Breathing Underwater

Don't miss this timely contemporary young adult novel from Alex Flinn, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beastly, about a teenage boy's struggle to break free from the cycle of abuse. Intelligent, popular, handsome, and wealthy, sixteen-year-old Nick Andreas is pretty much perfect - on the outside, at least. What no one knows - not even his best friend - is the terror and anger that Nick faces every time he is alone with his father. Then he and Caitlin fall in love, and Nick thinks his problems are over. Caitlin is the one person he can confide in, the only person who understands him. But when Nick's anger and jealousy overtake him, things begin to spiral out of control and Nick realizes that he's more his father's son than he wants to be. Now Nick must confront his inner demons to stop the history of violence from repeating itself.

In Diva, the companion to Alex Flinn's YA novel Breathing Under Water, Caitlin is dealing with a lot. She's living through the aftermath of an abusive relationship, she has a youth-obsessed mother who just doesn't understand her, and she's on a constant yo-yo diet to live up the standards of her nitpicking friends. All Caitlin wants is to escape her not-so-glamorous life and pursue her dream of becoming a singer, but when she's accepted into the Miami High School of the Arts, her life doesn't magically become perfect. Yet despite some struggles to keep up with her competitive classmates and the distraction of cute new crush, Caitlin never loses her sense of humor and eventually gains the confidence to achieve her goals. Perfect for fans of such books as Carolyn Mackler's The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things.