January 2025 New Releases

 






January 7th
Lies on the Serpent's Tongue by Kate Pearsall (Putnam)

A beautifully dark YA set in Appalachia tinged with magic, mystery, murder, and romance.For fans of House of Hollow and Wilder Girls!

As Caball Hollow slowly recovers after a tumultuous summer, the James family must also come to terms with their own newly revealed secrets.        

18-year-old Rowan James has spent her whole life harboring unpleasant truths—that’s what happens when you can smell people’s lies—and building walls around herself to block them out. Like her younger sister, Linden, who can taste the feelings of others, Rowan has long resented her gift, which has taught her that everyone lies and no one is who they seem to be. So when her old nemesis, Hadrian Fitch, the biggest liar of them all, shows up on her front porch—bloodied, broken, and asking for help only she can give—her first instinct is distrust. But something new is stalking the Forest that surrounds Caball Hollow.       

Now things are disappearing. At first, it’s small stuff—like letters, photos, and keys. But then, Rowan notices people around her are losing their memories. And when the body of a neighbor is found in the middle of town, Rowan knows there’s a link between this death and all the events disturbing the Hollow. Can she find what—or who—the link is before it takes another life.

No Place Left to Hide by Megan Lally (Sourcebooks Fire)
Some secrets just won't stay hidden in this twisty new thriller from New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Megan Lally!

Brooke works hard to maintain perfect grades, perfect looks, a perfect life—especially after "the incident" that threatened everything. Getting into her dream university puts her that much closer to a fresh start. How can she say no to her best friend's coaxing to celebrate the good news...even if it means returning to the very beach that she's avoided all year?

Spending time by the bonfire with her crush is the perfect end to the night. Except leaving the party turns out to be only the beginning. A truck starts tailing Brooke along the isolated two-lane highway that winds through the woods toward home. And the dark night is about to bring out her darkest fears...




The Dryad Storm by Laurie Forest (Inkyard Press) - moved from November 2023.

Magical forces clash and Erthia hovers on the brink of ruin in the finale of New York Times bestselling author Laurie Forest’s epic fantasy series, The Black Witch Chronicles!

Who can survive the Shadow storm? 

Black Witch of prophecy Elloren Gardner Grey has unleashed her powers and embraced her legacy as a Dryad and guardian of the Forest. But the losses—of life, of love—have been almost too great to withstand as the Shadow continues to devour the world. With only a tattered shred of hope remaining, the Bearers of the Wand of Myth must battle their way back to each other to mount a final stand.

But Elloren and her allies are not only facing Mage Vogel's advancing forces—the armies of the Eastern Realm will stop at nothing to see the Black Witch struck down.  

With Elloren's bonded mate prophesied to kill her, Shadow demons rising, and the ties between allies unraveling, can this fracturing world unite to face down the coming storm?



Mystery Royale by Kaitlyn Cavalancia (Disney Hyperion) - previously titled The Strange Will of Xavier Stoutmire.

Kelsey Sullivan at Disney-Hyperion has bought Mystery Royale by Kaitlyn Cavalancia, a YA debut mystery about an ordinary girl who gets brought into a magical world in which she has to solve a murder to win an inheritance. Publication is slated for spring 2025; Brent Taylor at Triada US negotiated the two-book deal for U.S., Canadian, and open market rights.
















Celestial Banquet by Roselle Lim (Sweet July Books)
In Roselle Lim’s YA fantasy debut, a young noodle chef competes in a cutthroat cooking competition for the gods in a vibrant world inspired by Chinese and Southeast Asian folklore.

Once every generation, the Major Gods hold a Celestial Banquet, inviting chefs from all over the Continent to prepare mouthwatering fantastical feasts. The winner is awarded the fabled Peaches of Immortality, along with a lifetime of fame and fortune. The losers perish per the whims of the fickle gods.

