List: 2023 Teen Reading Challenge: Family Drama
Dark Secrets. 1
In Legacy of Lies, Megan has to stay with the uptight grandmother she wants nothing to do with. She's determined to get through the visit without any drama, but when she falls into a twisted love triangle with potentially fatal consequences, Megan may be caught up in her family's legacy in more ways than she realizes. In Don't Tell, Lauren knows that by returning to the town where her mother drowned seven years ago, she'll be reliving one of her most haunting memories. When she arrives, she is propelled into a series of mysterious events that mimic the days leading up to her mother's death. Maybe her mother's drowning wasn't an accident after all and maybe Lauren is next.
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The Chaos of Stars
Sixteen-year-old Isadora, the mortal daughter of Isis and Osiris, is sick of being in the middle of family drama so she jumps at the chance to leave Egypt and start a new life in San Diego with her brother.
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Take Me Home Tonight
Despite being polar opposites, Kat and Stevie bonded over their love of theater. They sneak away from the suburbs to spend a night in New York City. It's all planned: see a play, eat at the city's hottest restaurant, and have the best night ever. What could go wrong? They're barely off the train before they're dealing with destroyed phones, family drama, and unexpected Pomeranians. They'll have to grapple with old flames, terrible theater, and unhelpful cab drivers. Both Kat and Stevie will get a wake-up call about their friendship, their choices-- and what they really want for their futures.
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A Furry Faux Pas
Sometimes Your Best Self Is Your Fursona. Online, MauveCat (a cool, confident, glittering pixie cat) has friends and a whole supportive furry community that appreciates her art. At home, Maeve Stephens has to tiptoe around her hoarder mother's mood and mess. When her life is at its hardest, Maeve can always slip into Mauve, her fursona, and be "the happy one," the bubbliest, friendliest artist in her community--it's even how she made her best friend, Jade. With graduation around the corner, Maeve is ready to put her lonely school days behind her and move on with her life. And while her father hasn't been home since the divorce, he does offer her a dream come true: an all-expenses paid trip to the regional furry convention. Furlympia will have everything Maeve's been missing--friends, art mentors, and other furries! So when her mother forbids her from going, Maeve decides to sneak out on her own. Between hitching a ride with Jade, getting a makeover from a young furry she inspired, and connecting with an art idol who could help Her get into her dream school--the furcon is everything Maeve hoped for and more. A single weekend away shows Maeve how wonderful her life could be, but breaking free of the hoard means abandoning her mother, just like everyone else in their life. And Maeve isn't sure if she can--even if it destroys her, too.
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We Are All Constellations
Seventeen-year-old Iris is happy. She's fearless, she's strong. She is everything but a girl who lost her mum. But Iris's dad and step-mum have been keeping a secret. One big enough to unravel her. Only the magnetic Órla can provide an escape, until things get...complicated. As Iris questions who she is, it becomes clear she can't run away from grief. What happens when someone who has never faced up to the darkness lets it in?
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Loveboat, Taipei
When Ever Wong's parents send her away for the summer, she's expecting Chien Tan: a strict, educational immersion program in Taiwan. Instead, she finds the infamous "Loveboat." There, Ever is surrounded by prodigies, like Rick Woo, Chinese American wonder boy and longtime bane of her existence; Ever's roommate, the confident and clever Sophia Ha, as glamorous as she is sharp; and the intimidatingly cool Xavier Yeh, heir to an international tech empire. But her classmates are more interested in the nonstop Taipei nightlife than anything to do with the curriculum. Hookups abound, snake-blood sake flows, and adult supervision is nonexistent. For the first time ever, Ever is discovering what freedom tastes like and it's exhilarating. But summer will end and Ever will be back to her parents and the future they've planned for her. Will she let this glimpse of freedom go -- or will Loveboat give her the courage to pursue the future she dreams of, and the Ever Wong she wants to be?
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American Royals
In an alternate America, princesses Beatrice and Samantha Washington and the two girls wooing their brother, Prince Jefferson, become embroiled in high drama in the most glorious court in the world.
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The Inheritance Games
When a Connecticut teenager inherits vast wealth and an eccentric estate from the richest man in Texas, she must also live with his surviving family and solve a series of puzzles to discover how she earned her inheritance.
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The Cousins
After receiving an invitation to spend the summer with their estranged grandmother, the Story cousins arrive at her house only to discover that she is not there, and the longer they stay on the island, the more they realize their mysterious family history has some deadly secrets.
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My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding
Gifted violinist Zurika Damani tries to juggle the obligations of her sister's extravagant wedding week while secretly preparing for a prominent music contest all while trying to dodge her family's matchmaking schemes.
