YOUNG ADULT FICTION / Social Themes / Friendship
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Blame My Virgo Moon
Series: Never Trust a Gemini
Price: $14.99
Pub Date: July 8, 2025
Format: Paperback
Shakespeare’s Juliet has it easy compared to zodiac-obsessed Cat as she balances feuding friend groups, a school play, a fledgling romance, and her clumsy self in this delightful follow-up to Never Trust a Gemini.
Life should be Gucci gooseberry gorgeous for Cat Phillips now that she’s got the girl: swoon-worthy, green-haired Morgan Delaney. Except Cat’s friends aren’t too fond of Morgan, and Morgan’s friends aren’t quite rolling out the welcome mat for Cat either. When Morgan takes on queen bee Siobhan for the highly contested spot of Head Girl, Cat would rather pluck out her eyelashes than pick a side, which is how she ends up accidentally auditioning for the school production of Romeo and Juliet . . . and landing the starring role opposite Morgan’s new no-good friend, Brooke the Crook. And as if things couldn’t be more of a Marie Antionette Baking Brownies level disaster, Cat’s Sagittarius bestie, Zanna, isn’t talking to her anymore. Merciful Sappho! As Cat trips over herself to keep her relationships intact (and learn her lines), she begins to realize that maybe not all of her problems can be blamed on her Virgo moon in this hilarious, heartfelt comedy of errors told in an über-unique voice.
The First Thing About You
Price: $9.99
Pub Date: September 10, 2024
Format: Paperback
“An engaging coming-of-age tale. . . . Real and gripping, allowing the reader to experience a no-holds-barred look into the life of a teenager with a life-altering condition.” —School Library Connection (starred review)
When fifteen-year-old Harris moves with his family from California to New Jersey, he’s determined to be known as more than just the kid in the powered wheelchair. Armed with his favorite getting-to-know-you question (“What’s your favorite color?”), he’ll weed out the greens and the purples—people who are too close to his own blue to make for good friends—and surround himself with outgoing yellows, adventurous oranges, and even thrilling reds. But first things first: he needs to find a new nurse, stat.
Enter Miranda, a young nursing student who graduated from Harris’s new high school. Beautiful, confident, and the perfect blend of orange and red, Miranda sees Harris for who he really is—funny, smart, and totally worthy of the affections of Nory Fischer, the cute girl from class. With Miranda at his side, Harris soon befriends geeky Zander (yellow) and even makes headway with Nory (who stubbornly refuses to reveal her favorite color). But Miranda is fighting her own demons, and Harris starts to wonder if she truly has his best interests at heart.
Yours from the Tower
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: January 30, 2024
Format: Hardcover
Bridgerton fans rejoice! This epistolary confection—told in letters among three school friends—is perfect for devotees of gossipy costume drama.
Tirzah, Sophia, and Polly are best friends who’ve left boarding school and gone back to very different lives. The year is 1896, and Polly is teaching in an orphanage, Sophia is scouting for a rich husband at the London Season, and Tirzah is stuck acting as an unpaid companion to her grandmother. In a series of letters buzzing with atmosphere and drama, the friends air their dreams, hopes, frustrations, and romances. Can this trio of very different young women—one industrious, one artful, and one in exile—find happiness and love near the dawn of the Edwardian era? From the award-winning author of the Carnegie Medal–nominated historical romance The Silent Stars Go By comes a playful, feel-good story of friendship and aspiration pitched just right for fans of Jane Austen and her contemporary disciples.
Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good
Price: $11.99
Pub Date: April 18, 2023
Format: Paperback
“A charming story of a closet nerd realizing her full potential and finding her fandom family.” —Kirkus Reviews
Zoe Rosenthal’s superpower is planning—and avoiding unnecessary risks. Her mental checklist goes something like this: 1) Meet soulmate: DONE! 2) Make commitment: DONE! 3) Marriage: AFTER COLLEGE. She isn’t sure which college yet, but it will have a strong political science department, since her perfect boyfriend, Simon, plans to “save the country,” as his sister says, “and the planet and everything.” And Zoe will follow, the perfect girlfriend. It’s good to have her love life checked off. But speaking of unnecessary risks, Zoe’s secretly on a plane to Dragon Con for the second season premiere of Bleeders. The show is subject to her boyfriend’s derision, and once her flirtation with fandom is over, Zoe will get back to planning a future with Simon. The trouble is, right now, Bleeders—and her fellow “Bloodygits”—may just mean the world to her. Will a single night of nerdery be enough? From best-selling and award-winning author Nancy Werlin comes a smart, breezy coming-of-age story about finding your friends—and your inconvenient self.
