YA Novels Filled with Mystery and Suspense

When I decided to make this month's blog focus on mysteries, I wondered, what's the difference between thriller, suspense and mystery novels? Asking AI, I learned in a thriller the protagonist is in danger from the outset.  In suspense novels the main character may become aware of danger only gradually.  In a mystery, the reader is exposed to the same information as the protagonist/detective to solve a crime. The three books I'm reviewing this month all have elements of mysteries. In The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss the main character, whose sister was murdered in season four of a TV show called The Escape Game, competes in season five, hoping to find her murderer. Whispers of Sea Glass by Wendy Lynn Decker is described as a historical mystery.  Set in Asbury Park, New Jersey, 1958, Ivy Munroe investigated the head nun at her catholic school, hoping to find something that would convince her parents to transfer her to public school. Although Megan Lally's  What We Did to Survive is advertised as a survivalist thriller, it also has elements of a mystery.  Hannah and Emmy are vacationing with their families in Mexico.  When they go out for a sail with Ben, a boy Emmy just met, they get caught in a storm.  But the sketchy captain and Ben turn out to be as dangerous as the weather. 

The Escape Game, the first book in a new series, begins with season four of a teen reality TV show, which ended with the shocking discovery of a dead body.  Alicia was a player in the vampire-themed escape room. In season five her sister Sierra, who was suspected of killing her sister, is back, determined to solve the murder. Her team, Team Helsing, includes Carter, star of the show’s fan-run website, Beck, a trans-boy, and Aditya, a bookworm pushed into the series by his mother. The clues to this mystery are woven with several escape room puzzles that the team must solve. 

Whispers of Sea Glass introduces Ivy Jean Munroe who longs to go to public rather than Catholic school.  Inspired by women of espionage novels, she investigates the school’s domineering head nun, whom she sees in civilian clothes, suspecting she’s running a house of prostitution. She enlists the help of Stella, a troublemaker at school.  Her investigation leads her into troubles she could not even imagine. 

In What We Did to Survive Hannah joins her best friend Emmy’s family for a spring break in Mexico. Hannah is heading off to nursing school, and Emmy, the more adventurous of the two, is going to travel the world, so they are celebrating before they go separate ways. Emmy meets wealthy Ben who invites her on a sailing excursion. He agrees to include Hannah and Emmy’s brother Jackson, whom Hannah has had a crush on since childhood.  Because of predicted storms, no reputable company will take them, so Ben hires a private sailboat with a sketchy captain. After a surprisingly carefree day on the water, they lose their captain in a mishap just as the storm hits and Ben shows his true colors. Each chapter ends on a cliffhanger, adding to the tension created by the weather and the relationships between the people onboard.

Classic Connections

            Literature and film are filled with retellings of classic stories with a modern twist.  In fact Shakespeare is quoted as saying, "There are only ten plots under the sun." The reimagining can change an number of elements in the story including the setting, the order of events or by  adding a character or changing the main characters,   In the Cinderella plot an under-regarded boy or girl overcomes all odds and comes out a winner. Sue Lynn Tan's Never Ever After reimagines the classic tale and sets it in China. Marissa Meyer reimagines Bluebeard in her new book House of Saphir. Blue Beard ( "Le Bleu") is dead, but his ghost haunts his castle and Mallory Fontaine is hired to get rid of his ghost. Kennedy Plumb's retelling of The Snow Queen, Secrets in Ice, changes the main characters to sisters. Nikki Sinclair accepts that her parents and sister died in an accident, until she begins receiving pleas for help from her sister.  

The first book in a new duology Never Ever After, is a dark retelling of Cinderella, steeped in Chinese folklore. The protagonist,  Yining, is a skilled thief.  She is given an enchanted ring which becomes essential to her well-being.  When it is stolen by her step-aunt, she tracks it to The Iron Mountain. There she becomes involved with the heir to the throne, Prince Zixin, who wants to marry her, and the calculating, secretive Jin, advisor to a rival court in the Thorn Valley.  She steals an invitation to a ball at the Palace of Nine Hills and finds that her heritage is tied to royalty.  Desperate to get the ring back to save her life, she gets involved in unraveling a mystery filled with palace intrigue and powers.

