Passenger by Andrew Smith is a young adult paranormal thriller (available October 2, 2012).

Best friends Jack and Conner can’t stay away from Marbury. It’s partly because of their obsession with this alternate world and the unresolved war that still wages there. But it’s also because forces in Marbury—including the darkest of the dark, who were not revealed in The Marbury Lens—are beckoning the boys back in order to save their friends . . . and themselves. The boys try to destroy the lens that transports them to Marbury. But that dark world is not so easily reckoned with.

Marbury seems to be an alternate Earth, although one without a moon. As in other stories, the boys travel through a portal to get there. But Marbury isn’t Wonderland, Oz, or Narnia. It’s a dark, dreary, and dangerous place. One that may have been made even worse by their previous visit.

[Never a good idea to go back to a place you helped to destroy]

Chasing the Skip by Janci Patterson is a young adult crime novel (available October 2, 2012).

Ricki’s dad has never been there for her. He’s a bounty hunter who spends his time chasing parole evaders—also known as “skips”—all over the country. Ever since Ricki’s mom ran off, Ricki finds herself an unwilling passenger in a front-row seat to her father’s dangerous lifestyle. Her feelings become even more confused when her dad starts tracking seventeen-year-old Ian Burnham. She finds herself unavoidably attracted to the dark-eyed felon who seems eager to get acquainted. Ricki thinks she’s ever in control—the perfect accomplice, the Bonnie to his Clyde. Little does she know that Ian isn’t playing the game by her rules.

Ricki has reason to believe she can take care of herself. Her mother treats the fifteen-year-old more like a girlfriend than a daughter. Ricki manages their apartment, doing the cooking and cleaning. She even hacks into her mother’s bank account to pay the bills when Mom forgets. Sometimes the forgetting happens because of a new man in Mom’s life.

[Growing up fast . . .]

Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin is the second young adult futuristic thriller in the Birthright series (available September 18, 2012).

Since her release from Liberty Children’s Facility, Anya Balanchine is determined to follow the straight and narrow. Unfortunately, her criminal record and mafiya family are making it hard for her to do that. And when old friends return demanding that certain debts be paid, Anya is forced right back into the world that she had been seeking to escape. It’s a journey that will take her across the ocean to the birthplace of chocolate, where her resolve—and her heart—will be tested as never before.

Anya Balanchine is next in line to take control of Balanchine Chocolate. She has a few problems, though. Chocolate and coffee are illegal in 2083, so the family business isn’t exactly legit. She’s already spent time in prison, and she’s only seventeen years old.

[Wait. Chocolate is illegal?! I don't want any part of that future . . .]