Kimberly Giarratano, Author at BookPage | Discover your next great book!

BookPage Teen Top Pick, November 2018

Cutthroat. Ruthless. Unpredictable. That’s modern politics, but it’s also modern high school. In Gordon Jack’s satirical novel, Your Own Worst Enemy, three candidates fight dirty to be Lincoln High’s next student-body president.

Stacey Wynn was supposed to have this in the bag. She’s running unopposed, and after all, who has done more for this California high school than she? She champions all the clubs, attends all the spirit rallies, and she hands out free cupcakes—off school grounds and in accordance with the state’s strict nutritional policy, of course.

With her best friend and campaign advisor, Brian, by her side, Stacey thinks that all she needs to do is rehearse her acceptance speech—until Julia Romero, a new student and French-Canadian immigrant, shows up and throws her hat into the ring. The race gets even more complicated when Chinese-American Tony Guo, a stoner and slacker, is manipulated by a Steve Bannon-esque freshman into running on a populist platform.

What should have been a quiet election turns into a circus of misinformation, fake news and low-down tactics. Will the best candidate for the job win?

Jack succeeds in using the microcosm of high school to explore the complexities of race, privilege and class as it relates to the American political process. And through multiple points of view (the three candidates, Brian and his troubled brother), readers get a sense of the personal stakes involved for everyone in the political arena. While the current political landscape is polarized, Your Own Worst Enemy reminds us that hope lies with the younger generations.

This article was originally published in the November 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

YA, YA Fiction

YA Fiction YA

A Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

In this sequel to Mackenzi Lee’s Stonewall Honor-winning novel, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, Monty’s younger sister, the prickly and ambitious Felicity Montague, embarks on her own adventure.

After being denied entrance to numerous medical colleges in London because she’s a woman, Felicity hatches a plan to crash her ex-best friend Johanna Hoffman’s wedding in Germany along with the help of Simmaa “Sim” Aldajah—a black Muslim girl with access to a ship. Once there, Felicity will plead her case to the groom-to-be, the renowned Dr. Alexander Platt, in hopes she can study under him on his next expedition. But when the bride ditches the wedding, Felicity and Sim chase her to Zurich. They discover that Johanna’s deceased mother, a naturalist, was working toward a discovery that most men would kill for, including Dr. Platt.

Felicity and Johanna team up with Sim, who admits she’s actually a pirate from northern Africa, and the trio travels to the Mediterranean coast, where they encounter rival pirate fleets, ruthless Englishmen and fantastical beasts. How are they ever to get out of this alive?

Fans of this novel’s predecessor will be delighted to know that Monty and Percy do make cameos in A Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, but they are not the focus of the book, nor should they be. Felicity’s story is a feminist feast that challenges societal norms and forgoes all romance, which is unconventional, albeit refreshing, in young adult literature. Readers will do themselves a disservice if they don’t explore the author’s note, as they’ll learn how women such as Felicity have always contributed to scientific exploration through their inexhaustible persistence and spirit.

This article was originally published in the October 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Children's & YA, Middle Grade

Children's & YA Middle Grade

A ghostly tale for young readers

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

Twelve-year-old Cassidy Blake is an unusual girl. A book nerd and a bit of a loner, she nearly drowned when she was younger, only to be rescued at the last minute by a boy her age named Jacob. Only Jacob isn’t a typical boy: He’s a ghost, and Cassidy’s near-death experience has given her the ability to cross the Veil and enter a world where she can see and speak to the dead. When Cassidy’s parents, a team of historical and supernatural researchers, take a summer job in Edinburgh, Scotland, Cassidy and Jacob tag along. But Edinburgh is a city full of creepy graveyards, haunted castles and the Raven—a malicious ghost who lures children to their deaths.

Cassidy cannot ignore the pull of the Veil or the Raven, and when she meets another girl who can also see the dead, Cassidy discovers that she’s supposed to send the ghosts away. But what does that mean for Jacob? And when the Raven comes after Cassidy, will she have the strength to fight back, or will she become a spirit herself?

Although City of Ghosts is Victoria Schwab’s first foray into middle grade fiction, the bestselling author of adult fiction and young adult titles like Vicious is squarely in her wheelhouse. The Scottish setting is authentic and chilling, likely drawn from Schwab’s experience attending graduate school in Edinburgh. Schwab cleverly balances the book’s macabre elements with humor. Jacob is a charming sidekick, and as a ghost, he is the bright light of this tale.

Hopefully, there are more adventures for Cassidy and Jacob in store, as readers will be clamoring for a sequel.

