Cara's community has a very strong reaction to Aelyx. At times, the book reads like a satire of some of the more extreme beliefs in the US today. It sometimes seemed a little over-the-top, but at the same time, in the frame of current events, maybe not so much.

Landers also writes adult romance under the name Macy Beckett (we gushed about her Sultry Springs series, here). If you're a fan or her romances, you'll like this too. It's a bit tamer for the young adult audience but it's got all the same notes of a sweet love story.

This is one of my favorites of the year, hands down.

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

New York Times  bestselling author David Levithan tells the based-on-true-events story of Harry and Craig, two 17-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record—all of which is narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS. 

While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teen boys dealing with languishing long-term relationships, coming out, navigating gender identity, and falling deeper into the digital rabbit hole of gay hookup sites—all while the kissing former couple tries to figure out their own feelings for each other

Our thoughts:

Levithan is a brilliant writer. It's a little hard to write about how awesome this book was without sounding a bit like a fangirl. Forgive me. I loved everything about this book.

The narration is beautiful - it's told through the eyes of gay men of the previous generation, a collective "we", talking to today's young gay men. You can feel their compassion and frustration as experienced onlookers and it makes the story feel intensely personal.

The story is largely inspired by (but not based on), two events: Matty Daley and Bobby Cancielo, students from my alma mater, who broke the Guinness World Record for longest kiss in 2010 and the suicide of another local college student, Tyler Clementi, who jumped to his death after being filmed by his roommate kissing another man. Both happened within two weeks of each other and both were big local stories, so seeing them melded together in novel form was really interesting.

It's a story of a generation's struggles and a reflection of our world today - and it's done beautifully.

We would recommend this to:

Everyone! But particularly fans of young adult, coming of age stories, personal struggles and inspirational stories.

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

The world is living in the shadow of oncoming disaster. An asteroid is set to strike the earth in just one week’s time; catastrophe is unavoidable. The question isn't how to save the world—the question is, what to do with the time that's left? Against this stark backdrop, three island teens wrestle with intertwining stories of love, friendship and family—all with the ultimate stakes at hand.

Our thoughts:

I was so excited to start this book. Gorgeous cover and an asteroid hurdling towards earth? That is so my speed. The whole idea never quite panned out as well as I hoped, though.

The book features three separate narratives - I really wouldn't call them intertwining, as the publisher's blurb does; they barely overlap. Of the three, one felt really developed and interesting, one was a little on the boring side and the third seemed so far out there I had a hard time swallowing it.

I read a fair amount of young adult fiction and it always aggravates me when the teen characters don't feel real - and these didn't. I finished the book feeling like these were just idealized versions of the teenagers parents want to have as their kids.

I was drawn in enough that I really wanted to find out what was going to happen and was fascinated by Coutts's portrayal of the possible last days of life as we know it. This wasn't what I'd hoped it would be, but it was still enjoyable.

We would recommend this to:

People who spend time thinking about what they'd do when the world ends, fans of young adult fiction and anyone who has spent a lot of time at Martha's Vineyard.

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Our thoughts:

Charming and funny and brilliant.

Elise is such a great heroine - she's imperfect and struggling with herself and you can't help but get drawn in and cheer for her. She's real and believable and her inability to fit in reminded me of my own high school crowd.

I also adored that Elise's parents played a big roll in the story. I feel like parents are often out of the picture in YA novels and that's just not the case here: she's watched, she's grounded and she's afraid to upset them - and that makes her, and the story, all the more real.

I really can't rave about this book enough. I LOVED it.

We would recommend this to:

Fans of young adult, people who like coming-of-age stories, people who like stories about characters finding themselves, anyone who has ever felt unpopular and music lovers.

What it’s about (from Goodreads):

Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . .

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

Our thoughts:

I was never big on fanfiction, so it took me a little while to get into Cath’s world, but once I was there I was totally engrossed. Cath is quirky, slightly-awkward and totally relatable main character. There were so many times my first year of college when I thought and felt the same things she did.

 The story, for me, came in waves. There were lulls between the action that I didn’t always love, but for some reason it made the story more believable. Doesn’t everything always happen at once? And then there’s two weeks of nothing to do?

The book deals with some heavy, unpleasant topics but it never feels heavy or unpleasant. It’s a hopeful, optimistic story.

We would recommend this to:

Fans of Eleanor & Park, fans of young adult, people who like coming-of-age stories, people who love a good love story and anyone who has ever considered themselves a fangirl.