The Hour Between


Sebastian Stuart - 2009
    There, in the woods of Connecticut, Arthur meets Katrina Felt, the charming, troubled daughter of a Hollywood movie star. As Arthur struggles with his sexuality and Katrina’s beauty and talent land her in a Broadway musical, the two forge a tender friendship. But while Arthur’s confidence grows, Katrina is pulled down by the heartbreaking secrets and sorrows of her past. By year’s end, their lives will be changed forever, and their friendship will be over. Set in the late 1960s, The Hour Between is a compelling portrait of a time and place, replete with drugs, sex, Andy Warhol, a cast of truly memorable secondary characters, and some of the sharpest and funniest dialogue in recent memory.Sebastian Stuart has written novels, plays, and screenplays. His last novel was ghostwritten (with acknowledgment): Charm! by Kendall Hart, a character on the soap opera All My Children. Charm! spent five weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. A native New Yorker, Stuart now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with novelist Stephen McCauley.

Mosh Pit


Kristyn Dunnion - 2004
    Mosh Pit, a compelling story of rebel girls in the modern city, stars Simone - torn between her loyalty to her rebellious heart - throb Cherry and her feelings for Carol, streetwise and distant enough to be alluring.This edgy young adult novel takes Simone through the modern equivalent of Hades where she gradually gains a sense of who she is and more importantly who she can be.

A Seahorse Year


Stacey D'Erasmo - 2004
    When he disappears from his San Francisco home, his extended family comes together in a frantic search. But Christopher is in much more trouble than they know, and their attempts to support him and to save him will challenge their assumptions about themselves and one another. Exquisitely crafted, A Seahorse Year is an absorbing read that explores the ways in which love moves us to actions that have both redemptive and disastrous consequences, sometimes in the same heartbeat.

A Love Story Starring My Dead Best Friend


Emily Horner - 2010
    Then Julia is killed in a sudden car accident, and while Cass is still reeling from her death, Julia’s boyfriend and her other drama friends make it their mission to bring to fruition the nearly-completed secret project: a musical about an orphaned ninja princess entitled Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad.Cass isn’t one of the drama people. She doesn’t feel at home with Julia’s drama friends, and she doesn’t see a place for her in the play. Things only get worse when she finds out that Heather Galloway, the girl who made her miserable all through middle school, has been cast as the ninja princess.Cass can’t take a summer of swallowing her pride and painting sets, so she decides to follow her original plan for a cross-country road trip with Julia. Even if she has a touring bicycle instead of a driver’s license, and even if Julia’s ashes are coming along in Tupperware.Totally Sweet Ninja Death Squad is a story about friendship. About love. About traveling a thousand miles just to find yourself. About making peace with the past, and making sense of it. And it’s a story about the bloodiest high school musical one quiet suburb has ever seen.

Someone Like You


Timothy James Beck - 2006
    Marc Jacobs suits. Hugo Boss suits, Food, Drinks, Dry cleaning. A room at the five-star hotel or a lane at the bowling alley. Of course, something things are harder to come by just ask... Vienna. She's one beautiful sister who is not going to be dependent on any man ever again, thanks to her cheating, should-be-dead ex. When she's not selling overpriced mascara to rich snobs, Vienna's checking out the scenery. Not that she wants another man. Much. Good thing she can tell it all to... Davii. The top hairdresser at CosmicTology is fast with a wickedly funny quip and with his shears. Nobody gets one over on Davii. But what he craves is a nice guy to come home to. A guy who makes him want to be a better person. A guy who looks an awful lot like... Derek. He never planned to become a kept man, but it's hard to give up Belgian waffles delivered by room service. But no more. It's time for a New Derek - new life, new friends, new job. And who better to help him take those baby steps toward independence than... Christian. Cool and savvy, he's cornered the market on charm. His sales skills have won him a fawning clientele. There's nothing he can't do, no point he can't score, no woman he can't woo. But there's a first time for everything.Meeting for coffee, dishing over drinks, dealing with heinous bosses, scheming backstabbers, clueless customers, and the occasional object of desire, four new friends are about to discover the joys of shopping for love in a place where what you need most might just be where you least expect to find it.

Torn


Amber Lehman - 2009
    I knew our motive; we were practicing the act, hoping to impress the right boy when it came time. But then something happened in the mix of the moment, in the mix of the alcohol. It wasn't planned, but somehow our kissing experiment turned into something else. Things went further . . . and once they had, once I returned to earth from the euphoria . . . I wrestled with my feelings at that frank realization, questioning whether our said objective was entirely true. When fourteen-year old Krista McKinley transfers from Catholic school in Ohio to California's public Crestmount High, she discovers she has a lot to learn. Luckily, she is befriended by Carrie and Brandon and things start to look up. But when a simple dare tests Krista s values, it sends her entire world spiraling into a confusing series of events that leaves her questioning her identity as well as the people around her.

Finding H.F.


Julia Watts - 2001
    Sixteen-year-old Heavenly Faith (H.F.) discovers she has a crush on a local college professor's daughter, and embarks on a search for her missing mother.

The Dream of Doctor Bantam


Jeanne Thornton - 2012
    Her idol, her older sister, jogs headlong into the lights of an approaching car, and dies. And Julie falls in love with a girl who both is and isn't an echo of her older sister, a long-limbed Francophone named Patrice-who is also a devotee of the Institute of Temporal Illusions, a Church of Scientology-like cult.In Julie Thatch you cannot help but see shades of Stieg Larsson's Lisbeth Salander. Jeanne's former writing teacher at the University of Texas, Alexander Parsons (author of Leaving Disneyland and In the Shadows of the Sun) writes: "The Dream of Doctor Bantam is one of those books you read every few years in which, page by page, you come to think of the characters as a part of your own dear, weird, and intransigent family. In Julie Thatch, Thornton has written a character as memorable and compelling as Holden Caufield or Oedipa Maas. She is alternately hilarious, maddening, and enchanting, a fearful and fearless smartass who enlivens every page of this fine novel."With illustrations by the author.

