The young adult reviewers, part of the Kitsap (WA) Regional Library YA book groups near Seattle, offer honest insight into some of the latest titles for teens. Paranormal romances don't seem to be waning, and a realistic fiction title was received quite differently by two young critics. Check out what they have to say about the latest teen fiction releasing in the next few months. CIOCCA, Gina. Last Year's Mistake. S. & S. Jun. 2015. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781481432238. Gr 9 Up–Have you ever wanted to get away from something? Well, Kelsey did. Her life was turning upside down, so she was happy to move. Until, that is, her crush told her he loved her. More confused than ever, Kelsey starts over: a totally different life, a new girl. But what happens when the boy from her dreams, and nightmares, comes back? The plot is very stereotypical for a teen romance: a girl and a boy have a bad break up/heartbreak, and boy comes back to haunt the girl, until they kiss and make up. Yet sometimes it's good to just have an easy teen read once in a while. I enjoyed the story. I wasn't too disappointed, since the book turned out to be a lot like I thought it would be, but I do wish it could have been slightly less stereotypical.–Kalea C., 14 DIMOPOULOS, Elaine. Material Girls. HMH. May 2015. Tr. $17.99. ISBN 9780544388505. Gr 9 Up–In the near future, teen idol Ivy and trendsetter Mara attempt to change their corporate, consumerist world for the greener. Unfortunately, there was very little to love about Material Girls, and it's going to be very hard to keep this review from becoming vitriolic. I absolutely hated this book. I found it offensive, poorly written, implausible, and lacking in character development. The idea behind the story, with a fashion-controlled economy and high-skill-level jobs such as doctors at the bottom of the social hierarchy, seems more like the stuff of parodies than something serious. Unfortunately, you can't read Material Girls as a parody, because it's just not funny. It is offensive. The environmental moral was more heavy-handed and obvious than almost anything I've read. The entire book is very "waste: bad, recycle: good," but with no subtlety or interesting framing of this theme. Instead it was more "stop pounding my head with bricks labeled 'go green.'" To top it all, the moral (while important but still about as subtle and nuanced as a brick to the head), was coated with a facade of uninspiring fashion descriptions and terribly contrived futuristic slang. The writing as a whole was bland and uninspiring, making the fact that I was even able to finish it a minor miracle. The characters of Mara and Ivy were static. I guess they sort of developed, but besides the suddenly green viewpoint switch, they didn't learn from mistakes or become stronger. At the end, the girls were exactly the same as they were at the beginning. Also, the perspective flip using first person and third person seemed like a very lazy way of differentiating who was narrating at the moment. Even so, neither Mara nor Ivy had particularly compelling voices. Now on to the offensive part of the novel. Reading Material Girls, I got the impression that the author didn't consider that YA could be serious literature. The "fashion dystopia" felt like it was a "what do teens like? Divergent and trendiness. Combine those elements, and it'll be a best seller. Add in a lesson about the environment as well." Material Girls was a convoluted mess, and I spent much of my time reading it in an angry haze. This is not a book for teens. It doesn't take teens seriously and talks down to them in a way that elementary students would find offensive. The constant "do this, do that. Individuality is all" message is a good one, but the way it's presented makes reading this title about as pleasant as being slammed on the head with a bag of rocks. It's not an experience I would recommend. The most compelling aspect of the book was that I was able to finish it. The last chapter was pretty good, too. If I'd cared about the characters, it would have been a real tearjerker. It was definitely the best written part of the book, and the haziness of Ivy's perspective was well done. Words cannot describe how much I loathed this book. If The Last Leaves Falling was my favorite book this year, Material Girls is dead last. It's very rare that I find almost nothing to like about a book, and this is one of those occasions.–Ella W., 15 GRATZ, Alan. The League of Seven: The Dragon Lantern. Starscape/Tor. Jun. 2015. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9780765338235. Gr 6 Up–The League of Seven: The Dragon Lantern continues an incredible steampunk adventure, with more Lovecraftian beasts, unforgettable protagonists, and bigger robots. [SPOILER ALERT] Mr. Gratz, your writings were compelling and ingenious. However, I feel I must tell you that you are a terrible person. You have tormented this reader with a relatively dark ending, the death of a protagonist, and a death from laughter after seeing a reference to the Mobile Suits Gundam. All fanboy ranting aside, this book was an incredible sequel, fitting in with the first book very well and taking the protagonists to more destinations and more plot. Hachi has indeed made a decision (I see a very rough relationship in Fergus's future), and Archie has obtained two more protagonists for what I call the Mangled league (two monstrous members, one more with lektricity in his veins and a girl with an incredible amount of emotional baggage. We shall have to see what happens to Clyde). The romantic subplot is well balanced into the grand story, the plot continues with sufficient strength even after the protagonists go separate ways, and the story ends with a new foe rising—one that will indeed require the full force of the League to defeat. I have seen an effect in action/adventure fiction, which I call the Shutdown Phase, where the protagonist completely shuts down and