Hot-headed noodle chef Cai enters the competition with dreams of owning her own restaurant and supporting her impoverished Peninsula town. Along with the drunken Minor God Kama, her childhood crush-turned-friend Bo, and dreamy noble Seon, Cai must now compete against the Continent’s finest culinary masters in trials that range from hunting and serving up mystical sea serpents to preparing a magical omurice from the eggs of the legendary Jian bird. Battling impossible odds and inconvenient feelings for both Bo and Seon, Cai is determined to prepare a feast fit for the gods—even if she loses her life.

In this spectacular debut YA fantasy, Iron Chef meets The Hunger Games in a high-stakes cooking competition for the gods.

The Assassin's Guide to Babysitting by Natalie C. Parker (Candlewick) - description not yet added to Goodreads.
This riveting, superpowered adventure unveils a shadow world of Talented bounty hunters—and plumbs the nature of identity, deadly secrets, and found family.

Tru has been hiding all her life. Her parents taught her to conceal her bastion Talent: indestructible skin, muscles, and bones. In a world where Talents are common and varied, no one trusts a bastion—they’re too powerful. Hiding failed to keep Tru’s parents alive, but moments before their murder, Tru’s mom pointed her to Logan Dire, a famed recluse assassin who adopted and trained orphaned Tru. At seventeen, she’s still hiding. Not even her closest friends know her true name or Talent, or that she’s balancing high school with knife and stealth training (while crushing on her BFF’s older sister). When assassins interrupt a mundane babysitting job booked through BountyApp—where lethal hunters find work and babysitters for their kids—Tru flees with a one-year-old strapped to her chest and spiraling questions: Who killed her parents? Whom can she trust? What does it mean to be a bastion? And is it ever OK to kiss a girl who’s trying to hunt you down? From an award-winning author comes a masterfully plotted thriller that holds character and relationship on a par with action and nail-biting suspense.


This Is the Year by Gloria Muñoz (Holiday House) - description not yet added to Goodreads.
Written in a hybrid of prose and verse, this spare and lyrical YA cli-fi imagines a climate-ravaged future through the eyes of a teen girl torn between the urge to fight for a better world and the impulse to run away.

This is the year. Yes, Ofe, on this gloomy first day of my last year of high school, I swear before your grave, Hermana, this is the year I am getting out of here.

So swears Julieta Villareal, a seventeen-year-old wannabe writer whose twin sister died in a hit-and-run a few months ago. Juli’s Florida home is crumbling in the face of climate disaster, and with Ofelia gone, Juli can’t stand to stay any longer in a place that doesn’t seem to have room for her. She’s not sure how she’s going to do it—everyone knows brown-skinned, poverty-stricken New Americans like Juli have no options—but she’s getting out.

Then, Juli is recruited by the Cometa Initiative, a private space program enlisting high-aptitude New American teens for a high-stakes mission to establish a human sanctuary on the Moon. Cometa pitches this as an opportunity for Juli to give back to her adopted country; Juli sees it as her only chance to do something big with her life.

Juli begins her training, convinced Cometa is her path to freedom. But her senior year is full of surprises, including new friendships and fresh love, and against all odds, Juli begins to find hope where she was sure there wasn’t any. As her world collapses from the ramifications—both environmental and social—of the climate crisis, Juli must decide if she’ll carry her loss together with her community or leave it all behind.

A gripping prose narrative interspersed with poems from Juli’s writing journal, this genre-bending novel explores themes of immigration, climate justice, and the power of communities.

Among Serpents by Marc J. Gregson (Peachtree Teen) - description not yet added to Goodreads.
Strap in for a high-octane mission that hurls Conrad and crew toward jaw-dropping discoveries that could trigger total obliteration, in Book Two of the Above the Black fantasy trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Marc J Gregson.

It takes guts to rise to the top of Meritocracy. It’ll take sheer ruthlessness to stay there. As militants and monsters lay waste to the Skylands, Uncle’s lawless tyranny threatens to unravel fragile Trade alliances. Conrad, no longer a mere Captain, now commands a squadron of ships at the order of the King. But Conrad’s High status can’t protect him from his own turmoil, and the price of power is steeped in blood.