It's Our Prom (So Deal with It)


Julie Anne Peters - 2012
    Soon Azure manages to convince her best friends, Luke and Radhika, to join the prom committee as well.Facing heavy opposition and admittedly clueless about prom logistics, the three friends are nonetheless determined to succeed—if Luke's and Azure's secret crushes on Radhika don't push the committee members, and their friendships, to the breaking point first.Told in two voices and filled with comical missed connections, It's Our Prom (So Deal with It) explores the ups and downs of planning an alternative prom—while dealing with an unrequited crush on your best friend—and shines with National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters's unmistakable wit and insight.

Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie


S.J. Adams - 2011
    The Church of Blue can help. We are not a cult.$5 for a holy quest is a good deal. Since sixth grade, Debbie Woodlawn has nursed a secret, heart-searing crush on her best friend, Lisa. But all those years of pretending to enjoy Full House reruns and abstinence rallies with Lisa go down the drain when her friend hooks up with Norman, the most boring guy at school. This earth-shattering event makes Debbie decide to do the unthinkable: confess her love to Lisa. And she has to do it tonight--before Lisa and Norman go past "the point of no return."So Debbie embarks on a quest to find Lisa. Guiding the quest are fellow students/detention hall crashers Emma and Tim, the founding (and only) members of the wacky Church of Blue. Three chases, three declarations of love, two heartbreaks, a break-in, and five dollars worth of gas later, Debbie has been fully initiated into Bluedaism--but is there time left to stop Lisa and Norman from going too far?

Sugarless


James Magruder - 2009
    His mother’s second husband is a licensed psychologist who eats like an ape, his stepsister is a stoner slut, and his father is engaged to a Southern belle. Rick’s only solace is his growing collection of original Broadway-cast LPs, bought on the sly at Wax Trax.    After he brings two girls in speech class to tears by reading a story aloud, Rick is coaxed onto the interscholastic forensics team to perform an eight-minute dramatic interpretation of The Boys in the Band, the controversial sixties play about homosexuality. Unexpectedly successful at this oddball event, Rick begins winning tournaments and making friends with his teammates.    Rick also discovers the joys of sex—with a speech coach from a rival school—just as his mother, reacting to a deteriorating home environment, makes an unnerving commitment to Christ. The newly confident Rick assumes this too shall pass—until the combined forces of family, sex, and faith threaten to undo him at the state meet in Peoria.    James Magruder’s Sugarless offers a ruefully entertaining take on the simultaneous struggles of coming-out, coming-of-age, and coming-to-Jesus.  A selection of InsightOut Book Club Finalist, Lambda Book Award for Gay Debut Fiction, Lambda Literary Foundation Finalist, TLA Gaybie Award for Best Gay Fiction Semi-finalist, James Branch Cabell First Novelist Award, Virginia Commonwealth University Semi-finalist, William Saroyan International Prize For Writing, Stanford University

Hello, Groin


Beth Goobie - 2006
    And for Dylan herself. If only her English class had been studying a normal, run-of-the-mill, mundane book like Lord of the Flies instead of Foxfire things wouldn't have gotten so twisted. Then the world wouldn't have gone into such a massive funk. And then Dylan wouldn't have had to face her deepest fear and the way she was letting it run her life.Hello, Groin presents a compelling, realistic and refreshing look at teen sexuality and one girl's struggle to make the difficult choices that face her.

Say the Word


Jeannine Garsee - 2007
    So when her estranged lesbian mother dies, Shawna needs to figure out how to have the perfect reaction. But anger from being abandoned ten years ago, combined with the introduction of her mother's other family, threatens to leave Shawna spinning out of control. A relatable and honest teen voice-and a shocking secret-make this novel a true page-turner.An ALA Best Book for Young AdultsPowerful and compelling . . . this sensitive and heart-wrenching story slowly unfolds into a gripping read. -Booklist, starred reviewGarsee has created an intense, frank novel with fragile, resilient, believable characters. -School Library Journal

The Year They Burned the Books


Nancy Garden - 1999
    Lisa Buel, a school board member, is trying to get rid of the health program, which she considers morally flawed, from its textbooks to its recommendations for outside reading. The newspaper staff find themselves in the center of the storm, and things are complicated by the fact that Jamie is in the process of coming to terms with being gay, and her best friend, Terry, also gay, has fallen in love with a boy whose parents are anti-homosexual. As Jamie's and Terry's sexual orientation becomes more obvious to other students, it looks as if the paper they're fighting to keep alive and honest is going to be taken away from them. Nancy Garden has depicted a contemporary battleground in a novel that probes deep into issues of censorship, prejudice, and ethics.

The Bermudez Triangle


Maureen Johnson - 2004
    But the threesome faces their first separation when Nina goes away the summer before their senior year. And in ten short weeks, everything changes.Nina returns home bursting with stories about Steve, the quirky yet adorable eco-warrior she fell for hard while away. But when she asks her best friends about their summer romances, an awkward silence follows.Nina soon learns the shocking truth when she sees Mel and Avery...kissing. Their friendship is rocked by what feels like the ultimate challenge. But it's only the beginning of a sometimes painful, sometimes funny, always gripping journey as three girls discover who they are and what they really want.