New Suspense-filled YA Novels

 Suspense is a state of anxiety or excitement caused by uncertainty, doubt or undecidedness in a narrative work.  Suspense is the audience's anticipation about the plot or conflict, particularly as it affects a character for whom the audience feels sympathy. Three new YA titles this month elicit that excitement for the female protagonists. In Dead Girls Don't Say Sorry by Alex Ritany Nora Radford explores the truth about her toxic relationship with her best friend Julia, after she dies in a car accident. Cancelled by Farrah Penn introduces Brynn Whitaker, who is a "flirting coach" for her classmates.  When she is wrongly accused of hooking up with another girl's boyfriend, she must proves her innocence or face ostracism for the rest of her senior year. Make Me a Liar by Melissa Landers adds a sci-fi twist to a similar plot.  Tia Dante is an "immersionist."  She can swap bodies with a consenting person and handle difficult situations for them. But when someone uses her vacated body to commit a murder, she must find the culprit or go to jail. 

In alternating chapters Dead Girls Don't Say Sorry chronicles the years before and after Nora Radford's best friend Julia dies in a car accident. The two have been inseparable since fifth grade and plan to go to McGill University together.  But then Nora gets the opportunity to apply early admission for a journalism program a TMU, and things between the girls begin to deteriorate. Complicating matters, Nora's childhood friend Dillan moves back to town, and they rekindle their friendship, making Julia jealous.  The truth about the girls' toxic relationship is slowly revealed, as Nora discovers Julia's betrayals that have sabotaged her future. Nora struggles with her feelings of guilt and grief over Julia's death, as she processes what really happened.  The author's pacing, dialogue and characters propel the reader through Julia's gut-wrenching discoveries, as she tries to make peace with what happened and move on with her life. 

Cancelled finds serial dater Brynn Whitaker giving advice to fellow high schools on how best to communicate with their crushes and score dates. Her much-needed income as a flirting coach is threatened when she goes to a Halloween party dressed in a banana costume, and an anonymous video surfaces of a person in the same costume hooking up with her ex-best friend's boyfriend.  Being ostracized at school, she is determined to find the identity of the actual person in the video. As she gets closer to the truth, she realizes she doesn't want to slut shame another girl, but rather turn the tables on the misogynistic attitude that exonerates the male cheater.  She and her friends form a "femolution" club, denouncing sexism in the school.  Her social group includes a trans girl, a pansexual hijabi wearing girl, a pregnant classmate and her swoon worthy twin brother.  With her income, her scholarship and college recommendations on the line, Brynn must prove her innocence once and for all.  

Make Me a Liar has a similar plotline with a sci-fi twist.  Tia Dante is an immersionist, a person who can swap bodies with a person with their consent.  Tia uses her ability to help classmates do things they are afraid to do for themselves, such as standing up to bullies, breaking up or coming out - all for a price.  When someone borrows her body while she is swapping and murders the district attorney, Tia is suspected of murder.  With the aid of her ex-boyfriend Nash, who she finds out is an immersionist himself, Tia attempts to prove her innocence.  Tia's first-person narration reveals her to be a witty irreverent teen (Pies before guys) with a penchant for trouble.  Nash, who broke up with her, realizes his error and works to win her back. A secret supernatural organization and international mobs, as well as criminal justice issues, make this a real page-turner.  

Debut Series: Alienated, Half Bad and Defy

New series by debut authors or authors new to young adult literature are always exciting discoveries.  One wonders if the series will be huge successes like Veronica Roth's Divergent series or Lauren Oliver's Delirium series, or if they will languish on remainders tables. This month I am recommending three new series that I hope will find an audience. Alienated by Melissa Landers, explores what might happen when alien exchange students come to Earth.   Sarah B Larson's Defy introduces a familiar story about a girl who must pose as a boy to survive, but the plucky heroine and the unexpected twists make it a fun read. Finally, Half Bad by Sally Green imagines a world where two factions of witches  Black and White, battle for dominance.

In Alienated high school student Cara Sweeney is chosen to host the first alien exchange student, Aelyx, on Earth. Not only will she get a college scholarship, she will also get to visit his planet L’eihr. What she doesn't anticipate is the prejudice against the L’eihrs and the danger it creates for her and Aelyx. As one by one her friends abandon her, she turns to Aelyx for love and support, but he is harboring secrets plans with deadly consequences. Will his love for her persuade him to abandon the plot, or will his loyalty to his planet prevail? Aelyx's fish out of water behavior and Cara's initial annoyance with him, followed by their slowly developing affection for each other, are just a few highly entertaining  plot elements in this refreshingly new exploration of prejudice. 

Taking place in the war torn kingdom of Antion, Defy, chronicles the story of Alexa, who, after her parents are murdered, must disguise herself as Alex to avoid being sent to the breeding house.  She and her brother Marcel join Prince Damian's elite guard, where her sword-fighting skills, coupled with her emerging magical powers, make her a force to be reckoned with.  When Marcel, the only one who knows her secret, is killed, she doesn't know who to trust.  Then a visiting sorcerer kidnaps her, the Prince and her fellow guard Rylan, in the hope of finding a way to negotiate an end to the war.  As the three are held prisoner, Alex is faced with her emerging romantic feelings for both men, as well as her conflicted emotions about her duty to serve the king, whose plans are not in the country's best interest.  All is not as it seems in this story of political intrigue and romance.

Although Half Bad was not my favorite of the three series, it probably has the best chance of success, as it has already been optioned for a movie by Fox Searchlight and rights have been sold in 27 countries.  The series, which is set in a modern day London filled with witches, introduces Nathan, a Half Code, a half white, half black witch.  His father, Marcus, who is the world's most powerful black witch, has been absent Nathan's whole life and his mother is dead.  After being forced to go through yearly evaluations to determine whether he is a black or white witch, Nathan is finally locked up in a cage and tortured by the witch council, which is hoping to persuade him to kill his father.  Nathan escapes and begins the hunt for Marcus, so that he can convince him to bestow upon him the three gifts promised to witches when they turn 17. The first book in the new trilogy sets up a world where the forces of good and evil are ambiguous at best, yet Nathan is an anti-hero that readers can root for.