By the catalog: Merit Press, Fall 2013.

Titles I've read from the Adams Media Fall 2013 catalog:

Poor Little Dead Girls, by Lizzie Friend:

Sadie doesn’t trust people blindly, and she makes a concerted effort to avoid making stupid choices—there are a few conversations about the idiocy horror movie heroines—and Friend works to give even the most two-dimensional of her characters at least SOME depth. (The British twins, granted, don’t get much in the way of fleshing out, but they are REALLY funny, and since they created their public personas as a very deliberate caricature, I gave them a pass.)

Unaccompanied Minor, by Hollis Gillespie:

Things that work: As long as you aren't looking for something SUPER realistic—the bad guys are all mustache-twirlers, for example—almost everything! It's funny, fast-paced, smart, witty, and just totally entertaining across the board. Extra points for the phrase "psychotic Bobbsey Twins".

No Surrender Soldier, by Christine Kohler:

There certainly are aspects of the book to appreciate and admire: most notably the depiction of the Guamanian culture, which combines aspects of the various colonial powers that have controlled the island over the years with the indigenous Chamorro culture that was there originally and is there still. The cast reflects that multicultural heritage—Kiko is Chamorro, as is his crush at school, while his best friend Tomas is of Japanese descent—as does, and often in a stomach-growling inducing way, the food.

Escape from Eden, by Elisa Nader: I read this one and loved it, and then never wrote about it! I'll have to go back and re-read so I can do it justice, because Nader BROUGHT THE CRAZY, and in a TOTALLY EXCELLENT WAY. It's about a cult, and escaping from a cult, and first love. It's action-packed and tension-filled and there are thrills and chills and GAHHHHs galore! Also, HUMAN FREAKING TRAFFICKING. *shudder*

Ahem. Yeah, so I liked that one. A lot.

Titles I want to read from the same catalog:

Twigs, by Alison Ashley Formento: Issues galore, but hopefully in a none issue-y way? I'm mostly intrigued because it's apparently an homage to High Noon.

Deceived, by Julie Anne Lindsey: A thriller about a girl in boarding school who discovers that her father might be a complete stranger to her. I'm always up for a new thriller set in a boarding school.

Anyone But You, by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes: I really liked Exposure, the previous installment in the Twisted Lit series, so I'll definitely be reading this one, which is a re-imagining of Romeo & Juliet in and around Italian restaurants. Suddenly I feel like I should dedicate a week or two to getting caught up on all of the Shakespeare rewrites that I've missed over the last few years. BECAUSE THERE HAVE BEEN A LOT.