Staff Picks

Justine

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Justine (Hardcover)

By Forsyth Harmon
$19.95
ISBN: 9781951142339
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Tin House Books - March 2nd, 2021

Have you ever had a desire or relationship so intense, so all-consuming that it burns itself out nearly as soon as it began? That is the feeling of this book, a teenage crush that means the world until it doesn’t. And it’s illustrated by the author. (Whoever decided adult fiction shouldn’t have pictures was just plain wrong.)

Meaghan

Girl Haven

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Girl Haven (Paperback)

By Lilah Sturges, Meaghan Carter (Illustrator)
$14.99
ISBN: 9781620108659
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Oni Press - February 16th, 2021

From the moment Ash was asked about pronouns and said "he/him, I guess", I knew I was reading a story that would be special. Not everyone knows their gender immediately. Some people struggle, and wish there was a way to be sure, like Ash does. Girl Haven is about the magic of finding queer friends, figuring out your identity even when there is no "correct" answer, and, of course, the magic of adventuring in another world with talking animals and actual magic.

Shana

Honey Girl

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Honey Girl (Paperback)

By Morgan Rogers
$16.99
ISBN: 9780778311027
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Park Row - February 23rd, 2021

Grace Porter has always had a plan—but a disastrous interview, and a drunken Vegas wedding to a girl she doesn’t know snaps the tension she’s been putting on herself bringing everything tumbling down. This book is by turns fiercely funny, and cathartically heartbreaking, with the poetic lyricism of This is How You Lose the Time War, and the witty banter of Red, White, and Royal Blue. Honey Girl tore me to pieces and then put me back together again—I laughed, I cried, I said “this is so sweet” out loud multiple times. This book is for you, you lonely creature. Are you there?

Katherine

The Project

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The Project: A Novel (Hardcover)

By Courtney Summers
$18.99
ISBN: 9781250105738
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Wednesday Books - February 2nd, 2021

When Lo Denham wakes up from a coma, her parents are dead and her sister Bea has joined The Unity Project. Lo is sure that something sinister is going on with The Unity Project, so she sets out to expose it and its leader Lev Warren. The book will have you asking, what would you do to belong? Truly brilliant; I can't put words to how this book made me feel. My best read of last year.

April

Rabbit & Robot

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Rabbit & Robot (Paperback)

By Andrew Smith
$12.99
ISBN: 9781534422216
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers - September 24th, 2019

I’ve loved Andrew Smith’s work since I was a teen and this book was no different. Rabbit & Robot is fiercely human, and fiercely funny. It will certainly tug at you heartstrings just as much as it makes you laugh. A clever mix of absurdity and raw observation of the human condition— highly recommend!

Aria

Passage West

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Passage West: A Novel (Hardcover)

By Rishi Reddi
$28.99
ISBN: 9780060898793
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Ecco - April 21st, 2020

Love for Rishi Reddi is something my mom and I share (since Rishi Reddi grew up in Kansas, where my parents currently live and currently lives in Cambridge (where I live)). Passage West is a beautiful, rich narrative of the immigrant experience and follows a family of Indian sharecroppers at the start of WWII. It examines the various experiences of immigrants who settled in California, and the rising tensions of living in the west as anti-immigrant sentiment grew among white Americans.

Janaea

Light Boxes

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Light Boxes: A Novel (Paperback)

By Shane Jones
$15.00
ISBN: 9780143117780
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Penguin Books - May 25th, 2010

Dark humor, tenacious characters, and a bleak backdrop combine to make a horror-movie-like world that you can't look away from because it is both beautiful and twisted. If you like speculative fiction that makes you go "What the heck did I just read?", Melville, and Midsommar, you will love this novel.

Rachel

No Heaven for Good Boys

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No Heaven for Good Boys: A Novel (Hardcover)

By Keisha Bush
$27.00
ISBN: 9780399591969
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Random House - January 26th, 2021

A beautifully wrenching story: when my hands were not frantically turning pages they were likely to be covering my mouth or my heart. It asks, where has mankind’s humanity gone? And yet it answers that it lives right beside the darkness, in pockets as small as a package of peanuts and as vast as a mother’s fortitude. Debut author Keisha Bush wrote this novel after years spent in Dakar, Senegal, but she grew up right here in Boston.

Leila

Spoiler Alert

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Spoiler Alert: A Novel (Paperback)

By Olivia Dade
$15.99
ISBN: 9780063005549
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Avon - October 6th, 2020

Marcus is the star of the world's hottest fantasy TV show--but in private, he's Book!AeneasWouldNever, an anonymous fanfiction writer grappling with the show's shortcomings in his stories. When Marcus wades into an online spat to defend a cosplayer getting flack for her weight, he doesn't realize he's flirting with none other than his fandom bestie, Unapologetic Lavinia Stan (aka April Whittier, a gorgeous, no-nonsense geologist). It only takes one feel-good publicity date to spark some serious IRL chemistry, but what will happen when the secrets come out? Adorable and super fun!

Rebecca

A Story About Afiya

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A Story about Afiya (Hardcover)

By James Berry, Anna Cunha (Illustrator)
$17.99
ISBN: 9781911373339
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Lantana Publishing - April 7th, 2020

Afiya is a beautifully illustrated story about Afiya, whose dress records memories of her childhood. It is written by award-winning Jamaican poet, James Bery. Every night, her adventures of the day are imprinted on the dress. Every morning, her dress is white again, ready for a new adventure. I wish I had a dress that could hold memories like these! But, at least, I can have this book!

Janaea

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