Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank is a post-apocalyptic novel set in the small town of Fort Repose, Florida, following a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. The story revolves around Randy Bragg, a former army officer, and his community's struggle for survival in the aftermath of the devastation. As resources dwindle and societal structures collapse, Randy must navigate challenges of leadership, morality, and resilience while forming alliances and facing threats from both within and outside the town.
Following a second US civil war between the pro-choicers and the pro-lifers, the process of “unwinding” has been legalized, in which a child’s body parts are harvested for others to use. Parents may opt their child up for unwinding between the ages of 13 and 18, and because their body is fully used, they are considered not dead but alive in another form. Unwind follows three teens, Connor, Lev, and Risa, who are all put up for unwinding for different reasons. As they try to run away from choices they didn’t make, they find their paths to cross, uncross, and cross again.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky follows the story of Charlie, an introverted high school freshman navigating through her life, friendship, and mental health struggles. The novel explores themes of love, friendship, trauma, and self-discovery through Charlie's letters to an anonymous recipient.
If He Had Been With Me by Laura Nowlin is a beautifully written subpar book that I wish gave me more. This book is a coming-of-age book about two best friends harboring secret feelings for each other while also dealing with the ins and outs of high school.
Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton was one of if not the hardest books I’ve ever read. This book is about Adeline a girl who is moving into her grandmother's old mansion, when she finds out about her great-grandmother and her death she becomes intrigued because not only did her great-grandmother have a stalker, but now Adeline has one too. She becomes intrigued by who her stalker is and what he wants. But there is something more sinister behind him, and she is both scared and thrilled to discover it.
This book is the sequel to Fourth Wing and the second book in the Empyrian series. The third book is being released in 2025, which I’m excited for! This book goes through the journey of Violet Sorrengail, and her plans to save her people, as well as her relationship with Xaden Riosrson.
Belly Conklin has been going to Cousins Beach every summer since she was little with her mom and brother Steven to spend the summer with Beck and the Fisher boys. They would make tons of memories and hang out every summer, but this summer was different. Belly realizes she likes one of the Fisher boys but doesn’t know which one and is stuck in a love triangle between Conrad and Jeremiah. Along with this, something is wrong with Beck, and no one knows what it is. I rate this book a ten out of ten, and I liked the summer vibes of this book.
“All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
“Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things-trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real-world hollow.
“Fools!" said the man, stamping his foot with rage. "That is the sort of talk that brought me here, and I'd better have been drowned or never born. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams — dreams, do you understand — come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams.”