House of Saphir, a  retelling of Bluebeard, introduces Mallory Fontaine, a fraudulent “witch” who does tours of Count Bastien Saphir’s (Le Bleu's) home.  He brutally killed three of his wives (the fourth escaped) and has returned to haunt the estate.  When his great-great-grandson Armand shows up on one of her tours, he offers her a reward to get rid of Le Bleu’s ghost. Mallory and her sister Anais decide he is the perfect mark. Although Mallory can see ghosts, she has no magical powers. But when another woman is murdered at the House Saphir, Mallory is at the center of the investigation―and she is almost certain the killer is mortal. She finds herself falling for Armand but worries that he might be the culprit. If she has any hope of getting the reward she was promised, she’ll have to solve the murder and banish the ghost, all while upholding the illusion of witchcraft.

Changing the main characters to sisters, Secrets in Ice, is a  modern retelling of The Snow Queen.  Nikki Sinclair’s parents and sister were seemingly killed in a car accident 10 years ago.  The police ruled it a triple homicide, but their bodies were never found. Nikki, heiress to a huge fortune, lives on her family’s estate.  When she begins getting texts that her sister Lizzy is still alive, she wonders if her sister is really dead. She enlists the help of true crime podcaster Kieran Bergstrom to help find her. This is a  story of a sister's love, seeking justice against all odds,. The mystery is complex, involving politics, money and family secrets.  Analyzing the elements that have been changed in a reimagining is a great way to teach students, not only about classic plot lines, but how to change elements and make the story their own.  After reading a classic connection, ask kids to choose a classic story and make it their own. 

New YA Romances: With a Little Luck, GILM! and Heartless Hunter

 It's February and love is in the air, laced with a little magic.  Three new YA romances employ magic to move the plot along.   With a Little Luck by Marissa Meyer (Cinder) introduces Jude, a Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) playing introvert, who finds a magic twenty-sided die that changes his luck in love and life. GILM! by Brian Corley has the protagonist employing a magical spell to help him write a popular song to win the girl. Heartless Hunter: The Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli pits witches against witch hunters in a battle for control, so that they may freely practice their magic. 

In With a Little Luck, Jude, an introverted artist whose parents own Vinyl Ventures music store, spends his time drawing comics, working at his parents' store, hosting D&D nights with his friends, and pining after Maya, a girl he has had a crush on since elementary school. One night Jude finds a red 20-sided die, and he begins experiencing an uncanny bout of good luck.  His comic book art is chosen for publication, his best friend Ari's song becomes a finalist in a song competition, and he wins tickets to a concert, which he asks Maya to, and she accepts.  The concert date goes incredibly well, and Maya joins his D&D group, but then he misplaces the red die and his good luck turns bad. He discovers that his crush on Maya was more about the unattainable, and he's really in love with Ari, but wonders if it's too late to let her know how he feels. Jude's comics, which are based on the games he creates as dungeon master for his D&D group, penned by Chuck Gonzalez, are included in the text. As Ari makes it to the last round of finals in the song writing competition, Jude wonders if the song about unrequited love is actually about them. Jude's narration, which includes breaking the fourth wall, is engaging and the chemistry between Ari and Jude is palpable. Readers will enjoy his journey of realization. 

GILM!, (an admittedly odd title), is about a boy who is challenged to write a song about a word that rhymes with film. Geoff Smith, a recent transplant from Texas to Portland, has a single father who is a collector of magical oddities.  When Geoff finally talks to his crush Corrinne, he offends her by saying he dislikes musicals, and brags that he is a songwriter himself and is in a band (although it's in Texas.) She challenges him to write a song that has a word in it that rhymes with film. If he succeeds, she will go out with him.  After drawing a blank, he goes home and finds one of his dad's book on magical spells.  Executing one, he wishes to write a popular song that includes a word rhyming with film and his wish is granted.  However, be careful what you wish for!  He arrives at school the next day and his song Gilm! is on everyone lips. To make matters worse, his father can't stop saying it. Now Geoff has to find a way to undo the spell but keep the girl. The author is a songwriter/musician in the rock band The Mars McClanes, who have recorded a new song of the same name, which in turn inspired the novel. 

