Take Three Girls, by Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell & Fiona Wood

Clem, Kate and Ady are in Year 10 at St Hilda’s, one Melbourne’s incestuous and insular private schools. With parents working in Singapore, sporty Clem and her nerdy fraternal twin Iris really don’t get along. A swim star, Clem is rethinking her priorities after an injury and an encounter with an attractive older boy. Country girl Kate is another new boarder, keen to get a scholarship and study medicine but torn by her love of music and the alternative possibilities it offers. Ady is a long term day girl with family problems, struggling to reconcile her creative side with her mean girl pack. St Hilda’s has instituted a wellness program to counteract online bullying, which seems inadequate to deal with its toxic impact on the girls. But it serves to bring together three who would otherwise have had little to do with each other and these new, strong friendships help them deal with the online nastiness. The three authors create strong voices for three distinct heroines, who learn a lot about themselves and how to get what they want in life. They also do a good job of blending those voices when the girls interact, although sad twin Iris is left a little underdone. The end of the tale is anticlimactic, fighting hate with flowers solves everything apparently, which is a pity as it’s otherwise a good, contemporary story.

Unnecessary Drama, by Nina Kenwood

Starting university, Brooke has moved from the country into a Melbourne share house. Troubled by anxiety and an overwhelming need for control, she hopes to reinvent herself in the big city. This seems unlikely when she realises that one of her new housemates is Jesse, a former friend from her home town who let her down badly. Always the good girl, the responsible one, Brooke needs to relax, get out of her own head and learn how to trust again. The characters don’t quite ring true is this uneven coming-of-age tale. It is mildly amusing and wholly predictable, with the will-they won’t-they tediously adolescent.

Sugar Town Queens, by Malla Nunn

Amandla is 15 and living in a one-room shack in a shanty town on the outskirts of Durban with her mother Annalisa. They are an oddity in Sugar Town in many ways; Annalisa is white, has holes in her memory and a sometimes tenuous grip on reality. Mixed race Amandla knows nothing about her origins or how they came to live in the slum she desperately wants to escape. The accidental discovery of her mother’s family leads Amandla and her good friends on a quest to find out Annalisa’s history and her own. What they discover forges new and rewarding relationships and sets them all up for a different future. Nunn paints a really interesting picture of modern ‘rainbow’ South Africa from the point of view of a teenage girl. The story has an almost fairy tale quality, despite or perhaps because of the real world threats and dangers that are part of everyday life in the city. Amandla and her crew are sharp and funny; they take the reader along for the ride, feeling the highs and lows along with them.

A Weekend with Oscar, by Robyn Bavati

Jamie’s dad died less than a year ago and he has been bottling up his grief to protect his mum and younger brother, Oscar. It’s a lot to deal with when you’re 16, in an accelerated learning program and Oscar has Down syndrome (DS). When Mum is called to a family emergency interstate, Jamie steps up and offers to take of Oscar. It’s only for a weekend, how hard could it be? The answer is not easy – and when Mum doesn’t return as planned Jamie doesn’t know what to do. Bavati builds well the tension of Jamie’s dilemma over seeking help and caring for his brother, at the same time trying to be a good friend and exploring his growing feelings for Zara – the new girl in town. It’s great to look at issues of disability and the pressures on carers and family, but Bavati is maybe too ambitious – trying to cover too many topics. In a slim volume she touches on racism, prejudice and discrimination, tiger parenting, artistic expression and the benefits of counselling, as well as DS and autism. It’s all very earnest and worthy, with some very unlikely dialogue, especially between teens, to ensure absolutely all the information is provided.

