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(3)
YA
Marlena has always been a healer; now eighteen, she lives in isolation with her mother, who arranges audiences with the ailing. While she believes in the power of the visions she experiences, encounters with a curious neuroscientist lead Marlena to question her gift--and her mother's motivations. Marlena's apparently supernatural talents provide an intriguing context to the story's angsty rebellion and doomed romance.
(4)
YA
Skylar (Unplugged) races to shut down the Real World's auction of App World residents' unconscious bodies. Her first-person narrative alternates (somewhat indistinctly) with those of her two love interests. Amidst the high-stakes action and angsty love-triangle dynamics, this volume packs in even more sci-fi ethical dilemmas, devastating double-crosses, and dire warnings about digital addiction than its predecessor, which may try some readers' patience.
405 pp.
| HarperTeen
| December, 2017
|
TradeISBN 978-0-06-211866-0$17.99
(4)
YA
Even as Skylar (Unplugged; The Body Market) urges people to "unplug," a virus in the App World threatens their living bodies in the real world. Multiple first-person narrators, including Skylar's two love interests, somewhat haphazardly relate events in the two realities. A subplot about real-world residents' anger toward App World refugees adds some (unsubtle) emotional depth to this sci-fi dystopian series.
427 pp.
| HarperTeen
| June, 2016
|
TradeISBN 978-0-06-211860-8$17.99
(4)
YA
The affluent leave their inert bodies behind to live virtually in the frivolous App World. Skye illegally "unplugs" to find her family in the Real World and discovers a black market in human bodies. The novel has suspenseful moments, but its futuristic setting, action-filled conspiracy plot, and ethical themes (reminiscent of The Matrix, Feed, and The Hunger Games) cover little new ground.
348 pp.
| Philomel
| May, 2015
|
TradeISBN 978-0-399-17136-9$17.99
(4)
YA
A summer romance might be just what straight-laced Jane needs to recover from the recent trauma of being a victim of an armed robbery. Her best friends caution her against getting involved with local bad boy Handel, but Jane doesn't listen. This is billed as a summer romance with a suspenseful twist; sadly, it holds few surprises.
(3)
4-6
This companion to Gold Medal Summer is another engrossing sports/romance novel. After unexpectedly medaling at Nationals, figure skater Esperanza Flores is chosen for the Olympic team. The insider's look at the skating world plus the possibility of romance between Espi and a handsome older skater (or maybe a young Olympic hockey player), add up to a satisfying story for Freitas's fans.
232 pp.
| Scholastic/Levine
| June, 2012
|
TradeISBN 978-0-545-32788-6$16.99
(3)
4-6
Top gymnast Joey loves her sport and can't understand why her best friend would quit just to have a social life--or why Joey's older sister quit after winning Nationals, or why their parents find competitions too stressful to watch. Former competitive gymnast Freitas provides an absorbing look at the challenging but rewarding life of a thirteen-year-old athlete.
355 pp.
| Farrar/Foster
| October, 2011
|
TradeISBN 978-0-374-39917-7$16.99
(2)
YA
Since her mother’s death, sixteen-year-old Rose has lost all interest in cheerleading, friends, and her football-captain boyfriend. Though her mother left her a “Survival Kit,” Rose hides it away, too overcome with grief. When Grandma Madison visits, her no-nonsense attitude helps Rose begin to unravel the meaning behind the items in the Survival Kit. An involving, emotionally true tale of love and loss.
209 pp.
| Farrar/Foster
| May, 2010
|
TradeISBN 978-0-374-31472-9$16.99
(3)
YA
Seventeen-year-old Olivia is elated to take a summer fiction seminar at Holy Mary University. She's honored to have famous novelist Father Mark Brendan as her personal mentor--until his attention becomes obsessive. Freitas poignantly conveys Olivia's feelings of confusion and shame and, eventually, her realization that stalking is as criminal as physical assault.
274 pp.
| Farrar/Foster
| August, 2008
|
TradeISBN 978-0-374-36087-0$16.95
(2)
YA
Fifteen-year-old Antonia, whose family owns an Italian market in Providence, Rhode Island, has two passions: saints and Catholic-high-school hottie Andy Rotellini. Antonia petitions the Vatican, modestly offering herself as the ideal candidate for sainthood, while simultaneously working toward getting her first kiss. Freitas provides an amusing glimpse at how a passion for religion can happily co-exist alongside other, less-exalted kinds.