Four hot summer novels for teens
Whether teens are spending their break on the beach or staying cool inside, here are four new young-adult titles that will keep them entertained until they have to hit the textbooks again.
“The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik” (Viking), by David Arnold.
As he did in his fantastic debut “Mosquitoland,” David Arnold again shows a knack for getting into the mind of an eccentric teenager in clever, poignant fashion.
Noah Oakman is a 16-year-old David Bowie devotee, a talented swimmer with scholarship offers being floated even after a back injury has put him on the shelf, and one-third of a loyal trio with best friend Alan and his sister Val. After being hypnotized by an oddball neighborhood kid at a party, Noah finds that he has stepped into an alternate universe with little details of his life changed: among them, a strange scar on his mom’s face where there was none before, Val being obsessed with music instead of photography, and Alan changing comic-book allegiances.
The only things that haven’t changed are what Arnold calls Noah’s “Strange Fascinations” (such as his “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”-loving little sister). Noah investigates them in an artfully crafted tale about a boy finding his groove amid the cacophony of adolescence.
“Neverworld Wake” (Delacorte), by Marisha Pessl.
For her first YA novel, the “Night Film” author combines “Groundhog Day” storytelling with upper-crust kids behaving badly for twisty suspense.
It’s been a year since Beatrice Hartley last saw her best pals from the prestigious DarrowHarker School – and a year since the mysterious death of her boyfriend Jim broke apart this crew of cool kids. Now a year after they graduated, Beatrice travels to the coastal estate Wincroft where the friends used to hang out, and a night of awkward reconnection and a tragic accident lead to an otherworldly twist: The group is told by a strange old man named The Keeper that they are caught in a time splinter and only one of them can live to see tomorrow. The catch: They have to vote for who survives and it has to be unanimous.
Old grudges, bad feelings and major-league revelations come to the fore. While the plot meanders in the middle as the friends
figure stuff out, the moody beginning and the satisfying climax make this a solid piece of surprising sci-fi.
“Furyborn” (Sourcebooks Fire), by Claire Legrand.
For those looking for some serious girl power in their “Game of Thrones”-style epics, the impressive start of a time-bending, intertwining fantasy trilogy features not one but two powerful young women.
In the world of Atrias, certain folks with elemental magic can control one aspect of nature (fire, water, earth, etc.). Prophecy foretells of one who wields them all, and she will be either the savior Sun Queen or the destructive Blood Queen.
After Rielle Dardenne uses her abilities to save her best friend, crown prince Audric, from assassination, the king tests her with seven trials to see which queen she might be. Her story is told in parallel to that of Eliana Ferracora, an indestructible bounty hunter 1,000 years later who teams with a dangerous rebel to find her kidnapped mother and take on the evil Undying Empire.
It’s a bit slow-going at first thanks to the ambitious worldbuilding over two timelines, but the pair of heroines jumps off the page amid the cinematic sprawl.
“Undead Girl Gang” (Razorbill), by Lily Anderson.
Witches get the spotlight and zombies are way more interesting than their Walking Dead relatives in this coming-of-age horror comedy.
Mila Flores is a high school junior whose dabbling in witchcraft made her and best friend Riley outcasts in their school. Mila’s loneliness grows substantially worse when her BFF is found dead the same week as two mean girls from their school, June and Dayton, off themselves in a suicide pact.
Believing foul play was involved in Riley’s death (though no adults believe it), Mila performs a magic spell that brings all three girls back to their mortal coil for seven days. The foursome becomes a bickering, Gatorade drinking Scooby gang out to solve the murders while also dealing with other townsfolk, including Mila’s crush (who’s also Riley’s big brother), a nosy school newspaper reporter and a pack of biker ladies.
“Girl Gang” is a breezy entry to the supernatural that also rewrites creature-feature rules in a smart way.