Category: Contemporary Realism

A Drop in the Ocean by Léa Taranto

September 18, 2025

Léa Taranto’s debut YA novel, A Drop in the Ocean, brings readers into the life of teenaged protagonist Mira, who has been institutionalized at the Residency Adolescent Treatment Centre for obsessive compulsive and comorbid disorders. Drawing from her own lived experience, Taranto has written this auto-fictional novel straight from her heart. Through Mira, Taranto has penned a fiercely loyal and loveably articulate protagonist who is brutally honest, full of empathy, and impossible not to root for.  … More A Drop in the Ocean by Léa Taranto

With Love, Echo Park by Laura Taylor Namey

March 17, 2025

Emilio, another Cuban kid whose family owns the bike shop across the street from La Rosa Blanca, has always been in Clary’s life. And despite Clary’s insistence that she hates him, it is evident they know each other inside and out, from what food the other likes and dislikes, inside jokes, and clever and funny banter that kept me wanting more. … More With Love, Echo Park by Laura Taylor Namey

The Unlovable Alina Butt by Ambreen Butt-Hussain

August 22, 2024

When Alina is selected to join her class’s advanced math group, she is faced with the best and the worst of her new school. Between incessant bullying, the struggle of trying to impress a group of friends from a completely foreign culture, auditions for the school play, and an embarrassing last name, Alina has a whole lot on her plate. … More The Unlovable Alina Butt by Ambreen Butt-Hussain

A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak by Laura Taylor Namey

August 15, 2024

A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak by Laura Taylor Namey tackles grief, relationships, and family dynamics through the lens of a teenage girl who just lost her mother to dementia and is on a path to losing herself, too. … More A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak by Laura Taylor Namey