception—it might be my favorite yet! Thoughtful, authentic, and hopeful, this book quite literally feels like it’s about me a few years ago, and every inch of it rings true. Quiet but incredibly compelling, I particularly loved its exploration of identity and how different facets of our lives intersect to make us who we are.

A lot of middle-grade books, particularly those centered on evolving friendships, can feel a bit drama-prone, but this was the opposite, instead encapsulating the day-to-day challenges and changes of middle and high school with an impeccable and irresistible realism. I loved Shai; their anxiety, stubborn self-sufficiency, and reactions to public school made me instantly connect with them, and watching them grow and learn was so much fun. The feeling of change was so palpable in this book, and so were all the things it triggers—anxiety, uncertainty, struggles—but throughout it all the sense of hope ties together this story into something not just uplifting, but beautiful. I highly recommend Just Shy of Ordinary to readers ages ten and up, particularly those who love middle-grade realistic fiction or fell in love with Ana on the Edge. 

Lies My Teacher Told Me comes out on April 16th, 2024. 

Woodrow Wilson. Abraham Lincoln. Christopher Columbus. Those are the names that stand out in American history classes—the people heroized for their actions, or their personality, or, when you really dig into it, just because they were part of the dominant class at the time. But who were they, really? And why are they the people we remember?

Lies My Teacher Told Me tells the stories left out of (or radically changed in) the usual American history textbook—and invites readers to reconsider what they’re learning by thinking about who’s telling this story, and what’s being omitted. From the ‘discovery’ of the Americas to the Civil Rights Movement and beyond, it analyzes the lies, embellishments, and omissions that characterize the typical US history curriculum and uses them to consider American society as a whole, and the beliefs this one-dimensional portrayal of history perpetrates.

As a fan of the original Lies My Teacher Told Me, I knew immediately when I saw this book that I had to read it. This graphic novel adaptation of the original (a nonfiction classic with the same premise) captures the core ideas, messages, and thoughts while streamlining it into something immensely readable, making it accessible to a whole new audience without losing any of the purpose.

This is probably the most text-heavy graphic novel I’ve read, which meant that it managed to include way more information in under 300 pages than I would’ve thought possible, while still taking advantage of the illustrations and handwriting styles to carry the reader more fluidly through the narrative. That said, although it’s an easy read, it’s not a quick one; I often read graphic novels in one or two sittings, but I found this one was better to read in smaller chunks (a chapter at a time, for example), so I was able to really consider what I’d read before plunging into the next section.

If you’re a history nerd, a graphic novel connoisseur, or just exasperated by your US history class, this is a book for you! I highly recommend Lies My Teacher Told Me: The Graphic Adaptation to readers ages twelve and up.

​An e-ARC of this book was provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

​RR: One of my favorite parts of Bianca Torre was the fact that as much as it's a book about Bianca figuring out their identity, it's also a chaotic murder mystery with a side of romance. What was it like weaving together so many plotlines, and how did you choose to combine so many seemingly unrelated elements (murder, birding, lesbian sheep, anxiety, theater, and plague masks) into such an engrossing and unique story? 

JPW: Truly, I'm just thankful other people enjoyed it, because I just put in a lot of things I liked/have experience with. I was a theater kid and acting major, so a lot of my books will make fun of (lovingly) actors. While I don't think any character I write is 100% like me, I do put aspects of myself into all of my main characters and all of my books. I wrote books before Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything (like... quite a few) but this one was the first time I really put a lot of myself and my humor into a project. Looking back, maybe I went a little overboard lol but I'm still so happy that others are able to resonate with the variety of references and content! It definitely took a lot of revision to really tie everything into the mystery--although the birding aspects were there from the start! ​


RR: What books inspired you when you were growing up?