YA

Audiobook: All the Crooked Saints

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by Maggie Stiefvater
Read by Thom Rivera
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There’s some swearing, including a couple of f-bombs. It is in the Young Adult Science Fiction section of the bookstore, but younger kids might be interested in it.

I’m not really going to sum up the plot, since I did that when I first read this book eight years ago. I did enjoy Rivera’s narration, though. And maybe I enjoyed this better as an audiobook. It felt like Rivera was sitting there telling me this tall tale about family and love and miracles. It’s the least Stiefvater-y book of all the ones I’ve read this year, but I still loved it. And yeah, while I see it’s problematic that Stiefvater is exploring a culture that isn’t hers, I still liked the way she wove religion and myth with Latinx culture and 1960s. It was a delightful audiobook to listen to.

Highly recommended on audio, especially.

Audiobook: The Scorpio Races

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by Maggie Stiefvater
Read by Steve West & Fiona Hardingham
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: It’s violent. But, if there’s a kid, say, 11 years old or so, who is interested in dark fairy-type tales, I’d give it to them. It’s in the Young Adult Bestsellers section of the bookstore.

Because this story isn’t this story without the first sentence: “It is the first day of November, and so, today, someone will die.”

I haven’t reread this in a handful of years, but I seem to be on a Stiefvater kick this year (seven of her books and counting!) and I couldn’t pass up the chance to listen to this one. And, like it always is, it’s an excellent story. The narrators did a wonderful job with the story, and I loved being back on Thisby in the thick of things again.

I adore Stiefvater’s work, and this is absolutely no exception.

Joy to the Girls

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by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick
First sentence: “I push through the heavy wooden doors out of the Cathedral of Learning, my last exam of the term finally complete.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Release date: Sept 30, 2025
Content: There is some swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and some fade-to-black sex. It’s in the YA Romance/Holiday section of the bookstore.

Alex and Molly are nearly done with college, and they both have plans for the future. The problem is that neither one of them has talked to the other about said plans. Alex wants to move in together; Molly wants to go to King’s College in London for an MFA. On top of that, it’s winter holiday, and their friend May has invited them and their other mutual friend, Cora (who has a crush on May), to her hometown, which happens to be all-in on Christmas. Can Alex and Molly make it through the trip with their secrets and their relationship intact (while also setting Cora and May up).

I’ll admit up front that I haven’t read the book that this novella is a spin-off of, and so maybe I’m missing something when it comes to character development. Because while this was cute, it was lacking. I was constantly annoyed that Alex and Molly just DIDN’T TALK TO EACH OTHER, and I felt not quite enough was spent on Cora and May getting together. (Also, there was a definite lack of figure skating.) It was cute, but not cute enough to make me really love it. Maybe if I were the intended audience (read: a fan of the first book) it would have sat differently.

The Guardians of Dreamdark: Windwitch

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by Laini Taylor
First sentence: “The wolf tasted the babe’s face with the tip of his tongue, and pronounced her sweet, and the fox licked the back of her head to see if it was so.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
I read my old edition; the new edition will be released on September 23, 2025.
Content: There are some intense moments of danger. It will be in the YA Science Fiction/Fantasy section in the bookstore.

I was on Instagram, when I stumbled across Laini Taylor announcing that she’s re-releasing her first book in a new edition. I was immediately excited, mostly because I remember loving this series and I know it’s been out of print for years. So, I decided to dig out my copies (which I have been meaning to reread for years) and give them a reread to see if they hold up.

And it does. I had one quibble: it’s not really a middle grade book anymore. Maybe 18 years ago, it was, but middle grade books have changed so much that I can’t really see giving this to anyone younger than 11 or 12. It’s not the content; it’s mostly Taylor’s writing style. She’s a very lush, descriptive writer (one of the things I like about her), and she’s not a very linear writer. Both of these add up to a more mature writing style for kids than I think kids are used to/want right now. I think my oldest read this when she was 11, but I couldn’t fathom giving it to my youngest at the same age, 10 years later. It’s a gorgeous book, with an intense plot, and the characters are fabulous, and it holds up all these years later. It’s just an older book than I remember it being.

