Release Date Not Yet Known
Last Hellos and First Goodbyes by Elba Luz (Disney Hyperion) - moved from 2024.In this YA romcom, Puerto Rican perfectionist Alany Delgado vows to put her tragic past behind her and go to college loan-free, which comes to a screeching halt when her ex-childhood best friend shows up on the same wacky scholarship contest-circuit as her, dredging up old memories (as well as new feelings) that threaten to disrupt her future, her relationship, and her carefully curated life plan.
The Girl That Time Forgot by Victoria Lee (Delacorte) - moved from September 2023, US release date announced in author newsletter but not yet updated on Goodreads, US edition not yet added to Gooreads.
If We Were Villains meets The Craft in this page-turning LGBT dark academia thriller. Felicity Morrow is back at the Dalloway School to finish her senior year after the tragic death of her girlfriend. She even has her old room in Godwin House, the exclusive dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirits of five Dalloway students?girls some say were witches.
Felicity was once drawn to the dark legacy of witchcraft. She's determined to leave that behind her now; but it's hard when Dalloway's occult history is everywhere. And when the new girl won't let her forget it.
It's Ellis Haley's first year at Dalloway. A prodigy novelist at seventeen, Ellis is eccentric and brilliant, and Felicity can't shake the pull she feels to her. So when Ellis asks Felicity for help researching the Dalloway Five for her second book, Felicity can't say no. And when history begins to repeat itself, Felicity will have to face the darkness in Dalloway?and in herself.
The Library of Lost Girls by Kristen Pipps (Delacorte)
Krista Marino at Delacorte Press has acquired debut author Kristen Pipps's The Library of Lost Girls, a YA dark fantasy in which a teen girl, horrified when her beloved sister returns from finishing school a complete stranger, decides to venture into the single place that might hold answers—the school itself. What she finds is a strange and sinister academy where the walls are made of books and contain secrets darker than she could have imagined. Publication is slated for summer 2025; Caitlin White and Mandy Hubbard at Emerald City Literary Agency negotiated the deal for North American rights.
Family Force V by Matt Braly and Ainsworth Lin (Skybound Comet) - YA graphic novel, not yet added to Goodreads.
Alex Antone at Skybound Comet has acquired, in an exclusive submission, world rights to Family Force V, pitched as The Incredibles meets Power Rangers, the debut YA graphic novel from writer Matt Braly (creator and showrunner of Disney's Amphibia) and artist Ainsworth Lin. This super sentai coming-of-age story follows 15-year-old Maise Shiraki as she struggles to confront her family legacy (and alien kaiju) without losing herself in the process. Publication is slated for June 2025.
June 3rd
Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
Ninth House meets Legendborn in this thrilling first book in a dark academia fantasy series about a teen who’s willing to do anything to find her brother—even infiltrate a secret society full of monsters.
When August’s brother disappears before his sophomore semester, everyone thinks the stress of college got to him. But August knows her brother would never have left her voluntarily, especially not after their mother so recently went missing.
The only clue he left behind was a note telling her to stay safe and protect their remaining family. And after August is attacked by a ten-foot-tall creature with fur and claws, she realizes that her brother might be in more danger than she could have imagined.
Unfortunately for her, the only person with a connection to the mysterious creature is the bookish Virgil Hawthorne…and he knows about them because he is one. If he doesn’t find a partner to help control his true nature, he’ll lose his humanity and become a mindless beast—exactly what the secret society he’s grown up in would love to put down.
Virgil makes a proposition: August will join his society and partner with him, and in return, he’ll help her find her brother. And so August is plunged into a deadly competition to win one of the few coveted candidate spots, all while trying to accept a frightening reality: that monsters are real, and she has to learn to master them if she’s to have any hope of saving her brother.
Kill Creatures by Rory Power (Delacorte)
Last year, Nan’s three best friends ventured into the canyons near their small town and never returned. Now one of them is back, and Nan can’t believe it…because she’s the one who killed them. From the New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls comes another dark thriller about friendship, jealousy, desire, and revenge, with a twist ending that needs to be talked about.
Nan's story has always been the same. Last summer, she, Luce, Edie, and Jane took a boat out for one final swim in the river. It was a perfect summer night.
But the only one who returned that night was Nan. She maintains that she has no idea what happened to her three friends. The girls went ahead, and it was as though they disappeared into thin air.
Now, one year later, it's the memorial of that night. All of Saltcedar has gathered at the river. Nan is even wearing the same clothes she wore that fateful day last summer. And when Luce climbs out of the water, no one is more surprised than Nan.
Because Nan killed her. Right before she killed Edie and Jane.
That Devil, Ambition by Linsey Miller (Balzer + Bray)
From Lambda Literary Award finalist Linsey Miller comes this thrilling stand-alone fantasy about the lengths we'll go to get ahead—an incredibly fresh, twisty love letter to dark academia...with a body count.
Perfect for fans of A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid, Gallant by V. E. Schwab, and All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and C. L. Herman.
There is only one school worth graduating from, and it creates as many magicians as it does graves…
First in his class and last in his noble line, Fabian Galloway’s only hope of a good future is passing his elite school's honors class. It’s only offered to the best thirteen students, and those students have a single assignment: kill their professor.
If they succeed, their student debt is forgiven. However, if an assassination attempt fails or the professor is alive at the end of the year, the students’ lives are forfeit.
And dealing with the professor, a devil summoned solely to kill or be killed, is no easy task.
Fabian isn't worried, though. He trusts his best friends—softhearted math genius Credence and absent-minded but insightful Euphemia—to help. After all, that’s why he befriended them.
As the months pass and their professor remains impossibly alive, the trio must use every asset they have to survive. Or else failure will be on their academic records—and their tombstones—forever.
The Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton (Viking) - release date has been moved several times, not sure if this book will publish.
A glamorous media darling, a surprise heiress, and the magical competition of a lifetime.
At sixteen, Honora “Nora” Holtzfall is the daughter of the most powerful heiress in all of Walstad. Her family controls all the money–and all the magic–in the entire country. But despite being the center of attention, Nora has always felt like an outsider. When her mother is found dead in an alley, the family throne and fortune are suddenly up for grabs, and Nora will be pitted against her cousins in the Veritaz, the ultimate magical competition for power that determines the one family heir.
But there’s a surprise contestant this time: Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora’s aunt. When Lotte’s absent mother retrieves her from the rural convent she’d abandoned her to, Lotte goes from being an orphan to surrounded by family. Unfortunately, most of them want her dead.
And soon, Nora discovers that her mother’s death wasn’t random–it was murder. And the only person she can trust to uncover the truth of what happened is a rakish young reporter who despises everything Nora and her family stand for.
With everyone against her, Lotte’s last hope is hunting for the identity of her father. But the dangerous competition–and her feelings for Theo, one of the Holtzfalls’ sworn protectors–turns her world upside down.
The Beautiful Maddening by Shea Ernshaw (Simon and Schuster)
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Shea Ernshaw comes a haunting romantic contemporary fantasy about a teen navigating her family’s love curse that blooms with their enchanted tulips every year.
Seventeen year-old Lark Goode wants only one to escape her small town of Cutwater and the history of her family name. It’s a history that began during the Dutch tulip mania of 1636, when Lark’s ancestor stole the last remaining tulip bulbs and fled to America. But when the tulips bloomed on American soil, madness sprouted from their snowy white petals.
The madness was love.
Now, generations later, the Goodes remain cursed—the unnatural flowers outside their home causing locals to fall helplessly in love with anyone carrying Goode blood in their veins. While her brother embraces the strange power, Lark wants nothing more than to be free from it.
But when she meets a boy who seems unaffected by the family curse, Lark finds herself falling headlong into a feeling she’s spent her whole life trying to avoid. Yet, all curses and magic come with a price, and the town of Cutwater soon sinks into a dangerous sickness tied to Lark and the ill-fated tulips.
To save the town, Lark will need to sacrifice everything—even true love—to break the spell. Because in the Goode family, love has a way of destroying everything.
Vesuvius by Cass Biehn (Peachtree Teen) - moved from August 2025 and from May 2025.
The clock is ticking. The gods are watching. This thrilling historical fantasy set in the days before Mount Vesuvius destroys Pompeii is a meet cute with an explosive fallout.
Clever thief Felix slips from city to city to survive the present and escape a past he can’t remember. When Felix steals a mythical artifact—Mercury's helmet—from a temple in Pompeii, pieces of his forgotten past begin to surface.
Loren, an ambitious temple attendant, has seen Felix in his apocalyptic nightmares for years. The last thing Loren expects is for his dream to stumble headfirst through his temple doors, moments after an earthquake rocks the city.
When Felix shows Loren the helmet, Loren sees the world coming to an end. He knows they have mere days to uncover Felix’s ties to the relic and to Loren’s visions if they have any hope of saving the city. But Ancient Rome is ruled by bloody politics and unstoppable destinies, and now that Loren and Felix are intertwined, their lives aren’t all they risk losing. When all has turned to ash and rubble, the boys will have to piece together their fates to make it out of a burning city alive.
An exploration of ambition and class, autonomy and religion, survival and love.
When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur (Henry Holt) - moved from May 2025.In this atmospheric horror novel, four teens in rural Georgia investigate a local teen’s disappearance, and what they discover festering at the core of their small town is far more sinister and ancient than they could’ve ever imagined. For fans of She is a Haunting, Mexican Gothic, and Midsommar.
When Dawson Sumter goes missing, all he leaves behind is a smattering of blood in room 4 of the debt-ridden motel owned by Neera Singh's family. Disappearances like this aren't uncommon in the rural Georgia town of Carrion, especially every thirteen years when a periodical cicada brood returns from underground, shrieking their deafening screams.
For Neera, Dawson is another reminder that in this corner of the South, the rich only get richer, and the poor—well, nothing good comes their way.
Neera sets out to investigate Dawson’s whereabouts—if he even still lives—along with three other teens: Isaiah, son of a prominent judge and clandestine true crime podcaster; Reid, son of the wealthiest man in the region; and Sam, estranged daughter of the local hitman. As they find themselves entangled in a messy web of secrets and lies, they discover the riches of the adjacent Lake Clearwater community may have a terrifying source of power dating back to the town’s founding and an ancient urban legend about three devils, each more sinister than the next. How deep does the rot go, and can they find a way to escape its reach?
Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray (Roaring Brook Press) - moved from May 2025.
RED QUEEN meets SHADOW AND BONE in this explosive start to a YA romantasy trilogy about dangerous magic, forbidden love, and a cut-throat competition for the throne in an empire where crowns are not inherited -- they're won.
The very day Blaze came into the world, she almost drowned it. A Rain Singer born into one of the most powerful fire-wielding families in the empire, Blaze's birth summoned a devastating storm that left thousands dead. She's been hidden away ever since with a dark the same torrential power that branded her an outcast disappeared that fateful day. And she’s not sure she wants it back.
When an unexpected invitation arrives for Blaze and her twin brother, Flint, to compete as future rulers of the empire, she’s suddenly thrust into the limelight again -- and into battle. Threats abound at the Golden Palace, where intrigue and romance await with not one but two handsome the enchanting Crown Prince and a dangerously alluring newcomer at court.
As Blaze explores her untapped power, she discovers the throne may be within her grasp. But in order to take it, she’ll have to leave behind the stories that others have told about her, and find the courage to write her own.
I'll Pretend You're Mine by Tashie Bhuiyan (HarperCollins)
Summer Ali has been making a name for herself in the music industry for years, slowly but surely climbing the charts—but the world doesn’t know her stage parents are the ones who molded her entire public persona. Finally eighteen, Summer breaks free of their control and focuses on creating her own path.
Upon running into writer’s block, Summer grows eager to take any opportunity to shake things up—even if it means agreeing to a PR stunt with child-actor-turned-playboy, Jules Moradi, famous for his tabloid escapades.
At first, Jules keeps his distance, maintaining professional boundaries. But as time passes, his walls come down, and Summer uncovers who he is beyond his reputation, and it’s someone more like her than she ever realized. As the lines blur between fake and real, Summer begins questioning who she is and what she wants—and if her dreams are worth sacrificing her heart.
Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
Ninth House meets Legendborn in this thrilling first book in a dark academia fantasy series about a teen who’s willing to do anything to find her brother—even infiltrate a secret society full of monsters.
When August’s brother disappears before his sophomore semester, everyone thinks the stress of college got to him. But August knows her brother would never have left her voluntarily, especially not after their mother so recently went missing.
The only clue he left behind was a note telling her to stay safe and protect their remaining family. And after August is attacked by a ten-foot-tall creature with fur and claws, she realizes that her brother might be in more danger than she could have imagined.
Unfortunately for her, the only person with a connection to the mysterious creature is the bookish Virgil Hawthorne…and he knows about them because he is one. If he doesn’t find a partner to help control his true nature, he’ll lose his humanity and become a mindless beast—exactly what the secret society he’s grown up in would love to put down.
Virgil makes a proposition: August will join his society and partner with him, and in return, he’ll help her find her brother. And so August is plunged into a deadly competition to win one of the few coveted candidate spots, all while trying to accept a frightening reality: that monsters are real, and she has to learn to master them if she’s to have any hope of saving her brother.
Kill Creatures by Rory Power (Delacorte)
Last year, Nan’s three best friends ventured into the canyons near their small town and never returned. Now one of them is back, and Nan can’t believe it…because she’s the one who killed them. From the New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls comes another dark thriller about friendship, jealousy, desire, and revenge, with a twist ending that needs to be talked about.
Nan's story has always been the same. Last summer, she, Luce, Edie, and Jane took a boat out for one final swim in the river. It was a perfect summer night.
But the only one who returned that night was Nan. She maintains that she has no idea what happened to her three friends. The girls went ahead, and it was as though they disappeared into thin air.
Now, one year later, it's the memorial of that night. All of Saltcedar has gathered at the river. Nan is even wearing the same clothes she wore that fateful day last summer. And when Luce climbs out of the water, no one is more surprised than Nan.
Because Nan killed her. Right before she killed Edie and Jane.
That Devil, Ambition by Linsey Miller (Balzer + Bray)
From Lambda Literary Award finalist Linsey Miller comes this thrilling stand-alone fantasy about the lengths we'll go to get ahead—an incredibly fresh, twisty love letter to dark academia...with a body count.
Perfect for fans of A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid, Gallant by V. E. Schwab, and All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and C. L. Herman.
There is only one school worth graduating from, and it creates as many magicians as it does graves…
First in his class and last in his noble line, Fabian Galloway’s only hope of a good future is passing his elite school's honors class. It’s only offered to the best thirteen students, and those students have a single assignment: kill their professor.
If they succeed, their student debt is forgiven. However, if an assassination attempt fails or the professor is alive at the end of the year, the students’ lives are forfeit.
And dealing with the professor, a devil summoned solely to kill or be killed, is no easy task.
Fabian isn't worried, though. He trusts his best friends—softhearted math genius Credence and absent-minded but insightful Euphemia—to help. After all, that’s why he befriended them.
As the months pass and their professor remains impossibly alive, the trio must use every asset they have to survive. Or else failure will be on their academic records—and their tombstones—forever.
The Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton (Viking) - release date has been moved several times, not sure if this book will publish.
A glamorous media darling, a surprise heiress, and the magical competition of a lifetime.
At sixteen, Honora “Nora” Holtzfall is the daughter of the most powerful heiress in all of Walstad. Her family controls all the money–and all the magic–in the entire country. But despite being the center of attention, Nora has always felt like an outsider. When her mother is found dead in an alley, the family throne and fortune are suddenly up for grabs, and Nora will be pitted against her cousins in the Veritaz, the ultimate magical competition for power that determines the one family heir.
But there’s a surprise contestant this time: Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora’s aunt. When Lotte’s absent mother retrieves her from the rural convent she’d abandoned her to, Lotte goes from being an orphan to surrounded by family. Unfortunately, most of them want her dead.
And soon, Nora discovers that her mother’s death wasn’t random–it was murder. And the only person she can trust to uncover the truth of what happened is a rakish young reporter who despises everything Nora and her family stand for.
With everyone against her, Lotte’s last hope is hunting for the identity of her father. But the dangerous competition–and her feelings for Theo, one of the Holtzfalls’ sworn protectors–turns her world upside down.
The Beautiful Maddening by Shea Ernshaw (Simon and Schuster)
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Shea Ernshaw comes a haunting romantic contemporary fantasy about a teen navigating her family’s love curse that blooms with their enchanted tulips every year.
Seventeen year-old Lark Goode wants only one to escape her small town of Cutwater and the history of her family name. It’s a history that began during the Dutch tulip mania of 1636, when Lark’s ancestor stole the last remaining tulip bulbs and fled to America. But when the tulips bloomed on American soil, madness sprouted from their snowy white petals.
The madness was love.
Now, generations later, the Goodes remain cursed—the unnatural flowers outside their home causing locals to fall helplessly in love with anyone carrying Goode blood in their veins. While her brother embraces the strange power, Lark wants nothing more than to be free from it.