Different for Boys
Price: $18.99
Pub Date: March 14, 2023
Format: Hardcover
Friendship, masculinity, sex—Anthony Stevenson has a lot of questions. Is it different for boys who like boys? A poignant and frank story filled with meta-humor by renowned author Patrick Ness.
Anthony “Ant” Stevenson isn’t sure when he stopped being a virgin. Or even if he has. The rules aren’t always very clear when it comes to boys who like boys. In fact, relationships of all kinds feel complicated, even with Ant’s oldest friends. There’s Charlie, who’s both virulently homophobic and in a secret physical relationship with Ant. Then there’s drama kid Jack, who may be gay and has become the target of Charlie’s rage. And, of course, there’s big, beautiful Freddie, who wants Ant to ditch soccer, Charlie’s sport, and try out for the rugby team instead. Ant’s story of loneliness and intimacy, of unexpected support and heart-ripping betrayal, is told forthrightly with tongue-in-cheek black-bar redactions over the language that teenagers would actually use if, you know, they weren’t in a story. Award-winning author Patrick Ness explores teen sexuality, friendship, and romance with a deft hand in this structurally daring, illustrated short novel.
All Our Hidden Gifts
Series: The Gifts
Price: $10.99
Pub Date: May 3, 2022
Format: Paperback
"An immersive tale of brave, vulnerable teens facing threats both real and fantastic."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
After Maeve finds a pack of tarot cards while cleaning out a closet during her in-school suspension, she soon begins giving eerily accurate readings to her classmates at St. Bernadette’s Catholic school. But when Maeve’s ex–best friend, Lily, draws The Housekeeper, an unsettling card that Maeve has never seen before, the session devolves into a heated argument that ends with Maeve wishing aloud that Lily would disappear. When Lily doesn’t return to school, Maeve learns her ex-friend has vanished without a trace.
Shunned by her classmates and struggling to preserve a fledgling romance with Lily's gender-fluid sibling, Roe, Maeve must dig deep into her connection with the cards to search for clues the police cannot find—even if they lead to the terrifying Housekeeper herself. Set in an Irish town where the church’s tight hold has loosened and new freedoms are trying to take root, this sharply contemporary story is witty, gripping, and tinged with mysticism.
The Delusionist
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: October 12, 2021
Format: Hardcover
Quinn’s illusions are as good as those in any Vegas act—but can he win a spot at a prestigious magic camp despite an upstaging partner, a cute rival, and a con-artist mentor?
Fifteen-year-old Quinn Purcell wants only one thing: to win a coveted spot at the Masters of Magic Fantasy Camp. But the competition is stiff, including Dani Darling, an incredibly talented, and incredibly attractive, rival magician who prestidigitates her way into Quinn’s heart—unless that’s just another of her tricks. To make matters worse, Quinn and his best friend, Perry, have always performed their magic as a team, but the judges want solo acts, and a two-man audition might disqualify them. When Quinn meets his idol, the Dazzling Lazlo, at a diner, it seems like a sign. If he can convince Lazlo to spill the secrets to his greatest trick, then the spot at the camp is all but Quinn’s. But is the washed-up magician just using Quinn to run a few scams? When the chips are down, what will Quinn risk—his best friend, his new crush, or his career as a magician? Hilarious and fast-paced, Don Calame’s latest novel is full of complicated magic tricks and equally complicated friendships.
Starworld
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: April 16, 2019
Format: Hardcover
In a novel in two voices, a popular teen and an artistic loner forge an unlikely bond — and create an entire universe — via texts. But how long before the real world invades Starworld?
