Kirkus: When three queer best friends in Alabama are inspired by The First Wives Club to exact revenge on their terrible exes, a homophobic school initiative takes their mission in an unexpected direction.
Ezra Hayes, who’s coded white, is accustomed to hiding in plain sight, but he feels that he’s fallen by the wayside once his two best friends, Lucas Rivera, who’s cued Mexican American, and Finley Lewis, who’s Black, get into relationships. Ezra thought his summer romance with Presley, the school’s star football player, would finally give him the chance to feel like the main character. But when Ezra discovers that Presley is cheating on him, Lucas and Finley also open up about the poor treatment they’ve received from their partners. Each teen has his own plan for revenge, and they set up an anonymous TikTok account called “Last Boyfriends.” Ezra decides to run against Presley for Winter Formal Lion King; he also burns Presley’s varsity jacket and posts the video to TikTok, tagging it #breakupchallenge. When their account goes viral, and Ezra’s Lion King campaign comes under fire (from the same leadership that dissolved the gay-straight alliance and is censoring library books), the trio’s priorities change, and they begin fighting for queer students everywhere. The friendships are fun and believable, Ezra’s single father is heartwarmingly supportive, and exciting twists keep the plot moving.
A pride-filled story complete with sass, love, and a timely message. (Fiction. 14-18)
Audrey’s mom, Camilla St. Vrain, wrote the self-help book Letters to My Someday Daughter that made her a household name; Audrey only wants to spend time with her boyfriend and work toward her own someday medical career. But Camilla has other plans, bringing Audrey on a tour to discuss the book Camilla wrote years ago. Pushed to answer invasive questions and constantly surrounded by her mother’s interns—including the irresistible Silas—at least Audrey gets a national tour of doctors out of the deal. But will her future even matter if she can’t make peace and connect with her mother? Full of themes around found family and forgiveness, O’Clover (Seven Percent of Ro Devereux, 2023) neatly layers the road-trip narrative over clever family drama and adds a surprise twist. Readers will find discussions of mental health, while immersive romantic relationship drama adds additional substance as Audrey navigates her complicated mother-daughter relationship. A solid addition to any contemporary young adult collection and no doubt resonant for teens growing up in front of their parents’ social media.
Booklist:
What would you do if no one could see you? In this surreal adventure, a boy who is used to being overlooked literally becomes invisible, only to realize there may be far more dangerous threats in his school than bullies.
You are cordially invited to the Beechwood Castle for a night you’ll never forget…
Publishers Weekly:
Riley Wynn went from a promising singer-songwriter to a superstar overnight, thanks to her breakup song concept album and its unforgettable lead single. When Riley’s ex-husband claims the hit song is about him, she does something she hasn’t in ten years and calls Max Harcourt, her college boyfriend and the real inspiration for the song of the summer.
Audio rights to J.S. Fields’s THE ROSEWOOD PENNY, on an island plagued by feral pegasi, Marani’s unusual invulnerability make her the perfect bandit frontman, until she robs the carriage of Princess Nuria and finds her murdered mother’s comb, to Kim Budnick at Tantor Media, in an exclusive submission, for Space Wizard Science Fantasy by Katie Shea Boutillier.
Italian rights to Jo Walton’s AMONG OTHERS, to Marco Rana at Edizione E/O, by Stefania Fietta at Donzelli Fietta, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.