New Reviews: Young Adult

Three versatile narrators portray nine characters who are involved with the story of 17-year-old Amber, who discovers that she's been dead for seven years and that all the relationships she once knew have fractured. Gail Shalan depicts Amber's emotions--horror at her mother's response to her death, shock at her parents' failed marriage, surprise that her sister is now her age,... Read More

Narrated by a talented cast, 12 stories in verse by various well-known authors explore the topic of love. Young people ponder the meaning of love, illuminating the glories and complications of love in its various forms: romantic love, familial love, love for oneself, and love for animals. The collection ranges from twelfth-century India to late-nineteenth-century Germany and to... Read More

Stevie Henry, a Cherokee teen, is running out of time to survive impending world disasters unless she takes up the offer of a mysterious stranger from the future. DeLanna Studi's narration carries a quiet gravity that immediately sets the dark tone of this dystopian novel. Her nuanced performance captures the weight of Stevie's struggle as she is drawn into a secret mission to... Read More

Narrators Carolina Do and VyVy Nguyen delight listeners as two foodie teens who fall in love in Vietnam in this sweet sapphic YA romance. ViVi, a Vietnamese American college student, has always been curious about her family's heritage. She follows a Vietnamese street food blog and ends up studying abroad in Sài Gòn (Saigon). Lan, another teen, is the author of the food blog.... Read More

Renée Watson narrates her semiautobiographical collection of free-verse and short-form poems, which introduce listeners to the lyricism of her writing. Her delivery features repeated rhythmic patterns, haunting repetitions, and startling imagery. Race, class, and gender are eloquently rendered in poems on possibility, resilience, celebration, and the power of womanhood. Topics... Read More

Based on Hough's YouTube text-based horror series, this production is one wild ride as performed by the full cast. When Chloe, voiced by Mecca Rogers, misses her school bus because her math teacher, Miss Langley, voiced by Christina Hendricks, held her for detention after school, she hops on the "backup bus" and soon realizes she's been kidnapped. Classmates Kaitlin (Dacey... Read More

Stone's final entry in the Dear Martin trilogy is made more powerful with this compelling performance by James Fouhey. Jared's plan to run for junior class president hits a bump when a Black transfer student named Dylan adds her name to the slate. Fouhey captures Jared's conflict over his white privilege, which lingers after the death of his best friend, Manny. It shows up in... Read More

Narrator Giordan Diaz has a dreamy quality to his voice, perfect for this reimagined version of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. After nearly drowning, 16-year-old Andres made a bargain with Death to avoid dying. Now living in Miami with bitterly divorced parents, Andres finds refuge with his friends Liora and Renee. The trio form a romance, which comes to a halt when Liora dies... Read More

With his versatile voice, narrator Paul Van Dyck takes listeners to the magical world of Lake Mallion. The second book in the Brindlewatch Quintet explores the world of 15-year-old Dunstan Cord. Dunstan has just been diagnosed with macular degeneration. Determined not to let his diagnosis quash his dreams, he decides to run away to become a singing sensation in the theater.... Read More

Sophie Amoss narrates this story set in nineteenth-century Russia's Jewish communities. After fleeing from an arranged marriage, 17-year-old Sorel navigates gender identity. Sorel assumes the masculine identity Isser Jacobs, only to learn that Isser Jacobs is a real person who sold illegal political pamphlets translated into Yiddish. Magical elements including dybbuks (angels)... Read More

Diane Bustelo and Krysta Gonzales narrate this YA story of two friends, each of whom is hoping to fulfill her deepest desire. Bustelo embodies Mayte, who is threatened by debt collectors because her father has lost the family fortune. Her best friend, Lo, portrayed by Gonzales, lives with her abusive father. The girls decide to visit Fortune's Kiss, a magical gambling den that... Read More

Golden Voice January LaVoy clearly differentiates the many characters in this story and smoothly transitions among them. She gives the deepest portrayals of the two main characters and their developing relationship: sullen, angry 14-year-old Ruby, who is accused of murder and is facing being moved to an adult women's prison, and compassionate Cadence Ware, the calm social... Read More

