Incriminated

April 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-When readers last saw Lucy, Paolo, Candace, Grace, Maya, and John-Michael in Emancipated, the six teens were still riding the high of living together without any adults in a house on Venice Beach. But their secrets, deceptions, and crimes-some of which linked them together in unknown ways-were beginning to make their arrangement unravel. This sequel begins six months into their emancipation and with the group attempting to heal the fissures that marred what should've been paradise. But just as things begin to feel better-Paolo and Lucy are trying to be friends after an awkward almost-hookup, Candace's career is shaping up, Maya is pushing back against her employer-things go from bad to worse. Alternating points of view allow readers to see the big picture and all of its intersections before the characters can. By the end, the six roommates are entwined in ways they never anticipated. Reyes is not light on high-stakes drama for this fast-paced second book in the series that is every bit as fun as the first and that is shaping up to be a heck of a ride in the next installment. VERDICT With more twists and turns than the Pacific Coast Highway, this title will appeal to older teens who enjoyed the intrigue and action of the first book. Fans will be thrilled to see how the drama goes into overdrive in the second.-Jennifer Miskec, Longwood University, Farmville, VA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2016
Six legally emancipated, culturally and racially diverse teens share a luxury house in Venice Beach, but the once-tightknit group is drifting apart, and their only hope for coming together is breaking through the multiple lies, coverups, and conspiracies twisting through their lives. In this sequel to Emancipated (2015), Reyes presents a slew of characters with a thickly woven fabric of stories to keep straight, and each of these characters has at least some element of a horrific past. While there's enough story here for at least two books, Reyes is compact but artful with her writing, particularly with the dialogue, which naturally captures slang and diction from different cultures and manages not to seem forced or expository even when dealing with scenarios that may seem more befitting a vintage crime series than a modern teen novel. It's sometimes confusing, sometimes difficult, with a tangle of plot threads that even includes one literal cliffhanger and a daring escape from quicksand, but it's ultimately rewarding for its simply told complicated story. And though its tone and pace would be right at home with crime classics, the novel offers a more colorful world than can be found in most of those old books, drawing from the author's knowledge of Mexico City, Manchester, England, and Los Angeles, and reflecting different nationalities, cultures, and different races within them, each with inherent humanity, and largely unburdened by tokenism. The juxtaposition of rounded characters with outrageous situations gives readers just enough of a base to stand on before the story runs off with them. (Thriller. 14-18)

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