This article was originally published in the September 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

YA, YA Fiction

YA Fiction YA

A cheer squad’s deadly secret

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

Five years ago, in a sleepy Long Island town, five cheerleaders died within one month’s time. Two were killed in a car accident, two were murdered and one killed herself. Tragic coincidence or a planned attack? That’s what 16-year-old Monica Rayburn is trying to uncover. Her sister, Jen, was the cheerleader who died by suicide.

And on the anniversary of the girls’ deaths, Monica feels like her own life is unraveling. She’s recovering from an abortion, and the man she had been sleeping with is now a coach at her high school. But when she learns that her police officer stepfather is hiding crucial evidence regarding the murders, she begins to wonder if the wrong person went down for the crime.

When Monica discovers Jen’s old cellphone locked in her stepfather’s desk drawer, she begins an investigation of her own. Just as Monica fiercely guards her secrets, so did the cheerleaders. But which secret got them killed?

Unanswered questions and lingering doubts regarding Jen’s death propel Monica to follow all leads like a seasoned private investigator, but she still juggles typical teen concerns such as dance team, friend squabbles and an understandably tense home life. Author Kara Thomas (The Darkest Corners) is adept at crafting satisfyingly dark YA thrillers. While the cover art feels campy, the story within is packed with complex characters, tightly plotted threads and last-page twists. Readers won’t be disappointed.

Five years ago, in a sleepy Long Island town, five cheerleaders died within one month’s time. Two were killed in a car accident, two were murdered and one committed suicide. Tragic coincidence or a planned attack? That’s what 16-year-old Monica Rayburn is trying to uncover.

Science Fiction, YA, YA Fiction

YA Fiction YA Science Fiction

A haunting sci-fi thriller

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

The year is 2067, and 16-year-old Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew member aboard the Infinity, a NASA spaceship sent to colonize an Earth-like planet.

For the past five years, Romy has been commanding and piloting the Infinity alone after her parents and all of the other astronauts on board died from a mechanical malfunction. Romy’s only human contact is via the audio messages she receives from Molly, a NASA psychiatrist, but those stop when war erupts back home.

Another spaceship, the Eternity, has been dispatched to aid the Infinity. The commander on board the Eternity is a young man simply known as J. As J and Romy begin to exchange emails, a romance slowly blooms between them. For a girl who has never even had a friend, Romy clings to this budding relationship with the fervent hope that she won’t always be as lonely as she is now. But a shady system update on her ship and J’s too-good-to-be-true persona make Romy wonder if she’s being saved or sabotaged.

Despite Romy being singularly tasked with saving humanity, she is an incredibly relatable heroine. She obsesses over her favorite television show and writes fan fiction. She understands complicated physics problems but is overwhelmed by the expectations placed on her. She crushes hard on J but is insecure about his feelings for her. Romy is an Everygirl alone in deep space, but it’s her zesty narration that drives the momentum in British author Lauren James’ The Loneliest Girl in the Universe. The plot reaches warp speed once Romy and J make face-to-face contact—prepare for some rapid page-turning.

This article was originally published in the July 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The year is 2067, and 16-year-old Romy Silvers is the only surviving crew member aboard the Infinity, a NASA spaceship sent to colonize an Earth-like planet.

YA, YA Fiction

YA Fiction YA

A meta YA novel that hits close to home

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

Four Long Island teens are obsessed with Fatima Ro, a bestselling YA author, and her book Undertow. When the teens meet Fatima at a book signing, they can’t help but gush, only to be further floored when she takes an interest in them. Miri, confident and self-possessed; Soleil, the ultimate fangirl; Penny, rich, but insecure; and Jonah, the enigmatic, new guy become disciples of Fatima’s philosophy about “precious truths” and “authentic connections.” Fatima encourages the teens to be honest and transparent with her, and in turn, she invites them into her home, doles out dating advice and, in Penny’s case, lets her cat sit. But Fatima has her own agenda—one that lands Jonah in the hospital and uses the other teens to advance her career. As noted on the cover of author Lygia Day Peñaflor’s meta novel, All of This Is True, what happens next will shock you.

This cleverly constructed story uses an atypical narrative structure, resulting in a mystery with a fresh twist. Told entirely through interview transcripts, journal entries, text messages and snippets from Peñaflor’s novel-within-a-novel, All of This Is True is meta without being confusing. What must have been a daunting creative undertaking for the author reads effortlessly. Peñaflor manages to propel her plot and deepen her characterization while tackling complex themes in a compulsively readable package resulting in a fantastic story that’s sure to be a bestseller.

