ingly severe blackouts and the strange pull
of a captive bear. Jessie and Dawn’s separation at age nine was traumatic, and their
reunion, initiated by Dawn’s mother,
ushers in a metamorphosis for both young
women. A former dancer, Keyser (The
Way Back from Broken) deftly explores the
bonds of love and friendship, and the grueling world of ballet. It’s easy to picture
Jessie exploding in a riot of frenzied grace,
and Dawn’s war with her own body and
mind is heart wrenching. Alternating
between Dawn and Jessie’s perspectives,
Keyser’s writing shimmers with raw emotion and empathy, and her finale, much
like in dance, is poetic, bittersweet, and
life affirming. Ages 13–up. Agent: Fiona
Kenshole, Transatlantic Literary. (Apr.)
But Then I Came Back
Estelle Laure. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,
$17.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-544-53126-0
If you’re in a coma, where are you? Is
there a place between life and death?
Unanswerable questions, but not for
17-year-old Eden Jones, a type-A ballerina who hits her head and nearly drowns.
When she wakes up after a month, she has
another question to face: what’s it like to
get your old life back? Eden is having
visions she doesn’t understand; she can’t
stop thinking about Jaz, a fellow coma
patient; and then there’s handsome, worried Joe, Jaz’s best friend, who may be
something more for Eden. Laure creates
an intriguing blend of realism and the
unknowable in her sophomore novel, a
companion of sorts to The Raging Light, in
which Eden was a secondary character. Jaz
can’t speak, but she can communicate
with Eden, and the “In Between” place
where Eden spent her coma is depicted as
real and alluring, a place of comfort that’s
only worth leaving if you’re loved. Eden is
simultaneously tough and fragile, and her
struggle to figure out what her life should
look like is compelling. Ages 14–up
Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary
Management. (Apr.)
Geekerella
Ashley Poston. Quirk, $18.99 (320p) ISBN 978-
1-59474-947-6
In this thoroughly enjoyable, pop-culture-saturated Cinderella retelling,
17-year-old Elle Wittimer, unhappy
with her social climbing stepfamily, pins
Agent: Kathleen Ortiz, New Leaf Literary &
Media. (Apr.)
Between Two Skies
Joanne O’Sullivan. Candlewick, $16.99
(272p) ISBN 978-0-7636-9034-2
O’Sullivan’s first novel, an elegantly
written coming-of-age story set against the
backdrop of Hurricane Katrina, opens in
the village of Bayou Perdu on the Gulf of
Mexico on the eve of Evangeline Riley’s
16th birthday. The third Evangeline in her
family, she harbors a deep love for her run-down village and its surrounding waters.
When Katrina approaches, Evangeline and
her parents, older sister, and Cajun grandmother evacuate, ending up in Atlanta,
where her Aunt Cel sets them up with an
apartment and enrolls the sisters in school.
The setting is a far cry from Bayou Perdu,
where Evangeline’s mother ran a diner and
her father was a shrimper; inevitable family
tensions arise, but Evangeline finds friendship, romance, and a nurturing school
counselor. While the story is somewhat
predictable, O’Sullivan creates suspense on
several fronts and gives Evangeline a lyrical
and endearing voice; as first love blossoms,
“A shiver runs through me, the way an
egret’s feathers ripple slightly in the wind
as it’s about to take flight.” Ages 12–up.
Agent: Claire Anderson-Wheeler, Regal
Hoffmann & Associates. (Apr.)
★ Pointe, Claw
Amber J. Keyser. Carolrhoda Lab, $18.99
(288p) ISBN 978-1-4677-7591-5
Jessie Vale studies ballet at a prestigious
preprofessional program at the Ballet des
Arts in Portland, Ore., and the 17-year-old
has the blisters and bloody feet to show for
it. Vadim Ivanov, the company’s principal
male dancer, announces that he’s putting
together his own piece, and Jessie has been
chosen to be a part of it. Jessie initially
chafes at the ani-
malistic, avant-
garde piece but
soon begins to
thrill to the adult
Vadim’s atten-
tion and touch.
Meanwhile,
Jessie’s child-
hood friend
Dawn struggles
with increas-
Mama Lacy’s mother, Mrs. Madison,
wins custody of Fella and her 16-year-old
sister, Zany, separating them from Mama
Shannon. Zany’s furtive plan to grant
Mama Lacy’s final wish by scattering her
ashes near their old home drives the
novel. Sneaking their mother’s urn from
Mrs. Madison’s mantle, the girls embark
on a madcap nighttime road trip, which
takes one surprising turn after another.
Their car overheats, a teenage thief steals
the urn, and they end up hitchhiking with
him (and later “borrowing” his truck).
Dooley (Free Verse) skillfully balances the
troubling story of a family torn apart
with Fella’s lively, humorous narrative:
“We’re either going to go to jail or get in
trouble with Mrs. Madison—and I am
not sure which is worse.” When Mama
Shannon and Mrs. Madison join forces to
find the girls, possibilities for a new
family configuration offer hope in this
moving, entertaining, and thought-pro-
voking tale. Ages 10–up. (Apr.)
Beneath the Shine
Sarah Fine. Skyscape, $9.99 trade paper
(304p) ISBN 978-1-4778-2327-9
In this uneven thriller, set in late-21st-
century America and loosely inspired by
The Scarlet Pimpernel, two teens alternately
oppose and support one another amid the
chaos of terrorist attacks and increased
governmental control. Seventeen-year-old
vid blogger Marguerite Singer is known for
helping the new president win the election
during a divisive campaign regarding
wealth inequality and subsidized technology, which puts her at odds with the
technocrats who run Washington, D.C.
At Marguerite’s new school, she meets the
flamboyant, fashion-obsessed Percy Blake.
After terrorists strike and the city is put on
lockdown, the two are swept up in a new
reign of terror—someone is smuggling
technocrats out of the city ahead of the
authorities; Marguerite has to find out
who, and how Percy is involved. Fine
(The Imposter Queen) doesn’t play it subtle
with this story; the parallels between this
future America and current events are
blatant, as are elements taken from the
source material. It’s a fast-paced, intense
story, with engaging characters and an
intriguing premise, but it’s weighed down
by frequent and heavy-handed political,
social, and economic debates. Ages 12–up.
