Stupid Cupid trilogy by Rhonda Stapleton

What do you did when you are a enter a matchmaking agency that makes you to a real life Cupid.

A Cupid. There is more than one after all.

Felicity may mess up sometimes in her matchmaking schemes (especially her choice to matchmake her parents. The aftermath scars her for life) but she is full of heart and a true romantic even when things aren’t going her way. Besides offers some true advice on love and friendship. Plus it feels relatable as she describes the skeezy house parties and boring health classes. Also it’s funny which is rare plus for me.

Circle of Magic by Tamora Pierce

Pierce is a classic fantasy author, and this quartet really shows off her skills in creating a unique world. This one based on creative skills like weaving, metaworking and planting. But the main draw for me was the tight friendship of the four main characters, and seeing them come to trust and love each other as family.

Cheetah Girls by Deborah Gregory

Before they were a disney movie or a girl group, theese girls lived on the page. Once again, the book series does more justice to the characters. Just putting it out there. As one might have guessed it is about the Cheetah Girls on their road to fame. But besides that long rocky road, it has girl power, black culture, family friction, bulimia, foster families and racial identity. Also it is a bit dated in language but still charming nonetheless as it emphasizes the girls’ young ages with their made up slang and big dreams. 

The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading by Darcy Vance and Charity Tahmaseb

Courtney never wanted to be a cheerleader but when her friend forced her into it, there she is. And none of the rules of high school she has known before apply. None of the cheerleaders like her or her friend, basketball players want to date them now, and her old nemesis is on her heels about the star player that may or may not have a crush on her (while she has a ridiculously huge crush on him). Not to mention she has to deal with a ridiculously short skirt. 

Very fun and relatable to any high school student looking for a good beach read.

The Seven Tales of Trinket by Shelley Thomas

This is a lovely kids book that takes its inspiration from Celtic/Welsh folk tales. I don’t want to go to into the story as it is part of the charm to have it unfold as you read it for the first time. But I will say it emphasizes the power of storytelling, how to perform it, how to find inspiration, and what it can mean to be people. It’s about family and magic and folkways and it’s lovely.

Countdown by Deborah Wiles

This is the first in Wiles’ 60s trilogy and focuses on the Cuban Missle Crisis that made the world stand still. However, Franny Chapman’s world is not standing still. In fact it feels like it will implode as her shell-shocked grandfather stays with the family and gets more erractic. Her friend has ditched her in persuit of popularity. Her sister is mysteriously sneaking out at night. And she is having her very first crush!
The book may look long but that is only because she adds various 60s memorabilia, song lyrics, quotes, pictures etc in between chatpters, much like a scrapbook so readers can get a sense of the big markers of the time.

My Ideal Boyfriend is a Croissant by Laura Dockrill

This is such a hilarious book. I mean seriously, there was this one specific scene that even though I know its coming, the way she phrases it and the image it produced, I laugh until it hurts everytime.

Anyway 16 year old Bluebell or BB as she is known is forced to write in this food journel after a pretty bad asthma attack that doctors feel is brought on by her generous weight. And that she’s pre-diabetic so she better get on the healthy track fast. BB can be hypocritcal and conflicted about this, which makes sense as she knows she has an unhealthy relationship with food but hates the label and assumptions make about her based on her body. But I felt that ups the book’s relatability. And it’s not just about body issues, but also family and coming of age, what to do with your life issues. May have some abliest passages but I don’t want to spoil how or why it’s relevant to the book.

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

This a thoughtful sensitive book with the main character Amanda learning to adjust to living with her estranged father who is trying but is distant, coming to fit in with her peers in football games and parties in Southern Appalechia. But beneath it all, she has a secret that she won’t let anyone too close to her. Until she meets sweet, chocolate eyed Grant. But she used to be a he, Andrew to be exact.

As one can imagine, it hits hard themes like suicide and depression, and has its threats of assault and violence, but being trans herself, Russo portrays it sensitively and with understanding so not to make Amanda a victim of trauma-porn, but also not sanitize the very real fear she goes through since many in the community experience that in real life.

First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover by Mitali Perkins

This was a fun book I used to read over and over when I was a kid before the library pulled it out of circulation. It has the excitment of putting Sameera into the national spotlight as the daughter of presidential candidate and you all know what drama comes with politics. Since Sameera is adopted from Pakistan, her dad’s campaign team are worried that she won’t seem American enough even though she’s lived in the U.S. since she was one, and some Americans do look like Sameera, hello! She’s not happy about it either but she understands what is at stake. However, the media campaign is determined to spin it all into negativity, painting her adoption as a career move, that her relatives use her for cheap labor, that Sameera brings Pakastani ideas to the D.C. That’s when she decides to take her image into her own hands. It’s a fun book, lightly critiqueing race, perceptions and politics with an intelligent, capable young lead.