22 Apr DNF to Did Not Put Down: Second-Chance Books Worth Revisiting
Looking for books to give a second chance? DNF-ing is always a tough decision, but sometimes a second look is all you need to go from negative to positive! Here’s a few options from our collection in Teen Central!
Be Not Far From Me
by Mandy McGinnis
Ashley is more at home in the woods than anywhere else, so a night of partying in the Smokies feels natural. Until she catches her boyfriend cheating and drunkenly bolts into the dark, tumbling into a ravine. Come morning, she’s alone, far off trail, and with nothing but her clothes. Now she must survive the wilderness while an infection slowly creeps up her leg.
What The Woods Took
by Courtney Gould
Devin Green is yanked from her bed in the middle of the night and dumped in the Idaho wilderness alongside a group of troubled teens, all enrolled in a surprise wilderness therapy program. Skeptical and defiant, Devin wants out. But, when both counselors vanish and something inhuman stirs in the trees, escaping the program becomes the least of her worries. Stranded and hunted, the teens must learn to trust each other, even as their own secrets prove just as dangerous as the monsters closing in.
Allegedly
by Tiffany D. Jackson
Nine-year-old Mary B. Addison was convicted of killing a white baby in her mother’s care: allegedly. She never said much, and the public filled in the rest. After six years in juvenile detention, Mary lands in a group home and finds unexpected hope in Ted, her boyfriend, and the baby they’re expecting together. But when the state threatens to take her child, Mary must finally speak up, and reckon with the one person who holds the truth about her past: her mother.
Kill Her Twice
by Stacey Lee
When the Chow sisters stumble upon the body of Lulu Wong, beloved film star and Chinatown neighbor, they know something is wrong. The LAPD shows little interest in solving the case, and powerful forces seem eager to use Lulu’s death to paint Chinatown as dangerous, clearing the way for demolition. Unwilling to let their friend’s murder go unanswered, the sisters launch their own investigation: not knowing that the killer is still watching.
The Twin
by Natasha Preston
After their parents’ divorce, twins Ivy and Iris were separated: one with each parent. When a tragic accident kills their mother, Iris moves in with Ivy and their dad, quiet and withdrawn in her grief. Ivy wants to give her sister everything, but as Iris slowly charms her way into every corner of Ivy’s life, Ivy can’t shake the feeling that something is very wrong with her twin.
Stateless
by Elizabeth Wein
Stella North is the only female pilot in Europe’s first youth air race, and she’s determined to prove she belongs. But the competition turns sinister when sabotage strikes early and the idealism of the event gives way to darker secrets: each racer is hiding a violent past, and someone may be willing to kill to win. Including, perhaps, Stella herself.
Uglies
by Scott Westerfeld
In Tally’s world, turning sixteen means transforming from Ugly to Beautiful, and leaving behind a life of mediocrity. She’s counting down the days, until her new friend Shay refuses the operation and disappears. Now, the authorities give Tally an impossible choice: find Shay and betray her, or stay Ugly forever. The decision will change everything Tally thought she knew.
The Mary Shelley Club
by Goldy Moldavsky
Scholarship student Rachel is desperate for a fresh start at Manchester Prep, but a prank gone wrong lands her on the wrong side of her classmates: and on the radar of the Mary Shelley Club, a secret society devoted to engineering real fear. As the pranks grow more dangerous, Rachel finds herself in over her head. When someone turns the terror on the club itself, she must hunt down the threat, and finally face the secrets she’s been running from.
Such Charming Liars
by Karen M. McManus
Kat’s mom, Jamie, is a jewel thief trying to go straight. But first, she needs one last job at a billionaire Ross Sutherland’s birthday party. Kat wrangles her way along, only to find two unwelcome surprises waiting: her ex-stepbrother Liam and his con-artist father, who has his eye on the host’s daughter. When one of the Sutherlands winds up dead and Kat and Liam become the next targets, the two reluctant allies must trust each other to survive. Which is no easy feat when lying is the only thing they both know how to do.
The Girl With No Reflection
by Keshe Chow
Princess Ying Yue arrives at the palace expecting a fairy tale and finds a cold, secretive prince and whispers of seven brides who vanished without a trace. On the eve of her wedding, she stumbles through a mirror into a parallel world: one ruled by sentient reflections and a kinder version of her groom. But the mirror world has its own darkness, a bloody history shared with her own, and a role carved out for Ying whether she wants it or not.
– written by Ajax T, Teen Central Library Assistant
