- Written By Kristine

Even though Criminal Minds has gone on for about 14 seasons, our obsession for gore and crime (even if it does sound a little weird) is still, clearly, present. Here are some young adult books that the Criminal Minds characters would either break apart piece by piece, bask in, or simply take away with them on vacation...

1. The BAU really would like to discover more about this unsub: The Body Finder

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself.

The BAU would truly love to delve into this scary thriller and find out more about her (just like Violet is on her own journey). With a drop of romance added too (after all, each member of the BAU has their own….)

By Kimberly Derting

2.Spencer Reid would love to read this book (cause we all know, deep down he’s a sucker for romance): The Universal Laws of Marco

Told through the lens of a guy in love with the cosmos (and maybe two girls), The Universal Laws of Marco explores the complicated histories that bring us together and tear us apart.

In the summer before eighth grade, Marco Suarez kissed his best friend Sally Blake. This was his first spark.

And since then, whenever he’s thought about that moment, he’s traveled through a wormhole—of sorts—to relive those brief seconds when time sped up (or, rather, his view of time distorted) and he kissed her.

And then, at the end of that year, she disappeared, leaving in that way that people sometimes leave—alive and well and somewhere out there but gone, nonetheless. She never even said why.

And now in their senior year, Sally unexpectedly returns and Marco is shaken. Still, he holds tightly to his carefully choreographed life. A life that is full of reasons why first sparks don’t matter:

Reason 1: He has a girlfriend. Her name is Erika Richards.

Reason 2: He’s leaving on a full scholarship to college.

Reason 3: He’s busy with his friends and making money to help support his family.

But as Marco navigates the final days of high school, he learns that leaving home is never easy and a first spark is hard to ignore.

We all know that Spencer Reid secretly aspires to have his own romance story. After all, he had one with Maeve. And, The Universal Rules of Marco really does fit his heart in the right place. Even though it probably took him less than an hour to read it… (Since he can read 20,000 words per minute with his eidetic memory).

By Carmen Rodrigues

3. After a long day of murder and gore, Penelope Garcia would love to get back in touch with her own spunky adorable fox--Even the Darkest Stars

Kamzin has always dreamed of becoming one of the Emperor’s royal explorers, the elite climbers tasked with mapping the wintry, mountainous Empire and spying on its enemies. She knows she could be the best in the world, if only someone would give her a chance.

But everything changes when the mysterious and eccentric River Shara, the greatest explorer ever known, arrives in her village and demands to hire Kamzin—not her older sister Lusha, as everyone had expected—for his next expedition. This is Kamzin’s chance to prove herself—even though River’s mission to retrieve a rare talisman for the emperor means climbing Raksha, the tallest and deadliest mountain in the Aryas. Then Lusha sets off on her own mission to Raksha with a rival explorer who is determined to best River, and Kamzin must decide what’s most important to her: protecting her sister from the countless perils of the climb or beating her to the summit.

The challenges of climbing Raksha are unlike anything Kamzin expected—or prepared for—with avalanches, ice chasms, ghosts, and even worse at every turn. And as dark secrets are revealed, Kamzin must unravel the truth of their mission and of her companions—while surviving the deadliest climb she has ever faced.

After reading this, Penelope Garcia certainly wants to have her own spunky fox, just like Kamzin. We all need a pet at the end of the day to calm us down… After all, that’s why we have animal-assisted therapy...

By Heather Fawcett

4. Aaron Hotchner needs a book about a romance in a different country in order to relax every once in a while and Her Royal Highness is the perfect one!

Millie Quint is devastated when she discovers that her sort-of-best friend/sort-of-girlfriend has been kissing someone else. And because Millie cannot stand the thought of confronting her ex every day, she decides to apply for scholarships to boarding schools . . . the farther from Houston the better.

Millie can't believe her luck when she's accepted into one of the world's most exclusive schools, located in the rolling highlands of Scotland. Everything about Scotland is different: the country is misty and green; the school is gorgeous, and the students think Americans are cute.

The only problem: Mille's roommate Flora is a total princess.

She's also an actual princess. Of Scotland.

At first, the girls can barely stand each other--Flora is both high-class and high-key--but before Millie knows it, she has another sort-of-best-friend/sort-of-girlfriend. Even though Princess Flora could be a new chapter in her love life, Millie knows the chances of happily ever afters are slim . . . after all, real life isn't a fairytale . . . or is it?

Aaron Hotchner needs to let loose every once in a while. And what he certainly needs is a romance in Scotland. However, Haley will always have a place in out hearts.

By Rachel Hawkins

By Teen Advisory Board Member Ava Lee

The Downstairs Girl

 by Stacey Lee

“By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady's maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, "Dear Miss Sweetie." When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society's ills, but she's not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender.

While her opponents clamor to uncover the secret identity of Miss Sweetie, a mysterious letter sets Jo off on a search for her own past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. But when her efforts put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta's most notorious criminal, Jo must decide whether she, a girl used to living in the shadows, is ready to step into the light.”

Stacey Lee’s third historical fiction was always bound to be one of the freshest books of 2019+! This isn’t the kind of boring historical fiction you’re forced to read in high school, but rather a story that deals with America’s grim history of racism and sexism while being one of the funniest, wittiest books I’ve read in awhile.

Also, I WANT TO BE BEST FRIENDS WITH JO! She’s such a clever and well-written character; bold but not brash, genuine yet sardonic. The insights she shares with the reader are absolutely hilarious (see: morel mushrooms), as is with all of Lee’s heroines.