But when she meets a boy who seems unaffected by the family curse, Lark finds herself falling headlong into a feeling she’s spent her whole life trying to avoid. Yet, all curses and magic come with a price, and the town of Cutwater soon sinks into a dangerous sickness tied to Lark and the ill-fated tulips.
To save the town, Lark will need to sacrifice everything—even true love—to break the spell. Because in the Goode family, love has a way of destroying everything.
Vesuvius by Cass Biehn (Peachtree Teen) - moved from August 2025 and from May 2025.
The clock is ticking. The gods are watching. This thrilling historical fantasy set in the days before Mount Vesuvius destroys Pompeii is a meet cute with an explosive fallout.
Clever thief Felix slips from city to city to survive the present and escape a past he can’t remember. When Felix steals a mythical artifact—Mercury's helmet—from a temple in Pompeii, pieces of his forgotten past begin to surface.
Loren, an ambitious temple attendant, has seen Felix in his apocalyptic nightmares for years. The last thing Loren expects is for his dream to stumble headfirst through his temple doors, moments after an earthquake rocks the city.
When Felix shows Loren the helmet, Loren sees the world coming to an end. He knows they have mere days to uncover Felix’s ties to the relic and to Loren’s visions if they have any hope of saving the city. But Ancient Rome is ruled by bloody politics and unstoppable destinies, and now that Loren and Felix are intertwined, their lives aren’t all they risk losing. When all has turned to ash and rubble, the boys will have to piece together their fates to make it out of a burning city alive.
An exploration of ambition and class, autonomy and religion, survival and love.
When Devils Sing by Xan Kaur (Henry Holt) - moved from May 2025.In this atmospheric horror novel, four teens in rural Georgia investigate a local teen’s disappearance, and what they discover festering at the core of their small town is far more sinister and ancient than they could’ve ever imagined. For fans of She is a Haunting, Mexican Gothic, and Midsommar.
When Dawson Sumter goes missing, all he leaves behind is a smattering of blood in room 4 of the debt-ridden motel owned by Neera Singh's family. Disappearances like this aren't uncommon in the rural Georgia town of Carrion, especially every thirteen years when a periodical cicada brood returns from underground, shrieking their deafening screams.
For Neera, Dawson is another reminder that in this corner of the South, the rich only get richer, and the poor—well, nothing good comes their way.
Neera sets out to investigate Dawson’s whereabouts—if he even still lives—along with three other teens: Isaiah, son of a prominent judge and clandestine true crime podcaster; Reid, son of the wealthiest man in the region; and Sam, estranged daughter of the local hitman. As they find themselves entangled in a messy web of secrets and lies, they discover the riches of the adjacent Lake Clearwater community may have a terrifying source of power dating back to the town’s founding and an ancient urban legend about three devils, each more sinister than the next. How deep does the rot go, and can they find a way to escape its reach?
Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray (Roaring Brook Press) - moved from May 2025.
RED QUEEN meets SHADOW AND BONE in this explosive start to a YA romantasy trilogy about dangerous magic, forbidden love, and a cut-throat competition for the throne in an empire where crowns are not inherited -- they're won.
The very day Blaze came into the world, she almost drowned it. A Rain Singer born into one of the most powerful fire-wielding families in the empire, Blaze's birth summoned a devastating storm that left thousands dead. She's been hidden away ever since with a dark the same torrential power that branded her an outcast disappeared that fateful day. And she’s not sure she wants it back.
When an unexpected invitation arrives for Blaze and her twin brother, Flint, to compete as future rulers of the empire, she’s suddenly thrust into the limelight again -- and into battle. Threats abound at the Golden Palace, where intrigue and romance await with not one but two handsome the enchanting Crown Prince and a dangerously alluring newcomer at court.
As Blaze explores her untapped power, she discovers the throne may be within her grasp. But in order to take it, she’ll have to leave behind the stories that others have told about her, and find the courage to write her own.
I'll Pretend You're Mine by Tashie Bhuiyan (HarperCollins)
Summer Ali has been making a name for herself in the music industry for years, slowly but surely climbing the charts—but the world doesn’t know her stage parents are the ones who molded her entire public persona. Finally eighteen, Summer breaks free of their control and focuses on creating her own path.
Upon running into writer’s block, Summer grows eager to take any opportunity to shake things up—even if it means agreeing to a PR stunt with child-actor-turned-playboy, Jules Moradi, famous for his tabloid escapades.
At first, Jules keeps his distance, maintaining professional boundaries. But as time passes, his walls come down, and Summer uncovers who he is beyond his reputation, and it’s someone more like her than she ever realized. As the lines blur between fake and real, Summer begins questioning who she is and what she wants—and if her dreams are worth sacrificing her heart.
I Never Thought I'd End Up Here by Ann Liang (Scholastic)
From the author of the instant New York Times bestseller I Hope This Doesn't Find You, Never Thought I'd End Up Here is another hilarious and romantic romcom from Ann Liang, this time following a former model determined to get revenge on the boy who ruined her life.
Leah Zhang has spent her whole life in LA - it's all she's ever known. But after accidentally wishing her cousin ill health and a very depressing marriage at her wedding, her parents stage an intervention. She's forgotten most of her Mandarin, has zero regard for etiquette, and can't hold a conversation with her own grandparents for longer than a minute. Their solution? Send her on an intensive two-week travel program across China's most beautiful cities. To them, it's the perfect opportunity for Leah to get back to her roots. To Leah, it's simply a much-needed escape.
But before Leah can even begin to enjoy the luxurious hotels, stunning scenery, and mouth-watering cuisine, she finds that also on the trip is her former classmate and least favorite person cynical, sarcastic Cyrus, who's somehow only gotten more annoyingly handsome since they last saw each other.
While Leah might be tempted to shove him off the peak of the Yellow Mountain when nobody's looking, she can't get rid of him just yet. After all, she might never get another chance to get revenge on the boy who ruined her life.
Yet the deeper they wander into China's provinces, the deeper Leah finds herself falling in love - with the boy she once thought she despised, the home she never thought she'd call her own, and the parts of herself she thought were already lost.
Under the Neon Lights (G.P. Putnam and Sons) - YA novel in verse, previously titled The Freedom of Falling, description not yet updated on Goodreads.
In this sparkling and heartfelt debut YA novel in verse, a young Black girl discovers first love, self-worth, and the power of a good skate. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Joya Goffney.
Sixteen-year-old Jaelyn Coleman lives for Saturdays at WestSide Roll, the iconic neighborhood roller rink. On these magical nights, Jae can lose herself in the music of DJ Sunny, the smell of nachos from the concession, and the crowd of some of her favorite people—old heads, dance crews, and other regulars like herself. Here, Jae and other Black teens can fully be themselves.
One Saturday, as Jae skates away her worries, she crashes into the cutest boy she’s ever seen. Trey’s dimples, rich brown skin, and warm smile make it impossible for her to be mad at him though. Best of all, he can’t stop finding excuses to be around her. A nice change for once, in contrast with her best friend’s cold distance of late or her estranged father creeping back into her life.
Just as Jae thinks her summer might change for the better, devastating news hits: Westside Roll is shutting down. The gentrification rapidly taking over her predominantly Black Indianapolis neighborhood, filling it with luxury apartments and fancy boutiques, has come for her safe-haven. And this is just one trouble Jae can’t skate away from.
Debut author Arriel Vinson’s lyrical and contemplative story of young Black love and coming of age in Indianapolis ushers in an exciting new voice in YA literature.
Lovesick Falls by Julia Drake (Little, Brown) - cover not yet updated on Goodreads.
Sometimes growing up means growing apart in this queer take on As You Like It featuring first loves and friend breakups, perfect for fans of The Gravity of Us and We Are Okay, from award-winning author Julia Drake.
Celia Gilbert is the perfect friend—loyal, trustworthy, and committed to mending her best friends’ broken hearts.
She’s the reason the trio is spending the summer in Lovesick Falls, the idyllic little town where Touchstone’s sort-of-uncle’s cabin was waiting to be house-sat by three unsupervised (but totally responsible) teenagers.
After all, Celia, Ros, and Touchstone have been best friends since childhood. Sure, Celia is in love with Ros, and Touchstone was once in love with Celia — but that’s the beauty of a place like Lovesick Falls. If you fell in love, you could fall out.
Unless you can change the other person’s mind.
They started the summer closer than ever. Will living together tear them apart?
Nobody in Particular by Sophie Gonzales (Wednesday Books) - description not yet updated on Goodreads.
Princess Rosemary of Henland can’t afford distractions. She’s working tirelessly to repair her image following a scandal that lost the trust of both her country and her best friend. Unfortunately, when a beautiful and funny new student joins her boarding school, Rose finds herself quite distracted indeed.
Attending Bramppath College on a music scholarship, talented pianist Danni expects to be an outcast amongst the wealthy children of the elite, but she is pleasantly surprised to be taken in by the ex-best friend of the princess. The more Danni gets to know her new classmates, the more intrigued she becomes by Rose.
When somebody sees something they shouldn’t and rumors circulate throughout Henland, Rose and Danni must either find a way to deflect the ever-increasing eyes on their relationship, or end it altogether. Because one thing is clear: if Rose’s fragile reputation takes any more hits, the palace will do whatever they must to separate Rose and Danni. Forever.
This Side of Falling by Eunice Chan (Soho Teen)
Driven by the charged and complicated relationships surrounding a Chinese-American teen, this spare, lyrical, and thought-provoking debut examines the heartbreaks and imperfections of teen life.
Not real.
The mantra seventeen-year-old Nina repeats to herself the morning after her almost-boyfriend, Ethan Travvers, jumped onto the tracks in front of an approaching freight train. Ended everything. The two words that keep the truth just far enough away so she can carry on. Keep up the pretense that loss can’t touch her, grief can’t break her. After all, there is the family image to consider, the illusion of wholeness and success to maintain. It’s everything to Nina’s mom and grandma.
But when Nina’s all-star older sister, Carmen, is dismissed from college, her dad’s startup company fumbles, and her parents’ relationship fractures, Nina must face the truth. And it’s not what she wants to about Carmen, about Ethan, but mostly, about herself.
A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim (Knopf)
Beauty and the Beast meets Six of Crows in this romantic fantasy about a girl who paints the future and a cursed dragon lord, bound by love and deception in a plot to bring down the gods.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Six Crimson Cranes!
Truyan Saigas didn’t choose to become a con artist, but after her father is lost at sea, it’s up to her to support her mother and two younger sisters. A gifted art forger, Tru has the unique ability to paint the future, but even such magic is not enough to put her family back together again, or stave off the gangsters demanding payment in blood for her mother’s gambling debts.
Left with few options, Tru agrees to a marriage contract with a mysterious dragon lord. He offers a fresh start for her mother and sisters and elusive answers about her father’s disappearance, but in exchange, she must join him in his desolate undersea palace. And she must assist him in a plot to infiltrate the tyrannical Dragon King’s inner circle, painting a future so treasonous, it could upend both the mortal and immortal realms...
Now She's Dead by Roselyn Clarke (Sourcebooks Fire)
Last summer, Sara Ellis was found dead by the lake, and only Mandy knows what really happened.
This summer, she's desperate to keep it a secret.
For a few weeks every summer, Sara was Mandy's best friend. At Highmark, the lake resort where their families vacationed, the two were in a world of their own. Or at least Mandy got to be part of Sara's world.
But now Sara’s dead. The police ruled her death an accident; a tragic mistake after a night of impaired judgment. For the past year, Mandy's coped by escaping: leaving home and barely keeping it together at school. The last thing she wants to do is return to Highmark this summer—even if she does need "closure." As soon as she's back, though, she hears the whispers: someone killed Sara Ellis.
And if she’s not careful, they'll figure out it's all her fault.
As evidence resurfaces and anonymous accusations are scrawled in angry red spray paint, Mandy must confront the truths she's been avoiding about last summer. Because someone wants to make her pay for what happened to Sara that night.
Bad Creek by Peyton June (Norton Young Readers)
Three lifelong friends confront restless ghosts and malevolent family secrets in this fierce, propulsive debut young adult horror novel.
Iris, Gum, and Aidan are vacationing in Bad Creek, just like every summer. Except Iris’s older sister, Glory, drowned in the lake last year, and Iris can’t seem to move on; Gum is hiding his sexuality from his family while being viciously haunted by Glory’s rotting ghost; and Aidan is distraught over a drunken argument with Glory that he fears may have led to her death. When Iris sleepwalks to the dilapidated house that Glory obsessively sketched in her final days, she and the boys begin to uncover a sinister history in the very bones of the town. The trio must reckon with the events of last summer and uncover what lurks within Bad Creek before it takes Iris’s life next.
Gripping and vengeful, Bad Creek confronts the intersection of religion, sexuality, and feminism, and forces readers to reckon with monsters in all their forms—human included.
Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel (Scholastic)
From award-winning author Kenneth Oppel a startling, can't-wait-to-talk-about-it-with-someone novel that defies genre to create a survival thriller unlike any you've read before. For fans of Leave the World Behind, A.S. King, M.T. Anderson, and Margaret Atwood.
Xavier Oaks doesn't particularly want to go to the cabin with his dad and his dad's pregnant new wife, Nia. But family obligations are family obligations, and it's only for a short time. So he leaves his mom, his brother, and his other friends behind for a week in the woods. Only... one morning he wakes up and the house isn’t where it was before. It's like it's been lifted and placed... somewhere else.
When Xavier, his dad, and Nia go explore, they find they are inside a dome, trapped. And there's no one else around...
Until, three years later, another family arrives.
Is there any escape? Is there a reason they are stuck where they are? Different people have different answers -- and those different answers inexorably lead to tension, strife, and sacrifice.
In this masterpiece, award-winning author Kenneth Oppel builds to a heart-stopping pitch in drawing a story that feels very much of our moment.
The Uncertainty Principle by Joshua Davis and Kal Kini-Davis (Penguin Workshop) - description not yet updated on Goodreads.
From New York Times best-selling author Joshua Davis and his son, Kal Kini-Davis, comes an epic, breathtaking story of self-discovery, love, and adventure—perfect for fans of Nina LaCour and John Green.
Sixteen-year-old Mia is stranded in the middle of the Caribbean. After a mortifying incident in the school cafeteria, her parents decide there is only one way to deal with her meltdown: move onto a battered sailboat and leave everything behind. Her mom and dad think it’s the best decision they’ve ever made. Mia feels like she’s been kidnapped and imprisoned in paradise with no internet and no destination.
Her only hope is to hack together a solar-powered satellite phone so she can call her best friend and fix everything. To do it, she’ll have to build a mobile laboratory on the boat and ignore her neurotic mother, who thinks Mia is falling apart.
The problem is, Mia is falling apart. By day, she scours deserted islands, looking for anything she can use to build the phone. At night, she squeezes into a narrow bunk and talks to an imaginary friend. She knows, with absolute certainty, that she needs to abandon her family to save her sanity.
And then two teenagers sail into her world, promising friendship, and maybe even romance. Thoughtful, soulful Alby was raised in Australia but now his family calls the sea their home. The only thing missing is his soulmate. Bold, beautiful Nisha is simply vacationing on her dad’s megayacht when a chance encounter upends her life.
Now—with everything hanging in the balance—Mia must decide who she is and what she wants. And with this decision comes the revelation that her past and future are more uncertain than she thought.
Dan In Green Gables by Rey Terciero and Claudia Aguirre (Penguin Workshop) - YA graphic novel.
In this modern reimagining of Anne of Green Gables, effervescent extrovert Dan Stewart-Álvarez is surprised to find home and community in rural Tennessee.
Despite a life on the road with his free-spirited mother, fifteen-year-old Dan Stewart-Álvarez has always wanted to settle down. He just didn’t think it’d be like with his mother abandoning him in rural Tennessee with two strangers—his gentle grandmother and conservative, rough-around-the-edges grandfather. Here, he is forced to adjust to working the farm, entering high school, and hardest yet—reckoning with his queerness in a severe Southern Baptist community.
But even as Dan grows closer to his mawmaw, befriends fellow outsiders at school, and tries to make a new life for himself in Green Gables, he has to discover whether he can contend with intolerance and adapt to change without losing himself in the process.
From award-winning author Rey Terciero and Eisner Award nominee and illustrator Claudia Aguirre comes a new retelling of Anne of Green Gables about unconventional families, queer identity, and finding the meaning of home in the most unlikely of places.collectively lead to humanity’s eventual fate.
The Ground That Devours Us by Kalla Harris (Entangled Teen)
THE GROUND THAT DEVOURS US is a post-apocalyptic paranormal romance that follows a sharp-tongued teenage vampire hunter desperate to save her newly-turned sister. To get the cure for vampirism, she makes a deal with a deadly (and, unfortunately, hot) vampire. All she has to do is free vamp hostages from a human compound, without getting herself killed in the process... Love can really suck.
