by Rainbow Rowell
Eleanor, 15, is the new girl at school and bullied because she's overweight and dresses in a flamboyant manner. Park is a half-Korean boy who has lived in Omaha, Nebraska, all his life but still feels like an outsider. This is a story of first love, which very slowly builds from the first day Eleanor sits next to Park on the school bus. First they ignore each other, and then they slowly become friends through their love of comic books and 1980s alternative music. Park is the only good thing in Eleanor's life. Her home life is a miserable exercise in trying to stay out of her abusive stepfather's way, and finding new ways to wear the same clothes repeatedly since there is no money for anything extra. Park adores everything about Eleanor, and she finds refuge at his house after school with his understanding parents. Things finally explode at Eleanor's house and Eleanor and Park's relationship is truly tested. -From School Library Journal
The Accident Season
by Moïra Fowley-Doyle
Every October Cara and her family become inexplicably and unavoidably accident-prone. Some years it's bad, and some years it's just a lot of cuts and scrapes. This accident season--when Cara, her ex-stepbrother, Sam, and her best friend, Bea, are 17--is going to be a bad one. Cara is about to learn that not all the scars left by the accident season are physical: There's a long-hidden family secret underneath the bumps and bruises. This is the year Cara will finally fall desperately in love, when she'll start discovering the painful truth about the adults in her life, and when she'll uncover the dark origins of the accident season--whether she's ready or not.
P.S. I Like You
by Kasie West
Cade and Lily have been enemies for years: he's rude about her clothes, hair, and whole vibe; she thinks he's a snotty, stuck-up rich kid. Plus, she has her eye on shaggy hipster Lucas, who looks like he could totally be on her wavelength. But when Lily scribbles some graffiti on top of the desk to combat her boredom in chemistry class, she's surprised to find a reply the next day and even more surprised when the answers continue. Soon, she's corresponding through hidden notes and bonding with her secret pen pal over a mutual interest in indie music. Who's her mysterious new friend? Little by little, Lily whittles down the number of possibilities to one that makes absolutely no sense. - From School Library Journal