Hekate

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by Nikita Gill
First sentence: “This is an ancient story written long before us.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is some violence and a hint of romance. It will be in the YA Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

I know I’ve heard the name Hekate before, but I’m not sure I knew her myth before reading this novel in verse. I’m going to assume that Gill took some liberties expanding the myth – putting Hekate at Troy, or raising Odysseus’s puppy from the dead, for example – but perhaps it mostly keeps to the general thread of the myth. It follows Hekate from her birth, through her exile in the Underworld, to her finding and coming into her powers – both witchcraft and necromancy – and helping the Olympians defeat the giants.

It’s a beautifully written book; the poems are lovely, and I liked following Hekate’s story. But – and perhaps it’s because it’s an epic story – I never really felt connected to Hekate or her story. I wanted to cheer for her or feel bad that she’s exiled from her parents, or feel something. I wanted Song of Achilles or Circe. And maybe it could have been. Maybe it wasn’t because it was in verse, because we weren’t given the chance to really delve into Hekate’s trauma or her motivations. Or maybe it’s because it’s geared towards young adults, when it’s not really a “young adult” story. I don’t know.

In the end, I liked it, but I didn’t love it. Which isn’t a bad thing.

The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel

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by Maggie Stiefvater, Stephanie Williams, Sas Milledge
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Content: Much like the source material, there is some mild swearing and references to teenage drinking. It’s in the Teen Graphic Novel section of the bookstore.

I’m not going to rehash the plot here because I read the audiobook earlier this year. My thoughts on this can be boiled down to this: I loved the art, but I missed the words. Milledge did an excellent job of capturing the boys and Blue. She was able to portray their personalities in the art (though I’d always pictured Gansey as a blonde, but oh well), and I loved seeing her interpretations of the locations in the book. The art is, in fact, quite lovely.

But I don’t read Stiefvater for the plots. (Unusual for me, but there it is.) I missed her words. The book -because it’s a graphic novel – it boiled down to the plot and honestly, there’s not much there there. Which means I didn’t get the soaring descriptions, the lovely turns of phrase, the things that make me truly love these books. It was…. just okay.

That’s not to say I’m not going to collect these for the art. It’s just not as good a read as the original is.

In the Serpent’s Wake

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by Rachel Hartman
First sentence: “Once there was a girl named Tess, Who’d got herself in a wretched mess.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Seraphina, Shadow Scale, Tess of the Road
Content: There is violence towards others, including colonizer violence, and talk of rape. It’s in the Young Adult Science Fiction section of the bookstore.

Tess has promised her quigutl friend, Pathka, that she will take him to the Sea World Serpent, especially after she was inadvertently responsible for the death of the Continental World Serpent. However, even though she’s on a voyage with noted scientist Countess Margarethe and her brother-in-law (of sorts) Jacomo, this task isn’t as easy as it seems. First: there’s the competing dragon expedition, headed by Spiro, whom Tess has had (unfortunate) dealings with. And then there’s the repeated warnings that the serpent is not for her- and other Deadlanders, as the island peoples call them – and she will not be allowed near.

It’s a simple story at it’s heart, but Hartman, because she’s a brilliant writer, has managed to weave in so much. The consequences of not saying anything in the face of injustice. The assumptions that class and privilege afford you. The choices we all make, for good or ill, and the fallout of those. And, most of all, reparations for those choices, especially when they’ve done ill (whether you’ve meant it or not). I marveled just how much Hartman was able to pack into this simple voyage story, and how satisfying it was, even if Tess didn’t succeed at her quest.

I’m not sure I’ll continue with the new one, at least not yet. But, if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading one of Hartman’s books, I’d highly suggest remedying that.

Sisters in the Wind

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by Angeline Boulley
First sentence: “My heart races when the handsome Native guy enters the diner.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: September 2, 2025
Review copy sent by the author
Content: There is violence against women; off-page teen sex and teenage pregnancy; and swearing, including a few f-bombs. It will be in the YA Contemporary (or maybe 2009 is history?) section of the bookstore.