refuses to participate in plotline events. This is fine, but it always has to be done in the middle of a book. If it's done at the end, the audience's final knowledge of the hero is that they are curled in a fetal ball crying over the latest plot revelation. This cannot happen to Archie. Granted, the entire point of his character is that all damage done to him must be emotional (thank you, indestructibility), but the story has to be a journey, and our protagonist appears to have ended this journey exactly where he started: doubting his humanity (more than doubting, at this point), a slave to emotions and with no emotional control and no backbone. Archie can and should be sad that he was indirectly responsible for the death of his friend's entire village. He should be afraid of what his friends will think of him now that he is officially a killer golem. However, this merits quiet resignation, not a shutdown. Archie should be trudging toward Houston with his head full of scenarios of hate and rejection, not being carried by the butler character. Our protagonist needs to man up slightly at the end. Otherwise, you're golden. Keep it up, Gratz. I need more!—Travis W., 17 HELTZEL, Anne. Charlie, Presumed Dead. HMH. Jun. 2015. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9780544388499. Gr 9 Up–Charlie is presumed dead, and his cheating ways are revealed when his two girlfriends, Lena and Aubrey, meet at his funeral without a body, because Charlie supposedly died in a plane explosion. The two girls go on an adventure together, searching the world to find out why Charlie supposedly faked his death, which he did, because then there'd be no book if Charlie had actually died. Then, because Heltzel is such a talented writer, we learn that Charlie is trying to murder Lena and frame Aubrey for his death, because Aubrey was cheating on him. I found that quite redundant because the cheater is jealous his second girlfriend is cheating on him! OH, THE IRONY. I liked that Lena and Aubrey, the two main characters, always made it clear that there was some secret linking them to Charlie and that they needed to find out the truth about his death. I liked how there was always an easily identifiable central conflict, which made the book "twisty and devious," as Marie Rutkoski said. Anne, I need you to remove all of the religious slang in this book. I never enjoy reading a book with words derogatory and offensive to God and Jesus. By writing in such an offensive way, you turn away all of the religious readers, like me. I find it disrespectful and annoying. Perhaps replace it with the F and S words, which you seem to have no problem using.—-Sam G., 14 NELSON, Michael Alan. Hexed: The Sisters of Witchdown. Pyr. May 2015. pap. $14.99. ISBN 9781633880566. Gr 9 Up–Lucifer has spent her life alone, a thief in a trade more dangerous than most. But after being wrestled and enlisted by a cop to find his missing daughter, Lucifer discovers much more sinister things at work. In a quest to get the girl back, Lucifer encounters demons and horrible things, like death, and even a little emotion. How she deals with new feelings is a question, though. How will she get to the Shade, a deadly place of witches, and save what's most important? I really liked the cover of this book for two reasons. One, it had cool animations and effects around a mysterious looking girl. Two, it made the reader want to read the book and it looks appealing. The plot and the characters were probably the best part. I loved the character of Lucifer, especially how she carried herself. I also found the plot very interesting, and it made me keep reading and reading!    There wasn't much to not like in the book, and I really enjoyed it.—Kalea C., 14. WEINGARTEN, Lynn. Suicide Notes from Beautiful Girls. S. & S. July 2015. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-1481418539. Gr 10 Up–As June tries to uncover the mystery of her old friend Delia's life and death, be prepared for a whirlwind journey filled with thrill, suspense, and secrets. I really liked the plot and writing style at first. The plot spiraled out of control toward the end and had a bunch of unnecessary and confusing details. I found the ending disappointing. If there were a sequel to this book, I would be less disappointed, but it ended in a confusing manner with lots of unfinished thoughts.—Bayla R., 13 ANOTHER TAKE: The plot and the story line were the absolute best. The characters pull you into the story, and they're so realistic that they could be real people. The book is riveting, and if you enjoy a good mystery in which you don't know what's going to happen next and that makes you turn page after page, then I highly recommend this book. The ending itself is very unique and absolutely perfect, I love how it didn't end in some cliche like the girl ending up with the guy or the superhero winning, but it ends in a way which satisfies readers and makes them wish there was more.–Ariel O., 15 WEST, Temple. Velvet. Feiwel & Friends/Swoon Reads. May 2015. Tr $9.99. ISBN 9781250057082. Gr 8 Up–Velvet is the story of an orphan. Or, rather, a new teen who just lost her parents. Forced to move in with relatives she never knew, and start over, Caitlyn is mad. Constantly. But things start to change when a strange boy takes a liking to her. I've never read any vampire romances before, so this was new for me. I thought it was a decent book but very stereotypical. My favorite part was Lucian, who is just a side character. He sounds adorable! I didn't really have any expectations, but it was a good, easy read. It was interesting how the writing style was what the teenage mind might think at some times. It lacked something new to bring though, because it was so similar to many other romance books for teens. I thought it was creepy how the entire climax of the story revolved around the pedophilia of Adrian's dad. I don't know, but I thought maybe there should've been a different point made.—Kalea C.,13