Sam Jones and Zoe Miller have one thing in common: they both want an escape from reality. Loner Sam flies under the radar at school and walks on eggshells at home to manage her mom’s obsessive-compulsive disorder, wondering how she can ever leave to pursue her dream of studying aerospace engineering. Popular, people-pleasing Zoe puts up walls so no one can see her true self: the girl who was abandoned as an infant, whose adoptive mother has cancer, and whose disabled brother is being sent away to live in a facility. When an unexpected encounter results in the girls’ exchanging phone numbers, they forge a connection through text messages that expands into a private universe they call Starworld. In Starworld, they find hilarious adventures, kindness and understanding, and the magic of being seen for who they really are. But when Sam’s feelings for Zoe turn into something more, will the universe they’ve built survive the inevitable explosion?
The Red Ribbon
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: September 11, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Shining a light on a little-known aspect of the Holocaust, Lucy Adlington weaves an unforgettable story of strength, survival, and a friendship that can endure anything.
Three weeks after being detained on her way home from school, fourteen-year-old Ella finds herself in the Upper Tailoring Studio, a sewing workshop inside a Nazi concentration camp. There, two dozen skeletal women toil over stolen sewing machines. They are the seamstresses of Birchwood, stitching couture dresses for a perilous client list: wives of the camp’s Nazi overseers and the female SS officers who make prisoners’ lives miserable. It is a workshop where stylish designs or careless stitches can mean life or death. And it is where Ella meets Rose. As thoughtful and resilient as the dressmakers themselves, Rose and Ella’s story is one of courage, desperation, and hope — hope as delicate and as strong as silk, as vibrant as a red ribbon in a sea of gray.
Phantom Limbs
Price: $8.99
Pub Date: April 10, 2018
Format: Paperback
“A story of loss, love, and friendship. . . . Most teenagers will find a little bit of themselves in this well-executed work.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
Otis and Meg were inseparable until her family abruptly moved away after the terrible accident that left Otis’s little brother dead and both of their families changed forever. Since then, it’s been three years of radio silence, during which time Otis has become the unlikely protégé of eighteen-year-old Dara, who’s hell-bent on transforming Otis into the Olympic swimmer she can no longer be. But when Otis learns that Meg is coming back to town, he must face some difficult truths about the girl he’s never forgotten and the brother he’s never stopped grieving. Quietly affecting, this poignant debut novel captures all the confusion, heartbreak, and fragile hope of three teens struggling to accept profound absences in their lives.

Blame My Virgo Moon
Series: Never Trust a Gemini
Price: $14.99
Pub Date: July 8, 2025
Format: Paperback
Shakespeare’s Juliet has it easy compared to zodiac-obsessed Cat as she balances feuding friend groups, a school play, a fledgling romance, and her clumsy self in this delightful follow-up to Never Trust a Gemini.
Life should be Gucci gooseberry gorgeous for Cat Phillips now that she’s got the girl: swoon-worthy, green-haired Morgan Delaney. Except Cat’s friends aren’t too fond of Morgan, and Morgan’s friends aren’t quite rolling out the welcome mat for Cat either. When Morgan takes on queen bee Siobhan for the highly contested spot of Head Girl, Cat would rather pluck out her eyelashes than pick a side, which is how she ends up accidentally auditioning for the school production of Romeo and Juliet . . . and landing the starring role opposite Morgan’s new no-good friend, Brooke the Crook. And as if things couldn’t be more of a Marie Antionette Baking Brownies level disaster, Cat’s Sagittarius bestie, Zanna, isn’t talking to her anymore. Merciful Sappho! As Cat trips over herself to keep her relationships intact (and learn her lines), she begins to realize that maybe not all of her problems can be blamed on her Virgo moon in this hilarious, heartfelt comedy of errors told in an über-unique voice.
The First Thing About You
Price: $9.99
Pub Date: September 10, 2024
Format: Paperback
“An engaging coming-of-age tale. . . . Real and gripping, allowing the reader to experience a no-holds-barred look into the life of a teenager with a life-altering condition.” —School Library Connection (starred review)
When fifteen-year-old Harris moves with his family from California to New Jersey, he’s determined to be known as more than just the kid in the powered wheelchair. Armed with his favorite getting-to-know-you question (“What’s your favorite color?”), he’ll weed out the greens and the purples—people who are too close to his own blue to make for good friends—and surround himself with outgoing yellows, adventurous oranges, and even thrilling reds. But first things first: he needs to find a new nurse, stat.