Children's & YA, Middle Grade

Children's & YA Middle Grade

A summer treasure hunt

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

Twelve-year-old Candice is spending the summer at her late grandmother’s old cottage in Lambert, South Carolina, while her Atlanta home is being renovated. Her parents’ divorce, while amicable, has left Candice feeling adrift. It can be lonely to resettle in a new town, even temporarily. But then Candice meets Brandon, a shy, self-proclaimed book nerd like herself. While rummaging through the attic, the two unearth an old letter from the city’s mysterious benefactor that contains clues to a treasure hunt. The prize is a substantial sum of money. Candice is eager to solve the mystery, not just to alleviate her boredom but also to vindicate her grandmother—Lambert’s first African-American city manager—who was forced out of her job when she tried to solve this very puzzle. Armed with ingenuity and a love of reading, Candice and Brandon bike throughout town, interviewing longtime residents and combing through the town’s archives.

With a nod to The Westing Game, Varian Johnson has penned a smart mystery that deftly explores the history of racial segregation in the South, modern-day discrimination, friendship, love and bullying. Interspersed throughout the novel are the historical narratives of those at the center of the puzzle. Their unique voices and compelling backstories enrich the plot and provide context for the mystery. Beautifully written, this complex story will captivate an adult audience as well.

This article was originally published in the April 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Mystery, Mystery & Suspense, YA, YA Fiction

Mystery & Suspense YA Fiction YA Mystery

Prep school murders

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

Necessity is the mother of reinvention, or so Kay Donovan believes. After feeling responsible for two tragedies at home, Kay enrolls in boarding school at Bates Academy in hopes of a do-over. A new crop of friends (mean girls with money) and her newfound soccer stardom give Kay the popularity and edge she’s always wanted. But all of that is threatened when Kay and her friends discover the dead body of Jessica Lane, a fellow student and artsy social activist, whom none of the girls say they knew. In her wake, Jessica has left behind a revenge website with a countdown clock that only Kay can access. Kay’s task? Take down her new friends or risk her own dirty laundry being aired.

Dana Mele’s People Like Us is a dark and delicious boarding school murder mystery that delivers. Lack of parental supervision, difficult home lives and extreme wealth create the perfect atmosphere for secrets, lies and a page-turning read. A murder is just the beginning. What these characters will do to hide their dirtiest deeds easily eclipses the killing that sets this thrilling tale in motion.

This article was originally published in the April 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Mystery, Mystery & Suspense, YA, YA Fiction

Mystery & Suspense YA Fiction YA Mystery

The murderer in the school hall

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

Stevie Bell is a true-crime aficionado— a hyper-focused FBI hopeful who also happens to be well-versed in the Ellingham Academy murders. In 1936, Albert Ellingham, the Vermont boarding school’s rich founder, lost his wife and daughter in a bizarre kidnapping and ransom scheme. Many books have been written about the case, and theories about the identity of the killer, Truly Devious (named for the moniker left on a strange riddle), abound, but no one has solved the crime. Seventeen-year-old Stevie thinks she can, and when she’s admitted to the prestigious Ellingham, she makes the murders her student project. But how does a teenage girl solve a case that has stumped criminologists for decades? And when Truly Devious inexplicably starts killing again, how will Stevie not only survive a burgeoning social life at school but also outsmart a murderer intent on making her the next victim?

Maureen Johnson, the bestselling author of the Shades of London series, is a lively storyteller who has crafted a page-turning puzzle filled with dynamic characters. In this first book of a new series, readers will identity with one of her well-drawn characters: Stevie, who suffers from anxiety; Janelle, the exuberant engineer focused on academics and not her love life; Nate, the fantasy author with writer’s block; or Ellie, the artist comfortable in her own skin. Murder sets up the story, but Stevie and her friends make this reading experience truly delightful.

Kimberly Giarratano is the author of Grunge Gods and Graveyards, a young adult paranormal mystery.

This article was originally published in the January 2018 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Mystery, Mystery & Suspense, YA, YA Fiction

Mystery & Suspense YA Fiction YA Mystery

Secrets of the dead

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

“His mother asked me to do this, because she said it wasn’t something a mother should ever have to do.” And so 17-year-old Jessa Whitworth finds herself packing up the belongings of her dead ex-boyfriend, Caleb. She was the last person he spoke to before his car was swept away in a flash flood. Each token she finds, be it a photograph or a dog-eared copy of The Grapes of Wrath, conjures haunting memories of their relationship. But as Jessa digs further into Caleb’s life, she unearths facts about a person she may not have truly known at all.

Told in three parts, Megan Miranda’s new novel transitions from Jessa’s grief to her frantic search for answers. Interspersed throughout are snippets of her relationship with Caleb, allowing readers to piece together the clues that lead to an edge-of-your-seat denouement. Skillfully crafted, Fragments of the Lost is a suspenseful, heart-in-your-throat read.

