TAB Book Review - June 2026
The Mercer County Library System Teen Advisory Board consists of passionate young individuals who work to curate social media posts, write zines, and share book reviews - all to engender a love for reading in the community. Meet Mohisha: active TAB member, athlete, violinist, and frequently immersed in realistic fiction novels. Enjoy her latest book review!
Seventeen-year-old cancer victim Hazel Grace lives with the constant reminder that her demise is soon to come. As Hazel often says, she has become her cancer - it has consumed her to the point where she waits upon her own death. Having been pulled out of school for quite some time, her social life is limited to the local Support Group she attends to please her parents. There, she meets the beautiful and unmistakably witty Augustus Waters - a once basketball player (who hates the sport) and survivor of osteosarcoma.
Slowly, Hazel befriends Gus, unable to resist his charismatic personality and admiration for literature. Hazel urges Gus to read the novel of her dreams: An Imperial Affliction, and together they venture abroad - eager for answers to the unsolved questions within the book they have bonded over. As predicted, they steadily fall for each other, until the unfathomable occurs.
Green’s writing is unpretentious and engrossing. Hazel’s thoughts are written openly: she thinks without shame and speaks without insecurity. The dialog in this book is conversational, with Hazel and Gus having melodramatic banter with one another. Every page evokes an emotion, and each line is deliberate. Embedded in this story are various philosophical perspectives, often explored by Gus, who shares his wisdom with Hazel. They not only stretch the reader’s own ideas but make us laugh with the absurdity of them.
Personally, I would say the age rating for this book would be for highschoolers, as it takes maturity to appreciate the story and its vast underlying meanings. However, one of the most valuable lessons is gaining insight into the lives of those who are ill. Illness is not a disability, nor does it make someone who is ill less worthy in any way. As Gus comes to realize, life should be lived genuinely, without the eagerness to leave a mark.
If you are new to the blend of realistic fiction and romance, here is a list of similar novels that can be found in the Mercer County Library System catalog or Libby app:
The story of a teenage girl who's literally allergic to the outside world. When a new family moves in next door, she begins a complicated romance that challenges everything she's ever known. The narrative unfolds via vignettes, diary entries, texts, charts, lists, illustrations, and more.
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits-smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you'll remember your own first love-and just how hard it pulled you under.
A haunting coming of age novel told in a series of letters to an unknown correspondent reveals the life of Charlie, a freshman in high school who is a wallflower, shy and introspective, and very intelligent. It's a story of what it's like to grow up in high school, tracing a course through uncharted territory in the world of first dates, family dramas and new friends.
Seventeen-year-olds Stella and Will, both suffering from cystic fibrosis, realize the only way to stay alive is to stay apart, but their love for each other is slowly pushing the boundaries of physical and emotional safety.
Lara Jean has never openly admitted her crushes, but she's written each boy a letter about how she felt, and sealed it, and hid it in a hatbox under her bed. One day she finds that her secret box of letters has been mailed, and her life goes out of control.
If mystery, adventure, and action are more your style, then check out the books below. Each author crafts a world of their own, and it’s up to you as a reader to crack the case.
Waxways Trilogy by Scott Reintgen
Ren Monroe has spent four years proving she's one of the best wizards in her generation. But top marks at Balmerick University will mean nothing if she fails to get recruited into one of the major houses. Enter Theo Brood. If being rich were a sin, he'd already be halfway to hell. After a failed and disastrous party trick, fate has the two of them crossing paths at the public waxway portal the day before holidays; Theo's punishment is to travel home with the scholarship kids--which doesn't sit well with any of them.
A fight breaks out. In the chaos, the portal spell malfunctions. All six students are snatched from the safety of the school's campus and set down in the middle of nowhere. And one of them is dead on arrival.
If anyone can get them through the punishing wilderness with limited magical reserves it's Ren. She's been in survival mode her entire life. But no magic could prepare her for the tangled secrets the rest of the group is harboring, or for what's following them through the dark woods...
In this sequel to A Door in the Dark, Ren's intellect and cunning are stretched to the limit in her quest to take down the system that stole her father's life.
Seeking revenge, Ren Monroe teams up with Vin'Tori siblings Dahvid and Nevelyn to take down House Brood, the most powerful family in Kathor, but Ren's magical bond with Theo Brood complicates her plans.
Ren's quest to dismantle Kathor's corrupt system comes to a head as political machinations and a mysterious disease take hold of the city in this edge-of-your-seat conclusion to the Waxways series.
After taking control of House Brood, Ren and Theo dreamed of using
their newfound influence to change the rest of Kathor, but now they find
their efforts being countered by the other great houses, who have no
interest in a world where they enjoy less power. No one understands that
better than the Tin'Vori siblings. The return of their ancestral home
was a decade in the making, but they're eager to keep rising from the
ashes. Nevelyn begins researching House Brood--and ends up face-to-face
with an enemy that's already slouching toward the gates of the city. The
one enemy no one can avoid: a plague.
The victims experience strange bruising, an unquenchable thirst, and a
temporary disruption in magic. When doctors trace the illness to its
source, they find another mystery: corpses placed in strategic locations
around the city. As Ren leads the hunt for the culprits, she'll find
herself two steps behind a devious enemy whose sights are set on an
unexpected prize: the city's magic.
Survival will require every ounce of their skill, every bond old and
new, or else the future Ren and Theo have worked to build will burn down
with the rest of the world.
Social media influencer Summer Cartwright leads a charmed life:
millions of followers, the trendiest designer and vintage clothes, a
newly minted book deal, the coolest friends, and, until recently, the
hottest boyfriend at her über-elite prep school. Every moment of her
life has been carefully planned and cultivated to complement her
"imperfectly perfect" online persona. She is truly
#LivingHerBestLife.
But when Summer goes missing during her annual Halloween party and then
an unscheduled post appears on her feed stating that she'll be dead
within the next five minutes, those closest to Summer -- her
bestie, her ex-boyfriend, her frenemy, and her wannabe--know it isn't a
media stunt for attention. It's not Summer's brand. Something is wrong.
When their investigation leads to Summer's lifeless body, they're forced
to accept that she was murdered. And no filter is strong enough to mask
the lies they tell themselves.
Told in multiple POVs interspersed with social media posts and
flashbacks, Live Your Best Lie has twists and turns that will
keep readers enthralled. You'll never guess the ending.
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