Enter Miranda, a young nursing student who graduated from Harris’s new high school. Beautiful, confident, and the perfect blend of orange and red, Miranda sees Harris for who he really is—funny, smart, and totally worthy of the affections of Nory Fischer, the cute girl from class. With Miranda at his side, Harris soon befriends geeky Zander (yellow) and even makes headway with Nory (who stubbornly refuses to reveal her favorite color). But Miranda is fighting her own demons, and Harris starts to wonder if she truly has his best interests at heart.
Yours from the Tower
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: January 30, 2024
Format: Hardcover
Bridgerton fans rejoice! This epistolary confection—told in letters among three school friends—is perfect for devotees of gossipy costume drama.
Tirzah, Sophia, and Polly are best friends who’ve left boarding school and gone back to very different lives. The year is 1896, and Polly is teaching in an orphanage, Sophia is scouting for a rich husband at the London Season, and Tirzah is stuck acting as an unpaid companion to her grandmother. In a series of letters buzzing with atmosphere and drama, the friends air their dreams, hopes, frustrations, and romances. Can this trio of very different young women—one industrious, one artful, and one in exile—find happiness and love near the dawn of the Edwardian era? From the award-winning author of the Carnegie Medal–nominated historical romance The Silent Stars Go By comes a playful, feel-good story of friendship and aspiration pitched just right for fans of Jane Austen and her contemporary disciples.
Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good
Price: $11.99
Pub Date: April 18, 2023
Format: Paperback
“A charming story of a closet nerd realizing her full potential and finding her fandom family.” —Kirkus Reviews
Zoe Rosenthal’s superpower is planning—and avoiding unnecessary risks. Her mental checklist goes something like this: 1) Meet soulmate: DONE! 2) Make commitment: DONE! 3) Marriage: AFTER COLLEGE. She isn’t sure which college yet, but it will have a strong political science department, since her perfect boyfriend, Simon, plans to “save the country,” as his sister says, “and the planet and everything.” And Zoe will follow, the perfect girlfriend. It’s good to have her love life checked off. But speaking of unnecessary risks, Zoe’s secretly on a plane to Dragon Con for the second season premiere of Bleeders. The show is subject to her boyfriend’s derision, and once her flirtation with fandom is over, Zoe will get back to planning a future with Simon. The trouble is, right now, Bleeders—and her fellow “Bloodygits”—may just mean the world to her. Will a single night of nerdery be enough? From best-selling and award-winning author Nancy Werlin comes a smart, breezy coming-of-age story about finding your friends—and your inconvenient self.
Different for Boys
Price: $18.99
Pub Date: March 14, 2023
Format: Hardcover
Friendship, masculinity, sex—Anthony Stevenson has a lot of questions. Is it different for boys who like boys? A poignant and frank story filled with meta-humor by renowned author Patrick Ness.
Anthony “Ant” Stevenson isn’t sure when he stopped being a virgin. Or even if he has. The rules aren’t always very clear when it comes to boys who like boys. In fact, relationships of all kinds feel complicated, even with Ant’s oldest friends. There’s Charlie, who’s both virulently homophobic and in a secret physical relationship with Ant. Then there’s drama kid Jack, who may be gay and has become the target of Charlie’s rage. And, of course, there’s big, beautiful Freddie, who wants Ant to ditch soccer, Charlie’s sport, and try out for the rugby team instead. Ant’s story of loneliness and intimacy, of unexpected support and heart-ripping betrayal, is told forthrightly with tongue-in-cheek black-bar redactions over the language that teenagers would actually use if, you know, they weren’t in a story. Award-winning author Patrick Ness explores teen sexuality, friendship, and romance with a deft hand in this structurally daring, illustrated short novel.
All Our Hidden Gifts
Series: The Gifts
Price: $10.99
Pub Date: May 3, 2022
Format: Paperback
"An immersive tale of brave, vulnerable teens facing threats both real and fantastic."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
After Maeve finds a pack of tarot cards while cleaning out a closet during her in-school suspension, she soon begins giving eerily accurate readings to her classmates at St. Bernadette’s Catholic school. But when Maeve’s ex–best friend, Lily, draws The Housekeeper, an unsettling card that Maeve has never seen before, the session devolves into a heated argument that ends with Maeve wishing aloud that Lily would disappear. When Lily doesn’t return to school, Maeve learns her ex-friend has vanished without a trace.