Sara Matsui Colby is the main narrator of this audio adaptation of a graphic novel, and various narrators chime in as minor characters. Japanese-American author Christine Mari recounts her study abroad experience as a time of culture shock, depression, a feeling of lack of belonging, microaggressions, and, eventually, self-discovery. To supplement the lack of visuals, various... Read More

Narrator Rong Fu returns in the next audiobook in the Iron Widow series. Zetian has awakened Qin Zheng, legendary emperor of Huaxia from centuries past. He desires a complete overhaul of Huaxia to eliminate corruption and misogyny, but despite a common goal, it is still one Zetian is forced into. Fu skillfully adjusts her accent when voicing Qin Zheng, using a British accent... Read More

Allison Sweet Grant portrays 19-year-old Elisabeth Amos, who has fled her home to live quietly in an isolated Wisconsin town. The audiobook moves back and forth in time. Surviving brutal medical procedures done to lengthen Elisabeth's bones takes place at home, and enduring a snowstorm and power outage takes place in Wisconsin. Time shifts are differentiated through chapter... Read More

Narrator Natalie Naudus voices this intriguing teen fantasy about an outcast princess with the rare ability to control both fire and water. After surviving multiple attempts on her life and being betrothed against her will, Princess Teia hatches a plan to infiltrate the rebellious Dawnbreakers and betray them to her cruel older brother to gain his favor. Naudus narrates... Read More

Listeners are given a well-rounded portrait of the leading figure in the Civil Rights movement, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King--fleshed out by fascinating and coherent accounts of the events of the day and the people around him. Dion Graham masterfully portrays the voices and emotions of Dr. King's orations; Coretta King's softer, lighter speech; and the racist attitudes... Read More

Tony Keith, Jr.--poet, rapper, and hip-hop educator--uses his cultural observations, edgy politics, and sharp ear for concise wordplay and fast rhymes to get the attention of the audience that needs him most: disenfranchised Black school kids he affectionately calls "knuckleheads." With brash and evocative poem titles like "If You Fail to Plan, Then Plan to Fail," "Because When... Read More

Henrietta Meire shows remarkable vocal range in this audiobook featuring multiple human and dragon languages and accents. Vivian aims for an internship studying dragon languages, but when her parents are arrested as rebels, she sets free a dragon that starts a civil war. Desperate, she accepts a job as a code breaker to help the war effort and is tasked with deciphering the one... Read More

Narrator Bailey Carr introduces listeners to Liz, a 17-year-old who is taking sanctuary in the bookstore she worked in before a cataclysmic storm left her one of the few survivors in New Jersey. When she catches a girl named Maeve breaking into the store to find shelter from another impending storm, Liz needs to balance the difficulties of having a relationship with the... Read More

Using her vast vocal talent, narrator Spring Inés Peña brings the story of a teen named Libertad, known as Libi, to life. During the 2017 presidential election in Honduras, Libi undergoes a political and personal awakening. Along with her older brother, she becomes involved in student protests and shares political poetry that she writes. A tense home situation worsens when... Read More

Julie Webster narrates the companion to BITTERSWEET IN THE HOLLOW. A previously minor character, Rowan James, a teen who can smell lies on people's breath, tells this story. Webster's soft Southern accent reflects the Appalachian setting, and she deftly communicates Rowan's sarcasm. Also strong is Rowan's distrust of Hadrian, the family's farm worker. Webster captures Rowan's... Read More

A full cast, backed by sound effects and music, transform this queer adaptation of Jane Austen's EMMA from the graphic novel to an audiobook. High school senior and Instagram influencer Evan, a leader in his high school's LGBTQ+ student association, sees himself as Cupid and can't resist the opportunity to set up shy and dowdy newcomer Natalia--despite the warnings of his best... Read More

Korean American Ami Park ably voices Yoon Ha Lee's space opera, incorporating the character names and gender-neutral pronouns naturally, allowing listeners to more easily follow the story. Ten-year-old Hwajinn is saved by a Lancer pilot after being the only survivor of an Imperial attack on her rebel moon. Five years later, she's become Hwa Young, a loyal servant of the Empire... Read More

Olivia Dowd and Kit Griffiths narrate a slow-burn romance between the granddaughter of Robin Hood and the healer she has kidnapped. Mariel Hartley-Hood knows that what she does as part of the Merry Men is right and benefits the common people. But Clem, who is unarguably a "common person," disagrees and starts to raise uncomfortable points. Dowd and Griffiths complement each... Read More