Tormented by tragedies of war and by betrayal from his own family, Conrad must prove his worth to all of the Skylands. Led by an unhinged Explorer, Conrad embarks on a secret expedition to turn the tides of battle—before another island falls at the jaws of the gigataun. It’s a journey fraught with peril: Deadly monstrosities. Sabotage. Stowaways. And with friendships pushed to the brink and gentle romance stirring, Conrad will have to muster more than courage to weather the raging storms ahead.

Order your copy of Book Two of the Above the Black trilogy and continue the adventure! Marc J Gregson expands his fast-paced fantasy universe with shocking twists, treacherous battles, and a memorable cast of characters. Fans of Frank Herbert and Jules Verne will appreciate touches of classic science fiction, including speculative frontiers and turbulent political intrigue.

Togetha by Keith F. Miller Jr. (HarperCollins) - description not yet updated on Goodreads.
Perfect for fans of Angie Thomas and Jason Reynolds, this highly anticipated sequel to Lambda Literary Award finalist Pritty finds Jay and Leroy togetha again as they fight to save not only their home but themselves from the powerful Bainbridge family’s treacherous endgame to retake Savannah for themselves, no matter the cost.

After finally reuniting, Jay and Leroy have never been in more danger. Caught in the crosshairs of the affluent Bainbridge family, who they’ve learned is determined to reshape Savannah in their own image, the duo has only just survived a series of near-death experiences before reaching the safety of the Black Diamonds. But the BDs’ ability to protect the Black neighborhoods of their city is slipping….

Missing the key piece of evidence that could have broken the Bainbridges’ hold over Savannah, everyone is scrambling for options. But when one of their own is kidnapped, Jay and Leroy realize they can’t rely on anyone but themselves to save them. Recruiting old friends, former enemies, and their most risky ally, Jay’s once-upon-a-time crush, Will, they set out to do the impossible: find the evidence they lost in order to finally expose the Bainbridges’ corruption to the world, by any means necessary.

But even as their plans bring them closer to revealing the Bainbridges’ treacherous endgame, Jay and Leroy’s own secrets from each other threaten to pull their love apart, just as old feelings between Jay and Will begin to blossom again. And as the battle for a brighter future boils over into the streets, to save their homes—and everyone they love—Jay, Leroy, and Will must decide: When the cost of justice might be each of their happiness, will they be able to make the sacrifice togetha?

The Queen's Spade by Sarah Raughley (HarperTeen) - description not yet updated on Goodreads.
In this riveting historical thriller that’s loosely inspired by true-life events, The Count of Monte Cristo meets Bridgerton as revenge, romance, and twisted secrets take center stage in Victorian England’s royal court when Sally, a kidnapped African princess and goddaughter to Queen Victoria, plots her way to take down the monarchy that stole her from her homeland.

A young lady can take only so many injuries before humiliation and insult forge a vow of revenge . . .

The year is 1862 and murderous desires are simmering in England. Nineteen-year-old Sarah Bonetta Forbes (Sally), once a princess of the Egbado Clan, desires one thing above all else: revenge against the British Crown and its system of colonial ‘humanitarianism,’ which stole her dignity and transformed her into royal property. From military men to political leaders, she’s vowed to ruin all who’ve had a hand in her afflictions. The top of her list? Her godmother, Britain’s mighty monarch, Queen Victoria herself.

Taking down the Crown means entering into a twisted game of court politics and manipulating the Queen’s inner circle—even if that means aligning with a dangerous yet alluring crime lord in London’s underworld and exploiting the affections of Queen Victoria’s own son, Prince Albert, as a means to an end. But when Queen Victoria begins to suspect Sally’s true intentions, she plays the only card in Victorian society that could possibly cage Sally once again: marriage. Because if there’s one thing Sally desires more than revenge, it’s her freedom. With time running out and her wedding day looming, Sally’s vengeful game of cat and mouse turns deadly as she’s faced with the striking revelation that the price for vengeance isn’t just paid in blood. It means sacrificing your heart.

