Literally by Lucy Keating

How much control do you really have over your life? Annabelle likes to be in control and organized. Just look at her color coded schedule. Lately, she feels less in control. Like how her parents are going to sell their comfortable house in Venice Beach because they separating. Selling Annabelle's house? Her parents splitting up?

And then there's Elliott, her brother's best friend who has been hanging around annoying Annabelle since they were kids. Why is she getting this vibe that there is now something between them?

Just to stir things up a little more: enter Will, the new guy in school, who takes an immediate liking to Annabelle. He is gorgeous and is just perfect for her. Maybe too perfect.

Changes are frustrating, but they are just part of life, right? Maybe for most people, but Annabelle is told that someone is controlling her life...

Author Lucy Keating visits Annabelle's fiction writing class and describes her new book. The plot is Annabelle's life - house selling, parents separating; the whole thing. After class, Keating tells Annabelle that she is just a character in one of her books. It has to be a joke. At least, Annabelle thinks so until other things start happening. The author wants to give Annabelle a happy ending, but it may not be the life Annabelle wants for herself.

An author putting herself in her book to interact with the characters is a bit meta and tricky. It could have easily warped into a confusing plot, but Keating treads carefully. It makes me wonder if the author sometimes feels like she is not totally in control of her characters and that her stories ultimately go in directions she was not planning.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

Marin is alone. She stayed in her college dorm (with special permission) over the holidays while everyone else went home. Marin feels like she has nowhere to go. Her mother died a long time ago while surfing and her grandpa (who she lived with) is gone now, too.

Marin lived in California until she fled to her college in New York two weeks before the semester started. She left abruptly and came with few possessions. She has tried to escape what happened back home. It is with mixed feelings that she awaits a visit from her best friend Mabel who she has not had any contact with since she left.

Something happened back in California that only Marin can explain and she has not been ready to do that. What will she say to Mabel? They were so close for so long and now they seem almost like strangers. In the middle of a snow storm, the two friends only have each other.

This is not a story of action; it is a sorrowful story of a lost young woman. Marin's story is peeled back in small bits. Her secrets are revealed slowly through flashbacks and conversation with Mabel. It is a remarkable story that is worth the read to find out why Marin left everything behind. To tell more would be unfair to you.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog.

Surf Mules by G. Neri

For surfers, it's all about the next big wave. Hitting the surf whenever possible to ride that perfect wave is a lifestyle. Logan and Z-boy never want to give that up. Just after high school (Logan graduated, Z-boy was short a few credits), they wonder about the rest of their lives. It's tough to make a living as a surfer, so they decide to become drug runners to make a lot of money quickly.

There are better ways to deal with your future plans than getting involved with drugs, but the opportunity presents itself at moment when their lives aren't exactly stellar. Logan and Z-boy just lost their close friend, Fin. He was an excellent surfer, but took a hit on a huge wave and never came back up. Logan recently fought with Fin and never reconciled. Also, Logan's deadbeat dad has his college fund tied up in debts. Z-boy has nothing to look forward to except the waves.

If the two could make enough money to buy a nice place near the ocean, they could live carefree for the rest of their lives surfing, smoking pot and meeting women. When someone connects them to a big time dealer who will pay them to drive a car filled with pot across the country to be sold, they see the possibilities of a bright future. They've never really traveled beyond California, but now they must drive to Florida under the guise of being young Republicans out to recruit for the party. Two inexperienced surfer dudes crossing the country on their own for the first time with a car full of illegal drugs, what could go wrong?

Even though we know these young men have made a stupid decision (not mention an illegal one) we hope they succeed. We want them to get back safe. They have long lives ahead of them and plenty of waves to catch.

For more info, check out the Indianapolis Public Library catalog and the author's site.