Daughter of Doom by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem (Levine Querido) - originally published in The Netherlands.
Denmark, 870 AD. Yrsa is a tough Viking girl with a club foot who won’t let herself be pushed around. She turns out to be a seer, which makes her even more of an outsider. When her father and his men return from a raid with a nun, who’s also a king’s granddaughter, Yrsa is tasked with looking after the hostage.
The two girls and everything they believe in couldn’t be more different. And yet, slowly a friendship develops between Yrsa and Sister Job. When the nun is raped and she and Yrsa leave the perpetrator for dead, they’re forced to flee.
Can they escape the wrath of Yrsa’s clan? Can they escape their fate?
We Could Be Magic by Marissa Meyer and Joelle Murray (Feiwel and Friends) - YA graphic novel, description not yet released.
Liz Szabla at Feiwel and Friends has acquired North American rights to We Could Be Magic , an original graphic novel written by Marissa Meyer (the Lunar Chronicles), illustrated by Joelle Murray; Anna Roberto will edit. The body-positive story follows Tabitha, a girl who has the chance to live out her dream of being a character actor at the amusement park dedicated to the fantasy world of her favorite writer, only to find that the reality of life in costume is not exactly what she expected. Publication is planned for spring 2025; Jill Grinberg at Jill Grinberg Literary Management represented the author, and Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency represented the illustrator.
Gay the Pray Away by Natalie Naudus (Quirk Books) - previously self-published.
Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn't know it yet. When she finds a queer book at the library and smuggles it home, her conservative Christian homeschooling world begins to crack. And when the cutest girl she's ever met shows up to Bible class, she starts to question everything.Riley is so confident and kind, and she and Valerie bond quickly over existing as multiracial teens in a very white Christian community. As Valerie explores her feelings for Riley, she begins to see that the world she knows is a carefully crafted narrative.
Publicly, the girls are close friends--holding hands in prayer, rooming together at a conference. Privately, they grasp at any chance to continue their forbidden romance--until they are found out. Now Valerie must choose between staying with a family she fears will never accept her, or running away with the girl she loves.
Lady's Knight by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (HarperCollins) - moved from May 2025.
An undeniably fierce, unforgettably funny, unapologetically queer feminist romp through the England of medieval legend. Bestselling and acclaimed authors Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner bring readers along on an epic quest for valor, freedom, and, above all, love. A Knight’s Tale meets the Lady Jane series, with a dash of The Great!
Gwen is sick of hiding—hiding the fact that she’s taken over her father’s blacksmithing duties, hiding her attraction to girls, hiding her yearning for glory as a knight.
Meanwhile, Lady Isobelle of Avington, queen bee of the castle, has never once considered hiding who she is—until now. She’s been chosen as the grand prize in the Tournament of Dragonslayers, to be given to whichever knight can claim her hand. And for the first time in her life, she can’t talk her way out of trouble.
When Isobelle discovers Gwen’s knightly ambitions, they hatch a scheme together—Gwen will joust in the tournament, disguised as Sir Gawain. Winning means freedom for Isobelle, and glory for Gwen. Losing means… well, let’s not go there.
One thing’s for falling in love was never the plan.
But the best laid plans…are often trampled all over by dragons.
Celestial Banquet by Roselle Lim (Sweet July Books) - moved from January 2025.
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.
Devils Like Us by Lin Thompson (Bloomsbury) - previously titled The Reaper's Glass, author name change from Lin Thompson to L.T. Thompson.
Camille Kellogg at Bloomsbury has acquired The Reaper's Glass and an untitled sequel by Lin Thompson (The Best Liars in Riverview; The House That Whispers). Pitched as Our Flag Means Death meets The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, the queer/trans YA historical duology is about three teens who set sail to face down a secret magical society in 1840s New England. The first book is slated for spring 2025; Beth Phelan at Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency brokered the two-book deal for world rights.
June 10th
Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee (Feiwel and Friends) - moved from 2023, "A" removed from beginning of title.
A geeky overachiever determined to save the world through science and a troublemaking chosen one lashing out against her destiny meet and fall in love in a magical coffeeshop as their two very different universes begin to collide in Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe, C.B. Lee's fun, sapphic, cozy fantasy YA romance.
When Brenda’s internet goes out right before an important scholarship deadline, she stumbles right into Kat’s family’s coffeeshop. Brenda is swept away by cool, confident Kat, who actually cares about Brenda’s 19-step plan to save the world through science. Meanwhile, Kat can’t stop thinking about Brenda, who is smart, passionate, and doesn’t seem to care that Kat is the prophesized Chosen One.
The only problem? Kat and Brenda are from different universes. Like need-to-find-a-portal-to-go-on-a-second-date different universes.
As their universes collide and things spiral out of control, can a girl who is determined to save the world find love with a girl determined to outrun her destiny?
Always Be My Bibi by Priyanka Taslim (Simon and Schuster)
Clueless meets Jenna Evans Welch in this young adult rom-com about a spoiled American teenager who faces some major culture shock—and potential romance—when she jets off to Bangladesh for her sister’s wedding.
Bibi Hossain was supposed to get her first kiss this summer.
Too bad her father finds out and grounds her for breaking his most arcane rule: No boys until your sister gets married.
Just when Bibi thinks she’ll be stuck helping him at their popular fried chicken chain until school reopens, her oh-so-perfect older sister Halima drops a bombshell: she’s marrying the heir of a princely estate turned tea garden in Bangladesh. Soon, Bibi is hopping on the next flight to Sylhet for Halima’s Big Fat Bengali Wedding, hoping Abbu might even rethink the dating ban while they’re there.
Unfortunately, the stuffy Rahmans are a nightmare—especially Sohel, the groom’s younger brother. The only thing they can agree on is that their siblings are not a good match. But as the two scheme to break their siblings up, Bibi finds it impossible to stay away from the infuriatingly handsome boy.
Could her own happily ever after be brewing even as she stirs up trouble for her sister’s engagement—or is there more steeping at the tea estate than Bibi knows?
The Protégéé by Erica Ridley (Delacorte)
A working-class French girl would kill to become assistant to Paris's top modiste, but she must first seek vengeance against those responsible for the death of her family, in this thrilling historical horror from New York Times bestselling author Erica Ridley!
Eighteen-year-old Angélique dreams of designing extravagant gowns like the ladies in the bourgeoise wear to balls and soirées. Because she’s working-class, Angélique knows that her life will, instead, be spent dyeing silk for a living. That is, until her parents and younger sibling are killed in the sweatshop where they’ve toiled. Now orphaned, and with another sister to protect, Angélique vows vengeance against the factory owner growing richer by treating his employees as disposable.
To improve her station, Angélique takes a position as a junior seamstress for Paris's top modiste. Though she's bullied for being poor and her meager salary isn't enough to pay rent, she refuses to give in. Her sister and crush, a handsome, immigrant shoemaker, won’t allow it. Then the modiste proposes a contest to win the well-paid, coveted assistant position. Angélique would do anything to earn the career of her dreams. What’s a little arsenic between girls after all?
As Angélique outshines--and outlives--the competition, she also wields her newfound privilege and power to exact revenge on those who ruined her family and blossoms into a new Paris’s greatest protégée.
Meet Me on Love Street by Farah Heron (Simon and Schuster)
A teen tries to save her quickly gentrifying neighborhood—and make her cynical partner in festival-planning believe in love—in this opposites-attract romance perfect for fans of Lynn Painter and Sandhya Menon.
Sana Merali is a certified hopeless romantic.
It’s inevitable when she literally lives on Love Street, a cute side-street full of mom-and-pop shops and cozy apartments. With her florist mother, her part-time job at a vintage shop, and her adorably curated wardrobe, Sana knows she’s what meet-cutes are made of—and it’s only a matter of time until her own HEA.
When the neighborhood is threatened by new developments, however, her plans for love get pushed to the backburner as she and her neighbors rally to host a festival that will finally put the neighborhood on everyone’s radar. Because what better way to get people to fall in love with Love Street?
Unfortunately, Miles Desai is also on the planning committee. Miles is contrary, judgmental, and…anti-romance. His hard stance on love inspires Sana with another goal for the to matchmake Miles and knock the cynicism right out of him.
But as her set-up for Miles starts to actually work, Sana realizes that happily-ever-afters, for herself and for her street, aren’t that easy to come by.
Best Summer Ever by Jessica Cunsolo (Wattpad Books) - cover not yet updated on Goodreads.
Readers of YA contemporary romance as well as the perfect beach read, like books by Jenny Han, Sarah Dessen and Beth Reekles. Set in a glamorous lakeside house, it’s the perfect combination of enemies-to-lovers, family drama & female friendship.
Readers of YA contemporary romance as well as the perfect beach read like books by Jenny Han, Sarah Dessen and Beth Reekles. Set in a glamorous lakeside house, it’s the perfect combination of enemies-to-lovers, family drama & female friendship.
Jenna doesn’t like to appear out of control . . . ever. But when she learns her best friend has accepted a place at a university on the other side of the country, her father is moving to Vancouver and selling the family properties, and her cousin/BFF Olivia has decided to move in with her boyfriend, Jenna’s carefully constructed façade begins to crack. Everyone around her is making plans and moving on . . . except her.
Faced with losing everything that matters to her, Jenna decides to invite her friends to her family’s lake house and host a weeklong extravaganza before everyone goes their separate ways. So what if she doesn’t ask her dad first? It’ll be a party to make everyone remember what could go wrong?
As the week unfolds, secrets are uncovered, friendships are tested, and so are new and old romances. Nothing happens the way Jenna wants or planned. And by the end of their trip, both Jenna and Olivia discover that it’s impossible to be in control all the time (especially if feelings are involved) . . . and this summer will change everything.
We Can Never Leave by H.E. Edgmon (Wednesday Books) - description not yet updated on Goodreads.
Sweet Tooth meets The Raven Boys in this queer young adult contemporary fantasy about what it means to belong from H.E. Edgmon.
You can never go home…
Every day, all across the world, inhuman creatures are waking up with no memory of who they are or where they came from–and the Caravan exists to help them. The traveling community is made up of these very creatures and their families who’ve acclimated to this new existence by finding refuge in each other. That is, until the morning five teenage travelers wake to find their community has disappeared around them overnight.
Those left: a half-human who only just ran back to the Caravan with their tail between their legs, two brothers–one who can’t seem to stay out of trouble and the other who’s never been brave enough to get in it, a venomous girl with blood on her hands and a heart of gold, and the Caravan’s newest addition, a disquieting shadow in the shape of a boy. They’ll have to work together to figure out what happened the night of the disappearance, but each one of the forsaken five is white-knuckling their own secrets. And with each truth forced to light, it becomes clear this isn’t really about what happened to their people–it’s about what happened to them.
Lady or the Tiger by Heather M. Herrman (Nancy Paulsen Books) - moved from 2022.
A twisty, darkly seductive murder mystery, starring a teenage killer whose trial in the Wild West is upended when her first victim, her husband, arrives alive with a story to tell.
When nineteen-year-old Belle King turns herself in for murder, the last thing she expects to see is her abusive husband standing outside her Dodge City jail cell. He was the first man she ever meant to kill (but certainly not the last!). Somehow, though, her husband is there, hale and hearty, and very much not dead. With his arrival her plans in jail are jeopardized, and she’ll be forced to resort to all the tricks in her arsenal to prevent him from ever being in control of her again. But as a girl in the 1880s Wild West, the last thing anyone will believe is a woman—even when she confesses to her own crimes.
This story—of how Alice Springer, a mountain girl from Kentucky, became the infamous Belle King, of how she found the tiger in her heart, becoming the wickedest woman in the Wild West—is a love story that cuts through time and patriarchal ties.
A Girl Walks into the Forest by Madeline Roux (Quill Tree Books)
Midsommar meets The Shadows Between Us in this alluring mash-up of horror and fairy tale from New York Times bestselling author Madeleine Roux, where a girl must embark on a harrowing journey through a deadly forest filled with otherworldly creatures, supernatural forces, and one maniacal villain who will stop at nothing to bring her down.
For as long as she can remember, Valla’s been told her beauty would give her a life most people only dreamed of. So when the mysterious Count Leonid calls on her to be his betrothed, Valla jumps at the chance to leave her small, bleak village. The only thing standing in her way? The journey through the dangerous Gottyar Wood that many don’t survive.
Filled with deadly and cunning creatures, the Gottyar immediately delivers on its reputation with an attack that leaves Valla injured; her face torn to shreds. Barely making it to the castle in one piece, Valla is relieved to finally be safe. But things have changed. Valla’s face is no longer beautiful. And the Count is not happy…Valla thought making it through the Gottyar was a victory, but when she sees what awaits beyond the palace walls, the true battle begins.
In this ruthlessly female-forward narrative that borrows from the best of horror, fairy tales, and folklore, a chewed-up-and-spit-out heroine must lean on the brutality of nature and her biggest fears in order to win back what’s she's been robbed her life.
Solo Stan by Talia Tucker (Kokila)
From the author of Rules for Rule Breaking comes a queer YA romance about two solo concertgoers and unwitting seatmates who, when the show is abruptly cut short, embark on an unforgettable North Carolina summer night together, discovering how opposites can attract under the right circumstances.
Dakarai (Kai) Barbier was supposed to be at CYPHR's sold- out show with his best friends. Instead, he finds himself going solo, reeling from the news that they've decided to accelerate the next chapter of their lives, leaving him alone the summer after high school graduation.
Meanwhile, Elias Davis has just been sent from New York City to North Carolina to live with his uncle after a last-straw fistfight. Stuck in a town he doesn't want to be in, and without knowing a soul his own age, he buys a single ticket to CYPHR's Raleigh show.
When a sudden blackout ends the show early, forcing these unwitting seatmates back onto the streets of Raleigh, they are faced with a choice: get on the bus and head home or take a chance on each other. They might have arrived alone, but will they be leaving together?
Top Heavy by Rhonda DeChambeau (Holiday House) - YA novel in verse.
This heart-stopping debut novel in verse about a talented dancer struggling to give herself grace in the wake of an assault is a gut-wrenching masterpiece.
Fifteen-year-old Esme lives and breathes dance. She and her best friend, Mia, are happiest when they’re in the studio… sweating, stretching, soaring. And after a summer of nonstop practice, Esme and Mia earn coveted spots on the Elite dance team. Now that they’ve proven themselves to Miss Regina and the senior girls, it should be smooth sailing.
Except that Esme and Mia took the spots of two popular, well-liked dancers.
Except that Esme’s dad hasn’t been able to work for months, and her recital costume bill is overdue.
Except that a stranger touches Esme on the dance floor, touches the breasts that have always felt like giant targets.
After years of being oversexualized for her large chest, this is the violation that pushes Esme over the edge. Was it her fault? Could she have stopped it? Why can’t she just be different? Esme stumbles, off kilter and adrift from her loved ones, whose well-meaning positivity can’t possibly cut through her own vicious, critical self-image.
This dazzling, tour-de-force debut tackles friendship, first love, and sexual assault, along with the full emotional range of life as a teenage girl. Esme musters strength she didn’t know she had—and learns to lean on others after finding the right support. An unforgettable read, perfect for fans of Starfish and Speak.
Finding Prince Charming by Jamar J. Perry (Bloomsbury)
In this swoonworthy YA romance, an ordinary teenage boy finds himself accidentally fake dating a crown prince.
Tyriq Howell is swearing off of love. After a fight with his cheating ex leads to missing his college scholarship interview, he vows to be done with dating for good. Until Desmond, a boy who works in the scholarship office, approaches with a curious he'll get Tyriq another interview if he pretends to be Desmond's date to a fancy gala in two weeks.
When Tyriq shows up to the gala, he's shocked when photographers swarm him and Desmond. He's even more shocked when he finds out that Desmond is Prince Desmond of Catalina. And now that the whole world knows Desmond is gay, he's front page news.
When the King angrily summons Desmond and his new boyfriend to Catalina, Desmond begs Tyriq to play along. If his father realizes Desmond is serious about coming out, he might finally agree to let Desmond pass the crown to his sister instead. But navigating court politics and pretend relationships is harder than Tyriq imagined-especially when he realizes that he may have accidentally broken his swearing-off-of-love rule.
Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves (Simon and Schuster) - repackaging of a 2014 release.
Kit and Fancy Cordelle are sisters of the best kind: best friends, best confidantes, and best accomplices. The daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, Kit and Fancy are used to feeling like outsiders, and that's just the way they like it. But in Portero, where the weird and wild run rampant, the Cordelle sisters are hardly the oddest or most dangerous creatures around.
It's no surprise when Kit and Fancy start to give in to their deepest desire - the desire to kill. What starts as a fascination with slicing open and stitching up quickly spirals into a gratifying murder spree. Of course, the sisters aren't killing just anyone, only the people who truly deserve it. But the girls have learned from the mistakes of their father, and know that a shred of evidence could get them caught. So when Fancy stumbles upon a mysterious and invisible doorway to another world, she opens a door to endless possibilities.