Loosely inspired by the true story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, Queen Victoria’s African goddaughter, The Queen’s Spade is a lush and riveting historical thriller perfect for fans of A Dowry of Blood and Grave Mercy.


Breath of the Dragon: Breathmarked by Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee (Wednesday Books) - previously titled Scroll of Heaven, moved from 2024.
Mara Delgado-Sanchez at Wednesday Books has acquired, at auction, Scroll of Heaven, first in the Guardian of the Scroll duology, by Shannon Lee, daughter of martial artist and actor Bruce Lee, and Fonda Lee. In the story, 16-year-old Jun trains and dreams of competing in the Guardian's Tournament, a competition held every six years to determine who will be named the top warrior of West Longhan, worthy of protecting the sacred Scroll of Heaven. With the ambitious General Cobu stoking war with East Longhan, this year's tournament will be especially dangerous and fraught with national consequence, but Jun is eager to prove himself the realm's best martial artist and earn riches and status, even if that means setting aside the slim hopes of healing a childhood wound. Publication is set for spring/summer 2024 with the second book slated for spring/summer 2025; Jane von Mehren and Penny Moore at Aevitas Creative Management sold U.S., Canada, Philippines and open market rights.

A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson (HarperTeen) - release date not yet updated on Goodreads.
Erica Sussman at HarperTeen has acquired at auction A Language of Dragons by debut author S.F. Williamson, a dark academia YA fantasy set in an alternate 1920s about language, loyalty, love and redemption, pitched as Bletchley Park… with dragons. HarperCollins UK will publish simultaneously in January 2025, with a sequel to follow in January 2026. Lydia Silver and Becca Langton at Darley Anderson negotiated the deal for world English rights.

January 14th
Biology Lessons by Melissa Kantor (Feiwel and Friends)
Biology Lessons is a heartfelt and profound contemporary young adult novel about the strength and importance of female friendship in a time when bodily autonomy is outlawed, from acclaimed author Melissa Kantor.

Grace Williams has her future all mapped out. A high school senior in her beloved state of Texas, Grace plans to move to New York after graduation to study at Barnard College, and maybe, someday, win a Nobel Prize in biology. When she's asked to tutor Jack Nelson, the star baseball player who's flunking bio, she thinks it'll be just another activity to list on her college application. Studying turns to flirting, flirting becomes secret hook ups, and despite her expertise in bio, Grace gets pregnant. In a state where abortion is illegal, with parents who would expect her to keep the baby, Grace’s future is over before it’s begun.

With no one else to turn to, Grace must rely on her best friends, Addie and Sebastian, but anti-abortion laws put anyone who helps Grace in grave danger, and anyone they encounter might be an informant. When Grace finds a phone number and an offer of help scrawled in a bathroom stall, the three friends hatch a plan to sneak Grace across state lines. The risks to people she loves and those who have befriended her terrify Grace, but with Addie and Sebastian by her side, at least she isn't alone.

A love letter to hometowns, New York, and infinite possibilities, Biology Lessons showcases the transformative power of friendship in a world where choice is something you have to fight for.

Everything Is Poison by Joy McCullough (Dutton) - moved from 2024.
A Blood Water Paint-style historical YA in prose and verse from New York Times bestselling author Joy McCullough.

Early 17th-Century Rome
For as long as she can remember, Carmela Tofana has desperately wanted one thing: to be a part of La Tofana’s, her mother’s apothecary in Campo Marzio, Rome. When she finally turns sixteen, she’s allowed into the inner sanctum: the workroom where her mother and two assistants craft renowned remedies for their customers. But for every sweet-smelling flower extract in the workroom, there’s another potion requiring darker ingredients. And then there’s Aqua Tofana, the apothecary’s remedy of last resort. In all Carmela’s years of wishing to follow in her mother’s footsteps, she never realized one tiny vial could be the death of them all. 

Everything Is Poison is a story of a deadly secret hiding in plain sight and of the women who risk everything to provide care for those with nowhere else to turn.

