Sometimes the Girl, by Jennifer Mason-Black

Maya's dreamed of being a writer, but after a bad mentoring experience, she's given up on her novel.  She's focused now solely on following her ex-girlfriend on a trip to New Zealand to do farming for a few months.  To earn the money to make the trip, Maya agrees to take a job helping Elsie McAllister clear out her attic.

Elsie is the author of one of the greatest novels of the previous century.  Maya and just about every other schoolchild has read the book.  Notably, Elsie never wrote a follow-up but instead faded into obscurity about the novel's publication.  Maya wonders why, of course, but Elsie isn't volunteering any answers.  Instead, Elsie issues terse instructions for how to dispose of her possessions.

Maya can't help but be curious about the old woman and as she retrieves box after box of mementos and paraphernalia of Elsie's life, inventorying the contents for her boss, she sift through them for clues.  Meanwhile, Elsie's grown children, suspicious that there may be an unpublished manuscript hiding upstairs, apply pressure to Maya to set aside anything of significant literary value.  And Elsie makes Maya promise to do no such thing.

Filled with a variety of stories, the most compelling sections have to do with the revelations about Elsie than Maya uncovers.  There's an effort to portray Maya's own life (and her struggles) as relevant or parallel, but Maya's story simply isn't as interesting.  For example, somewhere in all of this is a story about Maya's older brother committing suicide, but it barely captured my attention.  The story of Elsie's lost love and the horrid circumstances that led to her death, on the other hand, are burned into my mind. In that context, Maya brings just the right amount of grit and fortitude to make her relationship with the bitter and grumpy Elsie compelling and revealing.

This is a mature book, misclassified as YA simply because of its focus on coming of age, but actually not really focused at all on adolescence.  Part gay history and part speculation about real writers (like Harper Lee) who had only one great novel in them.

The Judgement of Yoyo Gold, by Isaac Blum

Yoyo has always been an exemplary Jewish girl, serving as a model in the way that being the rabbi's daughter seems to require.  Taking care of her younger brothers and sisters, doing well in school, and mediating for her peers is exhausting but she relishes the way it makes her feel.  In her Orthodox community, she feels at home and just hopes that she is a credit to her family.  It's hard these days because she had a close friend who had a falling out and was sent away.  The absence leaves her feeling lonely and even more committed to doing good and to counter the judging eyes of the community that she feels upon her.

She's also a teenager in contemporary society.  From a non-Orthodox acquaintance, she learns about TikTok videos.  Her own phone is filtered and social media are definitely forbidden, but she gets excited by the technology and, following a rumor, finds a boy name Shua in her community who can hack her phone.  She's surprised to find out from him that many other kids have used his help to overcome the phone filters.  It would seem that the community is not quite as virtuous and pious as she grew up thinking.

These revelations keep coming.  And when she spies on a particularly self-righteous girl from her community eating unkosher food, she's scandalized and she hatches a plan.  Following the example of others, she creates her own anonymous TikTok video in which she complains about the girl's behavior.  The post goes viral and, while Yoyo's role in it remains secret, she is enthralled by the attention it receives.  Soon, she is posting other exposes about her community.

Meanwhile, she's also finding herself tempted in other ways, especially by Shua, for whom she discovers a forbidden attraction.

A well-nuanced study of the life of a modern Orthodox girl -- a complex mix of modernism with traditional faith.  Her mature reasoning skills, tempered by her adolescent impetuousness, made for an interesting character study.  And her pride and the sense of self that she develops by the end was immensely gratifying.  

I was disappointed by her descent into cyber-bullying and her lack of genuine repentance, but justice is dealt out and lessons learned.  And I was actually surprised at the amount of freedom she had as a young woman, but much of that leeway may have been because of her responsible reputation.

Just Harriet, by Elana K Arnold

Harriet likes things to stay the way they are, but with her mother expecting a baby that doesn't seem too likely.  And when Mom gets prescribed bed rest, Harriet finds herself and her kitty sent to grandma's for the summer.  Grandma runs a bed and breakfast on an island, a place Harriet has loved visiting in the past, but not like this!

Unhappy with being away from home, unhappy that Mom and Dad are not available to her, and unhappy that everything is changing, Harriet mopes and says mean things she doesn't mean.  

Nothing makes her happy until she discovers a mysterious key.  No matter where she looks, she can't figure out what it unlocks!  She searches all over the bed and breakfast and across the island.  When she does find is mate, a lot more than she expected will be unlocked.

Falling into the trope that the most appealing early reader protagonists are bratty, Harriet is a bit much to take.  And the fact that her meanness is endlessly forgiven and indulged lessens my interest in her otherwise amusing character.  The more fatal flaw of the book, though, is its lack of a substantive story.  The mystery of the key ought to have some sort of adventure connected with it, but what happens is resolved too quickly to provide a meaningful payoff.  The artwork is cute and Harriet's naughtiness may appeal to young readers, but mostly the book seems designed for easy lessons about what mistakes Harriet makes.

Call It What You Want, by Brigid Kemmerer

Last year, Maegan got caught cheating during an SAT exam.  As a result, all of the tests in the room were invalidated and she became a social pariah.  To make matters worse, Maegan's sister has come home from college pregnant and Maegan is unable to talk about any of it with anyone outside of family. 

No one wants to work with a cheater, which is why when Maegan's Calculus class starts a project that requires a partner, there's a lack of volunteers to work with her.  The only person left is Rob and no one wants to work with Rob either.  It was Rob's father, a financial advisor, who was arrested last year for embezzling everyone's savings.  Unable to live with the shame of what he had done and how it destroyed his family, Rob's father tried to shoot himself...and missed.  Now, Rob and his mother live in a house stripped of all of their possessions (seized by the court) and tend a vegetative man.  

So, Bob and Maegen are at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Placed together to work through their project, Rob and Maegan find comfort in their shared woes and open up to each other.  Any romantic feelings are deeply complicated by the judgements of their parents and peers.

While obviously addressing issues of familial guilt and forgiveness, the novel also spends considerable time on class and race, observing the strain between richer and poorer students.  The story is compelling and, while wrapped up all too neatly in the end, fairly rewarding.