Thankful For These Teen Friendships

A Better Nightmare

by Megan Freeman

Almost sixteen, Emily Emerson is finally a senior at the Wildsmoor Facility, even though Meera has held that title for as long as Emily can remember. At Wildsmoor, days fade together as students are taught to suppress the strange abilities caused by Grimm Cross syndrome. Rules, order, repetition, and medication shape every moment.

Emily’s powers appeared when she was eight, when her dreams and hallucinations spilled into the real world. Flowers once burst through her home at the whim of her thought, beautiful until everything went wrong. That was the day she was sent to Wildsmoor. Ever since, she has done everything she can to behave, get better, and go home.

Then she meets Emir. Emir is different from everyone else at Wildsmoor. He is quick, lively, and unafraid to say things no one else dares to speak. When he introduces her to The Cure, a secret group that believes the Grimm is a gift rather than an illness, Emily begins to awaken to her long-buried abilities. What follows feels like a dream come true, but the same people who bring her hope might also lead her to her worst nightmare.

The Ghosts of Bitterfly Bay

by Mary Averling

Maudie isn’t an ordinary twelve-year-old girl– she’s the ghost of one. She haunts a cottage in the woods with her best friend Kit and her little brother Scratch, scaring off vacationers and trying to forget the life she lost.

When Kit and Scratch suddenly vanish, Maudie knows something is wrong. The culprit is Longfingers, a monster from her nightmares with spidery hands and needle-sharp teeth. He gives Maudie a cruel bargain: find the key to the door in the strange cabin, or lose her friends forever.

With no one else to help, Maudie turns to Gianna, the living girl she’s been haunting. Together, they search for a way to defeat Longfingers, but Maudie is hiding the truth about the cabin and her past. If she can’t face it, she may never save the people she loves.

On The Wings of la Noche

by Vanessa L. Torres

Noche spends her days as a lonely science girl mourning her girlfriend, Dante. At night, she becomes a lechuza, returning to the lake Dante drowned in to visit her lingering spirit, terrified of losing her forever.

Then Jax, a new kid who shares Noche’s love of science, arrives in town. Their connection is immediate, and for the first time, Noche wonders if she could have a future without Dante. Torn between the girl she lost and the one she’s growing to care for, Noche’s guilt spirals. When both Jax and Dante slip out of her grasp, she must confront her purpose as a lechuza– and decide what she’s willing to fight for.

A Catalog of Burnt Things

by Shana Youngdahl

Seventeen-year-old Caprice is trying to rebuild her family now that her older brother has returned, even as she struggles with the hurt he left behind. Just as she begins to find her footing, wildfires tear through her small California town.

Inspired by the Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise, California, where the author grew up, this story explores loss, finding what still remains, and learning how a family can weather all ills.

To Steal From Thieves

by M. K. Lobb

At London’s dazzling Great Exhibition, con man Kane Durante is tasked by the kingpin of the magical dark market with stealing a priceless artifact– an impossible heist he can’t pull off alone. Zaria Mendoza, the daughter of a famed alchemologist, is drowning in debt and danger after her father’s death, and Kane’s offer of a partnership is too tempting to refuse.

Together, they plan a high-stakes robbery in one of the most public, heavily guarded buildings in the city. But as sparks of attraction mix with the threat of betrayal, the greatest risk may not be the heist itself, but trusting each other long enough to survive it.

Cope Field

by T. L. Simpson

Crawford “Craw” Cope has a reputation for anger, and after hitting his father with a baseball bat, he’s sentenced to community service. While repairing the rundown baseball field named after the very man he struck, he meets Hannah Flores, a sharp-tongued punk rock fan who feels stuck in the Ozarks. As Craw faces the turmoil at home and grows closer to Hannah, he begins to see his life more clearly. Their connection pushes him to confront the truth he’s always buried, even if speaking it could shatter the only world he’s ever known.

What Comes After

by Katie Bayerl

After her sudden death, Mari finds herself in Paradise Gate, an afterlife “wellness center” where the newly dead must resolve their unfinished business. For Mari, that means facing the person she least wants to forgive: her dysfunctional mother, Faye.

To avoid being cast into the abyss, Mari begrudgingly joins the center’s self-help programs, which force her to confront painful truths about her past. When a shocking revelation about her death draws afterlife-wide attention, Mari escapes into the company of an equally troubled boy who introduces her to a group of rebels. They reveal that Paradise Gate is far more sinister than it appears.

As classmates vanish and a rebellion builds, Mari must choose between following the rules or fighting back, with her eternal fate on the line.

So Over Sharing

by Elissa Brent Weissman

Quiet Hadley and tough-edged Willow have one thing in common: their moms are popular “momfluencers” who post every detail of their daughters’ lives online. Hadley tries to hide her identity at a new school, embarrassed by years of oversharing, while Willow struggles with her mom’s decision to stay in the influencer world despite a major family change.

As the girls connect through a private Instagram page and bond over the pressures of growing up in the spotlight, they’re forced to confront the same question: how much of their lives do they owe the internet? And how can they finally take control of their own stories?