First Love Language by Stefany Valentine (Penguin Workshop)

For fans of Frankly in Love and Tokyo Ever After comes a romantic dramedy about finding love and reconnecting with your culture in the most surprising ways.

Taiwanese American Catie Carlson has never fit in with her white family. As much as she loves her stepmom and stepsister, she yearns to understand more about her culture and find her biological mother. 

So Catie is shocked when an opportunity comes knocking on her door: Her summer spa coworker, Toby, says he’ll teach her Mandarin. In exchange, she needs to teach him how to date so he can finally work up the courage to ask out his crush. The only problem is that Catie doesn’t actually have any dating experience. But she can fake it.

With her late father’s copy of The Five Love Languages and all his annotated notes, Catie becomes the perfect dating coach. Or so she thinks. As she gets dangerously close to Toby and to finding out what really happened to her biological mom, she realizes that learning the language of love might be tougher than she thought.

Stefany Valentine’s debut novel is both a fresh, fun romance as well as a profound, luminous story about grief, family, transracial adoption, and what it means to truly follow your heart.

Bingsu for Two by Sujin Witherspoon (Union Square & Co.) - moved from September 2024.
Half-Korean, full-disaster River Langston-Lee is desperate to salvage his senior year of high school (and the rest of his life, while he's at it).

After dumping his girlfriend, walking out of the SATs, and quitting his job at his parent’s coffee shop all in one day, landing a job at a failing Korean cafe, Bingsu for Two, seems like his lucky break. Until he discovers his new coworker is the snarky goth girl who humiliated him at his old job: Sarang Cho, who’s as determined to save her family’s cafe as she is to make River’s life hell.

When River accidentally uploads a video of his coworkers to his popular fandom account, Bingsu for Two goes viral, but to keep the internet’s attention and save the store, River and Sarang must pretend to be a couple for their adoring subscribers. Easier said than done when they’re one more milk frothing incident away from throwing hands in the breakroom.

Between brewing coffee and acting lovey-dovey for the camera, River realizes Sarang isn’t the heartless girl he originally took her for. But when his ex-girlfriend and old coworkers blackmail him into tanking Bingsu for Two’s fame, River must choose: sabotage Sarang and the one place that feels like home, or save himself from his parents finding out that he’s helping the competitor run their family’s cafe out of business.

After Life by Gayle Forman (Quill Tree Books)
One spring afternoon after school, Amber arrives home on her bike. It’s just another perfectly normal day. But when Amber’s mom sees her, she screams.

Because Amber died seven years ago, hit by a car while on the very same bicycle she’s inexplicably riding now.

This return doesn’t only impact Amber. Her sister, Melissa, now seven years older, must be a new kind of sibling to Amber. Amber’s estranged parents are battling over her. And the changes ripple farther and farther Amber’s friends, boyfriend, and even people she met only once have been deeply affected by her life and death. In the midst of everyone’s turmoil, Amber is struggling with herself. What kind of person was she? How and why was she given this second chance?

This magnificent tour de force by acclaimed author Gayle Forman brilliantly explores the porous veil between life and death, examines the impact that one person can have on the world, and celebrates life in all its beautiful complexity.

The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith (HarperTeen)
Bridgerton meets The Selection in a new, romantic young adult fantasy duology from New York Times Best Selling author, Sasha Peyton Smith

When one makes a bargain with the Faerie Queen, one must be prepared to pay the price.

Lady Ivy Benton's sister has ruined her life. When Lydia Benton disappeared, then reappeared, two weeks later, with no memory of where she’d been, she destroyed her family’s reputation and her little sister Ivy’s chances at making a match during the 1848 London social season. Ivy’s only hope is to make a magical bargain clever enough to save both herself and her family from complete ruination. For in the center of London, ensconced in Kensington Palace, lives the immortal Queen Mor, who grants every resident of Britain the opportunity to make one faerie bargain in their lifetime. The bigger the ask, the higher the cost.

