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BKLYN BookMatch: Hold Your Breath

For fans of ELEANOR AND PARK and GONE GIRL. Well-written realistic YA fiction about romance and bullying, and some fast-paced suspenseful stories, too. This list was created by a librarian with the Brooklyn Public Library for a reader. Would you like your own personalized list of reading suggestions? Visit Bklyn BookMatch here: www.bklynpubliclibrary.org/readers-advisory

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9 items

Yaqui Delgado wants to kick your ass
Meg Medina.
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"One morning before school, some girl tells Piddy Sanchez that Yaqui Delgado hates her and wants to kick her ass. Piddy doesn't even know who Yaqui is, never mind what she's done to piss her off. Word is that Yaqui thinks Piddy is stuck-up, shakes her stuff when she walks, and isn't Latin enough with her white skin, good grades, and no accent. And Yaqui isn't kidding around, so Piddy better watch her back. At first Piddy is more concerned with trying to find out more about the father she's never met and how to balance honors courses with her weekend job at the neighborhood hair salon. But as the harassment escalates, avoiding Yaqui and her gang starts to take over Piddy's life. Is there any way for Piddy to survive without closing herself off or running away?"

Saving Francesca
Melina Marchetta.
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A little wanting song
Cath Crowley.
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A Little Wanting Song, by Cath Crowley OK, everybody's Australian today, don't know what that's about--hopefully you have a secret love for The Thorn Birds... "One Australian summer, two very different sixteen-year-old girls--Charlie, a talented but shy musician, and Rose, a confident student longing to escape her tiny town--are drawn into an unexpected friendship, as told in their alternating voices."

Cavedweller
Dorothy Allison.
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Fangirl
Rainbow Rowell.
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Cath struggles to survive on her own in her first year of college while avoiding a surly roommate, bonding with a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words, and worrying about her fragile father.

The killing woods
Lucy Christopher.
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When her father, an ex-soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, is arrested for murder, Emily's efforts to exonerate him take her into the woods to play the Game, an extreme version of childhood games.

Room
Emma Donoghue.
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We need to talk about Kevin
Lionel Shriver.
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You're probably already familiar with this one--it's been a popular movie, but it's a devastating book that has some of the psychological twistiness of Gone Girl. "Eva Khatchadourian writes to her estranged husband Frank, trying to solve what went wrong in raising their son Kevin after he kills seven classmates and a teacher in his high school in upstate New York."