Blood Moon Prophecy Legend of the Nyx #1 by Dilani Kahawala

Sixteen year old Tilly Nyx is unexpectedly thrust into a world of magic and put on a team with other teens who she becomes friends with.  Mystery, intrigue, magical creatures, and action and adventure abound as Tilly tries to learn magic aboard a ship trying to follow her mother's mysterious map. This is the first book in what should be a fascinating YA fantasy series.

An Unthinkable Thing by Nicole Lundrigan

Told through the eyes of eleven year old Tommie, this is the story of many unthinkable things, a series of tragedies.   After Tommie's aunt, who had raise him, was brutally murdered, he was sent to live with his birth mother, in the lovely home in the country of a wealthy family where she worked as a maid.Set in 1958, we see that life was not as idyllic as it might have appeared to others. 

the lost girls of willowbrook by Ellen Marie Wiseman

 

Based on the way state schools for the mentally retarded were actually run, this is the story of Sage, a 16 year old girl who has just discovered that her twin sister, who she had been told was dead, was actually at Willowbrook State School, a facility for mentally ill children. Sage goes to find her sister, and she is mistaken for her twin sister, who was missing at the time.  Sage experiences the horrors of being incarcerated in a State School as she fights to keep her sanity and find her sister.  Because this story is based on actual conditions of State Schools in the past, the story is horrifying and heartbreaking.  

Now Is Not The Time To Panic by Kevin Wilson

I am sad that I am finished reading this book, because now I am not reading it anymore.  I so very much enjoyed it.  I love the quirkiness and all the odd details and the feelings and images in the writing as well as the story, which I can't tell or explain because then I'd ruin the experience of the readers. I shared lines from the book with my son, who needs to read it, and with an online group, and I immediately got responses from many people in that group who were touched with the quote that I shared in the same way that I had been touched.  So freaking much awesomeness!  This story is set in 1996 before the internet could spread ideas and things like wildfire, but some things still did.  Frankie and Zeke, two 16 years olds accidentally set off something so much bigger than they could have imagined.  And this is the story of how that happened. 

The Luminaries by Susan Dennard

In this intriguing first book in a YA fantasy series, sixteen year old Winnie, who has wanted to be a Luminary hunter, hunting and killing the nightmares that plague the forest of her town of Hemlock Falls, must face the monsters as well as the people who have rejected her and her family since her father was exposed as a witch four years ago causing her family to be shunned.  Together with Jay, hot guy, bass player, hunter and an old friend, she sets out to make her dream of being a hunter come true.  However, she encounters more than she had bargained for.  This is a good book and I look forward to the next one in the series.

Extra Witchy by Ann Aguirre

This third installment in the Fix-it Witches series features Leanne Vanderpol, a witch with political ambitions and Trevor Montgomery a handsome underachiever.  While mostly lighthearted, the book does deal with Trevor's depression and with some family issues that affect them both.  I enjoyed the growing friendships in the book and seeing how the characters were able to overcome their issues as love conquers all. 

Fired Up about Reproductive Rights by Jane Kirby

 

This book gives a well-researched timeline of many of the various attacks on women's reproductive rights.  It goes far beyond abortion and includes information about eugenics and population control.  I think this book is a must read for anyone who is researching these topics and it is quite timely at the moment. I listened to the audio version of the book, which is well done.