Seasick

Gr 9 Up—This is a fast-paced, typical whodunit thriller told in alternating perspectives of Naya and Yana, former friends and recipients of the prestigious Yatesville Society Scholarship. Naya feels like an outsider because of her brown skin and lack of family money. Yana struggles with similar feelings, being Taiwanese and also lacking the “old money” status. While Naya tries to stay true to herself, Yana clings to her high-society friends in the hopes of achieving her goals; she also received an anonymous text asking her to look into a “cheating ring” among the Yates scholarship winners. As recipients of the scholarship, both girls, along with several other scholarship winners, are invited to a five-day cruise on a mega-yacht to Bermuda. All the main characters share histories—some good, some bad—and their friendships will be put to the test. What starts as an exciting celebration of graduating high school at the top of their class soon becomes a horror-movie nightmare. One by one, the Yatesville Society inductees are murdered, and they must put their differences aside to try to survive. Characters are BIPOC and relatable, and their backgrounds and personalities come out slowly through the book, always adding to the question, “could they be the murderer?” Readers will be satisfied with an ending that wraps everything up neatly, if a little quickly—no cliff-hangers here.