I grew up with a fascination for space and things that fly. I always wanted to be an astronaut. That didn’t exactly pan out (I have bad eyesight and I hate to run), but I was able to turn that passion into a career as an aerospace engineer. I’ve also been drawn to Young Adult books because they're able to take a seemingly mundane concept and twist it on its head. I start my stories with the question of ‘what if’? What if we could access infinite knowledge in the blink of an eye, but everything we did was constantly monitored? That is the basis for my YA sci-fi Tracker220 and my love of the genre.
Kaya has access to infinite knowledge through the tracking chip in her head. When it glitches she runs from the authorities who monitor everything she says, everyone she talks to, and everywhere she goes. Bailen, a tech genius from a rogue underground movement offers refuge from the authorities who want to turn her into a lab rat, but he’s interested in more than her broken tracker.
The twist? Trusting him means betraying the only tech she’s ever known.
Jenny has big dreams. She’s going to be a journalist when she grows up. And when she returns home from her grandparents’ house in New York, she’s going to kiss her boyfriend for the first time.
The Twist? Jenny boarded her plane in 1995 and when it lands in St. Louis, 25 years have passed. Everyone in her life is much older or has passed away, and she’s been deemed long dead. As Jenny navigates social media, the internet, and the world that has gone on without her, she finds everyone is hiding things from her.
Your Life Has Been Delayed is a YA contemporary with a speculative twist that reads a bit like a thriller and had me flipping pages to find out what happens next and how each twist would affect Jenny.
When Jenny Waters boards her flight in New York on August 2nd, 1995, the two most pressing things on her mind are figuring how to convince her parents to let her apply to her dream journalism program at Columbia, and reuniting with (and maybe finally kissing) her brand-new boyfriend, Steve. But when Jenny and the other passengers disembark in St. Louis, the airport officials inform them that their plane disappeared - twenty-five years ago. Everyone thought they were dead. How did the universe hit pause on their flight while the rest of the world kept going?
Wes and Stella have bonded online over their favorite sci-fi show that was tragically cancelled after the first season ended on a cliffhanger. Something I, as a huge sci-fi fan, sympathize with. Wes draws amazing fan art, while Stella writes fanfic and deals with the mansplaining of what a real sci-fi fan is. Wes and Stella agree to meet in person to uncover their identities at the local comic con.
The Twist? In real life, they hate each other, to the point of a prank war and are both competing to be valedictorian.
Shipped is You’ve Got Mail at comic con. It’s a love letter to fandom and played to my sci-fi-loving heart.
Can two IRL enemies find their happily ever after online?
Stella Greene and Wesley Clarke are Gene Connolly Memorial High School's biggest rivals. While the two have been battling it out for top student, it's a race to the bottom when it comes to snide comments and pulling the dirtiest prank. For years, Stella and Wes have been the villain in each other's story, and now it's all-out war.
And there is no bigger battle than the one for valedictorian, and more specifically, the coveted valedictorian scholarship.
But Stella and Wes have more in common than they think. Both are…
Knox has it all. Born into a wealthy family, he has the latest tech, a fancy car, and riches beyond his greatest imagination. Syd has very little. He spends his life repaying his debts to society and scrounging for tech he can fix-up.
The Twist? Syd is Knox’s proxy. Every time Knox gets in trouble, Syd is beaten while Knox watches. And when Knox commits an unspeakable crime, Syd’s life is on the line.
Proxy is a fast-paced dystopian that left me flipping pages, rooting for Syd and cursing Knox until the very end. This was the first sci-fi I’d read with Jewish rep and inspired me to include more Jewish rep in Tracker220.
Knox was born into one of the City's wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want -the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death. Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own. Then again, neither is Knox's. Son to a master manipulator, Knox and Syd have more in common than…
In a world with superpowers, two abilities mean you’re a Super and none means you’re Normal.
The Twist? Merrin Grey has a single power, meaning she’s half a Super called a One. And when she’s forced to transfer to a normal high school she meets Elias who is also a One. When they combine their powers, they can fly!
One is a love letter to superheroes and comics and plays with the idea of what makes someone a superhero vs a less than. I loved all the sci-fi tropes stood on their heads in this book. And Merrin and Elias are the cutest. This was one of the first indie-published novels I read. It showed me the art of possible, and how fantastic the world of indie publishing is.
When having two powers makes you a Super and having none makes you a Normal, having only one makes you a sad half-superpowered freak. It makes you a One. Sixteen-year-old Merrin Grey would love to be able to fly – too bad all she can do is hover. If she could just land an internship at the Biotech Hub, she might finally figure out how to fix herself. She busts her butt in AP Chem and salivates over the Hub’s research on the manifestation of superpowers, all in hopes of boosting her chances. Then she meets Elias VanDyne, another One,…
Six teens invited to a scholarship dinner are locked in the room with a bomb, a syringe full of poison, and a note saying they have to kill one person or they all die.
The Twist? Who locked them in the room? And if I say more than that I’ll spoil the jaw-dropping end to this one.
With the word twist in its title, All Your Twisted Secrets left me guessing with every page turned. The story alternates between the hour in the locked room and flashbacks to the months leading up to the ill-fated dinner. I enjoyed following Amber’s journey as she questioned her choices that led to who she became on the night of the scholarship dinner. And it all comes to a head with the big reveal I never saw coming.
A thrilling debut, reminiscent of new fan favorites like One of Us Is Lying and the beloved classics by Agatha Christie, that will leave readers guessing until the explosive ending.
"Welcome to dinner, and again, congratulations on being selected. Now you must do the selecting."
What do the queen bee, star athlete, valedictorian, stoner, loner, and music geek all have in common? They were all invited to a scholarship dinner, only to discover it's a trap. Someone has locked them into a room with a bomb, a syringe filled with poison, and a note saying they have an hour to…
One summer night in a small prairie city, 18-year-old Gabriel Reece accidentally outs himself to his redneck brother Colin, flees on his motorcycle, and gets struck by lightning on his way out of town.
He’s strangely fine, walking away from his melted pile of bike without a scratch. There’s no time to consider his new inhuman durability before his brother disappears and his childhood home burns down. He’s become popular, too—local cops and a weird private eye are after him, wanting to know if his brother is behind a recent murder.
On Friday, Gabriel Reece gets struck by lightning while riding his motorcycle.
It's not the worst thing that happens to him that week.
Gabe walks away from a smoldering pile of metal without a scratch-or any clothes, which seem to have been vaporized. And that's weird, but he's more worried about the sudden disappearance of his brother, Colin, who ditched town the second Gabe accidentally outed himself as gay.
Gabe tries to sift through fragmented memories of his crummy childhood for clues to his sudden invincibility, but he barely has time to think before people around town start turning up…
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