Kimberly Giarratano is the author of Grunge Gods and Graveyards, a young adult paranormal mystery.

This article was originally published in the November 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Fantasy, Science Fiction & Fantasy, YA, YA Fiction

Science Fiction & Fantasy YA Fiction YA Fantasy

Of miracles and magic

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

Maggie Stiefvater returns with her matchless style in a standalone novel set in the Colorado Desert in 1962. Bicho Raro is a mystical ranch where the Soria family has resided for generations, performing miracles for pilgrims who seek help in banishing their darkness. At the center are three cousins—Beatriz, Joaquin and Daniel. When Daniel, the eldest cousin and saint, breaks the cardinal rule (you can help the pilgrims once, but not twice), he runs off into the desert to await his dismal fate. But generations of curses and darkness will not keep the Soria cousins from saving one of their own.

While reminiscent of Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits, a classic of magical realism, there are elements of storytelling here that feel unique to Stiefvater: unusual metaphors, sharp prose, unexpected humor and a deft ability to mesh the eerie and fanciful into one seamless description. Thoughtfully paced with intriguing characters, ill-fated romance and complicated family relationships, All the Crooked Saints will satiate fans who are always eager for new Stiefvater work, while bringing new ones into the fold.

Kimberly Giarratano is the author of Grunge Gods and Graveyards, a young adult paranormal mystery.

This article was originally published in the October 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Thoughtfully paced with intriguing characters, ill-fated romance and complicated family relationships, All the Crooked Saints will satiate fans who are always eager for new Stiefvater work, while bringing new ones into the fold.

Thriller, YA, YA Fiction

YA Fiction YA Thriller

Danger beneath the surface

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

E. Lockhart’s latest novel opens in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where 18-year-old Jule West Williams is spending a month at a luxury resort. She speaks with a London accent and makes friends with the bartender. She swims laps and studies Spanish. She’s friendly and outgoing, but always holds something back, and she always looks over her shoulder. She is also entirely alone. On the outside, it would appear that Jule is a wealthy heiress with time to kill and money to burn, but on the inside, Jule is a self-trained fighter with a shady past. Then, there’s Imogen Sokoloff, Jule’s charismatic friend who loves Victorian novels and global jaunts. Both Jule and Imogen are orphans, but one was adopted into money, and the other most definitely was not. And yet, somehow, their lives become impossibly intertwined.

To reveal anything else would spoil this deftly plotted and fast-paced narrative told in reverse-chronological order. However, readers familiar with Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley—which Lockhart, bestselling author of We Were Liars, cites as an influence—will sense the story’s chilling trajectory. This isn’t a typical teen novel with clear-cut heroines and antagonists, and yet young readers will identify bits of themselves in these complicated characters. Because, as Jule discovers, the biggest hurdle of adolescence is simply finding out who you are.

Kimberly Giarratano is the author of Grunge Gods and Graveyards, a young adult paranormal mystery.

This article was originally published in the September 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

This isn’t a typical teen novel with clear-cut heroines and antagonists, and yet young readers will identify bits of themselves in these complicated characters.

Thriller, YA, YA Fiction

YA Fiction YA Thriller

It’s all fun and games until . . .

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

Best friends Izzie, Graham, Viv and Harry know their idyllic California town harbors secrets—specifically the cover-up of a teen girl’s murder five years ago—so they start a secret society intent on carrying out revenge and justice. Dubbing themselves the Order of the IV, the group tests the waters with small pranks until their antics bring the unwanted attention of the popular clique. But as the Order grows and the pranks dangerously intensify, the friends must navigate their love for one another amid the deep hatred they feel for their targets of revenge.

Alexandra Sirowy uses creepy imagery to peel back the layers of a quaint, coastal town to reveal its seedy core and to bring this twisty ride to its inevitable yet shocking conclusion. Narrated through Izzie’s haunting first-person point of view, the original Order struggles to remain true to themselves and the tight bonds they’ve formed, even as their plan to topple corrupt adults goes horribly wrong.

Kimberly Giarratano is the author of Grunge Gods and Graveyards, a young adult paranormal mystery.

This article was originally published in the August 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Kimberly Giarratano

Your Own Worst Enemy

A Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy

A ghostly tale for young readers

A cheer squad’s deadly secret

A haunting sci-fi thriller

A meta YA novel that hits close to home

A summer treasure hunt

Prep school murders

The murderer in the school hall

Secrets of the dead

Of miracles and magic

Danger beneath the surface

It’s all fun and games until . . .

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