As the social season begins, Ivy and the other girls of high society are summoned to the palace for a shocking announcement. This is the season the Queen’s son, Prince Bram, intends to find a wife. In order to ensure fair play and dedicated courtship, girls who wish to be considered must sign a magically binding contract: should they not win the Prince's hand, they will never marry another. Ivy is the first to sign in blood. She has nothing else to lose.

Along with the five other girls who agree to the terms, Ivy moves onto the grounds of Kensington palace for the London social season, ready to fight for the Prince's hand. The competition for the Bram’s time and attention is fierce, but Ivy is keeping her own secrets. She and Prince Emmett, Bram's brother, met by chance months before, and Emmett has promised to help Ivy become the perfect match for Bram, even at the cost of his own growing feelings.

Through a social season of glittering balls, promenades around the park, and sun-soaked regattas, Ivy and Emmett work to uncover what really happened to Ivy's older sister those weeks she disappeared, and the rotten truth of the magical bargains made by their mysterious Queen. But by tugging on a thread that spans beyond their world, they might just unravel a plot that could destroy the whole of England.


The Scorpion Queen by Mina Fears (Flatiron Books) - moved from June 2023, then from January 2024, April 2024 and September 2024. Variable release dates, but the publisher's website lists this as the release date.
Sarah Barley at Flatiron Books has bought, in a preempt, Mina Fears's The Scorpion Queen, inspired by a Malian fairy tale and steeped in West African traditions, pitched as Uprooted meets Children of Blood and Bone. The crossover fantasy fairy tale is about a disgraced merchant's daughter who is forced to become a chambermaid to an emperor's daughter, a princess whose suitors are challenged to gruesome and impossible trials to win her hand, and who makes a choice between escaping Timbuktu and ending the trials forever. Publication is tentatively scheduled for 2023; Jenny Bent at the Bent Agency acquired North American rights.

Liar's Kingdom by Christine Calella (Page Street)
Tamara Grasty at Page Street has bought Liar's Kingdom by Christine Calella (The Final Curse of Ophelia Cray), a dark Cinderella retelling in the vein of Into the Woods in which the wrong girl fits the glass slipper and marries the prince to save herself from her cruel stepfamily, but finds she is now princess of a kingdom on the brink of a war against magic. Publication is slated for winter 2025; Laurel Symonds at KT Literary brokered the deal for world English rights.

January 21st
Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout (First Second Books) - YA graphic novel.
Fictionalized but based on true events, Song of a Blackbird has two intertwined timelines: one is a modern-day family drama, the other a thrilling tale of a WWII-era bank heist carried out by Dutch resistance fighters.

In the present day, teenage Annick is desperate to find a bone marrow donor that could save the life of her grandmother, Johanna. She turns to her family history and discovers a photograph taken by Emma Bergsma.


Decades earlier, Emma is a young art student about to be drawn into what will become the biggest bank heist in European history: swapping 50 Million Guilders' worth of forged bank notes for real ones—right under the noses of the Nazis! Emma’s life—and the lives of thousands, including a young woman named Johanna—hangs in the balance.

In this stranger-than-fiction graphic novel, Maria van Lieshout weaves a tale about family, courage, and the power of art. Deeply personal yet universal, Song of a Blackbird sheds light on an untold WWII story and sends a powerful message about compassion and resistance.

The Rival by Emma Lord (Wednesday Books)
Rivals-to-lovers gets an academic send-up in this charming and irresistible romantic comedy from Emma Lord, New York Times bestselling author of Tweet Cute and Begin Again!

At long last, Sadie has vanquished her lifelong academic rival — her irritatingly charming, whip smart next door neighbor, Seb — by getting the coveted, only spot to her dream college. Or at least, so she thinks. When Seb is unexpectedly pulled off the waitlist and admitted, Sadie has to compete with him all over again, this time to get a spot on the school’s famous zine. Now not only is she dealing with the mayhem of the lovable, chaotic family she hid her writing talents from, as well as her own self doubt, but she has to come to terms with some less-than-resentful feelings for Seb that are popping up along the way.

