If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Forman (Sisters in Sanity, 2007) provides a compelling and highly textured account of the brutal 24 hours that may be 17-year-old Mia’s last. Her day starts with a drive, with her loving and moderately punk parents and her effervescent little brother, to a bookstore. A collision with another vehicle leaves Mia’s parents dead. The narrative is told in a robust first-person voice, with flashbacks, flash-forwards, and out-of-body reports on her immediate surroundings as Mia is transported, in grave condition, to the hospital. The story then follows the medical efforts to save her life, extended family and friends’ efforts to provide emotional care, and Mia’s coming to terms with what has happened and what might still await her. Mia, a gifted cellist, finds support from her alt-rock boyfriend and a best friend whose own mother is a hysteric. Mia’s recounting of this critical day is laced with insight, good humor, and wonder, allowing the reader to enter the scene as fully as Mia herself seems to have, at least for now, left her broken body.
-Booklist starred-

King of the Screwups by K. L. Going

High-school senior Liam is a talented, straight athlete who is as gorgeous as his mother, a former supermodel, and has inherited her interest in clothes: “I love fashion. And girls.” A mediocre student, he constantly disappoints his dad, an angry, sometimes verbally abusive executive who kicks Liam out of the house after one too many perceived transgressions. Against his homophobic dad’s wishes, Liam moves in with his gay, cross-dressing, trailer-dwelling uncle, Aunt Pete. Determined to meet his father’s expectations, Liam joins the AV club at his new school and actively tries to fight his natural status as “Mr. Popularity”; but once again, everything goes awry.
-Booklist-

The Morgue and Me by John C. Ford

Christopher takes a summer job at a morgue. There he discovers--and decides to investigate--the cover-up of a murder. His suspicions wend their way through a number of his small town's prominent citizens. Blackmail and double-crosses pile up, and Christopher nearly finds himself accused of murder before solving the crimes. There's plenty of action in this absorbing story.
-Horn Book-

Muchacho: A Novel by Louanne Johnson

High school junior Eddie Corazon and his Mexican-American family live in a crime infested town of New Mexico where kids are often pressed into service as drug runners if found on the streets alone. He is in an alternative high school and brandishing his role as a juvinile delinquent until he meets Lupe, a bright girl with dreams of college. Poignant memories of a caring former teacher and the Four Agreements also play a role in Eddie's transformation into a reflective honor student.
            -School Library Journal-

Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick

Private Matt Duffy awakes in a hospital bed, suffering from a severe brain injury sustained during a confrontation with insurgents. His memory of the encounter is foggy, but the pieces that slowly settle in contradict the story told by his squadmate and friend, Justin. An Iraqi kid was killed, though no one seems to know why or by whom, and Matt gets the distinct feeling that the Army doesn’t want to know. McCormick clearly evokes Matt’s longing to return to his unit and his buddies and sets that against the psychological trauma of reentering the fray and coming to terms with a death for which he holds himself accountable.                                        -Booklist-

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Grace has always had a thing for the wolves in the woods behind her house, and when she finally meets the human form of a particularly enchanting wolf, Sam, the two cling to each other with the force of destiny. Time is running out, though, as these lycanthropes don’t change with full moons but rather each year spend less time as humans and more as wolves, until the balance completely tips them into the animal world. The two will then do whatever it takes to stay together.
                                                            - Booklist-

We Were Here By Matt De La Pena

After a judge sentences Miguel to spend a year in a group home and write in a journal, he makes plans to escape the youth detention center and go to Mexico, where he can put his past behind him.