Love, Misha by Jam Aden (First Second) - YA graphic novel.
In this stunning YA adventure, debut author Jam Aden weaves a story of family schism and reconciliation that effortlessly enriches the complex dynamics of mother and child.
Can this road trip get any worse?
Yes, Mom (Audrey) wanted to spend time with Misha. And yes, she’s never around and they don’t even live together, so this is a rare opportunity. But Audrey still thinks of Misha as her daughter, despite Misha being non-binary and trying to talk to her openly about it. Misha even tries to write how they feel in a letter, but that isn’t going well either.
Then a wrong turn down a forest road leads the mother-child duo straight into the Realm of Spirits! Suddenly in peril and without a clue how to return to their world, Misha and Audrey will have to work together to find their way back home. But can they find a way back to each other?
Breadcrumbs by Kasia Babis (First Second) - YA graphic memior.
A moving graphic memoir in the vein of Almost All American Girl and Persepolis, Breadcrumbs is a coming-of-age story set in Poland as the country transitions from communism to capitalism.
In the late 1980s, Poland faces debilitating food shortages, worker discontent, and astronomical inflation. Seemingly overnight, the country transitions from communism to capitalism. During this period of flux, Kasia Babis is born.
In the shadow of national change, Kasia experiences her own journey of growth, from rebellious teen to politically minded activist. She grapples with her country’s deep-rooted Catholicism and forges her own beliefs, leading to her becoming an active part of Poland’s left-wing Razem party. Each new experience is a reminder that broader societal upheavals reverberate on a deeply personal level.
With a deft balance of the intimate and geopolitical, Kasia Babis chronicles her fight to uphold her progressive values while her country heads in the opposite direction. Breadcrumbs is a coming-of-age story—not only of Kasia but of Poland as a modern state.
Amelia, If Only by Becky Albertalli (HarperCollins)
Amelia Applebaum isn’t in love with Walter Holland. He just happens to be her favorite moderately famous, chaotically bisexual YouTuber. Who she just happened to invite to prom. (But it’s fine. No, for real. If you delete the post, it didn’t happen.)
Okay, maybe her friends are right: She’s slightly parasocially infatuated. But Amelia just knows sparks would fly—if only she could connect with Walter for real.
If only he would host a meet and greet.
If only it were just a short road trip away.
And if only Amelia could talk her best friends into making it the perfect last hurrah before graduation—even her newly single, always-cynical, guitar-toting best friend Natalie.
One thing’s for sure: All roads lead to butterflies.
But what if Amelia’s butterflies aren’t for Walter at all?
The Complex Art of Being Maisie Clark by Sabrina Kleckner (Flux)
All eighteen-year-old Maisie Clark wants to do is leave her tiny town in upstate New York. Crescent Valley is home to Glenna’s, the family-run portrait shop she loves more than anything. But after years of imitating her dad’s artistic style, Maisie fears she will never find her own voice. So, she comes up with a plan: quit working at Glenna’s, go to art school in London, and, most importantly, stop painting portraits. If she can’t find her voice by the end of the year, she’ll give up art entirely.
Unfortunately, pushing outside her comfort zone is (surprise!) uncomfortable. Maisie struggles to connect with her eccentric new flatmates, feels farther away from her best friend than ever, and hates every art course she signed up for—especially photography, where her talented but prickly partner, Eli, is not afraid to point out her every mistake on their semester-long project. Maisie is already questioning all her life choices when a crime strikes Glenna’s, reopening old family wounds she thought she’d long healed from. It’ll take even more discomfort, as well as help from Eli, her older brother, Calum, and his earnest boyfriend, Benji, to confront the layers she’s painted over the past. But maybe, just maybe, the keys to finding herself lie closer to home than she realized.
Emiko by Chieri Uegaki (Tundra Books)
A sweet and savory YA romance, this modern-day Japanese-Canadian twist on Emma is just the recipe for fans of Jenny Han, Jane Austen and Gilmore Girls. A busybody foodie avoids questions of her own future as she meddles in the love lives of those around her. Has this matcha-maker met her match?
Self-declared matchmaking GENIUS Emiko Kimori has already found success by helping her aunt find true love, so when the new girl in town becomes her new BFF, it's only natural for Emiko to help set her up for social success with a suitable love match.
Emiko lives with her Ojiichan in a small town on BC's West Coast surrounded by friends and neighbors, including her childhood friend Kenzo Sanada, who wants her to spend less time meddling in every else’s love lives. But Emiko can so clearly see who belongs together, even when her targets don't know it themselves. She simply has to meddle — for the sake of true love!
As for her own romantic life though...who has time for that? Emiko is far too busy with her matchmaking schemes, her brunch recipes, volunteering, her bustling social life, keeping up her grades, eating said brunch recipes and making plans for after graduation. Plans she will absolutely decide on soon. Definitely. Maybe? But when Emiko ends up falling for the very last person she expects, she finds herself caught in the tangled web of her own love matches. For the first time, instead of arranging from afar, Emiko has to figure out what it means to be in love herself, and that friendship and romance are more complicated than she ever imagined...
June 17th
Rewind to Us by Molly Morris (Wednesday Books) - description not yet updated on Goodreads.
Dixie Mulligan only has one plan for her annual California vacation this summer – to tell her best friend Sawyer that she’s in love with him.
It doesn’t matter that things between them technically fell apart over spring break, and they haven’t spoken since – until Dixie arrives and realizes Sawyer has moved on (a fact made very apparent when she sees him kissing, um, someone else).
Luckily, Dixie and her family have each been gifted with a Rewind. All Dixie has to do is go back and redo the moment she thinks doomed hers and Sawyer’s relationship before it even began.
But when family secrets start pouring out, Dixie’s not so sure even her Rewind will be enough to save what she and Sawyer had. Is the damage already done, or can she turn back the clock and give them one more chance?
The Blood Phoenix by Amber Chen (Viking) - details not yet updated on Goodreads.
The sequel to Of Jade and Dragons, a thrilling and epic silkpunk fantasy inspired by the legendary Qing dynasty. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Lim and Xiran Jay Zhao.
Two years after Ying leaves the Engineer’s Guild and the ghost of her father’s unjust death behind, life seems to regain a semblance of normalcy. But the winds of unrest continue to stir within the Nine Isles, and the aftermath of a horrific pirate attack by the mysterious Blood Phoenix fleet forces Ying back into the tense political world of the new High Commander, Ye-yang. And soon, Ying, Ye-yang and her former friends from the guild must work together to find a way to outsmart the cunning pirates who terrorise the straits—and the elusive mastermind who’s controlling them.
Meanwhile, Ying’s sister, Nian, now lives in the capital, awaiting the day she will finally marry the High Commander. While her relationship with Ye-yang remains distant, she finds company in her friendship with the fourteenth prince, Ye-kan, and discovers her unexpected affinity for governance and strategy. But the capital is more dangerous than she expects, and when a dark conspiracy arises, Nian and Ye-kan must unravel the mystery in time to prevent the High Command from collapsing from within.
New dangers arise at every moment, threatening to tear the Nine Isles apart. In order to sail through this storm, Ying and her loved ones must make difficult choices amidst terrible betrayals. With the world on the brink of destruction, will they find a way to defeat their enemies and survive? And will it be worth the cost?
The Grove by Brooks Whitney Phillips (Viking)
In this tender coming-of-age novel set in the socioeconomic tinderbox of the 1960s, two sisters in a struggling and damaged family only have each other to rely on . . . until an ugly secret tears them apart and threatens the cause of justice in their small town.
Fifteen-year-old Pip and seventeen-year-old Sissy aren't just sisters, they're best friends. Every year, they wait eagerly for the traveling carnival to put its stakes down in their tiny Florida town. It's the only time when the girls can abandon their endless chores on the family's orange grove and give in to pure joy. And the only time Pip and Sissy can forget their many troubles . . . living on the brink of poverty, Mama's despair, and Daddy's perpetual anger.
With the arrival of the carnival, the girls’ slow, small lives suddenly feels bigger and brighter. But this year, something is different. Once the carnival leaves, with the charming young sword-swallower with it, Sissy grows increasingly distant from Pip and is soon no more than a stranger in their house. Pip grows closer to her friend Silas as a result, but when Sissy's shocking secret is revealed, the three unwittingly find themselves in a desperate situation that will change them all forever. In the land of the sweetest fruits, Pip must find her way through the soured hopes and bitter regrets of her family to finally break free of the grove.
Set against the class and economic tensions of early 1960s America, this stark yet hopeful novel tells a compelling story about the inescapable bonds of sisterhood and the lies we tell ourselves to survive.
If We Survive This by Racquel Marie (Feiwel and Friends)
The Walking Dead meets Yellowjackets in If We Survive This, a tense and emotional young adult horror novel from award-winning author Racquel Marie about a teen girl leading a group of survivors on a perilous journey during the apocalypse.
Flora is not the girl who survives. A colorful creative who spends as much time fearing death as she does trying to hide that fear from her loved ones, she’s always considered herself weak. But half a year into the global outbreak of a rabies mutation that transforms people into violent, zombie-like “rabids,” she and her older brother Cain are still alive. With their mom dead, dad missing, and LA suburb left desolate, they form a new plan: The secluded Northern California cabin they vacationed in growing up is their best chance at a safe haven, and maybe even seeing their dad again.
The dangers of the world have changed, but so has Flora. Still, their journey up the state is complicated by encounters with familiar faces, new allies, hidden truths, and painful memories of the final time her family made this same trip the previous year. And for Flora, one thing inevitably remains: no matter how far you run, death is never far behind.
The Unexpected Consequence of Bleeding on a Tuesday by Kelsey B. Toney (Crown)
Delia Bridges is striving to become the compassionate doctor she's been unable to find in her journey to diagnose her excruciating period pain--but when a single rule-breaking incident jeopardizes her future, she must find a way to reclaim her dreams in this funny, period-positive novel.
High school senior Delia Bridges has the most amazing mom and sister, a killer GPA--and periods that are so painful they make her scream, pass out, and throw up. Though she doesn't know it yet, Delia has endometriosis, an affliction plaguing millions of people that is notoriously difficult to diagnose.
Pain makes everything harder, but Delia is just one semester away from graduating from Stockwood Prep and pursuing her dream of become the kind of doctor she's never one who takes her symptoms seriously. But when she breaks a rule for the first time ever and is caught using marijuana at school to manage her pain, Delia is expelled.
Her expulsion jeopardizes her college acceptance, her planned mentorship, and everything she had carefully planned for years. Without her academic success and no closer to a diagnosis, is Delia anything more than her period?
All Paths Lead to Paris by Sabrina Fedel (Delacorte)
When a fashion influencer with a luxe Parisian life and a fake musician boyfriend meets a “normal” guy and begins to date him on the sly, she must rethink all of her lies—and consider whether they might have a little too much truth in them.
Seventeen-year-old Aurie McGinley lives an envied life as a fashion influencer in Paris, sharing a manager with, and fake dating up-and-coming musical god Remy St. Julien. Girls throw themselves at Remy, but he’s always just been her best friend. She doesn’t have time for a real boyfriend.
Until she bumps into normal guy, Kylian, while fleeing paparazzi. Kylian is the type of guy her mother wants her to date. In fact, her family would rather she focus on school and getting into an elite college than showcasing the latest runway haute couture. Aurie begins to think Kylian is the guy for her, too.
She’s fake dating one guy, while actually dating another—all while keeping up a constant, live video diary. But then a fake kiss with Remy turns steamy and her head is scrambled. Could her best friend really be the one for her? Aurie must tune out everyone else’s expectations to focus on herself and discover what she really wants.
You've Awoken Her by Ann Dávila Cardinal (HarperCollins)
Fans of You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight and Your Lonely Nights Are Over will love this thrilling YA horror about a string of disappearances and "accidental" drownings in the Hamptons, the changing relationship between two best friends, and their desperate attempt to not be the next victims of a Lovecraftian monster terrorizing the coastline.
All Gabi wants is to spend the summer in his room, surrounded by his Funkos and books, but with his mom traveling, his bags are packed for the last place he wants to visit—the Hamptons. Staying with his best friend should have him willing to peek out of his cave, but ever since Ruth’s nouveau riche family moved, their friendship has been off.
Surrounded by mansions, country clubs, and Ruth’s new boyfriend, Frost Thurston—the axis that Hampton society orbits around—it doesn’t take long for Gabi to feel completely out of place. But when he witnesses a woman being pulled under the ocean water, and no one—not the police or anyone else in the Hamptons—seems to care, Gabi starts to wonder if maybe the beachside town’s bad vibes are more real than he thought.
As the “accidental” deaths and drownings begin to climb, Gabi knows he’ll need proof to convince Ruth they’re all in danger. And while the Thurston family name keeps rising to the top, along with every fresh body, what’s worst is that all the signs point to something lurking beneath the water—something with tentacles and a thirst for blood. Can Gabi figure out how the two are intertwined and put an end to the string of deaths…before becoming the water’s next victim?
The Tournament by Rebecca Barrow (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
They Wish They Were Us meets Nothing Left to Tell in this young adult thriller about three girls with entangled pasts who compete for glory in their private school’s annual tournament, putting their survival skills and their relationships to the test.
Gardner isn’t like other boarding schools. They take in those who’ve been rejected everywhere else, they offer a survival skills class that has students killing and gutting animals, and then there’s the Tournament.
A competition available only to seven elite seniors, the Tournament is revered by the entire student body. They’d do almost anything—including completing a series of grueling physical challenges—to win the champion’s cup.
And this year, three seniors make the Tournament more cutthroat than ever.
Max, the ruthless scholarship student who can’t afford any distractions, not even her ex best friend Nora’s stupid confession of love at the end of last year that ruined everything between them.
Nora, who always put herself on the sidelines so Max could have everything she wanted, but might just be ready for center stage now that Max has brutally excised herself from Nora’s life.
And Teddy, the transfer who’s on her last chance and will chase any high that can pull her back from the gaping, dark void inside herself that’s always threatening to pull her in.
If one of them wants to win, then they can’t let anything—or anybody—get in their way.
Lou with the Band by Alexandra Leigh Young (Walker Books US) - details not yet updated on Goodreads.
From the acclaimed author of the delicious Idol Gossip comes a new music-themed novel with an irresistible backbeat and a thoughtful read on friendship and identity.
When Lou enlists her best friend, Molly, to shave her head, it’s partly so she doesn’t have to deal with washing her hair all the time while on tour—and partly because she’s ready to be a new person. No stranger to reinventing herself, restless Lou is a Cuban-American girl who’s never left Texas, let alone the country. But the “New Lou” has deferred her first semester at Texas State to work for a celebrity musician on tour. She’s bound for China, Japan, half of Europe, and everywhere in between, though it means getting intimately acquainted with the band’s dirty laundry. Even with her road crew uncle on alert, it will be the summer of a lifetime, full of underground parties, disco spas, and gelato. When Lou falls for a tattooed guitar prodigy who makes her feel achingly alive, it doesn’t cross her mind to doubt him or—as life on the road tightens its hold—her course.
Will Molly know her when she returns, if she returns? Who is the “New Lou” really? Pulsing with energy and authentic detail, this story of self-discovery ushers readers backstage on a sensational world tour.
Goodbye My Princess by Fei Wo Si Cun (Simon and Schuster) - originally published in Chinese.
The only thing more dangerous than a king is his heir in this first English translation of the romantic tragedy that inspired the popular TV series from one of China’s best-known authors of heartbreak—perfect for readers of Captive Prince and Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation.
There is no room for love in an empire.
Qu Xiaofeng has been living in Shangjing for three years now. A naïve, happy-go-lucky treaty bride from the desert kingdom of Xiliang, she has everything she could ever want as the crown princess of the Li Empire—everything except the crown prince’s heart.
Because Li Chengyin is a heartless boy. Cruel, jealous, and ruthless, he has given his adolescence to the cutthroat contention for the throne and, now that he is the heir presumptive, largely ignores his bride in favor of the girl he seems to really love.
Xiaofeng doesn’t mind…much. It leaves her more time to sneak out of the manor to go drinking and riding in the streets, living just the way she wants to. But one day another boy shows up, claiming to be a sweetheart from a life she can’t remember having lived. As Xiaofeng puzzles out the tangled threads of her past and her complicated feelings about the enigmatic, distant husband she loves and hates in equal measure, what she doesn’t realize is that she’s setting a course straight to tragedy.
Because the only place more dangerous than the palace is the crown prince’s court, the only thing harder to be than a king is his heir, and the path to the throne is paved with blood. Power will always have its price—the only question is if Xiaofeng will survive long enough to pay.
