Charlton-Trujillo offers a hard-hitting third novel that swings between incredibly painful low moments and hard-won victories.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
The voice of a dry and direct third-person narrator works in a story laden with heavy topics, including war, death, suicide, cutting, bullying, and homosexuality.
—School Library Journal (starred review)
Entrancingly eccentric prose, a protagonist “jam-packed with awkward” and a military sister missing in action coalesce into a memorable romance that’s rockier than might be expected—and more realistic.
—Kirkus Reviews
Angie’s gradual grieving process, which takes her through crushing embarrassment as well as bittersweet triumph, will move readers as it takes up multiple contemporary issues and processes them with both credibility and considerable rhetorical finesse.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Angie epitomizes the hidden anger and self-abusive mentality of the traumatized victim. While she does not completely recover, Angie’s discovery of worth and direction in life leaves the reader with a hopeful ending.
—VOYA
Charlton-Trujillo’s prose has all the muscular self-confidence Angie thinks she lacks. Perhaps channeling both cummings and Block, she fills her pages with startling and often funny wordplay. In an age dominated by bland, first-person narration, her fresh style stands out and grabs readers in the most pleasing way possible. ... It’s impossible not to love Angie.
—Kirkus Reviews Online
This is a novel of many dimensions... [It] is filled with so many different elements that it will appeal to a wide range of readers.
—Library Media Connection
Beautifully written, dark and wildly funny, this book will have you crying, raging and cheering.
—Waking Brain Cells
Angie deals with some very heavy situations — war, death, first love, addiction, and alienation — but her perspective and attitude are so fresh and novel that the book transcends 'issues' status and registers as a bona fide original. Highly recommended.
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
This is part two in B&N’s two-part spotlight on six incredible LGBTQ+ authors currently writing YA. This post highlights Meredith Russo, Adam Silvera, and Sara Farizan. Find part one, featuring authors Fox Benwell, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Erica Cameron, here. Meredith Russo Meredith Russo’s debut novel, If I Was Your Girl, isn’t due out until May 3, but it’s already making waves in the […]
Forget basketball; the real March Madness is this week’s new YA releases. You could read three books a day (do it, do it!) this week and still have more on your list! A powerful debut about life in foster care, a time-traveling romance, and an update of Strangers on a Train will get your blood pumping, […]
Spring has sprung and with it comes an extravaganza of YA. March introduces readers to necromancers, dystopian technopaths, a lesbian werewolf, and the wonders of TropeTown, in which every citizen embodies a literary trope. Charlotte Holmes is back to investigate the crimes only she can solve, the sequel to Dhonielle Clayton’s The Belles is finally […]
Sequels serve up some complicated emotions, as they finally give us the answers we’ve been waiting for while simultaneously moving us closer to the end of a beloved series. But no matter how bittersweet, sequels are meant to be read on release day, so make sure these dates are on your radar, and do yourself […]