Shunned by her classmates and struggling to preserve a fledgling romance with Lily's gender-fluid sibling, Roe, Maeve must dig deep into her connection with the cards to search for clues the police cannot find—even if they lead to the terrifying Housekeeper herself. Set in an Irish town where the church’s tight hold has loosened and new freedoms are trying to take root, this sharply contemporary story is witty, gripping, and tinged with mysticism.
The Delusionist
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: October 12, 2021
Format: Hardcover
Quinn’s illusions are as good as those in any Vegas act—but can he win a spot at a prestigious magic camp despite an upstaging partner, a cute rival, and a con-artist mentor?
Fifteen-year-old Quinn Purcell wants only one thing: to win a coveted spot at the Masters of Magic Fantasy Camp. But the competition is stiff, including Dani Darling, an incredibly talented, and incredibly attractive, rival magician who prestidigitates her way into Quinn’s heart—unless that’s just another of her tricks. To make matters worse, Quinn and his best friend, Perry, have always performed their magic as a team, but the judges want solo acts, and a two-man audition might disqualify them. When Quinn meets his idol, the Dazzling Lazlo, at a diner, it seems like a sign. If he can convince Lazlo to spill the secrets to his greatest trick, then the spot at the camp is all but Quinn’s. But is the washed-up magician just using Quinn to run a few scams? When the chips are down, what will Quinn risk—his best friend, his new crush, or his career as a magician? Hilarious and fast-paced, Don Calame’s latest novel is full of complicated magic tricks and equally complicated friendships.
Starworld
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: April 16, 2019
Format: Hardcover
In a novel in two voices, a popular teen and an artistic loner forge an unlikely bond — and create an entire universe — via texts. But how long before the real world invades Starworld?
Sam Jones and Zoe Miller have one thing in common: they both want an escape from reality. Loner Sam flies under the radar at school and walks on eggshells at home to manage her mom’s obsessive-compulsive disorder, wondering how she can ever leave to pursue her dream of studying aerospace engineering. Popular, people-pleasing Zoe puts up walls so no one can see her true self: the girl who was abandoned as an infant, whose adoptive mother has cancer, and whose disabled brother is being sent away to live in a facility. When an unexpected encounter results in the girls’ exchanging phone numbers, they forge a connection through text messages that expands into a private universe they call Starworld. In Starworld, they find hilarious adventures, kindness and understanding, and the magic of being seen for who they really are. But when Sam’s feelings for Zoe turn into something more, will the universe they’ve built survive the inevitable explosion?
The Red Ribbon
Price: $17.99
Pub Date: September 11, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Shining a light on a little-known aspect of the Holocaust, Lucy Adlington weaves an unforgettable story of strength, survival, and a friendship that can endure anything.
Three weeks after being detained on her way home from school, fourteen-year-old Ella finds herself in the Upper Tailoring Studio, a sewing workshop inside a Nazi concentration camp. There, two dozen skeletal women toil over stolen sewing machines. They are the seamstresses of Birchwood, stitching couture dresses for a perilous client list: wives of the camp’s Nazi overseers and the female SS officers who make prisoners’ lives miserable. It is a workshop where stylish designs or careless stitches can mean life or death. And it is where Ella meets Rose. As thoughtful and resilient as the dressmakers themselves, Rose and Ella’s story is one of courage, desperation, and hope — hope as delicate and as strong as silk, as vibrant as a red ribbon in a sea of gray.
Phantom Limbs
Price: $8.99
Pub Date: April 10, 2018
Format: Paperback
“A story of loss, love, and friendship. . . . Most teenagers will find a little bit of themselves in this well-executed work.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
Otis and Meg were inseparable until her family abruptly moved away after the terrible accident that left Otis’s little brother dead and both of their families changed forever. Since then, it’s been three years of radio silence, during which time Otis has become the unlikely protégé of eighteen-year-old Dara, who’s hell-bent on transforming Otis into the Olympic swimmer she can no longer be. But when Otis learns that Meg is coming back to town, he must face some difficult truths about the girl he’s never forgotten and the brother he’s never stopped grieving. Quietly affecting, this poignant debut novel captures all the confusion, heartbreak, and fragile hope of three teens struggling to accept profound absences in their lives.