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The Ivory Key
Since the murder of the maharani of Ashoka--the country that controls all magic--the relationships between the royal siblings have fractured. At only 18, Vira has ascended to the throne, a role few in her council believe her capable of. Meanwhile, her twin brother, Ronak, is plotting to break free from a tactful marriage and taking their half-brother, Kaleb, (wrongfully imprisoned for the maharani's assassination) with him. The siblings' unease comes to a head when their sister Riya returns to the palace after two years of running with a group of rebels. As Ashoka's quarry runs out of magic, the only option left is to find fragments of an old map leading to an ivory key rumored to unlock the lost quarries of Ashoka. Legend or not, all the siblings want a piece of it.
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Yesterday is History
Weeks ago, Andre Cobb received a much-needed liver transplant. He passes out and wakes up somewhere totally unexpected... in 1969, where (when?) he connects with Michael. Just as suddenly, he slips back to present-day Boston, where the family of his donor is waiting to explain that his new liver came with a side effect-- the ability to time travel. And they've tasked their youngest son, Blake, with teaching Andre how to use his unexpected new gift. Andre splits his time between the past and future, between Michael and Blake. Now Andre has to figure out where he belongs-- and more importantly, who he wants to be with. --
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Some Other Row
Jessi is caught between two brothers as the three navigate family, loss, and love over the course of her seventeenth and eighteenth summers.
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This is My America
While writing letters to Innocence X, a justice-seeking project, asking them to help her father, an innocent black man on death row, teenaged Tracy takes on another case when her brother is accused of killing his white girlfriend.
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The Hunger Games
In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.
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Yolk
Jayne and June are nothing alike. Their family moved from Seoul to San Antonio and finally New York. The sisters don't want anything to do with each other... until June gets cancer. And Jayne becomes the only one who can help her. Now, flung together by sickness, bound by family secrets, they learn more about themselves and each other than they may be willing to confront. -- adapted from jacket.
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Burn Baby Burn
Nora Lopez is seventeen during the summer of 1977, when New York is besieged by arson, a massive blackout, and a serial killer named Son of Sam. Meg Medina transports us to a time when tempers and temperatures ran high to share the story of a young woman who discovers that the greatest dangers are often closer than we like to admit.
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Infinity Son
"In a world where some people are born with powers and some people take them, brothers Emil and Brighton Rey get swept up in a supernatural turf war generations in the making"--
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Radha & Jai's Recipe for Romance
Radha is on the verge of becoming one of the greatest Kathak dancers in the world until a family betrayal costs her the biggest competition of her life. She leaves her Chicago home behind to follow her stage mom to New Jersey. At the Princeton Academy of the Arts, Radha is determined to reinvent herself from scratch. Jai is captain of the Bollywood Beats dance team, ranked first in his class. He's an overachiever, but tight family funds means medical school is a pipe dream. When Radha enters his life, he realizes she's the exact ingredient he needs for a show-stopping senior year. --
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The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling
Anna Chiu has her hands full. When she's not looking after her brother and sister or helping out at her father's restaurant, she's taking care of her mother, whose debilitating mental illness keeps her in bed most days. Her father's new delivery boy, Rory, is a welcome distraction and even though she knows that things aren't right at home, she's starting to feel like she could be a normal teen.
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The Princess Diaries
Mia Thermopolis is pretty sure there's nothing worse than being a five-foot-nine, flat-chested freshman, who also happens to be flunking Algebra. Is she ever in for a surprise. First Mom announces that she's dating Mia's Algebra teacher. Then Dad has to go and reveal that he is the crown prince of Genovia. And guess who still doesn't have a date for the Cultural Diversity Dance? The Princess Diaries is the first book in the beloved, bestselling series that inspired the feature film starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews.
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Clap When You Land
Camino Rios lives for the summers when her father visits her in the Dominican Republic. But this time, on the day when his plane is supposed to land, Camino arrives at the airport to see crowds of crying people ... In New York City, Yahaira Rios is called to the principal's office, where her mother is waiting to tell her that her father, her hero, has died in a plane crash. Separated by distance -- and Papi's secrets -- the two girls are forced to face a new reality in which their father is dead and their lives are forever altered. And then, when it seems like they've lost everything of their father, they learn of each other.
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Twin Crowns
Twin princesses Wren and Rose, separated at birth and raised in two different environments, meet for the first time when they have to fight for the throne while juggling their romantic pursuits.
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Wicked like a Wildfire
Twins Iris and Malina have been born with a gleam -- a unique way of using magic to manipulate beauty. Iris sees flowers as fractals and turns her kaleidoscope visions into glasswork, while Malina interprets moods as music. They must keep their gifts a secret, and are not allowed to share their magic with anyone. Above all, they are forbidden from falling in love. When their mother is mysteriously attacked, the sisters discover a wicked curse that haunts their family line. And the very magic that bonds them together may be destined to tear them apart forever.
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A Phỏ Love Story
Bảo Nguye̋n would describe himself as steady and strong: his grades are average, his social status unremarkable. He works at his parents' phỏ restaurant -- as his parents' fifth favorite employee. Linh Mai would describe herself as a firecracker: stable when unlit, but full of potential for joy and fire. She dreams of pursuing a career in art, while working practically full-time at her family's phỏ restaurant. Bao and Linh have never even had a class together -- but after a chance encounter, sparks fly. Can this relationship survive their families' feud?
