December 3rd
Dust by Alison Stine (Wednesday Books) - moved from 2023.
After her father has a premonition, Thea, her parents, and her little sister move to the Bloodless Valley of southern Colorado, hoping to make a fresh start. On their remote farm, they will “unschool”: take nature hikes, help with the animals, and learn outside. But the reason her parents could afford to buy land—sight unseen—is because nothing will grow without a fight, and soon they don’t have time to teach the girls despite forbidding them from learning elsewhere.
To make ends meet, Thea’s parents let her work at the café in town, and there she meets Ray, who is deaf and spends summers in the valley. Though she was born hard of hearing,, the rest of Thea’s family is not, and she has always been pushed to pass and pretend. But Ray—the first other deaf teen Thea has ever met—knows how to sign. When he agrees to teach Thea in secret, she begins to learn what she has been missing, not only another language but community.
The more time she spends with Ray, the further Thea ventures into the valley—and it is there that she connects the Dust Bowl from history and warnings from scientists with the weather she’s living through. The days are hotter than ever and Thea fears that history may be repeating itself. The river is drying up, crops are dying, and the black blizzards of Colorado have returned. But her father isn’t the only one who has dreams…
The Party by Natasha Preston (Delacorte)
Are you invited?
In the heart of the English countryside, a group of teenagers gather at a remote castle for a weekend of fun and games. But when the first of them dies, the party takes a deadly turn. As the body count rises, the remaining guests must race against time to uncover the killer’s identity before they become the next victim.
Set against the backdrop of a sprawling English estate, Natasha Preston’s latest thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.
My Fairy God Somebody by Charlene Allen (Katherine Tegan Books) - moved from September 2024.
The way Clae’s mom tells it, her dad took off when Clae was a baby, end of story. Ever since, it’s just been the two of them, living in the coastal city of Gloucester, where Clae is one of the only few Black girls. But when Clae discovers clues about a mysterious person she calls her fairy god somebody, she’s determined to know more.
Her chance comes when she’s accepted into a summer journalism program in New York City, where her parents lived before she was born. With a couple of leads and a steel resolve, Clae leaves home for the first time to find out about her history.
New York is as full of magic as it is mystery, not to mention romance. From Brooklyn to Broadway, Clae and her new friends, Nze and Joelle, explore neighborhood haunts and hustles, discovering a family trail that someone’s tried hard to bury. So who is the fairy god somebody? And can Clae use her sleuthing skills to find out the truth?
Set against one unforgettable NYC summer, this is the story of lies that run deep and patterns that are meant to be broken. Clae, Nze, and Joelle will stick with you and remind you that every girl deserves to write her own story.
Encanto: Nightmares and Sueños by Alex Segura (Disney Press)
Fans will love this dark and mysterious young adult novel by Alex Segura, a NYT bestselling author who also wrote Poe Dameron: Free Fall and Araña and Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow.
Seventeen-year-old Bruno has never really fit in with his family—why can’t he be as outgoing as his sister Pepa, or as friendly as his sister Julieta? Does he like being the awkward loaner who never seems to find where he can fit in? But it’s hard to be popular when you have the power to tell the future and people don’t always like what you are telling them. So Bruno devises an act, and begins to model the behavior he feels the town wants to see in a hero.
But is being dishonest to himself and others the right path to walk down in order to make friends, or is Bruno just kidding himself as he hides from his own destiny that threatens to destroy all he holds dear?
December 10th
What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould (Wednesday Books) - moved from Fall 2024, was intially dated 2025.
Devin Green wakes in the middle of the night to find two men in her bedroom. No stranger to a fight, she calls to her foster parents for help, but it soon becomes clear this is a planned abduction—one everyone but Devin signed up for. She’s shoved in a van and driven deep into the Idaho woods, where she’s dropped off with a cohort of equally confused teens. Finally, two camp counselors inform them that they've all been enrolled in an experimental therapy program. If the campers can learn to change their self-destructive ways—and survive a fifty-days hike through the wilderness—they’ll come out the other side as better versions of themselves. Or so the counselors say.
Devin is immediately determined to escape. She’s also determined to ignore Sheridan, the cruel-mouthed, lavender-haired bully who mocks every group exercise. But there’s something strange about these woods—inhuman faces appearing between the trees, visions of people who shouldn't be there flashing in the leaves—and when the campers wake up to find both counselors missing, therapy becomes the least of their problems. Stranded and left to fend for themselves, the teens quickly realize they’ll have to trust each other if they want to survive. But what lies in the woods may not be as dangerous as what the campers are hiding from each other—and if the monsters have their way, no one will leave the woods alive.
Atmospheric and sharp, What the Woods Took is a poignant story of transformation that explores the price of becoming someone—or something—new.
