Carmela's Books

Allison Saft’s Softmore novel, A Far Wilder Magic, is a 2022 standout. At its core a story about outcasts finding a home in one another, this historical fantasy is soft, deliberate, and welcoming, and is certain to leave you feeling charmed and cozy by the end. When Margaret Welty spots the legendary hala, the last living mythical creature, she knows the Halfmoon Hunt will soon follow. Whoever is able to kill the hala will earn fame and riches, and unlock an ancient magical secret. If Margaret wins the hunt, it may finally bring her mother home. While Margaret is the best sharpshooter in town, only teams of two can register, and she needs an alchemist. Weston Winters isn’t an alchemist—yet. Fired from every apprenticeship he's landed, his last chance hinges on Master Welty taking him in. But when Wes arrives at Welty Manor, he finds only Margaret and her bloodhound Trouble. Margaret begrudgingly allows him to stay, but on one condition: he must join the hunt with her. As the hunt ...

If This Gets Out is a conversational book about knowing who you are and loving yourself for it. Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich tackle the mess that is the music industry with a grace that’ll leave you feeling raw. Eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are two members of the boy-band Saturday, one of the biggest acts in America. Along with their bandmates, Angel Phan and Jon Braxton, the four are teen heartbreakers in front of the cameras and best friends backstage. But privately, cracks are starting to form: their once-easy rapport is straining under the pressures of fame, and Ruben confides in Zach that he’s feeling smothered by management’s pressure to stay in the closet. On a whirlwind tour through Europe, with both an unrelenting schedule and minimal supervision, Ruben and Zach come to rely on each other more and more, and their already close friendship evolves into a romance. But when they decide they’re ready to tell their fans and live freely, Zach and Ruben start ...

TJ Klune’s YA hit showcases a love for everything bright and ridiculous. All at once hysterically ridiculous and brutally heartfelt, The Extraordinaries is an homage to the naturally campy (and queer) nature of superheroes. Nick Bell? Not extraordinary. But being the most popular fanfiction writer in the Extraordinaries fandom is a superpower, right? After a chance encounter with Shadow Star, Nova City’s mightiest hero (and Nick’s biggest crush), Nick sets out to make himself extraordinary. And he’ll do it with or without the reluctant help of Seth Gray, Nick's best friend (and maybe the love of his life). I’d best explain this book as Marissa Meyer’s Renegades meets “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift, but with all the iconic hilarity and nostalgia of Peter David’s 1998 run of Young Justice. From over-the-top suits to flashy fights to terrible hero names, this book should feel familiar to anyone whose ever been a fan of superheroes. The train of thought narration style takes s...

Sweet and joyous with a pinch of teen drama, this Osemanverse novella is the perfect pick-me-up for any reader between books. Nick and Charlie are facing the start of university and the uncertainty that comes with it. Even with countless new hurdles, and two-hundred miles, between them, they manage to prove that some people are just meant to be. Everyone knows that Nick and Charlie are the perfect couple – that they’re inseparable. But now Nick is leaving for university, and Charlie will be left behind at Sixth Form. Everyone’s asking if they’re staying together, which is a stupid question – they’re ‘Nick and Charlie’ for God’s sake! But as the time to say goodbye gets inevitably closer, both Nick and Charlie question whether their love is strong enough to survive being apart. Or are they delaying the inevitable? Because everyone knows that first loves rarely last forever. You might know this novella from its iconic audiobook lines—“do you love me more than your dogs?” and “I’ve been d...

Casey McQuiston’s YA debut, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, is nothing short of triumphant. Hilarious, romantic, and true to life, the intertwining stories of Chloe and Shara have carved space in the YA canon for queer youth everywhere.  Chloe Green is so close to winning. After her moms moved her from SoCal to Alabama for high school, she’s spent the past four years dodging gossipy classmates and a puritanical administration at Willowgrove Christian Academy. The thing that’s kept her going: winning valedictorian. Her only rival: prom queen Shara Wheeler, the principal’s perfect progeny. But a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe and vanishes. On a furious hunt for answers, Chloe discovers she’s not the only one Shara kissed. There’s also Smith, Shara’s longtime quarterback sweetheart, and Rory, Shara’s bad boy neighbor with a crush. The three have nothing in common except Shara and the annoyingly cryptic notes she left behind, but together they must untangle Shara’s trail of clues...

A stunning debut from Nina Varela, Crier’s War is full of political intrigue, vibrant worldbuilding, and a slow-burn romance for the ages. Following the lives of Ayla and Crier, two girls on different sides of a species war, this book revives the rebel girl trope and amps it to levels of honesty and complexity YA rarely touches on.  After the War of Kinds ravaged the kingdom of Rabu, the Automae, designed to be the playthings of royals, usurped their owners’ estates and bent the human race to their will. Now Ayla, a human servant rising in the ranks at the House of the Sovereign, dreams of avenging her family’s death…by killing the sovereign’s daughter, Lady Crier. Crier was Made to be beautiful, flawless, and to carry on her father’s legacy. But that was before her betrothal to the enigmatic Scyre Kinok, before she discovered her father isn’t the benevolent king she once admired, and most importantly, before she met Ayla. Now, with growing human unrest across the land, pressures ...

I remember losing it when the Teen Titans YA graphic novel series was announced years ago, especially when Gabriel Picolo, my favorite illustrator, signed on to do it. Fast forward and I’ve finally gotten around to reading Beast Boy and let me tell you, Kami Garcia and Picolo have a way of bringing your childhood characters to life in ways that make you feel like a kid discovering storytelling again.  Garfield Logan has spent his entire life being overlooked. Even in a small town like Eden, Georgia, the 17-year-old with green streaks in his hair can’t find a way to stand out–and the clock is ticking. Senior year is almost over. If Gar doesn’t find a way to impress the Chosen Ones–the social elite at Bull Creek High School–he will never know what it’s like to matter. Gar’s best friends, Stella and Tank, don’t understand why he cares what other people think. They miss their funny, pizza-loving, video game-obsessed best friend. Then Gar accepts a wild dare out of the blue. It impresse...

Hold Still is a simultaneous punch in the gut and pat on the back to anyone who’s ever been impacted by suicide. This book made me choke up and cry more than anything else I’ve ever read. Nina LaCour, the queen of grief stories, has created a pseudo-memoir for anyone still struggling, showing us all we’re not alone in our loss.  In words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend's suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn't die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid's descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid—and Caitlin herself. This is the second Nina LaCour book I’ve read, and while I didn’t really en...

It’s honestly a crime that I don’t often see this book on queer Bookstagram/BookTok. I rarely read books that make me this happy for this long. Well-written and bursting at the seems with unapologetic queer joy, Sophie Gonzales’s Only Mostly Devasted is just that—devastatingly amazing. Will Tavares is the dream summer fling ― he's fun, affectionate, kind ― but just when Ollie thinks he's found his Happily Ever After, summer vacation ends and Will stops texting Ollie back. Now Ollie is one prince short of his fairy tale ending, and to complicate the fairy tale further, a family emergency sees Ollie uprooted and enrolled at a new school across the country. Which he minds a little less when he realizes it's the same school Will goes to... except Ollie finds that the sweet, comfortably queer guy he knew from summer isn't the same one attending Collinswood High. This Will is a class clown, closeted ― and, to be honest, a bit of a jerk. Ollie has no intention of pining after...