America's Not-So Sweetheart by Blair Hanson (Page Street)
Alec Braud is the most hated teen in America after winning Campfire Wars by backstabbing his showmance, Joaquin Yasuda. So when Joaquin asks Alec to join him on a road trip in order to “queerify” classic movie kisses for an art project, Alec agrees in the hopes it might make get them back together and convince the world he’s not a bad guy IRL..
Alec spends the trip reading into Joaquin’s flirty behavior and things get even more complicated when Alec is invited to return to the next season of Campfire Wars. He’s been trying to prove to everyone (and Joaquin) that he’s not actually the worst. But Alec is torn again between a second chance with Joaquin and cold hard cash.
Can he turn down the chance to return to the small screen for what only might be love?
June 24th
That Kind of Girl by Natalie C. Anderson (Nancy Paulsen Books)
In this gripping YA thriller perfect for fans of Jessica Goodman and Amber Smith, two girls from opposite worlds play a dangerous game of cat and mouse when a rich classmate is murdered and they’re both prime suspects. The race is on to find out which one is a killer.
Sixteen-year-old amateur sleuth Roxie is shrewd, nimble, cunning, and only a little bit damaged. She also has a real knack for finding things, making her the perfect go-to detective for her rich classmates at St. Margaret when they’re looking to retrieve the things they’ve “lost”— no questions asked. So when queen bee Kirsten Montgomery-Wiggins pays Roxie a hefty sum to track down a mysterious blonde who “stole” her phone, Roxie accepts. Although Kirsten is a bully and she and Roxie have bad blood between them, Roxie could really use the cash. But that same night, Roxie finds Kirsten murdered in her mansion, and police zero in on her as a prime suspect.
On the outskirts of town in a trailer park, Inez, a part-time maid and part-time sex-worker, keeps finding blood everywhere. Crusted in her earring, threaded into her shoelace. She should really toss her shoes so there’s nothing to tie her to the body, but these shoes cost her a few “favors” and several hours of cleaning houses. How could the night have gone so wrong? She really thought she was working her way to a better life, but now she could be headed to jail if the wrong someone puts two and two together.
Roxie doesn’t know who she’s looking for and Inez doesn’t know who she’s hiding from. But all roads seem to lead to Montgomery House, as Roxie works to clear her own name and Inez attempts to stay one step ahead of the law and the men who hurt her.
Embrace the Serpent by Sunya Mara (HarperTeen)
In this sweeping romantic fantasy, a dangerous deal binds a young jeweler's apprentice to the mysterious Serpent King in a marriage of convenience, thrusting her into a deadly game between the cunning, fearsome ruler and his rebellious huntsman. Perfect for fans of The Wrath & the Dawn and Once Upon a Broken Heart!
The Serpent King has come to find his bride, and with his arrival festivities sweep through the city. Inside and outside the Rose Palace await women from across the six kingdoms determined to become his new bride-to-be—all except for eighteen-year-old Saphira.
After escaping life as a palace ward under the cruel djinn Lady Incarnadine, Saphira now works as the apprentice to the unscrupulous jewelsmith Galen. Out of fear of being discovered, she hides her rare gift for harnessing the magic in gemstones and lets Galen take credit for her craft.
But when Galen makes a boast that ruffles the court, Lady Incarnadine punishes him with an impossible task—one that threatens to drag Saphira back into Incarnadine’s grasp. Desperate to avoid this fate, Saphira strikes a dangerous deal with Rane, the enigmatic huntsman sent by the Serpent King to find the best jewelsmith in the empire.
Rane promises that if Saphira crafts a mysterious piece for his master, the Serpent King will grant her a new identity and freedom. But when their plans go awry and the only way out is to marry the Serpent King, Saphira becomes entangled in the dangerous affairs of kingdoms and empires—caught between the cunning, handsome Rane and her cold, serpentine husband.
Heiress Among Thieves by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka (Little, Brown)
Stealing from her rich family was supposed to be a fun winter getaway for teen mastermind Olivia Owens, but when a rival thief, a love triangle, and a murder suspect interfere, she’ll have to decide how far she’s willing to go for the vault full of gold—and for the boy she loves.
When teen heiress and heist leader Olivia Owens receives an invitation for her cold-hearted grandmother’s seventieth birthday at the family’s inherited Swiss castle, only one thing entices her to the vault full of gold waiting in the castle’s frigid dungeons. Assembling her old crew of high school criminals, now including her boyfriend Jackson, Olivia feels more prepared than ever for grand theft.
But not everything is what it seems when they arrive. For starters, the reunion turns out to be less of a party and more of a wake. Her grandmother announces that she’s dying … and plans to be buried with her fortune. Suddenly the entire greedy Owens clan turns their eyes toward Olivia’s target. It’s hard enough to steal something everyone’s looking at, but an old backstabber, a new suitor, and an uninvited guest add fuel to the fire until Olivia is desperately trying to hold the pieces of her plan—and her crew—together.
As Olivia faces her family’s dark legacy of deceit, grift, and maybe even murder, she's forced to weigh how deeply she loves Jackson with how her love might destroy him. She didn’t choose her family, but now she has to choose—who she loves, who she trusts, and who she’s willing to risk to get what she wants. In a family of thieves, this might cost her everything.
Among Ghosts by Rachel Hartman (Random House)
Set in the world of New York Times bestseller Seraphina, a boy on the run from a dragon — among other dangers — seeks refuge in a haunted abbey in this wholly original YA ghost story about what haunts us, and what connects us.
A few things to know about the town of St. Muckle' It's too out-of-the-way to interest greedy lords, and too damp and muddy for marauding dragons to burn. And anyone, from a humble serf to a runaway nun, may earn their freedom by living for a year and a day within the town walls. Seven years ago, Charl and his mother fled to St. Muckle's and made it their safe-haven, building a new life in this so-called Peasant's Paradise. But when Charl sees something impossible — a ghost — soon the embers of his past are threatening to engulf his world in flames. A tragic accident is quickly followed by murder, a deadly plague, and a mercenary dragon.
Charl manages to escape to an abandoned abbey outside of town, but finds no safety within those ruined walls. A treacherous nun, a chorus of murdered girls, and the fearsome Battle Bishop await, ready to ensnare him in a complex web of history, magic, and fate. For some things should never be forgotten, however much they haunt us, and Charl will need all his wisdom and resiliency if he is to fight for the world he knows... and the people he calls home.
Tell Me Every Lie by Ellen Hagan and David Flores (Bloomsbury)
This is the kind of love story that starts with a lie.
John Paul Reyes wants to escape the worst truths in his life-other people's pity since his dad died, and everyone else's expectations about what he should do with his life now that he's graduated high school. When he arrives at the Majestic Mountain resort with his Tita Abrigo's wealthy family, he sees a way to escape-he can be JP Abrigo, rich and set, and he can lie his way to feeling fine.
Mia Malik is trapped in this town, working hard at the resort, trying to escape her broken family and to make her way to the prestigious art program she was accepted into. She's desperate to afford her way there, and she's sick of the privileged guests who have the whole world open to them, who don't really even see her.
But then another staffer dares Mia to make one of the guests fall for her. If she can, she'll collect enough money to get out. Mia knows this is dangerously against the rules, and doesn't even want to pretend to like an entitled rich kid, but then she meets JP. Lying to him starts off easy, but then there's more to him than she expected. And the way JP feels about Mia? So real. As their week together runs out, Mia and JP will have to dig themselves out from the lies they tell to see if there's any truth in the feelings they have for each other.
A moving, layered young adult novel in two voices about finding truth in the lies we tell ourselves.
Tempest by K. Ibura (Quill Tree Books) - moved from June 2024, and from September 2026.
After her mother passed away in Hurricane Katrina, Veronique moved to her mawmaw’s house in the Louisiana countryside. Mawmaw always said that Veronique needed to hide her power over the wind, but one day, she has to use it to save a neighbor’s son from drowning. To protect Veronique, her mawmaw immediately sends her to live with her aunt in New Orleans.
NOLA is nothing like Veronique could have imagined—she’s finally attending traditional school, she gets to bond with cousins that she’s never met, and she even rides on her first highway. Though she quickly falls in with a group of friends at school—and one boy that she’d like to be more than her friend—there’s also a higher risk of discovery in the city. When one of her cousins’ friends figures out the truth, V learns about a secret organization called the Vaunted that comes after people with elemental magic.
The Vaunted is closing in, and V will be forced on the run to hide from their sinister intentions. V’s left with two major questions: Can she trust anyone? And will she ever get a chance to be a normal girl again?
Kill the Lax Bro by Charlotte Lillie Balogh (Delacorte)
A fresh and darkly funny 90s murder mystery about one high school's net of lies that begin to unravel when a star lacrosse player winds up dead.
The night before graduation, all of Lexington High celebrates at their school’s annual senior lock-in. But what starts out as a fun night turns horribly wrong when a body is found and it is revealed that the victim is none other than Troy Edwards, the school's star lacrosse player.
Everyone is acting totally clueless. There’s Jennifer (the dream girl), Lydia (the geek), Sas (the overachiever), and Tatum (the rebel). At a glance, it seems like they couldn’t be more unalike except for the fact that they all hated Troy (the lax bro)...but who wanted him dead?
From debut author Charlotte Lillie Balough comes a pitch-black, hilarious take on high school stereotypes including the boys we love and love to lax bros.
Arcana: The Lost Heirs by Sam Prentice (Feiwel and Friends) - YA graphic novel, description not yet updated on Goodreads.
Debut author/illustrator Sam Prentice-Jones explores fighting against your destiny and reconciling the actions of your ancestors in Arcana: The Lost Heirs, a tarot-inspired fantasy graphic novel for young adults.
James, Daphne, Koko, and Sonny have all grown up surrounded by magic in the Arcana, an organization of witches that protects the magical world, run by the mysterious and secretive Majors. Eli Jones, however, didn’t even know other witches existed . . . until he stumbled into James. As James introduces Eli to the world of the Arcana, he finds the family he never had, and a blossoming romance with James.
The five new friends soon realize that sinister things are afoot and everything may not be what it seems at the Arcana. When the group delves deeper into the mystery surrounding the deaths of their parents and the Major’s rise to power, they discover that they’re at the center of a curse - one they’ve just unwittingly set into motion. As the friends search for answers, they’ll have to confront the cursed legacy.
Feathervein by Tonya Hurley (Feiwel and Friends) - release date moved several times, last moved from June 2024.
Wren, a lonely girl with a gift for communicating with birds. She leaves behind a fractured family to investigate her mother's mysterious disappearance on a birding expedition in the Louisiana bayous, and enters a world steeped in folk magic.
From the author of the instant New York Times bestseller I Hope This Doesn't Find You, Never Thought I'd End Up Here is another hilarious and romantic romcom from Ann Liang, this time following a former model determined to get revenge on the boy who ruined her life.
Leah Zhang has spent her whole life in LA - it's all she's ever known. But after accidentally wishing her cousin ill health and a very depressing marriage at her wedding, her parents stage an intervention. She's forgotten most of her Mandarin, has zero regard for etiquette, and can't hold a conversation with her own grandparents for longer than a minute. Their solution? Send her on an intensive two-week travel program across China's most beautiful cities. To them, it's the perfect opportunity for Leah to get back to her roots. To Leah, it's simply a much-needed escape.
But before Leah can even begin to enjoy the luxurious hotels, stunning scenery, and mouth-watering cuisine, she finds that also on the trip is her former classmate and least favorite person cynical, sarcastic Cyrus, who's somehow only gotten more annoyingly handsome since they last saw each other.
While Leah might be tempted to shove him off the peak of the Yellow Mountain when nobody's looking, she can't get rid of him just yet. After all, she might never get another chance to get revenge on the boy who ruined her life.
Yet the deeper they wander into China's provinces, the deeper Leah finds herself falling in love - with the boy she once thought she despised, the home she never thought she'd call her own, and the parts of herself she thought were already lost.
Under the Neon Lights (G.P. Putnam and Sons) - YA novel in verse, previously titled The Freedom of Falling, description not yet updated on Goodreads.
In this sparkling and heartfelt debut YA novel in verse, a young Black girl discovers first love, self-worth, and the power of a good skate. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Joya Goffney.
Sixteen-year-old Jaelyn Coleman lives for Saturdays at WestSide Roll, the iconic neighborhood roller rink. On these magical nights, Jae can lose herself in the music of DJ Sunny, the smell of nachos from the concession, and the crowd of some of her favorite people—old heads, dance crews, and other regulars like herself. Here, Jae and other Black teens can fully be themselves.
One Saturday, as Jae skates away her worries, she crashes into the cutest boy she’s ever seen. Trey’s dimples, rich brown skin, and warm smile make it impossible for her to be mad at him though. Best of all, he can’t stop finding excuses to be around her. A nice change for once, in contrast with her best friend’s cold distance of late or her estranged father creeping back into her life.
Just as Jae thinks her summer might change for the better, devastating news hits: Westside Roll is shutting down. The gentrification rapidly taking over her predominantly Black Indianapolis neighborhood, filling it with luxury apartments and fancy boutiques, has come for her safe-haven. And this is just one trouble Jae can’t skate away from.
Debut author Arriel Vinson’s lyrical and contemplative story of young Black love and coming of age in Indianapolis ushers in an exciting new voice in YA literature.
Lovesick Falls by Julia Drake (Little, Brown) - cover not yet updated on Goodreads.
Sometimes growing up means growing apart in this queer take on As You Like It featuring first loves and friend breakups, perfect for fans of The Gravity of Us and We Are Okay, from award-winning author Julia Drake.
Celia Gilbert is the perfect friend—loyal, trustworthy, and committed to mending her best friends’ broken hearts.
She’s the reason the trio is spending the summer in Lovesick Falls, the idyllic little town where Touchstone’s sort-of-uncle’s cabin was waiting to be house-sat by three unsupervised (but totally responsible) teenagers.
After all, Celia, Ros, and Touchstone have been best friends since childhood. Sure, Celia is in love with Ros, and Touchstone was once in love with Celia — but that’s the beauty of a place like Lovesick Falls. If you fell in love, you could fall out.
Unless you can change the other person’s mind.
They started the summer closer than ever. Will living together tear them apart?
Nobody in Particular by Sophie Gonzales (Wednesday Books) - description not yet updated on Goodreads.
Princess Rosemary of Henland can’t afford distractions. She’s working tirelessly to repair her image following a scandal that lost the trust of both her country and her best friend. Unfortunately, when a beautiful and funny new student joins her boarding school, Rose finds herself quite distracted indeed.
Attending Bramppath College on a music scholarship, talented pianist Danni expects to be an outcast amongst the wealthy children of the elite, but she is pleasantly surprised to be taken in by the ex-best friend of the princess. The more Danni gets to know her new classmates, the more intrigued she becomes by Rose.
When somebody sees something they shouldn’t and rumors circulate throughout Henland, Rose and Danni must either find a way to deflect the ever-increasing eyes on their relationship, or end it altogether. Because one thing is clear: if Rose’s fragile reputation takes any more hits, the palace will do whatever they must to separate Rose and Danni. Forever.
This Side of Falling by Eunice Chan (Soho Teen)
Driven by the charged and complicated relationships surrounding a Chinese-American teen, this spare, lyrical, and thought-provoking debut examines the heartbreaks and imperfections of teen life.
Not real.
The mantra seventeen-year-old Nina repeats to herself the morning after her almost-boyfriend, Ethan Travvers, jumped onto the tracks in front of an approaching freight train. Ended everything. The two words that keep the truth just far enough away so she can carry on. Keep up the pretense that loss can’t touch her, grief can’t break her. After all, there is the family image to consider, the illusion of wholeness and success to maintain. It’s everything to Nina’s mom and grandma.
But when Nina’s all-star older sister, Carmen, is dismissed from college, her dad’s startup company fumbles, and her parents’ relationship fractures, Nina must face the truth. And it’s not what she wants to about Carmen, about Ethan, but mostly, about herself.
A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim (Knopf)
Beauty and the Beast meets Six of Crows in this romantic fantasy about a girl who paints the future and a cursed dragon lord, bound by love and deception in a plot to bring down the gods.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Six Crimson Cranes!
Truyan Saigas didn’t choose to become a con artist, but after her father is lost at sea, it’s up to her to support her mother and two younger sisters. A gifted art forger, Tru has the unique ability to paint the future, but even such magic is not enough to put her family back together again, or stave off the gangsters demanding payment in blood for her mother’s gambling debts.
Left with few options, Tru agrees to a marriage contract with a mysterious dragon lord. He offers a fresh start for her mother and sisters and elusive answers about her father’s disappearance, but in exchange, she must join him in his desolate undersea palace. And she must assist him in a plot to infiltrate the tyrannical Dragon King’s inner circle, painting a future so treasonous, it could upend both the mortal and immortal realms...
Now She's Dead by Roselyn Clarke (Sourcebooks Fire)
Last summer, Sara Ellis was found dead by the lake, and only Mandy knows what really happened.
This summer, she's desperate to keep it a secret.