How can we let go of the one we loved and lost? That's the central question that Frankie Corzo so expertly poses in her enthralling narration of this YA fantasy-romance. By day, Estrella "Noche" Villanueva is a 17-year-old who is mourning the death of her first love, Dante. But by night, Noche transforms into a Lechuza, a beautiful black owl who guides spirits to the sky.... Read More

Narrators Raphael Corkhill and James Meunier give a compelling shared performance of this fantasy. When Prince Edmund and Aubrey meet for the first time, they have an instant connection that quickly blooms into more. But their country of Saben is on the brink of war--Aubrey and the other Seers have foreseen it in visions. Corkhill is convincing as brave, devoted Aubrey, who... Read More

Narrator André Santana captures the angst and emotional turmoil plaguing gay teen Joaquin Zoido. His father and sister want to celebrate him by having a coming-out party. But his mother's constant backhanded remarks hurt him. When his childhood crush, Felix, reappears after a long absence, Joaquin finds his small amorous gestures confusing but exciting. Santana has a voice that... Read More

Author Harry Trevaldwyn's perfectly pitched, slightly sibilant, and very funny narration puts listeners up close and personal with British teenager Patch. Patch begins the school year with the goals of getting his new nickname to catch on (his name is Patrick) and getting his first boyfriend. Trevaldwyn's Patch is haplessly, sometimes disastrously overconfident, and he's both... Read More

Narrator Sandra Okuboyejo makes plain the feelings of 16-year-old Amie Aqit, one of Princess Mariama's three chambermaids, after Amie's own sister's betrayal caused her disinheritance and the end of her engagement. Now disliked by the other palace servants, Amie becomes closer to the princess, whose father, Emperor Sulyeman, has created a series of impossible trials for her... Read More

Joe Pitts narrates a queer teen horror novel with some supernatural and romantic elements. Sixteen-year-old double amputee Charlie Frith doesn't have any friends except for ghosts only he can see. But when those ghosts begin disappearing, he's forced to work with the mysterious new boy, Sam, to save them. Pitts captures Charlie's grumpy wariness at his awkward situation--he's... Read More

Narrator Maggie Thompson immediately captures the difficult relationship that resentful Noni Reid has with her forceful mother, Dr. Radiance Castine. When her mother is appointed president of a Virginia college, she insists that Noni give up a coveted summer internship in costume design in Boston to move to Tangleroot, the plantation built by her ancestor. Thompson's use of... Read More

Brittany Pressley portrays a character who, at first, seems like an over-the-top heroine. Eleanor, a senior in high school, was abandoned by her father, Hugo, when she was born. Emotionally abused by her mother, she dreams of living with her father and his family. In response to a job ad, she does just that, hiding her identity and becoming a nanny for her toddler half-brother... Read More

A trio of narrators portray teens from different eras and settings. January LaVoy transitions smoothly from the accented dialogue of Hanna and Sophie, two Polish teens, to an unstressed voicing of their risk-taking amid Hitler's threats in 1939. Jeremy Carlisle Parker transitions listeners to 1980 West Berlin, where Jenny adjusts to her family's move from Dallas. Parker also... Read More

Amanda Stribling's Southern accent evokes the Ozarks background of 17-year-old Dove Warner. Stribling also captures the horror Dove faces when she--like others affected by her family's curse--hears the bones of murdered people calling out for her to discover their burial places. Stribling's tone becomes calmer when Dove spends time with her best friend, Lo, until he expresses... Read More

Ana Osorio and Ahmed Hamad are consistently excellent as they deliver this audiobook, which takes place in 1885. Osorio portrays 19-year-old Inez Olivera with a light accent that reflects her Argentinian Bolivian background. Inez has escaped murder and duplicity, and now seeks to break away from her uncle's control and to stay in Egypt. Osorio speaks in a thoughtful tone as... Read More

Narrator Jaime Lamchick's bright, engaging performance is a great fit for this young adult audiobook about humanity's complicated space age relationship with planet Earth's moon. Listeners are launched into the competitive race to the moon between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the 1950s-60s, setting the stage for technological and scientific advances, and the complexities of... Read More