My Unfamiliar by Mara Rutherford (Wednesday Books)
Winslow Green is known far and wide for her ability to match mages with the perfect animal familiar. Though she doesn't possess any magic, she has a knack for knowing what her customers need, even if they can't see if themselves.
Still grieving the tragic death of his last familiar, Bastian Triplehorn reluctantly seeks Winnie's aid in finding a new partner. She's determined to live up to her reputation, despite Bastian's excessive grumpiness.
Until the inexplicable happens: Bastian sparks a familiar bond with Winnie instead.
Impossible to deny, the two agree to help each other until they can solve the mystery of their connection. As Bastian and Winnie train for a royal mage competition that could solve all their problems-or ruin their lives forever-Winnie gets a taste of what it's like to have magic herself. And Bastian discovers that all of these unfamiliar feelings are a little like magic, too.
Words Spoken True by Anne Broyles (Scholastic)
Jane Bushyhead dreams of one day becoming a teacher. But everything changes when she and her family are forced from their ancestral Cherokee homeland by US soldiers at gunpoint. After months of imprisonment and uncertainty, Jane and her people are then ordered to march eight hundred miles to "Indian Territory" (modern-day Oklahoma) during one of the worst winters of the 19th century.It's a grueling journey--many of the Cherokee people are barefoot and unprepared for the freezing weather - and all go hungry as supplies dwindle and sickness abounds. Yet, Jane finds romance with a young man who has been adopted by the Cherokees and comfort within the loving embrace of her family.
As the dangerous journey unfolds, and Jane finds purpose in teaching and recording the stories of her people, she will be forced to bear witness as they perish from starvation, disease, and deadly hazards of the trail. Soon, Jane will have to face an impossible choice between love and her own family.
Award-winning author and enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, Anne Broyles brings the Trail of Tears to desperate, vivid life in this beautiful story about courage, community, memory, and love.
Vanishing Beauties by Becca Fitzpatrick (Simon and Schuster)
A teen beauty queen has vanished from Tea Kettle Island, and all evidence points to the girl’s ex-boyfriend, Sascha Sinner.
With a bounty out on Sascha’s head, seventeen-year-old Bunny decides to go after it – and him. But Sascha insists he didn’t do it, and wants Bunny’s help to prove his innocence.
Her search for the truth takes her to the very edge of the island, into its darkly magical past, revealing secrets the town has tried to push down. There are devilish creatures haunting the woods, a handsome man at the centre of a cult-like following, and a hidden history of missing girls – a history that includes Bunny’s own mother.
Can Bunny figure out who, or what, is taking the girls of Tea Kettle Island, before she is lost herself?
The Lodge by Natasha Preston (Delacorte)
Hallie and her friends wanted a carefree ski getaway—powdery slopes, cozy cabins, endless laughs. But when a storm traps them and someone falls from the lift, their dream week spirals into a nightmare. Cut off from help, they turn to strangers: a friendly young couple, two brothers, and a mysterious worker at the lodge.
Then bodies start piling up in the snow.
As paranoia takes hold, Hallie and her friends must risk everything to escape. But what if the killer has been hiding in plain sight all along? What’s waiting out in the blizzard is nothing compared to what’s hiding in the lodge. . . .
Don’t miss any of Natasha Preston’s heart-stopping thrillers!
Veiled in Shadow by Liz Edelbrock (Delacorte) - not yet added to Goodreads.
Princess Delana will do anything to save her kingdom—even marry a stranger. With her realm’s memory magic fading and her grieving father using the last of his powers to relive the past, Delana agrees to a political union with a rival prince. She boards a lavish, enchanted wedding train bound for her new future and surrounded by his court, secrets, and expectations.
She didn’t expect Bastian. Once her childhood friend, now her brooding, fiercely loyal bodyguard, Bastian awakens everything Del must suppress, even as she dances in her fiancé’s arms. But when her handmaiden is murdered on the night of the first ball, Del is revealed to be the true target. Now she and Bastian race to uncover the assassin before the train reaches its final stop.