For a few weeks every summer, Sara was Mandy's best friend. At Highmark, the lake resort where their families vacationed, the two were in a world of their own. Or at least Mandy got to be part of Sara's world.
But now Sara’s dead. The police ruled her death an accident; a tragic mistake after a night of impaired judgment. For the past year, Mandy's coped by escaping: leaving home and barely keeping it together at school. The last thing she wants to do is return to Highmark this summer—even if she does need "closure." As soon as she's back, though, she hears the whispers: someone killed Sara Ellis.
And if she’s not careful, they'll figure out it's all her fault.
As evidence resurfaces and anonymous accusations are scrawled in angry red spray paint, Mandy must confront the truths she's been avoiding about last summer. Because someone wants to make her pay for what happened to Sara that night.
Bad Creek by Peyton June (Norton Young Readers)
Three lifelong friends confront restless ghosts and malevolent family secrets in this fierce, propulsive debut young adult horror novel.
Iris, Gum, and Aidan are vacationing in Bad Creek, just like every summer. Except Iris’s older sister, Glory, drowned in the lake last year, and Iris can’t seem to move on; Gum is hiding his sexuality from his family while being viciously haunted by Glory’s rotting ghost; and Aidan is distraught over a drunken argument with Glory that he fears may have led to her death. When Iris sleepwalks to the dilapidated house that Glory obsessively sketched in her final days, she and the boys begin to uncover a sinister history in the very bones of the town. The trio must reckon with the events of last summer and uncover what lurks within Bad Creek before it takes Iris’s life next.
Gripping and vengeful, Bad Creek confronts the intersection of religion, sexuality, and feminism, and forces readers to reckon with monsters in all their forms—human included.
Best of All Worlds by Kenneth Oppel (Scholastic)
From award-winning author Kenneth Oppel a startling, can't-wait-to-talk-about-it-with-someone novel that defies genre to create a survival thriller unlike any you've read before. For fans of Leave the World Behind, A.S. King, M.T. Anderson, and Margaret Atwood.
Xavier Oaks doesn't particularly want to go to the cabin with his dad and his dad's pregnant new wife, Nia. But family obligations are family obligations, and it's only for a short time. So he leaves his mom, his brother, and his other friends behind for a week in the woods. Only... one morning he wakes up and the house isn’t where it was before. It's like it's been lifted and placed... somewhere else.
When Xavier, his dad, and Nia go explore, they find they are inside a dome, trapped. And there's no one else around...
Until, three years later, another family arrives.
Is there any escape? Is there a reason they are stuck where they are? Different people have different answers -- and those different answers inexorably lead to tension, strife, and sacrifice.
In this masterpiece, award-winning author Kenneth Oppel builds to a heart-stopping pitch in drawing a story that feels very much of our moment.
The Uncertainty Principle by Joshua Davis and Kal Kini-Davis (Penguin Workshop) - description not yet updated on Goodreads.
From New York Times best-selling author Joshua Davis and his son, Kal Kini-Davis, comes an epic, breathtaking story of self-discovery, love, and adventure—perfect for fans of Nina LaCour and John Green.
Sixteen-year-old Mia is stranded in the middle of the Caribbean. After a mortifying incident in the school cafeteria, her parents decide there is only one way to deal with her meltdown: move onto a battered sailboat and leave everything behind. Her mom and dad think it’s the best decision they’ve ever made. Mia feels like she’s been kidnapped and imprisoned in paradise with no internet and no destination.
Her only hope is to hack together a solar-powered satellite phone so she can call her best friend and fix everything. To do it, she’ll have to build a mobile laboratory on the boat and ignore her neurotic mother, who thinks Mia is falling apart.
The problem is, Mia is falling apart. By day, she scours deserted islands, looking for anything she can use to build the phone. At night, she squeezes into a narrow bunk and talks to an imaginary friend. She knows, with absolute certainty, that she needs to abandon her family to save her sanity.
And then two teenagers sail into her world, promising friendship, and maybe even romance. Thoughtful, soulful Alby was raised in Australia but now his family calls the sea their home. The only thing missing is his soulmate. Bold, beautiful Nisha is simply vacationing on her dad’s megayacht when a chance encounter upends her life.
Now—with everything hanging in the balance—Mia must decide who she is and what she wants. And with this decision comes the revelation that her past and future are more uncertain than she thought.
Dan In Green Gables by Rey Terciero and Claudia Aguirre (Penguin Workshop) - YA graphic novel.
In this modern reimagining of Anne of Green Gables, effervescent extrovert Dan Stewart-Álvarez is surprised to find home and community in rural Tennessee.
Despite a life on the road with his free-spirited mother, fifteen-year-old Dan Stewart-Álvarez has always wanted to settle down. He just didn’t think it’d be like with his mother abandoning him in rural Tennessee with two strangers—his gentle grandmother and conservative, rough-around-the-edges grandfather. Here, he is forced to adjust to working the farm, entering high school, and hardest yet—reckoning with his queerness in a severe Southern Baptist community.
But even as Dan grows closer to his mawmaw, befriends fellow outsiders at school, and tries to make a new life for himself in Green Gables, he has to discover whether he can contend with intolerance and adapt to change without losing himself in the process.
From award-winning author Rey Terciero and Eisner Award nominee and illustrator Claudia Aguirre comes a new retelling of Anne of Green Gables about unconventional families, queer identity, and finding the meaning of home in the most unlikely of places.collectively lead to humanity’s eventual fate.
The Ground That Devours Us by Kalla Harris (Entangled Teen)
THE GROUND THAT DEVOURS US is a post-apocalyptic paranormal romance that follows a sharp-tongued teenage vampire hunter desperate to save her newly-turned sister. To get the cure for vampirism, she makes a deal with a deadly (and, unfortunately, hot) vampire. All she has to do is free vamp hostages from a human compound, without getting herself killed in the process... Love can really suck.
Daughter of Doom by Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem (Levine Querido) - originally published in The Netherlands.
Denmark, 870 AD. Yrsa is a tough Viking girl with a club foot who won’t let herself be pushed around. She turns out to be a seer, which makes her even more of an outsider. When her father and his men return from a raid with a nun, who’s also a king’s granddaughter, Yrsa is tasked with looking after the hostage.
The two girls and everything they believe in couldn’t be more different. And yet, slowly a friendship develops between Yrsa and Sister Job. When the nun is raped and she and Yrsa leave the perpetrator for dead, they’re forced to flee.
Can they escape the wrath of Yrsa’s clan? Can they escape their fate?
We Could Be Magic by Marissa Meyer and Joelle Murray (Feiwel and Friends) - YA graphic novel, description not yet released.
Liz Szabla at Feiwel and Friends has acquired North American rights to We Could Be Magic , an original graphic novel written by Marissa Meyer (the Lunar Chronicles), illustrated by Joelle Murray; Anna Roberto will edit. The body-positive story follows Tabitha, a girl who has the chance to live out her dream of being a character actor at the amusement park dedicated to the fantasy world of her favorite writer, only to find that the reality of life in costume is not exactly what she expected. Publication is planned for spring 2025; Jill Grinberg at Jill Grinberg Literary Management represented the author, and Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency represented the illustrator.
Gay the Pray Away by Natalie Naudus (Quirk Books) - previously self-published.
Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn't know it yet. When she finds a queer book at the library and smuggles it home, her conservative Christian homeschooling world begins to crack. And when the cutest girl she's ever met shows up to Bible class, she starts to question everything.Riley is so confident and kind, and she and Valerie bond quickly over existing as multiracial teens in a very white Christian community. As Valerie explores her feelings for Riley, she begins to see that the world she knows is a carefully crafted narrative.
Publicly, the girls are close friends--holding hands in prayer, rooming together at a conference. Privately, they grasp at any chance to continue their forbidden romance--until they are found out. Now Valerie must choose between staying with a family she fears will never accept her, or running away with the girl she loves.
Lady's Knight by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (HarperCollins) - moved from May 2025.
An undeniably fierce, unforgettably funny, unapologetically queer feminist romp through the England of medieval legend. Bestselling and acclaimed authors Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner bring readers along on an epic quest for valor, freedom, and, above all, love. A Knight’s Tale meets the Lady Jane series, with a dash of The Great!
Gwen is sick of hiding—hiding the fact that she’s taken over her father’s blacksmithing duties, hiding her attraction to girls, hiding her yearning for glory as a knight.
Meanwhile, Lady Isobelle of Avington, queen bee of the castle, has never once considered hiding who she is—until now. She’s been chosen as the grand prize in the Tournament of Dragonslayers, to be given to whichever knight can claim her hand. And for the first time in her life, she can’t talk her way out of trouble.
When Isobelle discovers Gwen’s knightly ambitions, they hatch a scheme together—Gwen will joust in the tournament, disguised as Sir Gawain. Winning means freedom for Isobelle, and glory for Gwen. Losing means… well, let’s not go there.
One thing’s for falling in love was never the plan.
But the best laid plans…are often trampled all over by dragons.
Celestial Banquet by Roselle Lim (Sweet July Books) - moved from January 2025.
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.
Devils Like Us by Lin Thompson (Bloomsbury) - previously titled The Reaper's Glass, author name change from Lin Thompson to L.T. Thompson.
Camille Kellogg at Bloomsbury has acquired The Reaper's Glass and an untitled sequel by Lin Thompson (The Best Liars in Riverview; The House That Whispers). Pitched as Our Flag Means Death meets The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue, the queer/trans YA historical duology is about three teens who set sail to face down a secret magical society in 1840s New England. The first book is slated for spring 2025; Beth Phelan at Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency brokered the two-book deal for world rights.
June 10th
Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee (Feiwel and Friends) - moved from 2023, "A" removed from beginning of title.
A geeky overachiever determined to save the world through science and a troublemaking chosen one lashing out against her destiny meet and fall in love in a magical coffeeshop as their two very different universes begin to collide in Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe, C.B. Lee's fun, sapphic, cozy fantasy YA romance.
When Brenda’s internet goes out right before an important scholarship deadline, she stumbles right into Kat’s family’s coffeeshop. Brenda is swept away by cool, confident Kat, who actually cares about Brenda’s 19-step plan to save the world through science. Meanwhile, Kat can’t stop thinking about Brenda, who is smart, passionate, and doesn’t seem to care that Kat is the prophesized Chosen One.
The only problem? Kat and Brenda are from different universes. Like need-to-find-a-portal-to-go-on-a-second-date different universes.
As their universes collide and things spiral out of control, can a girl who is determined to save the world find love with a girl determined to outrun her destiny?
Always Be My Bibi by Priyanka Taslim (Simon and Schuster)
Clueless meets Jenna Evans Welch in this young adult rom-com about a spoiled American teenager who faces some major culture shock—and potential romance—when she jets off to Bangladesh for her sister’s wedding.
Bibi Hossain was supposed to get her first kiss this summer.
Too bad her father finds out and grounds her for breaking his most arcane rule: No boys until your sister gets married.
Just when Bibi thinks she’ll be stuck helping him at their popular fried chicken chain until school reopens, her oh-so-perfect older sister Halima drops a bombshell: she’s marrying the heir of a princely estate turned tea garden in Bangladesh. Soon, Bibi is hopping on the next flight to Sylhet for Halima’s Big Fat Bengali Wedding, hoping Abbu might even rethink the dating ban while they’re there.
Unfortunately, the stuffy Rahmans are a nightmare—especially Sohel, the groom’s younger brother. The only thing they can agree on is that their siblings are not a good match. But as the two scheme to break their siblings up, Bibi finds it impossible to stay away from the infuriatingly handsome boy.
Could her own happily ever after be brewing even as she stirs up trouble for her sister’s engagement—or is there more steeping at the tea estate than Bibi knows?
The Protégéé by Erica Ridley (Delacorte)
A working-class French girl would kill to become assistant to Paris's top modiste, but she must first seek vengeance against those responsible for the death of her family, in this thrilling historical horror from New York Times bestselling author Erica Ridley!
Eighteen-year-old Angélique dreams of designing extravagant gowns like the ladies in the bourgeoise wear to balls and soirées. Because she’s working-class, Angélique knows that her life will, instead, be spent dyeing silk for a living. That is, until her parents and younger sibling are killed in the sweatshop where they’ve toiled. Now orphaned, and with another sister to protect, Angélique vows vengeance against the factory owner growing richer by treating his employees as disposable.
To improve her station, Angélique takes a position as a junior seamstress for Paris's top modiste. Though she's bullied for being poor and her meager salary isn't enough to pay rent, she refuses to give in. Her sister and crush, a handsome, immigrant shoemaker, won’t allow it. Then the modiste proposes a contest to win the well-paid, coveted assistant position. Angélique would do anything to earn the career of her dreams. What’s a little arsenic between girls after all?
As Angélique outshines--and outlives--the competition, she also wields her newfound privilege and power to exact revenge on those who ruined her family and blossoms into a new Paris’s greatest protégée.
Meet Me on Love Street by Farah Heron (Simon and Schuster)
A teen tries to save her quickly gentrifying neighborhood—and make her cynical partner in festival-planning believe in love—in this opposites-attract romance perfect for fans of Lynn Painter and Sandhya Menon.
Sana Merali is a certified hopeless romantic.
It’s inevitable when she literally lives on Love Street, a cute side-street full of mom-and-pop shops and cozy apartments. With her florist mother, her part-time job at a vintage shop, and her adorably curated wardrobe, Sana knows she’s what meet-cutes are made of—and it’s only a matter of time until her own HEA.
When the neighborhood is threatened by new developments, however, her plans for love get pushed to the backburner as she and her neighbors rally to host a festival that will finally put the neighborhood on everyone’s radar. Because what better way to get people to fall in love with Love Street?
Unfortunately, Miles Desai is also on the planning committee. Miles is contrary, judgmental, and…anti-romance. His hard stance on love inspires Sana with another goal for the to matchmake Miles and knock the cynicism right out of him.
But as her set-up for Miles starts to actually work, Sana realizes that happily-ever-afters, for herself and for her street, aren’t that easy to come by.
Best Summer Ever by Jessica Cunsolo (Wattpad Books) - cover not yet updated on Goodreads.
Readers of YA contemporary romance as well as the perfect beach read, like books by Jenny Han, Sarah Dessen and Beth Reekles. Set in a glamorous lakeside house, it’s the perfect combination of enemies-to-lovers, family drama & female friendship.
Readers of YA contemporary romance as well as the perfect beach read like books by Jenny Han, Sarah Dessen and Beth Reekles. Set in a glamorous lakeside house, it’s the perfect combination of enemies-to-lovers, family drama & female friendship.
Jenna doesn’t like to appear out of control . . . ever. But when she learns her best friend has accepted a place at a university on the other side of the country, her father is moving to Vancouver and selling the family properties, and her cousin/BFF Olivia has decided to move in with her boyfriend, Jenna’s carefully constructed façade begins to crack. Everyone around her is making plans and moving on . . . except her.
Faced with losing everything that matters to her, Jenna decides to invite her friends to her family’s lake house and host a weeklong extravaganza before everyone goes their separate ways. So what if she doesn’t ask her dad first? It’ll be a party to make everyone remember what could go wrong?
As the week unfolds, secrets are uncovered, friendships are tested, and so are new and old romances. Nothing happens the way Jenna wants or planned. And by the end of their trip, both Jenna and Olivia discover that it’s impossible to be in control all the time (especially if feelings are involved) . . . and this summer will change everything.
We Can Never Leave by H.E. Edgmon (Wednesday Books) - description not yet updated on Goodreads.
Sweet Tooth meets The Raven Boys in this queer young adult contemporary fantasy about what it means to belong from H.E. Edgmon.
You can never go home…
Every day, all across the world, inhuman creatures are waking up with no memory of who they are or where they came from–and the Caravan exists to help them. The traveling community is made up of these very creatures and their families who’ve acclimated to this new existence by finding refuge in each other. That is, until the morning five teenage travelers wake to find their community has disappeared around them overnight.
Those left: a half-human who only just ran back to the Caravan with their tail between their legs, two brothers–one who can’t seem to stay out of trouble and the other who’s never been brave enough to get in it, a venomous girl with blood on her hands and a heart of gold, and the Caravan’s newest addition, a disquieting shadow in the shape of a boy. They’ll have to work together to figure out what happened the night of the disappearance, but each one of the forsaken five is white-knuckling their own secrets. And with each truth forced to light, it becomes clear this isn’t really about what happened to their people–it’s about what happened to them.
Lady or the Tiger by Heather M. Herrman (Nancy Paulsen Books) - moved from 2022.
A twisty, darkly seductive murder mystery, starring a teenage killer whose trial in the Wild West is upended when her first victim, her husband, arrives alive with a story to tell.