Heartless Hunter: The Crimson Moth is the first book in a duology set in the Republic of Red Peace, where witches once ruled, but are now hunted by witch hunters known as the Red Guard.  Teenage Rune Winters, a wealthy socialite, is known for turning in her own witch grandmother to be purged.  However, Rune was persuaded to do so by her grandmother, to save herself.  To vindicate her death, Rune operates in secret as the Crimson Moth, who helps witches escape the Purge.  Her grandmother charged her with finding the witch Seraphine for help, and to do so she courts Gideon Sharpe, the head of the red Guard, hoping to get a clue about her location. In turn Gideon suspects Rune of being the Crimson Moth and returns her advances, trying to catch her in the act.  What they didn't expect was to fall in love.  The complexity of the conflict paints neither side as wholly good nor evil. A dramatic ending sets up the sequel in which the two factions will continue their battle. 

New YA Fantasies: Realm Breaker, Steelstriker and Gilded

 Three popular fantasy authors have new books out that might be perfect for holiday gift giving. Victoria Aveyard (Red Queen series) kicks off a new series with Realm Breaker, which introduces a world where doors to other realms must be closed before an evil entity can seize power.  Marie Lu (Legend series) wraps up the Skyhunter series with Steelstriker, chronicling the battle to overthrow the Premier and dismantle the controlling Karensa Federation in a dystopian world. Marissa Meyer (Lunar Chronicles series) reimagines Rumpelstiltskin in Gilded, adding a romance between the miller's daughter and the magical being who spins the straw into gold. 

Realm Breaker is set in Allward, a world where Spindles - doors to other realms - are thought to be a myth, as are the Immortals and Elders, beings who can manipulate the Spindlegates that connect Allward to other realms.  The prologue details a disastrous battle which takes place when Companions of the Realm seek to stop Taristan, a rogue Immortal, and his wizard accomplice from using a Spindleblade to tear new spindles between realms to aid the evil entity he worships.  Half the companions are human and half are Immortals.  The only two who escape with their lives are Elder Domacridhan and Andry, squire to the knight Cortael, who manages to flee with Cortael's spindleblade.  When the story begins, Dom and Andry are heading to a Spindle temple to thwart Taristan's plans. They must engage the help of Corayne, secret daughter of Cortael and a pirate queen, who has the corblood required to wield the spindleblade.  Along the way they enlist the aid of assassin Sorasa and others to help their cause.  Shifting viewpoints and flashbacks detail the characters' backstories, setting up the quest to protect Allward and make sure the Spindles that can open destabilizing passages between realms are closed.  This complex tale will have readers spellbound as the ragtag band of heroes overcomes one challenge after another. 

Steelstriker, the final book in the Skyhunter duology, opens six months after the fall of Mara, as the Karensa Federation absorbs the formerly free nation into its empire.  Talin, an elite striker for Mara, has been taken hostage and turned into a skyhunter, a war machine complete with steel wings.  The story alternates between Talin's point-of-view and Red's, a skyhunter who escaped the Federation and bonded with Talin in the series opener.  Although held captive by Premier Constantine, who uses the threat of killing her mother to control her, Talin tries to aid her friends who are still waging a rebellion against the Federation.  As the Premier tries to harness a technology used by the "Early Ones," (presumably nuclear power) he is sabotaged by people in his inner circle.  Several of Mara's strikers have been taken prisoner and are awaiting execution or transformation into zombielike monsters called Ghosts.  Talin and Red communicate telepathically to orchestrate a rescue and a plan to overthrow the Premier in this romantic action-packed series closer.  I would recommend reading Skyhunter (see review in my October 2020 blog) prior to Steelstriker.

In Gilded, an inventive reimagining of Rumpelstiltskin, the sadistic Erlking and his undead followers appear every full moon to steal children and hunt magical creatures.  The miller's daughter Serilda knows to stay in on those nights, but she hears the hellhounds chasing two moss maidens and feels compelled to save them.  She hides them in their root cellar only to be confronted by the Erlking, whom she tells she's harvesting straw to spin into gold.  He departs but abducts her on the next full moon and takes her to his undead castle. He throws her into a cell piled with hay and threatens to kill her if she doesn't spin it into gold.  She assumes she is doomed until Gild, a redheaded undead teen, appears and completes her task.  She is immediately drawn to him and and looks forward to their next encounter.  Their star-crossed romance, as well as the suspense-filled conflict with the Erlking and the cliffhanger ending, will leave readers anxious to read the sequel Cursed, which comes out November 8, 2022.

