It’s getting hot in here, so take off…a few days from work and go read a book by the pool. Order it from Liberation Station in Raleigh, NC!
Happy Reading!
Blood in the Water
This summer, beware of sharks...
Brooklyn girl Kaylani McKinnon feels like a fish out of water. She's spending the summer with family friends in their huge house on Martha's Vineyard, and the vibe is definitely snooty. Still, there are beautiful beaches, lots of ice cream, and a town full of fascinating Black history. Plus a few kids her age who seem friendly.
Until the shocking death of a popular teenage boy rocks the community to its core. Was it a drowning? A shark attack? Or the unthinkable--murder?
Kaylani is determined to solve the mystery. But her investigation leads her to uncover shocking secrets that could change her own life as she knows it... if she survives.
New York Times bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson makes her thrilling middle-grade debut with this heart-pounding mystery packed with twists and turns that will keep readers guessing until the end.
(MG)
Pretty Girl County
Lakita Wilson
The glitz of Gossip Girl meets the hustle of Leah Johnson's You Should See Me in a Crown in this charming and hilarious story of ex-BFFs from PG County, Maryland, perfect for fans of Joya Goffney and Elise Bryant.
Girls like Reya Samuels always come from Prince George’s County. Reya is rich and she’s not afraid to show it—she wears designer clothes, drives a custom pink Audi, and lives in a neighborhood tucked behind a fancy cast iron gate. She works hard, but she can get anything she wants with a snap.
Sommer Watkins is from Seat Pleasant, where the cast iron gates are significantly smaller—and attached to the windows, where most folks are still trying to make ends meet. Every day for Sommer is a hustle, working at her dad’s bookstore, and using her art skills to scrounge up enough scholarship money for her dream school, Spelman.
Reya and Sommer used to be BFFs—back when Reya lived in Seat Pleasant, too. Now the girls are from different stratospheres—but when Reya desperately needs help to prove to FIT admissions officers that she has what it takes to make it in fashion, the only person who can help is Sommer. Reya promises to help Sommer in return—she’ll pay her for her services, helping Sommer afford the school her parents can’t.
As the girls work together, slowly they begin to trust each other again. But when new relationships push them both, and Sommer’s dad’s bookstore is suddenly in danger of closing, old wounds bubble up. Can the girls find a way to repair their friendship and stay true to themselves along the way?
(YA)
This Might Be About Zinnia
Two moments in time. Two very different girls. And one story that connects them both.
It’s the year 2024, and Zinnia Davis is on a mission to ace her personal essay. But when an admissions rep hints that her adoption story is “lacking heart,” she has to figure out a new spin. Frankly, Zinnia doesn’t know much about her birth parents; that is, until her favorite author releases a new novel—Little Heart—about a princess with a heart-shaped birthmark on her forehead and separated from her mother at birth…just like Zinnia. Could this be her birth mother?
Flashback to 2006, and teenager Tuesday Walker is barely making it through high school after experiencing a loss that had her on leave for months. To cope, Tuesday writes a series of entries in a journal, but when the journal is lost, it feels like reliving the trauma all over again. Tuesday’s search for the journal uncovers dangerous secrets about her past, her crush, and her own mother’s story.
If Tuesday isn’t careful in her search, Zinnia will have to reap the consequences in the present.
(YA)
Call Your Boyfriend
Ashley Woodfolk, Olivia A. Cole
She Gets the Girl meets Bottoms in this fun and flirty young adult sapphic rom-com about two teens who want revenge on the flaky popular girl they’re both crushing on.
Cynical but sensitive Beau Carl is on a mission. She needs to know if ultra-popular Maia Moon—the girl she’s been secretly hooking up with for months—really has feelings for her. But when she shows up at the last big party of the year before prom, she sees Maia about to kiss someone else.
Sweet, inexperienced Charm Montgomery is the “someone else.” And she’s ecstatic that she’s been reading Maia’s flirty behavior in their tutoring sessions correctly. But when the kiss is interrupted and Maia accepts an elaborate promposal from her douchey, popular boyfriend just a few days later, both Charm and Beau end up heartbroken.
There’s only one thing for them to do—get her back. And the only way to do that is for Beau to tutor Charm on how she can get their former crush to fall for her so hard that Maia will dump her ex…and then get dumped for once.
As their plan starts working, Beau and Charm grow closer too, in a way neither expected. But are either of them ready to let go of their scheme to take a chance on something a little sweeter—and scarier—than revenge?
(YA)