But the longer they compete, the more Sadie and Seb notice flaws in the school’s system that are much bigger than any competition between them. Somehow the two of them have to band together even as they’re trying to crush each other, only to discover they may have met their match in more ways than one.

January 28th
Where Shadows Meet by Patricia Caldwell (Wednesday Books) - previously dated September 2022, September 2023, October 2024 and February 2025, previously titled Where Shadows Reign and Where Shadows Fall. Publisher confirms this release date.
The dark and thrillingly romantic debut vampire fantasy that questions what it truly means to sacrifice for love.

You have no idea what I’ve done for love. Just as you have no idea what you may one day do.

Once long ago, a girl named Favre sacrificed her wings for love. Thana, the young goddess she so willingly gave them up for, sacrificed that same love for power. But everything has a cost.

Favre never got over the loss of her wings. And Thana’s choices led to a life of eternal night, and later, their destruction. Favre has bided her time ever since, waiting for the chance to resurrect the girl she loves who turned her into the creature she hates.

Now, a thousand years later, Leyla, the crown princess of the malichora—an ancient race that survives on human blood —must travel to the Island of the Dead when her best friend is captured during an attack on her nation’s capital. Along with Najja, a fierce, beautiful seer, and the last person she expected to help her, Leyla forges down a dangerous path, intent on saving her friend. But nothing is as it seems. The closer she gets to her goal, the more she risks awakening an ancient evil and destroying everything she holds dear.

Set in the aftermath of a war between vampires, humans, and the gods that created them, Patrice Caldwell’s devastatingly romantic fantasy debut, Where Shadows Meet, centers the heart-wrenching pain of loss and the struggle of self-discovery to ask: do we choose our fates, or do our fates choose us?


It's a Love/Skate Relationship by Carli J. Corson (HarperTeen)
Hockey star Charlie Porter has one shot to make her dreams come true -- literally. One goal is all that stands between her and the coveted Winthrop Cup, along with a life-changing hockey scholarship that could catapult her into the big leagues. But when Charlie misses her shot -- and inadvertently starts a good ol’ fashioned brawl between rival schools -- she waves goodbye to more than just the championship title. She gets kicked off her team, suspended from school, and banished to the Worst Place on Earth: Winthrop High. Things for Charlie cannot get any worse.

Until she meets Alexa Goldstein. A prickly, perfectionist ice princess with her sights set on the Olympics, Alexa is the last person Charlie would ever want to share a rink with -- no matter how good she looks in her figure skating leotard. But when Alexa’s skating partner breaks his ankle and torpedoes her chances for a gold medal career, the two unlikely allies -- along with Alexa’s terrifying, ex-Olympian mother -- strike a deal: Charlie will practice with Alexa until her partner heals, and Alexa’s mother will use her connections to get Charlie back in her hockey uniform.

But as the ice between Charlie and Alexa begins to melt, their partnership only gets more complicated. Charlie’s falling hard -- and not just when she’s trying to land a double axel. What happens when making Alexa’s skating dreams come true means giving up her own?


Carving Shadows Into Gold by Brigid Kemmerer (Bloomsbury) - moved from 2023.
January 30th
Hex and Havoc by Nilah Magruder and Sonia Liao (HarperCollins) - YA graphic novel, previously dated October 2023 and February 2024, release date not yet updated on Goodreads. Some editions dated 6th February.
Stephanie Guerdan at HarperCollins has bought world rights to the queer YA fantasy duology Hex and Havoc, written by Nilah Magruder (Reel Love; M.F.K.), illustrated by Sonia Liao (Thief in the Trees; The Marie Curie Society). The books follow two girls in a caste-based magical society as they fall in love and spark a revolution. Publication is planned for summer 2023 and 2024; Tricia Lawrence at Erin Murphy Literary represented the author, and the illustrator represented herself. Magruder is now represented by Patrice Caldwell at New Leaf Literary.

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