And if you want a ton of book recommendations featuring secret identities, impostors, space stations, or video games, here are all the possible results!
Fake ID by Lamar Giles: Nick Pearson is hiding in plain site, having just moved with his family to Stepton, Virginia as part of their Witness Protection Program. Just as he was starting to adjust, his new friend Eli, who was on the verge of uncovering a major conspiracy, dies. Now, Nick has to choose between trying to solve Eli’s murder with Reya, Eli’s sister, or staying under the radar like he’s supposed to.
The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee: Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid in Reconstruction Atlanta by day, but by night she moonlights as the author of “Dear Miss Sweetie”, a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady. Her column challenges fixed ideas of race and gender, causing a backlash and setting of a search to uncover her identity. But her own efforts to discover her past, including the parents who abandoned her as a baby, put her in the crosshairs of Atlanta’s most notorious criminal.
One of Us is Lying by Karen M McManus: Five strangers walk into detention. Four make it out alive. When Simon, the creator of the gossip app at Bayview High, is found dead, the four students with him in detention are all suspects — after all, all four of them were about to have juicy secrets revealed by Simon on Tuesday. Any one of them could have done it…or else someone is setting them up.
Warcross by Marie Lu: Emika Chen is a hacker, working as a bounty hunter in the virtual reality game Warcross. When she hacks into the opening game of the international tournament, and accidentally glitches into the action, she assumes she’ll be arrested. Instead, Hideo, the game’s creator, offers her another option. There’s a security problem in the game, and he wants Emika to spy for him on the inside.
Mirage by Somaiya Daud: Amani is a dreamer, longing for adventure while living in the brutal Vathek empire. But adventure arrives in the form of the regime kidnapping her and bringing her to the royal palace. As she and the cruel princess, who is so hated by her conquered people that she requires a body double, look nearly identical, Amani is forced to appear in public as Maram. But while Amani doesn’t hate everything about the palace, or her time with the princess’ fiancé, one wrong move will lead to her death.
Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon: After nerdy Sunny meets cool and confident Cirrus, and she mistakes his older brother’s bedroom (complete with electric guitars and rock posters) for his, Sunny finds himself recruiting friends to form a fake band with him. As he starts growing more confident, and he’s not only falling in love with Cirrus but also with music, the lies threaten to catch up with him.
Slay by Brittney Morris: Slay follows honors student Kiera Johnson, who is one of the only Black kids at her school. She’s also the developer of a secret online multiplayer role-playing card game called SLAY, where Black gamers can duel as Nubian personas. But this is a secret no one knows — not her family, not her friends, and especially not her video game-hating boyfriend. When a dispute in the SLAY world enters the real world, ending in a murder, the game enters the mainstream media, labelled as exclusionist, racist, and violent. Kiera also has to deal with a troll who infiltrates the game anonymously, threatening to sue Kiera for “anti-white discrimination.” Can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?
Ten by Gretchen McNeil: Meg and Minnie are heading to an exclusive house party on Henry Island for two days of boys, booze, and fun. But upon their arrival, a sinister message (“Vengeance is mine”) is discovered, followed by the arrival of a storm that cuts the teens off from the outside world. And as a mysterious killer starts picking them off one by one, the remaining teens begin to turn on each other.
Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn: Two years ago, Jamie’s older sister, Cate, was sentenced to juvenile detention for burning down their neighbor’s horse barn. The whole town was relieved, since Cate would play weird mind games with the other children, drink, steal, lie, and always make sure she got her way. But today, Cate got out, and she’s coming to make sure Jamie knows the truth.
Contagion by Erin Bowman: A skeleton crew is dispatched to a distant planet to perform a search-and-rescue mission for a work detail they received an SOS from. When they arrive, the site is abandoned, except for rotten food, discarded weapons, and…dead bodies. But as they search for answers, it becomes clear that they’re the ones in danger.
These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner: After the luxury spaceliner, Icarus, is yanked out of hyperspace, two teens have to learn how to journey across an unfamiliar planet. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe, while Tarver comes from nothing. Thrown together as the lone survivors of the crash, they search for help, and uncover the source behind the chilling whispers that haunt their every move.
From Twinkle with Love by Sandhya Menon: When Twinkle, an aspiring filmmaker, is approached by fellow film geek Sahil with an offer, Twinkle cannot wait. Not only would she get to direct a movie for the upcoming Summer Festival, but she could also get closer to Neil, aka Sahil’s twin brother and Twinkle’s longtime crush. When she starts getting emails from “N” she’s sure it’s Neil, but in the process of making their movie, she’s started to fall for Sahil.
Belle Révolte by Linsey Miller: Emilie des Marais is a noble lady who would prefer scalpels to embroidery needles. Anette Boucher wants to be trained in magic and gets the offer of a lifetime from a noble…to switch places. Annette attends finishing school as a noble lady to learn the art of divination, and Emelie enrolls to be a physician’s assistant. The two must work together, however, when their nation instigates a war — a war based on lies.
Thorn by Intisar Khanani: Princess Alyrra has always wish to escape royal life, though she never imagined it would come true in the form of a terrifying sorceress robbing her of her identity on the way to meet Kestrin, the prince she had been betrothed to. Starting a new life as a goose girl, she quickly finds out about the pain and suffering the people of Kestrin’s land face, in addition to the danger Kestrin faces from the sorceress, and realizes she can’t stay in the shadows for too long.
All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban: After being invited to a scholarship dinner, the valedictorian, stoner, loner, music geek, star athlete, and queen bee find them selves trapped in a locked room with a bomb, a syringe filled with poison, and a note saying they have an hour to pick someone to kill…or they all die. Amber is determined to get them all out alive, but they’ll have to retrace the past year that might have led to their current situation and it is very clear they are all hiding something.