If you’re a fan of witty prose and historical fiction—and even if you’re not!—be sure to get THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL by Stacey Lee on your TBR shelf! Her novels just keep getting better and better (see: UNDER A PAINTED SKY, OUTRUN THE MOON, THE SECRET OF A HEART NOTE).

If this all doesn’t convince you to read TDG, keep in mind that it has five starred reviews from all the major reviewers.

BONUS: Staff Review

I love Stacey Lee and all she does. There. I've said it. And I've probably said it in every single one of my reviews for her books. She has an amazing talent of capturing a feeling and presenting complex scenarios, like classism and racism, and complicated emotions, romantic and familial, to her readers in a thoughtful, careful, yet thorough way. On top of that, she has a knack for creating characters that seep into the heart and stick. I can't wait to put this into the hands of young readers who love the written word as much as Jo and "Miss Sweetie". 

— Hannah, NYMBC Coordinator

- Written by  By Ava & Evgenia

AHHH!!! After a year, the first episode of Stranger Things has finally aired. Here are six YA books with that supernatural element to tide you over until next Saturday, and the Saturday after that.

1. RUNAWAYS: AN ORIGINAL NOVEL

Turns out murderous Super Villains don't make for good parents. The Runaways had no choice. They had to kill them. Well, more or less. Now Nico, Karolina, Gert, Chase, and Molly are on the run again, hiding out and trying to regain a sense of normalcy. But kids with super powers don't get to be normal.

The city is overrun with criminals, each faction bent on murdering them for one reason or another. It's only when the Runaways uncover the truth behind their parents' past that they realize the evil isn't just in L.A.

It's everywhere.

By: Christopher Golden

2. SLAYER

Nina and her twin sister, Artemis, are far from normal. It’s hard to be when you grow up at the Watcher’s Academy, which is a bit different from your average boarding school. Here teens are trained as guides for Slayers—girls gifted with supernatural strength to fight the forces of darkness. But while Nina’s mother is a prominent member of the Watcher’s Council, Nina has never embraced the violent Watcher lifestyle. Instead she follows her instincts to heal, carving out a place for herself as the school medic.

Until the day Nina’s life changes forever.

Thanks to Buffy, the famous (and infamous) Slayer that Nina’s father died protecting, Nina is not only the newest Chosen One—she’s the last Slayer, ever. Period.

As Nina hones her skills with her Watcher-in-training, Leo, there’s plenty to keep her occupied: a monster fighting ring, a demon who eats happiness, a shadowy figure that keeps popping up in Nina’s dreams…

But it’s not until bodies start turning up that Nina’s new powers will truly be tested—because someone she loves might be next.

One thing is clear: Being Chosen is easy. Making choices is hard.

By: Kiersten White

3. CIRCLE OF SHADOWS

Sora can move as silently as a ghost and hurl throwing stars with lethal accuracy. Her gemina, Daemon, can win any physical fight blindfolded and with an arm tied around his back. They are apprentice warriors of the Society of Taigas—marked by the gods to be trained in magic and the fighting arts to protect the kingdom of Kichona.

As their graduation approaches, Sora and Daemon look forward to proving themselves worthy of belonging in the elite group—but in a kingdom free of violence since the Blood Rift Rebellion many years ago, it’s been difficult to make their mark.

So when Sora and Daemon encounter a strange camp of mysterious soldiers while on a standard scouting mission, they decide the only thing to do to help their kingdom is to infiltrate the group. Taking this risk will change Sora’s life forever—and lead her on a mission of deception that may fool everyone she’s ever loved.

By: Evelyn Skye

4. SPECTACLE

Paris, 1887.

Sixteen-year-old Nathalie Baudin writes the daily morgue column for Le Petit Journal. Her job is to summarize each day's new arrivals, a task she finds both fascinating and routine. That is, until the day she has a vision of the newest body, a young woman, being murdered--from the perspective of the murderer himself.

When the body of another woman is retrieved from the Seine days later, Paris begins to buzz with rumors that this victim may not be the last. Nathalie's search for answers sends her down a long, twisty road involving her mentally ill aunt, a brilliant but deluded scientist, and eventually into the Parisian Catacombs. As the killer continues to haunt the streets of Paris, it becomes clear that Nathalie's strange new ability may make her the only one who can discover the killer's identity--and she'll have to do it before she becomes a target herself.

While Paris may be very far away from Hawkins, the common thread of extraordinary powers and strange experiments ties these stories together. 

By: Jodie Lynn Zdrok

5. THIS SAVAGE SONG

There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

This book has monsters too, although they are a bit easier to empathise with...

By: V.E. Schwab

6. EVERY HEART A DOORWAY

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children

No Solicitations

No Visitors

No Quests

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else .

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she’s back. The things she’s experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West’s care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy’s arrival marks a change at the Home. There’s a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it’s up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of the matter.

No matter the cost.

Strange parallel universes… that can be reached through gateways… Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

By: Seanan McGuire

Teen Advisory Board Member Tiffany Reviews This Savage Song

by Victoria Schwab

There’s no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains—and friends or enemies—with the future of their home at stake. The first of two books.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

Possibly the best things about this novel are the complex characters and their compelling dynamic.  August in a soul-sucking monster who hates himself for it and yearns to be human; Kate is a human girl who is desperate to please her father by becoming monstrously powerful.  She is willing to do whatever it takes, and her ambition shows in her snarky attitude and intimidating actions.

If you’re looking for an alluringly dark book with complex characters to get attached to, This Savage Song is just for you.