Sunburnt Veils, by Sara Haghdoosti

Tara’s first day at Uni plunges her into the middle of a campus bomb scare. It’s all a misunderstanding of course; this is what happens when you wear a hijab. A total nerd, Tara plans to focus exclusively on study so she can transfer into Medicine. But Uni is full of distractions and she finds herself an accidental activist, in league with a crew of supportive misfits. Oh and one very hot, privileged white male, helping to battle the forces of intolerance. Haghdoosti paints a clear picture of the day-to-day grind of being marginalised and suspected because of what you wear and the colour of your skin. Her heroine is a little too good to be true, but Tara’s relationships with her mother and her best friend are nicely depicted, showing how difference doesn’t have to mean dispute. The relationship with the hot boy doesn’t work quite as well, its abrupt twists and turns not really making sense, but maybe that’s what it’s like being 18 these days. Despite its serious subject matter the novel’s tone remains light, with plenty of humorous touches.

It Sounded Better in My Head, by Nina Kenwood

Natalie is 18 and living in that tense interim period between receiving Year 12 results and getting Uni offers. At the start of a series of big life changes her parents announce their separation, throwing her a curveball. Excessively introverted and self-conscious, Natalie’s last couple of years at school have been made bearable by her friendship with Lucy and Zach. But she has become something of a third wheel since they coupled up. Navigating an unexpected romance is difficult when you have zero experience and your family and friends are not totally supportive. But Natalie’s humour sees her through extreme anxiety and her tendency to over analyse everything. Occasional flashbacks explain her loner status and underline the true pain many teens experience from literally feeling uncomfortable in their own skin. A deceptively simple tale of teenage angst, the tongue-in-cheek style disguises a note perfect depiction of vulnerability and growth.

The Girl with the Gold Bikini, by Lisa Walker

Instead of spending the summer backpacking with her mates, school leaver Olivia Grace has taken a job as a trainee private investigator with her childhood playmate Rosco. Splitting their time between the office on the Gold Coast and on a case in Byron Bay the pair find themselves embroiled with rival yoga studios and nefarious business people. Olivia has a talent for trouble; luckily she can rely on Rosco to help get her out of it. If you can get past the unlikelihood of teenaged private detectives this is a fun read. The tongue-in-cheek style suits the many plot absurdities, although the plethora of characters can get confusing. The underlying message of forging your own path adds a little depth and Olivia is ultimately an endearing character and a heroine for our times.

Taking Down Evelyn Tait, by Poppy Nwosu

Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Murphy is always in trouble. Largely it’s of her own making, but sometimes it’s engineered by her arch enemy Evelyn Tait - who is everything Lottie is not. Now Evelyn has gone too far, romancing Lottie’s best friend Grace just to get to her. But second best friend Jude has a plan to take Evelyn down – outdo her in goodness and get her to show her true colours in school and at home. Nwosu gives a somewhat idealised picture of teens and their ability to rapidly learn and change. Her depiction of their everyday acceptance of diversity is hopefully more accurate and is refreshing. There is a touch of naivety to Lottie that is a little hard to swallow at times, but her spirit and energy is infectious. She is a bright spark and her relationship with her headmaster is particularly enjoyable. For anyone who knows Adelaide there are some glitches in geography and the timeline but the evocation of an exceptionally hot early summer in Port Adelaide is lovely. Despite a few minor twists and turns it is always pretty clear where this story is going and it’s an enjoyable journey getting there.

Words in Deep Blue, by Cath Crowley

Rachel is 18 and grieving. She has failed Year 12 after her brother drowned eight months ago and she can no longer bear the ocean, which she used to love. She moves back to the city, after three years away, to live with her aunt and try to get her life back on track. To do that she first has to reconnect with her friends, who don’t know her situation, especially her former best friend Henry. The action is set in and around a second hand bookshop owned by Henry’s divorcing parents that is also their family home. The chapters alternate between Rachel and Henry’s voices, which is fine to get each of their points of view on life and their friendship. Although, towards the end the repetition of events does get tedious. The book includes many letters to and from various characters that are tucked into the books in the bookshop’s library section of well-worn novels that have been annotated by many readers. This quirky conceit is interesting and integral to the plot, but is undermined by the choice of a script font for the letters, which is very hard on the eyes. It’s quite a moving tale of grief and friendship, but the romantic aspects are less credible and when it waxes poetic towards the end it risks disappearing up its own backside.