Blue Spruce Award winner

 The Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult book award has been facilitating teen nominations and selection of teens' favorite books since 1985. This is the last year for the award in its present iteration, however, another group may be creating a similar teen book award in the near future.  This year's winner, Allies by Alan Gratz, is a fictionalized account of D-Day, which weaves together individual experiences from six different operations in settings across Europe.  The narrative covers a sea invasion, French citizens and Resistance Fighters on land, and soldiers arriving by air, but focuses repeatedly on Dee, a German fighting on the American side and hiding his identity from his best friend Sid, a Jewish American soldier. The account is historically accurate, but covers a very diverse cast of main characters.  In the end all the stories come together showing that it took a great deal of cooperation to defeat the Nazis in WWII.  Gratz has a new novel coming out this month, Ground Zero which is a dual tale taking place at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and in battle torn Afghanistan on September 11, 2019. 

This month I am going to review new books by three past winners of the Blue Spruce Award. Neal Shusterman won the 2019 award for Scythe, the first book in a series about controlling population in a futuristic society where death by natural causes has been eliminated.  His new book Game Changer, is set in the multiverse and takes on issues of racism, classism, misogyny and homophobia. Angie Thomas was the 2018 winner for The Hate You Give, which is about the fatal shooting of a black teen by a police officer. She published On the Come Up about an aspiring female rapper in 2019. Marissa Meyer was the 2015 winner for Cinder, the first in the Lunar Chronicles series that reimagines Cinderella as a cyborg. She has written a new book about a girl who has the ability to surreptitiously punish wrong doers in Instant Karma.

Game Changer, set in the multiverse, introduces linebacker  Ash Bowman, who gets thrown into a new world every time he suffers a hard tackle. As he travels though various "Elsewheres," he experiences segregation, being gay, being female and various levels of family wealth.  He is the "chosen one," navigating different realities, trying to change things for the better with each shift. His relationships with his family (mom, brother and professional football player father), the team quarterback and the girlfriend he abuses, his black best friend and his sister and Ash's gay math tutor, serve as foils for his exploration of racism, homophobia, misogyny and classism.  Ash's changes in perspective prompt him to develop a greater sense of empathy and urgency regarding the suffering of others.  As I said in my August blog, the multiverse is a popular topic in new YA novels, and Shusterman's new novel is a strong addition to the lexicon.

In On the Come Up Bri is aspiring rapper who is following in her late father's footsteps. She records "On the Come Up" to protest the assault she endured at the hands of white security guards at her high school and the racial profiling that goes on there.  The song goes viral, and Bri hopes to get a recording contract and help lift her family out of poverty, but her mother and brother worry.  The song espouses violence which really isn't who Bri is, and some listeners paint her as a violence inciting black girl. Tension mounts as Bri's mother loses her job, and Bri's beloved aunt and  musical mentor goes to jail for dealing drugs.  Her late father's manager promises fame and wealth - at a price.  She must agree to sing songs she hasn't written that promote the idea that she is a tough girl from the hood.  Bri must decide if she wants to sell her identity for success. Her thoughts and lyrics permeate the narrative, speaking truth to power. Angie Thomas, who was an aspiring rapper herself, paints a vivid picture of the challenges kids face when trying to escape a life of poverty and oppression. Thomas's latest book Concrete Rose which came out January 12th is a prequel to The Hate You Give. It tells the story of Maverick Carter, Starr's father, as he navigates fatherhood, gang life and family loyalty.

In Instant Karma judgmental overachiever Prudence Daniels finds herself with the ability to cast instant karma on people around her.  She is thrilled to punish everyone from vandals to mean girls, but the one person she can't seem to impact is her slacker lab partner Quint Erickson.  Hoping to get a redo on their joint lab project on which they received a C, she agrees to volunteer at the rescue center for local sea animals, where he works.  As she begins to uncover the truth about environmental hazards, she also discovers Quint is more noble than she ever imagined. The punishments continually backfire on her, and Pru slowly realizes that good and bad are not so clear. This enemies to lovers rom com is a fun beach read, with the bonus of a informative look at animal rescue centers. 

