Doppelganger by Milda Harris

In this short, first book of a series, Citrus sleeps late and when she gets to high school, sees herself already in class.  She learns that she and several other students now have doppelgangers - identical look alike people who are taking their places.  Together with a boy named Aedan, who also has a doppel, they try to take the doppelgangers on and find out what is going on. To be continued in the next book....

They Can't Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery

In this book, Washington Post writer Wesley Lowery shares his experiences of reporting about the shooting of Michael Brown and the uprising and protests in Ferguson and the subsequent protests of other police shootings as all people were made more aware of the police violence in America.  The book is quite comprehensive and has an index and notes at the end.

The Scourge by Jennifer A. Nielsen

When Ani and her best friend Weevil are captured by the governor's wardens and tested for the scourge, they are surprised and sad to learn that they have this deadly disease.  After being transported to Attic Island, the former prison, now turned into a colony for scourge victims, Ani learns that things are not as they seem.  Why has the scourge returned?  What is really happening to the prisoners who are sent to the infirmary from which they never return?  The story is full of action and is a well-written, fast, fun read.

Cloud and Wallfish by Anne Nesbet

Set in East Berlin in 1989, Noah is 11 years old and had lived a normal life in the USA until the day his parents packed his things and told him his name was actually Jonah and they were going to live in Germany for a while.  He was forbidden from using his old name and from talking about his other life.  Instead, his parents had made him a scrapbook/photo album about his life as Jonah.  In Germany, Jonah meets a neighbor girl named Claudia, which pronounced in German sounds like the word cloud with ia at the end.  The word for whale - as in Jonah and the whale in German sounds like wallfish in English.  The two form a friendship, but are not supposed to even speak to one another.  This historical fiction novel is filled with facts about East Germany and the political situation during the time right before the wall came down.  The story is interesting and I think that middle grade children will enjoy it.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

This fascinating story based on Russian folklore is the story of Vasya, who can see and speak with the demons who guard the homes and crops.  As the Christian religion takes over, and offerings to the guardians are stopped, there is danger that only Vasya, a wild child who has inherited her ability to communicate with the guardians from her mother's family, can stop - or can she?  The story is intriguing and a fun read!

The Secret Keepers by Trenton Lee Stewart

This is a fun to read mystery/fantasy for kids. When eleven year old Ruben, a loner who sneaks around town exploring, finds an old pocket watch that had been hidden in a crack in a wall, his life becomes an adventure.  He tries to find out about the watch, hoping to sell it and get money so that he and his mom can move into a better neighborhood, but he learns that the mysterious leader of his city, known only as "the Smoke", is interested in the watch, and now he and his mother are in danger. I enjoyed reading this adventure story and I will definitely recommend it to middle grade readers!

The King Slayer (The Witch Hunter #2) by Virginia Boecker

This book is an excellent conclusion to the two book series.  Elizabeth no longer has her stigma, and must learn to live without it's self-healing properties.  John, who now has the stigma, is changing due to Blackwell's magic, and Elizabeth wishes to save him and kill Blackwell.  There is war and romance, magic and transformation and growth of the main characters.

Timekeeper by Tara Sim

In this young adult fantasy steampunk novel, time is controlled by the clock towers that fables say are inhabited by clock spirits.  Mechanics are strictly forbidden from becoming involved with clock spirits.  Danny is a 17 year old clock mechanic whose father has been trapped in a town where the clock tower was damaged and time has been stopped for the past 3 years.  Danny was also injured in a clock tower explosion.  Even so, he is determined to find a way to repair the clock tower in the stopped town and release his father.  When he meets a handsome young man while repairing a clock in Enfield, he finds himself in a forbidden romance.

The Gender Game (The Gender Game #1) by Bella Forrest

In this dystopian young adult novel, there are two cities, divided by a poison river surrounded by a toxic forested area.  Violet lives in Matrus, where women rule and men are weeded out if they are deemed violent and are otherwise considered second class citizens.  Violet, an orphan, was put into the prison system when she tried to smuggle her younger brother out of the city after he failed the test of male violent tendancies. When Violet gets into an altercation in prison with a bully that results in the death of the bully, she is supposed to be euthanized, however, she is given the option of going on a top secret mission in Patrus, the male-dominated city across the river.  In Patrus, women have no rights and cannot even go out in public without a husband or male guardian.  Violet needs to befriend a handsome fighter named Viggo in order for the plan she is there for to work, however, her new "husband", Lee, never tells her all the details of the plan.  There is action and romance and the book ends in a cliffhanger.  I received this book free to review from Netgalley.

Raven (Chronicles of Steele #1) by Pauline Creeden

Raven Steele is a reaper - an assassin.  She was trained that she must redeem a life for each one she takes.  Now that her score is even, she is ready to settle down, but that is not what fate has in mind for her.  Instead, she is hired to protect Darius, the 10 year old son of a baron - from his own father, who wants him murdered because Darius has epileptic fits that short out any mechanical parts nearby and the baron is, himself, partly  mechanical.  This is a short, quick steampunk romance with some fantasy included as well.