Wilder Country, by Mark Smith

The post-apocalyptic collapse of society has seen wilders consolidating into vicious gangs in this sequel to The Road to Winter. Finn, Kas and Willow have survived a harsh winter and must now turn their minds to protecting themselves from the likely return of the wilders to wreak vengeance. They also need to fulfil their somewhat unrealistic deathbed promise to rescue Kas’s niece from her wilder father. Along the way they need to liberate Willow’s family from slavery to a wilder gang and find out what happened to Finn’s friend Ray, whose house has been torched by wilders. The grimly realistic tone is countered by the stirrings of young love between reclusive Finn and damaged Kas. Unfortunately it all gets a bit silly as Finn battles between his morals and his survival instincts and the teens miraculously get through every challenge without major loss.

Ballad for a Mad Girl, by Vikki Wakefield

Grace is a prankster and a risk taker, her behaviour always on the edge - especially since the death of her mum. Amid the pressures of year 12and looming exams, life is changing, alliances are shifting and Grace finds herself more and more on the outer in her semi-rural community. Strange experiences start to haunt her and lead her to investigate the 20-year-old mystery disappearance of a local girl. But is she really being haunted or is she going mad? Maybe both. Grace’s friends and family are equally worried and exasperated. Can they help pull her back from the edge as she plunges deeper into the mystery of what happened to Hannah Holt and how that is linked to her mother’s death? The plot often stretches credulity but the fast pace and strong characterisation helps to leap the gaps and make the story enjoyable.

Valentine, by Jodi McAlister

Finn, Pearl, Cardy and Marie were all born on Valentines Day and so have all been wheeled out as a little bit special in their small country town. The year they are 17 special turns dark as Marie goes missing after a party and it becomes clear the other three are also in danger. After Marie’s remains are found and Cardy goes missing Finn and Pearl have to work together to keep themselves and their town safe from the supernatural forces threatening them. The only trouble is they can’t stand each other. McAlister maintains a fast pace and a nice balance between teen romance and dark thriller. Pearl and Finn are appealing flawed heroes and there is clearly more to discover about their fairy origins and futures.

This Beats Perfect, by Rebecca Denton

The ambitions of aspiring singer-songwriter Amelie are crippled by stagefright. Talented musician Max is trapped in declining boy band The Keep. They meet through Amelie’s sound engineer Dad and the stage is set for a musical partnership that could become much more. This rather standard teen romance has an interesting take on the modern music world, with manufactured sounds up against ‘truth’. The author clearly knows her stuff musically, but a decent edit would have remedied some of the jarring technical errors. All in all it is a fun story that moves along at a cracking pace and leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next.

Lisette’s Paris Notebook, by Catherine Bateson

On a gap year after finishing school, Lisette travels to Paris to spend three months soaking up the city’s art. She is fulfilling her mother’s dreams rather than her own, but just a few weeks in Paris sees her finding her own feet and making her own decisions. The story has some interesting and quirky elements, including a focus on fashion as art. The lived experience of Paris is convincing, unfortunately the characters and emotions not so much as both lack depth. This is not helped by the sloppiness of the editing and proofreading, which has left several names of key characters wrong. Such sloppiness is becoming more common in modern publishing and is both intensely annoying and likely to get even worse as standards drop and those making the money don’t care.

The Road to Winter, by Mark Smith

In post-apocalypse Australia, teenager Finn has been fending for himself for a couple of years, thanks to his survival skills and his Dad’s foresight. He keeps sane with the company of his dog and by surfing – his escape from dismal reality. Into Finn’s isolated and relatively safe life bursts Rose, who is on the run from a gang of ‘wilders’. She brings excitement, danger and a world of possibilities. Tense and thrilling, this assured debut novel is a worthy addition to the growing genre within YA fiction that looks into a dystopian future. It rushes a bit to the conclusion, which nevertheless works, while leaving room for a potential sequel.