The Rules of Royalty by Cale Dietrich (Wednesday Books)
Jamie Johnson has never been the centre of attention, and he’s perfectly okay with that. His entire world unravels as a hidden truth emerges: he's the heir to the throne of Mitanor, a sun-drenched southern European country, and the press is ready to expose this secret to the world. An invitation to spend the summer in his father's palace arrives, giving Jamie a chance to get to know the man he never thought he’d meet.
Meanwhile, in a northern European kingdom known for its cold climate and stoic royals, Erik Von Rosenborg, the spare prince, grapples with the upcoming marriage of his golden-boy elder brother. With the country’s spotlight trained on his family more than ever, Erik feels sidelined and tightly controlled. So when he receives an offer to tutor the newly found American prince in the ways of royalty, he accepts without hesitation.
At a magnificent summer palace, Erik guides Jamie through the intricacies of royal etiquette, politics, and history. What neither prince anticipates is the connection that sparks between them—one that challenges both of their futures. Now each must make a choice: follow their hearts, or the time-honored royal path where crown and country reigns supreme, no matter the personal cost.
We Are the Beasts by Gigi Griffiths (Delacorte) - moved from November 2024.
But to sixteen-year-old Joséphine and her best friend, Clara, the beast isn’t a curse. It’s an opportunity.
For years, the girls of Mende have been living in a nightmare—fathers who drink, brothers who punch, homes that feel like prisons—and this is a chance to get them out.
Using the creature’s attacks as cover, Joséphine and Clara set out to fake their friends’ deaths and hide them away until it’s safe to run. But escape is harder than they thought. If they can’t brave a harsh winter with little food… If the villagers discover what they’re doing… If the beast finds them first...
Those fake deaths might just become real ones.
You're Dead to Me by Amy Christine Parker (Delacorte)
Ruby is a scholarship senior at elite Oleander High School with a chip on her shoulder and an attitude to match—which she puts to good use as the infamous local anonymous gossip blogger ReputationKiller. When she’s outed as the voice behind the account, the entire town turns against her.
But after she’s scared witless by a vision of her own ghost dressed in a blood-splattered prom dress, she is faced with an awful truth. Someone out there doesn’t just hate her—they want her dead.
With less than a week until the prom, Ruby starts investigating. Turns out Oleander Bay isn’t the picture-perfect resort town it purports to be. With so many secrets, scandals, and people hell-bent on covering them up at all costs, the murderer could be anyone. Can Ruby beat the clock counting down to prom—and her death—and survive the night?
December 17th
The Voice of the Wretched by Kester Grant (Knopf) - moved from 2021, May 2022, December 2022, November 2023 and February 2024, US edition not yet added to Goodreads.
A young thief must face ruthless traffickers, power-hungry criminal lords—and even General Napolean himself—in this stunning follow-up to The Court of Miracles.
December 24th
Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao (Tundra Books) - moved from 2022, then from August 2023 and April 2024. May be moved tob 2025.
“The false ruler
Lady Wu has an unpleasant personality and a lowly birthright. She has
the heart of a snake or lizard and the nature of a wolf. She is hated by
both men and gods, and heaven and earth cannot allow her to exist.”
After
suffering devastating loss and making drastic decisions, Zetian finds
herself at the seat of power in Huaxia. But her world is not as it
seems, and revelations about an enemy more daunting than she imagined
forces her to share her power with a dangerous man she can no longer
simply remove from her way.
Despite having vastly different
ideas than him on what they are to each other and how the world should
change, Zetian must join him in a dance of truth and lies and perform
their roles to perfection in order to take down their common enemy and
get back the loved one she lost.
December 31st
A Cruel Thirst by Angela Montoya (Joy Revolution)
Carolina Fuentes has always wanted to join her family in hunting down the bloodthirsty monsters that plague her pueblo. But these days, her father wants her out of town with a husband of his choosing. That’s not happening. Carolina plans to show everyone that she’d make a better vampire slayer than wife. But when she runs into a sediento that is not only handsome but kind, she questions everything.
Lalo Villalobos doesn’t act on impulses. As the eldest of two, his duties were to carry on the family business, marry, and have children. But then he is turned into a sediento and must flee the city, taking lives as he goes north, where he believes the first vampire was made. Surely, the pueblo there will have the answers to reverse this curse or end sedientos altogether. Another unexpected turn? Lalo runs right into a beautiful young woman who’d gladly stake him.
Fortunately, Lalo and Carolina share a common enemy. They can wipe out this evil. Together. If his fangs and her fists can stay focused, they might just triumph and discover what it feels like to take a bite out of love.
The Losting Fountain by Lora Senf (Union Square Kids) - moved from January 2025.
Ardi Alspach at Union Square Kids has acquired Bram Stoker-nominated author Lora Senf's (The Clackity) YA horror debut The Losting Fountain. Pitched as Wayward Children meets The Ocean at the End of the Lane, it follows three children who travel across time to reach a mysterious and often horrific fountain where lost things go to be found and where seekers are punished nearly as often as they are rewarded. Publication is set for January 2025; Ali Herring at Spencerhill Associates did the deal for world rights.
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