As danger closes in and forbidden desire ignites, Del must decide: What will she risk for Bastian—and what might it cost the kingdom? Because their passion may be more lethal than the killer.
Crown & Captive by Kathleen Kitt (G. P. Putnam and Sons) - description not yet updated on Goodreads.
Elysia of Miral never thought she’d step foot in Tannic, the heart of her family’s enemy. After a brutal rebellion that claimed both her father’s life and Tannic’s king, Elysia has become a living symbol of a fragile truce. But she knows the truth: she’s been handed over as a veritable hostage, trapped in a court where everyone blames her for their king’s death.
Forced into servitude, Elysia despises her role almost as much as the men who now surround her: Daxon, the brooding heir, determined to hate her; Pike, the flirtatious second-born, who pushes her buttons with reckless charm; and the two youngest brothers, Caden and Silas.
But soon loyalty and desire collide, and Elysia finds herself caught in a forbidden romance with the last person she’d ever expect. Will falling for the enemy prove to be a mistake that she pays for with her life?
Senescence: A Grove Hollow Novel by Shelby Nicole (Delacorte)
Jade thought she had lost Will forever... so his return to her through a magical mirror is shocking. Even more He’s no longer a ghost. To blend in, he enrolls at Grove Hollow Academy with Jade and the Misfits. But as the couple will soon learn, destiny has plans for Jade and Will. With Will’s return come his secrets—and his past loves. And when Jade and Will are approached by ancient gods with a life-changing message, Jade will have to decide where her heart lies.
Time and fate are at a tipping point. Can true love rewrite history, or will Jade’s second chance at love slip through her fingers forever?
Rising Thunder by Neal Shusterman (Simon and Schuster)
And of course, as every school child knows, December 2042 marks the end of the Age of Mortality.
What no one has ever fully understood is how the world reached that moment.
As death begins to seem optional, humanity looks for ways to bend the rules of existence. Twi-life centers begin storing the nearly-deceased, while eco-nihilists destroy civilization’s icons and threaten to end the human race entirely. Public opinion fractures. Systems strain. The world feels…unstable.
Behind the scenes, two powerful and diametrically opposed artificial intelligences set out to optimize, stabilize, and protect—each with its own idea of what that means. But in a world already tipping toward transformation, the consequences could be catastrophic.
Meanwhile, in an obscure online chatroom, a small group of teenagers from around the globe debate both the glorious and the terrifying prospects of the future, never realizing that they stand on a very literal cutting edge—and that their conversations, their choices, their very existence matter far more than they realize.
Because when humanity stands on the brink of immortality, someone must decide what survives…and what must be cut away.
December 8th
Teach Me to Prey by Jenni Howell (Roaring Brook Press)
Two years ago, Tara Corbane made a deal with a demon. Before each lunar eclipse, she must make a trade—a lover's heart offered as sacrifice to save her sister's. And with each offering, Tara fears she's becoming more and more like Thorn, the twisted but tantalizing demon she's sworn to hate.
Thirty days before the next eclipse, Tara heads to New Orleans, where her newest target awaits. But Rian Connach, the handsome heir to a real estate empire, is nothing like the others. He's single, for starters, and isn't out for love but vengeance. He's hot on the trail of the serial killer he blames for the death of his girlfriend. Whose heart was ripped out by none other than Tara herself.
As the eclipse draws near, Tara finds herself trapped in a game of cat-and-mouse. To save her own skin, she teams up with the broken and beguiling boy hunting her, all the while fighting her feelings for the demon whose secrets threaten everything she's ever believed about him, and herself. With Rian getting closer and closer to learning the truth, and Thorn warning of the gruesome consequences to come if Tara doesn't fulfill their bargain, time is running out to answer the ultimate
Is Tara the predator, or the prey?
Maker of Gods by Maria Z. Medina (Wednesday Books)
Necromancer Azul del Arroyo only wanted one thing: to steal her sister back from Death by reclaiming her sister's bones. But after inadvertently uncovering a plot to reawaken the gods and suffering a great loss, she feels further from her goal than ever.