When nineteen-year-old Belle King turns herself in for murder, the last thing she expects to see is her abusive husband standing outside her Dodge City jail cell. He was the first man she ever meant to kill (but certainly not the last!). Somehow, though, her husband is there, hale and hearty, and very much not dead. With his arrival her plans in jail are jeopardized, and she’ll be forced to resort to all the tricks in her arsenal to prevent him from ever being in control of her again. But as a girl in the 1880s Wild West, the last thing anyone will believe is a woman—even when she confesses to her own crimes.
This story—of how Alice Springer, a mountain girl from Kentucky, became the infamous Belle King, of how she found the tiger in her heart, becoming the wickedest woman in the Wild West—is a love story that cuts through time and patriarchal ties.
City of Magic and Monsters by Estelle Laure (Disney Hyperion) - moved from November 2023.
In this conclusion to the City of Villains trilogy--blending flavors of Once Upon a Time, Gotham,
and Serena Valentino's Villains series--teen detective Mary Elizabeth
embraces her villainous side . . . and the Disney Villains' surprising
origin stories are revealed.The Villains have taken over Monarch City, and Mary Elizabeth Heart has finally joined them. When different factions begin vying for the control of magic, Mary must question where her loyalties lie--and what everyone's motives really are.
As the Villains band together to wage one last epic battle against the corrupt forces who made them villains in the first place, the very fabric of the world starts to unravel. It soon becomes clear that Mary can't hide from her demons, and that her real destiny as a fairy tale villain is only just beginning.A Girl Walks into the Forest by Madeline Roux (Quill Tree Books)
Midsommar meets The Shadows Between Us in this alluring mash-up of horror and fairy tale from New York Times bestselling author Madeleine Roux, where a girl must embark on a harrowing journey through a deadly forest filled with otherworldly creatures, supernatural forces, and one maniacal villain who will stop at nothing to bring her down.
For as long as she can remember, Valla’s been told her beauty would give her a life most people only dreamed of. So when the mysterious Count Leonid calls on her to be his betrothed, Valla jumps at the chance to leave her small, bleak village. The only thing standing in her way? The journey through the dangerous Gottyar Wood that many don’t survive.
Filled with deadly and cunning creatures, the Gottyar immediately delivers on its reputation with an attack that leaves Valla injured; her face torn to shreds. Barely making it to the castle in one piece, Valla is relieved to finally be safe. But things have changed. Valla’s face is no longer beautiful. And the Count is not happy…Valla thought making it through the Gottyar was a victory, but when she sees what awaits beyond the palace walls, the true battle begins.
In this ruthlessly female-forward narrative that borrows from the best of horror, fairy tales, and folklore, a chewed-up-and-spit-out heroine must lean on the brutality of nature and her biggest fears in order to win back what’s she's been robbed her life.
Solo Stan by Talia Tucker (Kokila)
From the author of Rules for Rule Breaking comes a queer YA romance about two solo concertgoers and unwitting seatmates who, when the show is abruptly cut short, embark on an unforgettable North Carolina summer night together, discovering how opposites can attract under the right circumstances.
Dakarai (Kai) Barbier was supposed to be at CYPHR's sold- out show with his best friends. Instead, he finds himself going solo, reeling from the news that they've decided to accelerate the next chapter of their lives, leaving him alone the summer after high school graduation.
Meanwhile, Elias Davis has just been sent from New York City to North Carolina to live with his uncle after a last-straw fistfight. Stuck in a town he doesn't want to be in, and without knowing a soul his own age, he buys a single ticket to CYPHR's Raleigh show.
When a sudden blackout ends the show early, forcing these unwitting seatmates back onto the streets of Raleigh, they are faced with a choice: get on the bus and head home or take a chance on each other. They might have arrived alone, but will they be leaving together?
Top Heavy by Rhonda DeChambeau (Holiday House) - YA novel in verse.
This heart-stopping debut novel in verse about a talented dancer struggling to give herself grace in the wake of an assault is a gut-wrenching masterpiece.
Fifteen-year-old Esme lives and breathes dance. She and her best friend, Mia, are happiest when they’re in the studio… sweating, stretching, soaring. And after a summer of nonstop practice, Esme and Mia earn coveted spots on the Elite dance team. Now that they’ve proven themselves to Miss Regina and the senior girls, it should be smooth sailing.
Except that Esme and Mia took the spots of two popular, well-liked dancers.
Except that Esme’s dad hasn’t been able to work for months, and her recital costume bill is overdue.
Except that a stranger touches Esme on the dance floor, touches the breasts that have always felt like giant targets.
After years of being oversexualized for her large chest, this is the violation that pushes Esme over the edge. Was it her fault? Could she have stopped it? Why can’t she just be different? Esme stumbles, off kilter and adrift from her loved ones, whose well-meaning positivity can’t possibly cut through her own vicious, critical self-image.
This dazzling, tour-de-force debut tackles friendship, first love, and sexual assault, along with the full emotional range of life as a teenage girl. Esme musters strength she didn’t know she had—and learns to lean on others after finding the right support. An unforgettable read, perfect for fans of Starfish and Speak.
Finding Prince Charming by Jamar J. Perry (Bloomsbury)
In this swoonworthy YA romance, an ordinary teenage boy finds himself accidentally fake dating a crown prince.
Tyriq Howell is swearing off of love. After a fight with his cheating ex leads to missing his college scholarship interview, he vows to be done with dating for good. Until Desmond, a boy who works in the scholarship office, approaches with a curious he'll get Tyriq another interview if he pretends to be Desmond's date to a fancy gala in two weeks.
When Tyriq shows up to the gala, he's shocked when photographers swarm him and Desmond. He's even more shocked when he finds out that Desmond is Prince Desmond of Catalina. And now that the whole world knows Desmond is gay, he's front page news.
When the King angrily summons Desmond and his new boyfriend to Catalina, Desmond begs Tyriq to play along. If his father realizes Desmond is serious about coming out, he might finally agree to let Desmond pass the crown to his sister instead. But navigating court politics and pretend relationships is harder than Tyriq imagined-especially when he realizes that he may have accidentally broken his swearing-off-of-love rule.
Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves (Simon and Schuster) - repackaging of a 2014 release.
Kit and Fancy Cordelle are sisters of the best kind: best friends, best confidantes, and best accomplices. The daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, Kit and Fancy are used to feeling like outsiders, and that's just the way they like it. But in Portero, where the weird and wild run rampant, the Cordelle sisters are hardly the oddest or most dangerous creatures around.
It's no surprise when Kit and Fancy start to give in to their deepest desire - the desire to kill. What starts as a fascination with slicing open and stitching up quickly spirals into a gratifying murder spree. Of course, the sisters aren't killing just anyone, only the people who truly deserve it. But the girls have learned from the mistakes of their father, and know that a shred of evidence could get them caught. So when Fancy stumbles upon a mysterious and invisible doorway to another world, she opens a door to endless possibilities.
Love, Misha by Jam Aden (First Second) - YA graphic novel.
In this stunning YA adventure, debut author Jam Aden weaves a story of family schism and reconciliation that effortlessly enriches the complex dynamics of mother and child.
Can this road trip get any worse?
Yes, Mom (Audrey) wanted to spend time with Misha. And yes, she’s never around and they don’t even live together, so this is a rare opportunity. But Audrey still thinks of Misha as her daughter, despite Misha being non-binary and trying to talk to her openly about it. Misha even tries to write how they feel in a letter, but that isn’t going well either.
Then a wrong turn down a forest road leads the mother-child duo straight into the Realm of Spirits! Suddenly in peril and without a clue how to return to their world, Misha and Audrey will have to work together to find their way back home. But can they find a way back to each other?
Breadcrumbs by Kasia Babis (First Second) - YA graphic memior.
A moving graphic memoir in the vein of Almost All American Girl and Persepolis, Breadcrumbs is a coming-of-age story set in Poland as the country transitions from communism to capitalism.
In the late 1980s, Poland faces debilitating food shortages, worker discontent, and astronomical inflation. Seemingly overnight, the country transitions from communism to capitalism. During this period of flux, Kasia Babis is born.
In the shadow of national change, Kasia experiences her own journey of growth, from rebellious teen to politically minded activist. She grapples with her country’s deep-rooted Catholicism and forges her own beliefs, leading to her becoming an active part of Poland’s left-wing Razem party. Each new experience is a reminder that broader societal upheavals reverberate on a deeply personal level.
With a deft balance of the intimate and geopolitical, Kasia Babis chronicles her fight to uphold her progressive values while her country heads in the opposite direction. Breadcrumbs is a coming-of-age story—not only of Kasia but of Poland as a modern state.
Amelia, If Only by Becky Albertalli (HarperCollins)
Amelia Applebaum isn’t in love with Walter Holland. He just happens to be her favorite moderately famous, chaotically bisexual YouTuber. Who she just happened to invite to prom. (But it’s fine. No, for real. If you delete the post, it didn’t happen.)
Okay, maybe her friends are right: She’s slightly parasocially infatuated. But Amelia just knows sparks would fly—if only she could connect with Walter for real.
If only he would host a meet and greet.
If only it were just a short road trip away.
And if only Amelia could talk her best friends into making it the perfect last hurrah before graduation—even her newly single, always-cynical, guitar-toting best friend Natalie.
One thing’s for sure: All roads lead to butterflies.
But what if Amelia’s butterflies aren’t for Walter at all?
The Complex Art of Being Maisie Clark by Sabrina Kleckner (Flux)
All eighteen-year-old Maisie Clark wants to do is leave her tiny town in upstate New York. Crescent Valley is home to Glenna’s, the family-run portrait shop she loves more than anything. But after years of imitating her dad’s artistic style, Maisie fears she will never find her own voice. So, she comes up with a plan: quit working at Glenna’s, go to art school in London, and, most importantly, stop painting portraits. If she can’t find her voice by the end of the year, she’ll give up art entirely.
Unfortunately, pushing outside her comfort zone is (surprise!) uncomfortable. Maisie struggles to connect with her eccentric new flatmates, feels farther away from her best friend than ever, and hates every art course she signed up for—especially photography, where her talented but prickly partner, Eli, is not afraid to point out her every mistake on their semester-long project. Maisie is already questioning all her life choices when a crime strikes Glenna’s, reopening old family wounds she thought she’d long healed from. It’ll take even more discomfort, as well as help from Eli, her older brother, Calum, and his earnest boyfriend, Benji, to confront the layers she’s painted over the past. But maybe, just maybe, the keys to finding herself lie closer to home than she realized.
Emiko by Chieri Uegaki (Tundra Books)
A sweet and savory YA romance, this modern-day Japanese-Canadian twist on Emma is just the recipe for fans of Jenny Han, Jane Austen and Gilmore Girls. A busybody foodie avoids questions of her own future as she meddles in the love lives of those around her. Has this matcha-maker met her match?
Self-declared matchmaking GENIUS Emiko Kimori has already found success by helping her aunt find true love, so when the new girl in town becomes her new BFF, it's only natural for Emiko to help set her up for social success with a suitable love match.
Emiko lives with her Ojiichan in a small town on BC's West Coast surrounded by friends and neighbors, including her childhood friend Kenzo Sanada, who wants her to spend less time meddling in every else’s love lives. But Emiko can so clearly see who belongs together, even when her targets don't know it themselves. She simply has to meddle — for the sake of true love!
As for her own romantic life though...who has time for that? Emiko is far too busy with her matchmaking schemes, her brunch recipes, volunteering, her bustling social life, keeping up her grades, eating said brunch recipes and making plans for after graduation. Plans she will absolutely decide on soon. Definitely. Maybe? But when Emiko ends up falling for the very last person she expects, she finds herself caught in the tangled web of her own love matches. For the first time, instead of arranging from afar, Emiko has to figure out what it means to be in love herself, and that friendship and romance are more complicated than she ever imagined...
June 17th
Rewind to Us by Molly Morris (Wednesday Books) - description not yet updated on Goodreads.
Dixie Mulligan only has one plan for her annual California vacation this summer – to tell her best friend Sawyer that she’s in love with him.
It doesn’t matter that things between them technically fell apart over spring break, and they haven’t spoken since – until Dixie arrives and realizes Sawyer has moved on (a fact made very apparent when she sees him kissing, um, someone else).
Luckily, Dixie and her family have each been gifted with a Rewind. All Dixie has to do is go back and redo the moment she thinks doomed hers and Sawyer’s relationship before it even began.
But when family secrets start pouring out, Dixie’s not so sure even her Rewind will be enough to save what she and Sawyer had. Is the damage already done, or can she turn back the clock and give them one more chance?
The Blood Phoenix by Amber Chen (Viking) - details not yet updated on Goodreads.
The sequel to Of Jade and Dragons, a thrilling and epic silkpunk fantasy inspired by the legendary Qing dynasty. Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Lim and Xiran Jay Zhao.
Two years after Ying leaves the Engineer’s Guild and the ghost of her father’s unjust death behind, life seems to regain a semblance of normalcy. But the winds of unrest continue to stir within the Nine Isles, and the aftermath of a horrific pirate attack by the mysterious Blood Phoenix fleet forces Ying back into the tense political world of the new High Commander, Ye-yang. And soon, Ying, Ye-yang and her former friends from the guild must work together to find a way to outsmart the cunning pirates who terrorise the straits—and the elusive mastermind who’s controlling them.
Meanwhile, Ying’s sister, Nian, now lives in the capital, awaiting the day she will finally marry the High Commander. While her relationship with Ye-yang remains distant, she finds company in her friendship with the fourteenth prince, Ye-kan, and discovers her unexpected affinity for governance and strategy. But the capital is more dangerous than she expects, and when a dark conspiracy arises, Nian and Ye-kan must unravel the mystery in time to prevent the High Command from collapsing from within.
New dangers arise at every moment, threatening to tear the Nine Isles apart. In order to sail through this storm, Ying and her loved ones must make difficult choices amidst terrible betrayals. With the world on the brink of destruction, will they find a way to defeat their enemies and survive? And will it be worth the cost?
The Grove by Brooks Whitney Phillips (Viking)
In this tender coming-of-age novel set in the socioeconomic tinderbox of the 1960s, two sisters in a struggling and damaged family only have each other to rely on . . . until an ugly secret tears them apart and threatens the cause of justice in their small town.
Fifteen-year-old Pip and seventeen-year-old Sissy aren't just sisters, they're best friends. Every year, they wait eagerly for the traveling carnival to put its stakes down in their tiny Florida town. It's the only time when the girls can abandon their endless chores on the family's orange grove and give in to pure joy. And the only time Pip and Sissy can forget their many troubles . . . living on the brink of poverty, Mama's despair, and Daddy's perpetual anger.
With the arrival of the carnival, the girls’ slow, small lives suddenly feels bigger and brighter. But this year, something is different. Once the carnival leaves, with the charming young sword-swallower with it, Sissy grows increasingly distant from Pip and is soon no more than a stranger in their house. Pip grows closer to her friend Silas as a result, but when Sissy's shocking secret is revealed, the three unwittingly find themselves in a desperate situation that will change them all forever. In the land of the sweetest fruits, Pip must find her way through the soured hopes and bitter regrets of her family to finally break free of the grove.
Set against the class and economic tensions of early 1960s America, this stark yet hopeful novel tells a compelling story about the inescapable bonds of sisterhood and the lies we tell ourselves to survive.
If We Survive This by Racquel Marie (Feiwel and Friends)
The Walking Dead meets Yellowjackets in If We Survive This, a tense and emotional young adult horror novel from award-winning author Racquel Marie about a teen girl leading a group of survivors on a perilous journey during the apocalypse.
Flora is not the girl who survives. A colorful creative who spends as much time fearing death as she does trying to hide that fear from her loved ones, she’s always considered herself weak. But half a year into the global outbreak of a rabies mutation that transforms people into violent, zombie-like “rabids,” she and her older brother Cain are still alive. With their mom dead, dad missing, and LA suburb left desolate, they form a new plan: The secluded Northern California cabin they vacationed in growing up is their best chance at a safe haven, and maybe even seeing their dad again.
The dangers of the world have changed, but so has Flora. Still, their journey up the state is complicated by encounters with familiar faces, new allies, hidden truths, and painful memories of the final time her family made this same trip the previous year. And for Flora, one thing inevitably remains: no matter how far you run, death is never far behind.
The Unexpected Consequence of Bleeding on a Tuesday by Kelsey B. Toney (Crown)
Delia Bridges is striving to become the compassionate doctor she's been unable to find in her journey to diagnose her excruciating period pain--but when a single rule-breaking incident jeopardizes her future, she must find a way to reclaim her dreams in this funny, period-positive novel.
High school senior Delia Bridges has the most amazing mom and sister, a killer GPA--and periods that are so painful they make her scream, pass out, and throw up. Though she doesn't know it yet, Delia has endometriosis, an affliction plaguing millions of people that is notoriously difficult to diagnose.
Pain makes everything harder, but Delia is just one semester away from graduating from Stockwood Prep and pursuing her dream of become the kind of doctor she's never one who takes her symptoms seriously. But when she breaks a rule for the first time ever and is caught using marijuana at school to manage her pain, Delia is expelled.