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Fat Chance, Charlie Vega
Charlie Vega is smart, funny, artistic, ambitious. And fat. People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. The world wants Charlie to be thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired, like her best friend Amelia. When Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing: he asked Amelia out first. Does he really like Charlie? Or is he just using her to get closer to Amelia?
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Far From the Tree
Grace, adopted at birth, is raised as an only child. At sixteen she's just put her own baby up for adoption, and now is looking for her biological family. She discovers Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio twin sister who was also adopted ; and Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother after seventeen years in the foster care system. Grace struggles between cautious joy at having found them, and the true meaning of family in all its forms.
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These Violent Delights
In 1926 Shanghai, eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, heir of the Scarlet Gang, and her first love-turned-rival Roma Montagov, leader of the White Flowers, must work together when mysterious deaths threaten their city--
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Clockwork Angel
When sixteen-year-old orphan Tessa Gray's older brother suddenly vanishes, her search for him leads her into Victorian-era London's dangerous supernatural underworld, and when she discovers that she herself is a Downworlder, she must learn to trust the demon-killing Shadowhunters if she ever wants to learn to control her powers and find her brother.
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The Noh Family
Chloe Chang travels to Seoul to meet her deceased father's ultra-rich family, but there is a reason why her mom kept her away from the Nohs, and Chloe begins to wonder if her new family's intentions are pure.
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Family of Liars
A windswept private island off the coast of Massachusetts. A hungry ocean, churning with secrets and sorrow. A fiery, addicted heiress. An irresistible, unpredictable boy. A summer of unforgivable betrayal and terrible mistakes. Welcome back to the Sinclair family. They were always liars.
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What's Up with My Family?
Packed with tips, tools, quotes, quizzes, and other fun features that complement the character narratives. The book offers expert information for getting along with parents and handling common concerns that come up at home. Readers will find advice for dealing with sibling conflicts, coping with divorce and life in a blended family, and being assertive when adults are genuinely unfair. The result? Teen and tween readers are able to strengthen relationships at home even as they become more independent.
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The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia
From the acclaimed author of Amelia Lost and The Lincolns comes a heartrending narrative nonfiction page-turner--and a perfect resource for meeting Common Core standards. When Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II, inherited the throne in 1894, he was unprepared to do so. With their four daughters (including Anastasia) and only son, a hemophiliac, Nicholas and his reclusive wife, Alexandra, buried their heads in the sand, living a life of opulence as World War I raged outside their door and political unrest grew into the Russian Revolution. Deftly maneuvering between the lives of the Romanovs and the plight of Russia's peasants and urban workers--and their eventual uprising--Fleming offers up a fascinating portrait, complete with inserts featuring period photographs and compelling primary-source material that brings it all to life.
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Goodbye from Nowhere
When Kyle learns that his mother has been having an affair and his father has been living with the secret, his reality is altered. But Kyle's parents want him to keep this secret from the rest of the family until after what might be their last big summer reunion. Kyle feels the walls of his relationships closing in, and has to decide what his obligations are to everyone he cares for.
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The Sullivan Sisters
The once tight bond among three sisters, ages fourteen to eighteen, disappears as each deals with a personal setback; but when a letter arrives informing the sisters of a dead uncle and an inheritance they knew nothing about, the news forces them to band together in the face of a sinister family mystery, and possible murder.
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It All Came Back to You
After Kiran Noorani's mom died, Kiran vowed to keep her dad and sister, Amira, close ... But when Amira announces that she's dating someone, Kiran's world is turned upside down. Deen Malik is thrilled that his brother, Faisal, has found a great girlfriend ... When the families meet, Deen and Kiran find themselves face to face. Again. Three years ago ... Kiran and Deen dated in secret. Until Deen ghosted Kiran.
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The Marvelous Mirza Girls
"To cure her post-senior year slump, made worse by the loss of her aunt Sonia, Noreen decides to follow her mom on a gap year trip to New Delhi, hoping India can lessen her grief and bring her voice back. In the world's most polluted city, Noreen soon meets kind, handsome Kabir, who introduces her to the wonders of this magical, complicated place. With the help of Kabir--plus Bollywood celebrities, fourteenth-century ruins, karaoke parties, and Sufi saints--Noreen discovers new meanings for home. But when a family scandal erupts, Noreen and Kabir must face complex questions in their own relationship: What does it mean to truly stand by someone--and what are the boundaries of love?"--
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Of Curses and Kisses
When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud by targeting Jaya Rao's little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she will be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and she knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. His Lordship Grey Emerson is doomed once he turns eighteen-- thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch. When Jaya Rao bursts into his life, he can't shake the feeling that she is hiding something. As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it is possible to write your own happy ending. --
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