2015 Blue Spruce Award winner and more

Cinder, the first book in Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles, won this year's Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award.  This re-imagining of the Cinderella story set in a futuristic dystopian world introduces Cinder, a cyborg who is a gifted mechanic on a plague ridden planet which is under attack by  ruthless aliens led by Queen Levana.  When Cinder is called in to work on one of Prince Kai's droids, her life becomes intertwined with his, and she finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle and a forbidden romance. The sequel, Scarlet, a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, introduces new characters, Scarlet and Wolf, to the tale and Cress, a retelling of Rapunzel, adds Cress and Thorn to the mix.  In January Fairest, a prequel that tells Queen Levana's story was released and the final book Winter will come out in November 2015.   If you haven't already enjoyed this series, you have some entertaining reading ahead.

The 2016 Blue Spruce nominees include three new fantasy series that I would highly recommend.  Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes paints a complex world where three kingdoms are vying for power, as Hawks known as Watchers survey the conflict from above. Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch introduces Primoria, a world where the kingdom of Spring has defeated Winter and enslaved all but eight of the surviving Winterians. Those eight are hoping to regain the slain Winterian Queen's magic locket and restore her son to the throne. In The Winner's Curse Marie Rutkoski crafts a world of aristocrats and slaves, where a general's daughter falls in love with a slave with royal heritage.

In Falling Kingdoms three kingdoms, Auranos, Paelsia and Limeros, are struggling for supremacy. A prophecy foretells the birth of a powerful sorceress, ancient legend tells of a ring that provides mastery over the Kindred, four elemental crystals that give their owners god-like power, and Hawks oversee the struggles, hoping to find the Kindred and reclaim power for themselves. Cleo, an Auranian princess who sister is dying, travels to a dangerous land looking for magic to cure her. Jonas, a Paelsian rebel who brother was killed by Cleo's fiance, leads the people's revolution in that land  and is looking for revenge.  Prince Magnus and his sister Lucia live in Limeros where people are plotting to overthrow Cleo's father, who temporarily is in control. War is on the horizon and these four young people are caught in the middle of it.  A quest to find the Kindred, as well as the sorceress who can control all the elements ensues.  As the book draws to a close there are many tantalizing questions left unanswered. Rebel Spring and Gathering Darkness, the next two books in the six book series are available.  Fans of complex fantasy series will want to read all six.

Snow Like Ashes finds Meira, an orphan who is a Winterian warrior-in-training, in hiding with six other warriors and Prince Mather, the heir to the throne. Meira is in love with Mather, but is deemed unworthy to be his queen. Sixteen years prior to the opening of the book, King Angra of the kingdom of Spring defeated the kingdom of Winter, enslaved its people and stole the Royal Conduit, a locket used by Winter's female ruler to magically aid her country. Meira is able to reclaim half the locket from its hiding place (the other half is around King Angra's neck) but leads Spring scouts back to the Winterian camp. The refugees must flee to the kingdom of Cordell where Meira meets the delightful Prince Theron and discovers she has been betrothed to him in exchange for Cordell's help in killing King Angra.  There is a dramatic twist at the end that is both believable and unpredictable and will leave readers clamoring for the sequel Ice Like Fire which is due in 2015.

The Winner's Curse is the first book in the Winner's Trilogy. When Kestrel, the daughter of an Valorian general, buys Arin, a handsome Herrani slave, at an auction, she is not quite sure what motivated her to do so.  She soon finds that Arin is cultured, musically gifted, and involved in plotting a Herrani uprising. As they spend more and more time together, they cannot deny their mutual attraction. Tables turn when the Herranis take over the city and Kestrel becomes Arin's prisoner. She uses her skills as a military strategist and gambler in a risky plot to free herself and negotiate peace. The satisfying ending allows this book to be read as a stand alone; however, unfinished elements of the love story will entice readers to pick up The Winner's Crime which comes out in March 2015.

To read about the rest of the 2016 Blue Spruce nominees go to http://www.coloradobluespruceaward.org/