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Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs
By Allie Costa
The summer between junior and senior year, Phoebe's life was right on track. She ran her heart out at cross-country summer camp, where the past seven winners of the final race went on to receive full scholarships to USC, her dream school. After crossing the finish line, she accepts her coach's compliments, hugs her best friends, and is surprised to see her mother standing there. Her mom has come home early from a family reunion in Greece to drop a bombshell: she's engaged, she's getting remarried in a matter of weeks, and they're moving to a place called Serfopoula.
Before she knows it, she's in Greece, where everything is new - a new country, a new home with a new stepfather named Damian and a new stepsister named Stella, a new school called the Academy - and everything is foreign. Then Phoebe is told that Greek gods really exist, and her classmates are their superpowered offspring. Damian, also a descendant of the gods, works at Academy and tries to look out for Phoebe. Being a mere mortal means that she has to work twice as hard to compete with the others in terms of athletics and academics, but Phoebe proves that she's up to the challenge.
Oh. My. Gods. will be appreciated by mythology aficionados as well as athletes. Set in contemporary times, this fun fantasy is also a realistic drama. The classic fish-out-of-water story is accented by the supernatural twists, rather than being upstaged by them. Phoebe's acceptance of her new family and new situation comes gradually, as does the revelation of what happened to her father six years earlier. Considerate and daring, Phoebe is a strong young woman, both in body and spirit.
Tera Lynn Childs is currently working on the sequel. I can't wait to read it.
Fact of Life #31 by Denise Vega
By Allie Costa
Fact of Life #31 is a story about mothers and daughters. It's about midwives and classmates. It's about yoga and art. It's about crushes and feeling crushed. It's about breaking apart and coming back together. In her second novel, Denise Vega delivers a thoughtful, realistic story about friendships, families, firsts, and fresh starts.
High school junior Kat describes her mother, Abra, as "the best home birth midwife in the Rocky Mountain region." Kat works in her mother's office as a receptionist, where she loves setting up playlists for the births and has a great connection with expectant parents, but finds herself uncomfortable and embarrassed during actual births. Her mom embarrasses her as well, but for different reasons. Though Kat respects what her mother is and what she does, she doesn't want her classmates to know about it. The only person who knows of Abra's profession is Kat's best friend, Christy, who has a nose for news and a fondness for funky hats.
Kat is a self-motivated girl with a busy schedule. In addition to working for her mom, she's also training for an upcoming triathlon. At home, Kat checks in with her nine-year-old sister Lucy, chats with her dad, and paints murals when the mood strikes her. At school, she does yoga in the hallway in order to center herself. She starts seeing her long-time crush Manny and is more than a little startled to see someone she knows walk into her workplace.
Abra gives Kat an old notebook from when she was a doula, first studying midwifery. Kat starts to fill a new notebook with her own "facts," such as "Fact of Life #87: People often believe what they want to believe." When she and Abra start clashing more and more often, Kat wants to stop working at the office altogether. An unexpected fight with Christy and ups-and-downs with Manny leave Kat wondering who she is supposed to believe and if she can ever make things right.