The Lost & Found, by Katrina Leno

Frances and Louis have been online friends for years, since they met in an online support group for trauma survivors. They know each other's secrets and innermost thoughts -- and everything they've lost along the way -- but they've never met in person. When Frannie finds out that her mother, whom she thought had abandoned her and gone to Florida, was actually institutionalized, she begins to question everything she knows about herself and her family. As a soon-to-be senior, Louis is also questioning what the future holds for him and whether he can bear to part from his twin sister to follow his own path. The two set off from opposite sides of the country and converge on Austin, Texas to meet each other and to find what might be answers.
The plot of this tale feels familiar, but the relationship at the heart of the book is much richer than anticipated. Frannie and Louis build something that is larger than friendship, and more delicate but longer-lasting than first love. The author also has a very creative take on emotional loss by having Frannie and Louis prone to physical loss (a tennis racket, $20, sunglasses, a bill for a coffin) in mysterious ways. When they start to find each other's lost items, they also begin to help each other find ways to move past their emotional loss as well. A great book for readers who like humor and an optimistic ending, but aren't afraid to cry along the way.

Lab Girl, by Hope Jahren

If you've ever stopped to look at a tree or a plant that has caught your eye, or you've ever had a friend you can't imagine life without, you owe it to yourself to read Lab Girl.
Hope Jahren is a geobiologist who studies plants, seeds and soil, and half this book is written from that point of view. Short chapters deal with how seeds survive hardship, what you can learn from ancient soil, and how much complexity is present in even the simplest-seeming plants. But the author is also female scientist in a male-dominated field, and half this book is a memoir about her life in science. She talks about growing up with a science-teacher father who let her explore freely in his classroom's lab, about amazing discoveries and heartbreaking loss in her scientific work and her career, but mostly she talks about Bill, her lab partner and best friend. Bill and Hope have triumphs and setbacks, living and working in sometimes challenging or untenable conditions, but always with their friendship and scientific discovery at the heart of it. This book makes you want to study science, be a more tenacious person and be a better friend. What more can you ask for?

Kids of Appetite, by David Arnold

Vic has a face that no one can read and that separates him from the world. Baz and Zuz are refugees from a war-torn country and from their past. Coco is an orphan. Mad is obsessed with The Outsiders and may have blood on her hands. They form an unlikely team to scatter Vic's dad's ashes in the most appropriate places in Bergen County, New Jersey, which seems like an achievable goal, but the book opens with Mad and Vic at the Hackensack police station being questioned about a murder. What happened?

Kids of Appetite hits the sweet spot between a mystery, a road trip travelogue, a love story and the tale of how friendship grows and how true friends take care of each other. It's a very quick read and does a good job of jumping around in place and time without confusing the reader. Initially, it's the plot keeps you turning pages, but the characters quickly grow on you too. A great read for anyone who likes books by Jennifer Niven (like All the Bright Places) or Jandy Nelson (like The Sky is Everywhere). 

The Thousandth Floor, by Katharine McGee

A hundred years in the future, New York neighborhoods spread up, not out, and the center of the city is the Tower, a thousand-story skyscraper that encompasses all walks of life. On the very top floor in the penthouse lives Avery Fuller, genetically engineered to be perfect. In the Tower, the further downTower you go, the cheaper and less desirable the real estate, so as denizens of the highest floors, Avery and her friends lead glittering lives as the upper-most echelon of New York society and wealth. But each hides a secret -- a drug addiction, a forbidden love, a long-buried betrayal -- and more than one of them is doomed to a very long trip down, both figuratively and literally.  The Thousandth Floor is an entertaining mix of sci-fi (transportation, energy and communication in the future is as innovative as you might expect) and froth. Just as a book like The Luxe reads like Gossip Girl set in the past, The Thousandth Floor reads like Gossip Girl or Pretty Little Liars set in the future. Lots of intrigue, romance and teens behaving badly, but lots of fun to read!