Hotel Ruby by Suzanne Young is a contemporary young adult novel that follows the story of Audrey Casella and her family as they unexpectedly find themselves staying at the luxurious Hotel Ruby after a car accident leaves them stranded. As the Casellas enjoy the opulence of the hotel, Audrey becomes increasingly suspicious of the hotel's mysterious staff and the strange occurrences that unfold.
The book is about two characters, Gena and Finn. Genevieve Goldman (Gena) is a blogger who writes about a television show and writes fiction inspired by the show. She is having issues with keeping up with college and other matters. She found Stephanie Bartlett (Finn) online, who runs her blogging site where she posts comments on the same television show as Gena. The characters progress as they learn the importance of interpersonal communication and strong relationships with trusted individuals.
The book follows the story of Daphne Berg as she experiences breakdowns of relationships and the appeal to be better than others. Throughout the novel, she has moments of reconsideration regarding her motives, befriending or villainizing others, and not being emotionally satisfied with her regular life. The story progression of the novel is unique in that it has slower-paced moments and quicker, more intense periods. The book considers how our engagement with social platforms and the internet has led to fractured relationships and a more radicalized form of opinion formation.
The Young Elites by Marie Lu is a fantasy fiction with a mix of action, romance, and dystopian societies. The story revolves around Adelina Amouteru who has been marked as a malfetto for suffering a blood fever and surviving. The society acts as if malfettos as something to be disgusted by when they’re actually scared of their power. Some of the malfettos develop powers, so the people fear all malfettos and alienate them.
Aza is just a typical teen girl except she is stuck inside her head. In this endless loop inside her mind she doesn’t believe she is real and she has an irrational fear of bacteria and sickness. Aza is at her worst mental state she has ever been when her friend Daisy convinces her to reconnect with an old friend whose father has recently gone missing. Aza decides to go for it and begins to try to solve the mystery of her friend Davis’ missing father. As Aza digs to solve this mystery she realizes that Davis and her might have some sort of chemistry, but this might just be the issue.
The Third Twin by Cynthia James Omololu is a mystery thriller about 2 identical twins who have to figure out why their dates keep turning up dead. Ava and Alexa (Lexi) are seniors who are part of a relatively wealthy family in California. When they were younger, the twins made up an imaginary third twin named Alicia who was blamed for their naughty actions. However, when they got older Ava and Lexi decided to date and dump boys with the persona of Alicia.
The Giver by Lois Lowry is a futuristic dystopian book about a boy named Jonah who lives in a utopian community where everyone is completely equal and life is seemingly perfect. On his 12th birthday, when everyone in his age group receives their job assignments, Jonah receives the assignment of the Giver. The job of the Giver is to hold the memories of life before the world became perfect, and it is through this job that Jonah uncovers the dark truth about his reality.
Kevin Durant's Relentless Pursuit to Be the Greatest, written by Marcus Thompson, is the biography of one of the greatest basketball players in NBA history. This book embarks the life of Kevin Durant starting in Seattle with the Sonics to Thunder in OKC to the Warriors in San Francisco and finally to the Brooklyn Nets. The book helps us understand what his struggles were and how he had to work hard to be one of the best. The book describes KD’s upbringing as well as how hard he worked even as small kid.
The Catcher in the Rye, a work of fiction by J.D. Salinger is about the life of a teenage boy, Holden Caulfield. The story concerns Holden as he attempts to find happiness through experiencing the motions of life. Such begins with his lack of interest in academics, branching into his survival/personal experiences and finding interest in any part of existence.
The Outsiders by S.E Hinton features 14-year-old Ponyboy Curtis and his two older brothers, Soda and Darry. Ponyboy struggles with right or wrong in society which makes him think that he is an outsider and the lack of parents in his life also gives his family many difficulties. The Curtis brothers, along with their friends are all a part of a group named the Greasers. Their rivals are the Socs, who are a group of boys from the wealthy side of town. A lot of trouble and violence arises between these two groups.
