The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

“No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.

In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.

Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other." - taken from Goodreads.com

When someone described this book as The Handmaid's Tale meets Lord of the Flies, they weren't kidding. A shocking, twisting tale where girls are raised to believe that they have magic that corrupts the minds of men to lure them under their spells. Before they can become wives, mothers, and productive members of society, they must spend their sixteenth year, their grace year, isolated on an island. During their year there, they are to embrace and banish their magic before going home. Dealing with all of the horrors that befall them, not everyone makes it back home. No one speaks of the grace year but Tierney James is determined to say stay true to herself and not become someone's wife. Tierney's experience and awakening over her grace year is an extraordinary and powerful story.

Visit Kim Liggett’s website.

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen McManus

“Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery's never been there, but she's heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows.

The town is picture-perfect, but it's hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone's declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.

Ellery knows all about secrets. Her mother has them; her grandmother does too. And the longer she's in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. The thing is, secrets are dangerous--and most people aren't good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it's safest to keep your secrets to yourself.” - taken from Goodreads.com

I loved the author’s first book, One of Us is Lying, but her sophomore novel absolutely blew me away. Ellery Corcoran is a true crime fanatic in part to her mother’s twin sister’s disappearance during their senior year homecoming dance. With their mother now in rehab in California, Ellery and her twin Ezra move across the country to live with their Nana in Echo Ridge, a small town full of secrets. With multiple stories and layers of mysteries to be solved, readers will be gripping tightly to their books well after the last line is read.

Visit Karen M. McManus’s website.