Lucy’s dad died years ago, and she’s bounced through foster care. She’s finally on her own, and is making ends meet when two things happen: a Native man finds her and tells her that he’s a friend of her dead half-sister, that she didn’t know she had. And then a bomb blows up the diner where she worked and she’s injured. She’s thrown into a new world, one where Daunis and Jamie are supporting her and fighting for her, and introducing her to her mother’s family – a part of Lucy’s world that she didn’t want anything to do with, having been told her whole childhood that her mother “gave up her maternal rights”. As the mystery of who bombed the diner (and why), Lucy comes to terms with her Native heritage and with the trauma of being a part of the foster care system.

I adore Boulley’s storytelling, how she tackles tough subjects (foster care can be good, but is often terrible, especially for non-white kids) with grace and with heart and with characters that are complex and fully real. This one is told through a dual timeline – you see Lucy go through her father’s death and the subsequent foster care when her stepmother refuses to take care of her, and then the contemporary timeline after the blast and figuring out who is after Lucy. Boulley doesn’t shy away from dealing with the harm that white people have done to Native people, and doesn’t shy away from illustrating the results of that harm.

In short, this, like Boulley’s other books, is a powerful look at one girl’s story and the impact that knowing her heritage and family has on her.

Excellent.

Witchkiller

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by Ashlee Latimer
First sentence: “Hansel Henoth had not thought much or often about his death, but he was determined it not happen at the hands of a witch.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 7, 2025
Review copy provided by the publisher
Content: There is domestic violence – both Gretel’s father and brother abuse her. It will be in the YA Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

The world for Gretel after the witch died (did she kill her?) is not a good one. Sure, it’s a grand one: her brother, Hansel, stole the witch’s treasure, and he and their father bought a title so they have clothes and a home and servants. But Gretel lives in fear of the tempers of the men in her life. The best way out, she determines, is a good marriage. So, when Prince Wilfried offers his hand in marriage, she takes it. Except it doesn’t feel right. And then, one night, she stumbles on the witches in the woods, and suddenly feels… home. Will she have the courage to defy her family and follow her heart?

I was excited to read this one – I love a good feminist retelling of a fairy tale, one in which the main character finds her way to something new, something outside of the box. And this one seemed to have all the elements: gaslighting by the men, witches who lived outside of the patriarchial norm, a main character who slowly gains confidence in herself. And while this one had all those elements, it still didn’t quite land for me. Maybe it’s because I didn’t believe the Wilfried really fell in love with Gretel? Maybe I wasn’t convinced by Gretel’s decision in the end? Maybe it was too much Ansel and Hansel being cruel and not enough of Gretel standing up (she snuck around, more like)? I think, in the end, it just wasn’t enough of what I wanted. It’s not that it’s a bad book – it’s not! It’s a very good “what happens after” tale.

It’s just that I wanted more.

Audiobook: Lady’s Knight

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by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
Read by Helen Keeley & Barbara Rosenblat
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some violence – jousting and dragon-killing and the like; and two f-bombs. It’s in the YA Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Gwen has dreams. She is the blacksmith’s daughter, and is running the forge herself pretty much these days, but she has designed her own armor, and wants to try her hand at jousting. And one day, she earns enough money and enters the qualifying rounds of the tournament… and wins. She thinks it’s a one-off, but then Lady Isobelle finds her and convinces her to continue. It seems that Lady Isobelle is the prize for winning the tournament, and she doesn’t really want to marry any of the other knights. She convinces Gwen to be her champion in the tournament.

Gwen reluctantly agrees, follows Isobelle to the castle, where she pretends to be “Sir Gawain’s” sister, and… well, falls in love with Isobelle. There’s more to the plot – including terribly chauvinistic knights and a lady’s maid who might be an assassin – but that’s the basic premise.

Oh, this one was a delight. The back blurb (do audiobooks have a back blurb?) mentioned The Knight’s Tale as a comp, and I think that’s spot on. It’s Knight’s Tale but with lesbian girls, and I couldn’t have enjoyed myself more. It’s laugh-aloud funny at parts (LOVE the narrator who breaks the fourth wall), and yet had me ugly crying and the show of unity among women at the end. It’s fierce, it’s sweet, it’s a joy to read (and to listen to!). I can’t recommend this silly, sweet, fun book enough.