Her expulsion jeopardizes her college acceptance, her planned mentorship, and everything she had carefully planned for years. Without her academic success and no closer to a diagnosis, is Delia anything more than her period?
All Paths Lead to Paris by Sabrina Fedel (Delacorte)
When a fashion influencer with a luxe Parisian life and a fake musician boyfriend meets a “normal” guy and begins to date him on the sly, she must rethink all of her lies—and consider whether they might have a little too much truth in them.
Seventeen-year-old Aurie McGinley lives an envied life as a fashion influencer in Paris, sharing a manager with, and fake dating up-and-coming musical god Remy St. Julien. Girls throw themselves at Remy, but he’s always just been her best friend. She doesn’t have time for a real boyfriend.
Until she bumps into normal guy, Kylian, while fleeing paparazzi. Kylian is the type of guy her mother wants her to date. In fact, her family would rather she focus on school and getting into an elite college than showcasing the latest runway haute couture. Aurie begins to think Kylian is the guy for her, too.
She’s fake dating one guy, while actually dating another—all while keeping up a constant, live video diary. But then a fake kiss with Remy turns steamy and her head is scrambled. Could her best friend really be the one for her? Aurie must tune out everyone else’s expectations to focus on herself and discover what she really wants.
You've Awoken Her by Ann Dávila Cardinal (HarperCollins)
Fans of You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight and Your Lonely Nights Are Over will love this thrilling YA horror about a string of disappearances and "accidental" drownings in the Hamptons, the changing relationship between two best friends, and their desperate attempt to not be the next victims of a Lovecraftian monster terrorizing the coastline.
All Gabi wants is to spend the summer in his room, surrounded by his Funkos and books, but with his mom traveling, his bags are packed for the last place he wants to visit—the Hamptons. Staying with his best friend should have him willing to peek out of his cave, but ever since Ruth’s nouveau riche family moved, their friendship has been off.
Surrounded by mansions, country clubs, and Ruth’s new boyfriend, Frost Thurston—the axis that Hampton society orbits around—it doesn’t take long for Gabi to feel completely out of place. But when he witnesses a woman being pulled under the ocean water, and no one—not the police or anyone else in the Hamptons—seems to care, Gabi starts to wonder if maybe the beachside town’s bad vibes are more real than he thought.
As the “accidental” deaths and drownings begin to climb, Gabi knows he’ll need proof to convince Ruth they’re all in danger. And while the Thurston family name keeps rising to the top, along with every fresh body, what’s worst is that all the signs point to something lurking beneath the water—something with tentacles and a thirst for blood. Can Gabi figure out how the two are intertwined and put an end to the string of deaths…before becoming the water’s next victim?
The Tournament by Rebecca Barrow (Margaret K. McElderry Books)
They Wish They Were Us meets Nothing Left to Tell in this young adult thriller about three girls with entangled pasts who compete for glory in their private school’s annual tournament, putting their survival skills and their relationships to the test.
Gardner isn’t like other boarding schools. They take in those who’ve been rejected everywhere else, they offer a survival skills class that has students killing and gutting animals, and then there’s the Tournament.
A competition available only to seven elite seniors, the Tournament is revered by the entire student body. They’d do almost anything—including completing a series of grueling physical challenges—to win the champion’s cup.
And this year, three seniors make the Tournament more cutthroat than ever.
Max, the ruthless scholarship student who can’t afford any distractions, not even her ex best friend Nora’s stupid confession of love at the end of last year that ruined everything between them.
Nora, who always put herself on the sidelines so Max could have everything she wanted, but might just be ready for center stage now that Max has brutally excised herself from Nora’s life.
And Teddy, the transfer who’s on her last chance and will chase any high that can pull her back from the gaping, dark void inside herself that’s always threatening to pull her in.
If one of them wants to win, then they can’t let anything—or anybody—get in their way.
Lou with the Band by Alexandra Leigh Young (Walker Books US) - details not yet updated on Goodreads.
From the acclaimed author of the delicious Idol Gossip comes a new music-themed novel with an irresistible backbeat and a thoughtful read on friendship and identity.
When Lou enlists her best friend, Molly, to shave her head, it’s partly so she doesn’t have to deal with washing her hair all the time while on tour—and partly because she’s ready to be a new person. No stranger to reinventing herself, restless Lou is a Cuban-American girl who’s never left Texas, let alone the country. But the “New Lou” has deferred her first semester at Texas State to work for a celebrity musician on tour. She’s bound for China, Japan, half of Europe, and everywhere in between, though it means getting intimately acquainted with the band’s dirty laundry. Even with her road crew uncle on alert, it will be the summer of a lifetime, full of underground parties, disco spas, and gelato. When Lou falls for a tattooed guitar prodigy who makes her feel achingly alive, it doesn’t cross her mind to doubt him or—as life on the road tightens its hold—her course.
Will Molly know her when she returns, if she returns? Who is the “New Lou” really? Pulsing with energy and authentic detail, this story of self-discovery ushers readers backstage on a sensational world tour.
Goodbye My Princess by Fei Wo Si Cun (Simon and Schuster) - originally published in Chinese.
The only thing more dangerous than a king is his heir in this first English translation of the romantic tragedy that inspired the popular TV series from one of China’s best-known authors of heartbreak—perfect for readers of Captive Prince and Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation.
There is no room for love in an empire.
Qu Xiaofeng has been living in Shangjing for three years now. A naïve, happy-go-lucky treaty bride from the desert kingdom of Xiliang, she has everything she could ever want as the crown princess of the Li Empire—everything except the crown prince’s heart.
Because Li Chengyin is a heartless boy. Cruel, jealous, and ruthless, he has given his adolescence to the cutthroat contention for the throne and, now that he is the heir presumptive, largely ignores his bride in favor of the girl he seems to really love.
Xiaofeng doesn’t mind…much. It leaves her more time to sneak out of the manor to go drinking and riding in the streets, living just the way she wants to. But one day another boy shows up, claiming to be a sweetheart from a life she can’t remember having lived. As Xiaofeng puzzles out the tangled threads of her past and her complicated feelings about the enigmatic, distant husband she loves and hates in equal measure, what she doesn’t realize is that she’s setting a course straight to tragedy.
Because the only place more dangerous than the palace is the crown prince’s court, the only thing harder to be than a king is his heir, and the path to the throne is paved with blood. Power will always have its price—the only question is if Xiaofeng will survive long enough to pay.
America's Not-So Sweetheart by Blair Hanson (Page Street)
Alec Braud is the most hated teen in America after winning Campfire Wars by backstabbing his showmance, Joaquin Yasuda. So when Joaquin asks Alec to join him on a road trip in order to “queerify” classic movie kisses for an art project, Alec agrees in the hopes it might make get them back together and convince the world he’s not a bad guy IRL..
Alec spends the trip reading into Joaquin’s flirty behavior and things get even more complicated when Alec is invited to return to the next season of Campfire Wars. He’s been trying to prove to everyone (and Joaquin) that he’s not actually the worst. But Alec is torn again between a second chance with Joaquin and cold hard cash.
Can he turn down the chance to return to the small screen for what only might be love?
June 24th
That Kind of Girl by Natalie C. Anderson (Nancy Paulsen Books)
In this gripping YA thriller perfect for fans of Jessica Goodman and Amber Smith, two girls from opposite worlds play a dangerous game of cat and mouse when a rich classmate is murdered and they’re both prime suspects. The race is on to find out which one is a killer.
Sixteen-year-old amateur sleuth Roxie is shrewd, nimble, cunning, and only a little bit damaged. She also has a real knack for finding things, making her the perfect go-to detective for her rich classmates at St. Margaret when they’re looking to retrieve the things they’ve “lost”— no questions asked. So when queen bee Kirsten Montgomery-Wiggins pays Roxie a hefty sum to track down a mysterious blonde who “stole” her phone, Roxie accepts. Although Kirsten is a bully and she and Roxie have bad blood between them, Roxie could really use the cash. But that same night, Roxie finds Kirsten murdered in her mansion, and police zero in on her as a prime suspect.
On the outskirts of town in a trailer park, Inez, a part-time maid and part-time sex-worker, keeps finding blood everywhere. Crusted in her earring, threaded into her shoelace. She should really toss her shoes so there’s nothing to tie her to the body, but these shoes cost her a few “favors” and several hours of cleaning houses. How could the night have gone so wrong? She really thought she was working her way to a better life, but now she could be headed to jail if the wrong someone puts two and two together.
Roxie doesn’t know who she’s looking for and Inez doesn’t know who she’s hiding from. But all roads seem to lead to Montgomery House, as Roxie works to clear her own name and Inez attempts to stay one step ahead of the law and the men who hurt her.
Embrace the Serpent by Sunya Mara (HarperTeen)
In this sweeping romantic fantasy, a dangerous deal binds a young jeweler's apprentice to the mysterious Serpent King in a marriage of convenience, thrusting her into a deadly game between the cunning, fearsome ruler and his rebellious huntsman. Perfect for fans of The Wrath & the Dawn and Once Upon a Broken Heart!
The Serpent King has come to find his bride, and with his arrival festivities sweep through the city. Inside and outside the Rose Palace await women from across the six kingdoms determined to become his new bride-to-be—all except for eighteen-year-old Saphira.
After escaping life as a palace ward under the cruel djinn Lady Incarnadine, Saphira now works as the apprentice to the unscrupulous jewelsmith Galen. Out of fear of being discovered, she hides her rare gift for harnessing the magic in gemstones and lets Galen take credit for her craft.
But when Galen makes a boast that ruffles the court, Lady Incarnadine punishes him with an impossible task—one that threatens to drag Saphira back into Incarnadine’s grasp. Desperate to avoid this fate, Saphira strikes a dangerous deal with Rane, the enigmatic huntsman sent by the Serpent King to find the best jewelsmith in the empire.
Rane promises that if Saphira crafts a mysterious piece for his master, the Serpent King will grant her a new identity and freedom. But when their plans go awry and the only way out is to marry the Serpent King, Saphira becomes entangled in the dangerous affairs of kingdoms and empires—caught between the cunning, handsome Rane and her cold, serpentine husband.
Heiress Among Thieves by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka (Little, Brown)
Stealing from her rich family was supposed to be a fun winter getaway for teen mastermind Olivia Owens, but when a rival thief, a love triangle, and a murder suspect interfere, she’ll have to decide how far she’s willing to go for the vault full of gold—and for the boy she loves.
When teen heiress and heist leader Olivia Owens receives an invitation for her cold-hearted grandmother’s seventieth birthday at the family’s inherited Swiss castle, only one thing entices her to the vault full of gold waiting in the castle’s frigid dungeons. Assembling her old crew of high school criminals, now including her boyfriend Jackson, Olivia feels more prepared than ever for grand theft.
But not everything is what it seems when they arrive. For starters, the reunion turns out to be less of a party and more of a wake. Her grandmother announces that she’s dying … and plans to be buried with her fortune. Suddenly the entire greedy Owens clan turns their eyes toward Olivia’s target. It’s hard enough to steal something everyone’s looking at, but an old backstabber, a new suitor, and an uninvited guest add fuel to the fire until Olivia is desperately trying to hold the pieces of her plan—and her crew—together.
As Olivia faces her family’s dark legacy of deceit, grift, and maybe even murder, she's forced to weigh how deeply she loves Jackson with how her love might destroy him. She didn’t choose her family, but now she has to choose—who she loves, who she trusts, and who she’s willing to risk to get what she wants. In a family of thieves, this might cost her everything.
Among Ghosts by Rachel Hartman (Random House)
Set in the world of New York Times bestseller Seraphina, a boy on the run from a dragon — among other dangers — seeks refuge in a haunted abbey in this wholly original YA ghost story about what haunts us, and what connects us.
A few things to know about the town of St. Muckle' It's too out-of-the-way to interest greedy lords, and too damp and muddy for marauding dragons to burn. And anyone, from a humble serf to a runaway nun, may earn their freedom by living for a year and a day within the town walls. Seven years ago, Charl and his mother fled to St. Muckle's and made it their safe-haven, building a new life in this so-called Peasant's Paradise. But when Charl sees something impossible — a ghost — soon the embers of his past are threatening to engulf his world in flames. A tragic accident is quickly followed by murder, a deadly plague, and a mercenary dragon.
Charl manages to escape to an abandoned abbey outside of town, but finds no safety within those ruined walls. A treacherous nun, a chorus of murdered girls, and the fearsome Battle Bishop await, ready to ensnare him in a complex web of history, magic, and fate. For some things should never be forgotten, however much they haunt us, and Charl will need all his wisdom and resiliency if he is to fight for the world he knows... and the people he calls home.
Tell Me Every Lie by Ellen Hagan and David Flores (Bloomsbury)
This is the kind of love story that starts with a lie.
John Paul Reyes wants to escape the worst truths in his life-other people's pity since his dad died, and everyone else's expectations about what he should do with his life now that he's graduated high school. When he arrives at the Majestic Mountain resort with his Tita Abrigo's wealthy family, he sees a way to escape-he can be JP Abrigo, rich and set, and he can lie his way to feeling fine.
Mia Malik is trapped in this town, working hard at the resort, trying to escape her broken family and to make her way to the prestigious art program she was accepted into. She's desperate to afford her way there, and she's sick of the privileged guests who have the whole world open to them, who don't really even see her.
But then another staffer dares Mia to make one of the guests fall for her. If she can, she'll collect enough money to get out. Mia knows this is dangerously against the rules, and doesn't even want to pretend to like an entitled rich kid, but then she meets JP. Lying to him starts off easy, but then there's more to him than she expected. And the way JP feels about Mia? So real. As their week together runs out, Mia and JP will have to dig themselves out from the lies they tell to see if there's any truth in the feelings they have for each other.
A moving, layered young adult novel in two voices about finding truth in the lies we tell ourselves.
Tempest by K. Ibura (Quill Tree Books) - moved from June 2024, and from September 2026.
After her mother passed away in Hurricane Katrina, Veronique moved to her mawmaw’s house in the Louisiana countryside. Mawmaw always said that Veronique needed to hide her power over the wind, but one day, she has to use it to save a neighbor’s son from drowning. To protect Veronique, her mawmaw immediately sends her to live with her aunt in New Orleans.
NOLA is nothing like Veronique could have imagined—she’s finally attending traditional school, she gets to bond with cousins that she’s never met, and she even rides on her first highway. Though she quickly falls in with a group of friends at school—and one boy that she’d like to be more than her friend—there’s also a higher risk of discovery in the city. When one of her cousins’ friends figures out the truth, V learns about a secret organization called the Vaunted that comes after people with elemental magic.
The Vaunted is closing in, and V will be forced on the run to hide from their sinister intentions. V’s left with two major questions: Can she trust anyone? And will she ever get a chance to be a normal girl again?
Kill the Lax Bro by Charlotte Lillie Balogh (Delacorte)
A fresh and darkly funny 90s murder mystery about one high school's net of lies that begin to unravel when a star lacrosse player winds up dead.
The night before graduation, all of Lexington High celebrates at their school’s annual senior lock-in. But what starts out as a fun night turns horribly wrong when a body is found and it is revealed that the victim is none other than Troy Edwards, the school's star lacrosse player.
Everyone is acting totally clueless. There’s Jennifer (the dream girl), Lydia (the geek), Sas (the overachiever), and Tatum (the rebel). At a glance, it seems like they couldn’t be more unalike except for the fact that they all hated Troy (the lax bro)...but who wanted him dead?
From debut author Charlotte Lillie Balough comes a pitch-black, hilarious take on high school stereotypes including the boys we love and love to lax bros.
Arcana: The Lost Heirs by Sam Prentice (Feiwel and Friends) - YA graphic novel, description not yet updated on Goodreads.
Debut author/illustrator Sam Prentice-Jones explores fighting against your destiny and reconciling the actions of your ancestors in Arcana: The Lost Heirs, a tarot-inspired fantasy graphic novel for young adults.
James, Daphne, Koko, and Sonny have all grown up surrounded by magic in the Arcana, an organization of witches that protects the magical world, run by the mysterious and secretive Majors. Eli Jones, however, didn’t even know other witches existed . . . until he stumbled into James. As James introduces Eli to the world of the Arcana, he finds the family he never had, and a blossoming romance with James.
The five new friends soon realize that sinister things are afoot and everything may not be what it seems at the Arcana. When the group delves deeper into the mystery surrounding the deaths of their parents and the Major’s rise to power, they discover that they’re at the center of a curse - one they’ve just unwittingly set into motion. As the friends search for answers, they’ll have to confront the cursed legacy.
Feathervein by Tonya Hurley (Feiwel and Friends) - release date moved several times, last moved from June 2024.
Wren, a lonely girl with a gift for communicating with birds. She leaves behind a fractured family to investigate her mother's mysterious disappearance on a birding expedition in the Louisiana bayous, and enters a world steeped in folk magic.
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