bildungsromans

Castillo Torres, Student Body Association event chair and serial planner, could use a fairy godmother. After a disastrous mishap at her sister?s quincea?era and her mother's unexpected passing, all of Cas?s plans are crumbling. So when a local lifestyle-guru-slash-party-planner opens up applications for the internship of her dreams, Cas sees it as the perfect opportunity to learn every trick in the book so that things never go wrong again. The only catch is that she needs more party planning experience before she can apply. When she books a quincea?era for a teen Disneyland vlogger, Cas thinks her plan is taking off? until she discovers that the party is just a publicity stunt?and she begins catching feelings for the chambel?n. As her agenda starts to go way off-script Cas finds that real life may be more complicated than a fairy tale. But maybe Happily Ever Afters aren?t just for the movies. Can Cas go from planner to participant in her own life? Or will this would-be princess turn into a pumpkin at the end of the ball?.

Joaquin Zoido is out and proud of it. And while he knew his dad and sister, Carmen, would be super supportive, he wasn?t quite ready for them to surprise him with a queercea?era, a coming out party to celebrate him. Between all the talks of tastings and venues, and the chirping of his family?s RSVP texts, the question of who will be his chambel?n is on everyone?s minds. What Joaquin is decidedly trying to not think about is whether his mom is going attend or if she?s finally replaced him with her favorite godson, Felix?the boy who made Joaquin realize he was gay and who was his first kiss. But when an impromptu lie snowballs into a full-fledged family-group-chat rumor, every Zoido from Texas to Mexico starts believing that Felix is not only Joaquin?s chambel?n but also his brand-new boyfriend. To avoid the pity and sympathies of an ill-timed breakup, Joaquin and Felix strike a deal?they?ll stay fake boyfriends until the party. Yet, as the day draws nearer and old feelings spark anew, Joaquin will have to decide whether a picture-perfect queercea?era with a fake boyfriend is worth giving up the chance of something real.

"After high school graduation, Mia Peters faces a summer full of painful goodbyes. Songwriting is her only solace. Everyone she knows is moving on, including Britt, her biggest supporter . . . and kind-of-sort-of girlfriend. Britt keeps pushing Mia to go bigger and do better than their small town, but Mia can't imagine a life beyond Sunset Cove. Besides, she refuses to follow in the footsteps of her late mother--country music star Tori Rose--who abandoned her family to pursue her dream, leaving Mia and her two grandmothers alone. Desperate for a sign of what might lie ahead, Mia finds the opposite--a mysterious letter from the past, addressed to her in her mother's handwriting. It turns out to be the first of many. One by one, they lead Mia on a wild scavenger hunt through a Sunset Cove she never knew, buried under the memorializing that has frozen her mother in time. Each new discovery brings Mia closer to the real Tori Rose, but with the clock ticking on Britt's departure, Mia knows she is running out of time. With the summer winding down, Mia must decide if she is ready to face the present, confront her feelings, and forge the destiny she truly wants"--Provided by publisher.

Belly spends the summer she turns sixteen at the beach just like every other summer of her life, but this time things are very different.

"A novel about a young woman whose gift of second sight complicates her coming of age in late 19th century Scotland. Growing up in the care of her grandparents on Belhaven farm, Lizzie Craig discovers at a young age that she can see into the future. Her gift of sight is selective--she doesn't, for instance, see that she has an older sister who will come to join the family on her beloved farm. But she does see 'pictures' that foretell various incidents and accidents and begins to realize a painful truth: she may glimpse the future, but she can seldom change it. Nor can Lizzie change the feelings that come when a young man named Louis, visiting Belhaven for the harvest, begins to court her. Why have the adults around her not revealed that the touch of a hand can change everything? After following Louis to Glasgow, though, she learns the limits of his devotion, and when faced with a seemingly impossible choice, she makes what turns out to be a terrible mistake. But while Lizzie can't change the past, her second sight may allow her a second chance"--Provided by publisher.

Two boys' lives are changed forever when a sinister travelling carnival stops at their Illinois town.

"Eleven-year-old Piper has big plans. First, she'll win the Academic Decathlon with her best friend, Tallulah. Then, she'll finish her life's work: Metaphorical Math. And in the meantime, she and Tallulah will maintain their secret, El Jard?n Muerto. Nothing can stop Piper. Nothing . . . except for puberty. But Piper doesn't have to worry about that because her body has been on pause ever since she started blockers to delay her early-onset puberty. Based on seeing her older sister struggle with body changes, her mother's attempts to balance too many demands, and the way all the women in her life are too often dismissed, Piper is definitely not excited to grow up. But when Piper's doctor says it's all right to stop treatment, everything is thrown off course. Will a changing body change all of Piper's plans? And why does she have to grow up in the first place? Or does she?"--Provided by publisher.

At sixteen, neurodivergent Peta Lyre is the success story of social training. That is, until she finds herself on a school ski trip - and falling in love with the new girl. Peta will need to decide which rules to keep, and which rules to break...

"Margaret Murphy is a weaver of fantastic tales, growing up in a world where the truth is too much for one little girl to endure. Her first memory is of the day her friend Agnes died. No one blames Margaret. Not in so many words. Her mother insists to everyone who will listen that her daughter never even left the house that day. Left alone to make sense of tragedy, Margaret wills herself to forget these unbearable memories, replacing them with imagined stories full of faith and magic--that always end happily. Enter Poor Deer: a strange and formidable creature who winds her way uninvited into Margaret's made-up tales. Poor Deer will not rest until Margaret faces the truth about her past and atones for her role in Agnes's death." --.

"Aristotle and Dante . . . must learn what it means to stay in love-and to build their relationship in a world that doesn't seem to want them to exist. In their senior year at two different schools, the boys find ways to spend time together, like a camping road trip they take in the desert. Ari is haunted by his incarcerated older brother and by the images he sees on the nightly news of gay men dying from AIDS. Tragedy feels like his destiny, but can he forge his own path and create a life where he can not only survive, but thrive?"--Adapted from publisher description.