In exchange for a chance to save her sister, Azul's only choice is to work together with Death, now in Enjul's body, to uncover an underground group set on finding the rest of the gods in the blood-red city of Bremón. And with his mysterious motivations, silver tongue, and magnetic interest in Azul, Death does not make it easy.
Determined to get revenge on the Faceless Witch, Nereida, the Count, and Esparza also find their way to Bremón to join Azul, only to discover that Death is not the only god who has already awakened...and the rest of the gods are not as merciful.
Lies, games, and gods collide in Maria Z. Medina's masterful follow-up to Mistress of Bones, where the only thing stronger than the divine is human will.
That Feeling When by Beth Reekles (Random House) - description not yet updated on Goodreads.
Hardcore fangirl Anissa is coming out of her shell at last. She has finally found friends who like fanfic and tabletop role-playing games as much as she does, and she somehow landed an internship on the set of her favorite TV show, Of Wrath and Rune. Things couldn’t be going better...
That is, until she meets Callum, the hot new actor on OWAR. Anissa gets so starstruck seeing her favorite fantasy character in real life that Callum writes her off as an obsessive fangirl... and working together is about to be very awkward. So much for meet your heroes—now he’s her worst enemy.
Battling her newfound friendships, her rivalry-turned-maybe-something-more with Callum, and the occasional fictional orc, the biggest plot twist this season might just be that feeling when fandom meets reality.
December 22nd
Drop Dead Handsome by Matthew Hubbard (Delacorte Romance) - moved from October 2026, description not yet updated on Goodreads.
Parker Ryland has always been the master of his own destiny, meticulously planning his escape from his small town. But when he’s told that his college application is “boring”, he is thrown for a loop. Parker may be many things, but boring is not one of them.
So, Parker applies to his school’s Miss Spirit pageant to spice up his application and challenge himself—and the town’s antiquated gender ideals.
Pageant life in southern Tennessee is intense enough without the nerdy—but undeniably charming—student body president, Dean, offering to give Parker a crash-course in pageantry. As the two get closer, Parker’s carefully constructed plans begin to unravel. And then someone starts sabotaging Parker, threatening not only his chance at the crown, but his future.
As paint splatters and sparks fly, Parker learns that sometimes the best way to win is to play—and love—by your own rules.
December 29th
Slow Burn by Trinity Nguyen (Henry Holt) - moved from October 2026 and January 2027, description not yet updated on Goodreads, previously titled Sweet Heat.
But then Ethan Huang walks into the kitchen.
Lizzie never forgot when the arrogant foodstagrammer nearly tanked the restaurant with a harsh review, and now he’s her competition? Ethan, however, has plans of his own. He's ready to prove to his parents and the world that cooking isn’t just a hobby, it’s his future. And he’s not about to let Lizzie Le stand in his way.
Lizzie and Ethan clash at every turn, but as things come to a boiling point, they begin to realize that their rivalry might be the very thing pushing them to become their best selves…
Can they turn up the heat without getting burned?
Love Light by Mela Rogers (Henry Holt) - YA graphic novel, moved from 2025, then from 2027, description not yet updated on Goodreads.
In this romantic YA graphic novel, a teenage girl lives in a world where people are connected to their soulmates by a light that shines from their chest, but what happens when she falls in love with someone who isn't her soulmate?
Sixteen-year-old Meredith believes she knows exactly how to find her soulmate: follow the Light, the beacon glowing from her heart and connecting her to one other person. It's what her parents and her faith have always told her.
But when Meredith meets Casey, she falls for her, hard and fast, even though they're not Lights soulmates. Keeping their relationship a secret is stressful, and when Meredith runs into her actual soulmate, things get even more complicated.
How can she choose between faith, fate, and first love?
December 31st
A Storm of Swallows by S.F. Williamson (HarperCollins) - US edition not yet added to Goodreads, moved from 2027. Title and release date announced on author instagram.
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