The Champions by Kara Thomas (Delacorte)
When a mysterious accident befalls a member of the all-star high school football team, the town's deadly history stands to repeat itself—and the price of discovering the truth is higher than anyone could imagine.
It was the deaths of five cheerleaders that made the town of Sunnybrook infamous. Eleven years later, the girls' killer has been brought to justice, and the town just wants to move on. By the time Hadley moves to Sunnybrook, though, the locals are more interested in the Tigers, the high school's championship-winning football team. The Tigers are Sunnybrook’s homegrown heroes--something positive in a town with so much darkness in its past.
Hadley could care less about football, but shortly after she gets assigned to cover the team's latest championship bid for the school newspaper, one of the Tigers is poisoned at a party, and almost immediately after, Hadley starts getting strange emails warning her to stay far away from the football team.It's becoming clear Sunnybrook's golden boys have secrets, and after a second player is mysteriously killed, Hadley’s beginning to suspect that someone wants the team to pay for their sins. Or does this new target on the football team have something to do with what happened to the cheerleaders all those years ago?
As an outsider in Sunnybrook, Hadley feels like she's the only one who can see the present clearly, but it looks like she’s going to have to dig up the darkness of the past to get to the bottom of what’s happening now. Luckily, there are still some Sunnybrook High grads who never left--people who were around eleven years ago—and if she can just convince them to talk, she might be able stop a killer before another Tiger dies.
The Dark Becomes Her by Judy I. Lin (Rick Riordan Presents)
Ruby Chen has always played the part of the dutiful eldest daughter: excelling in school; excelling in piano lessons; excelling at keeping her younger sister, Tina, focused on extracurriculars meant to impress college admissions officers.
But when a ghost from the spirit world attacks the sisters in the middle of Vancouver’s Chinatown neighborhood, Ruby’s life is plunged into a darkness that no amount of duty can free her from. Overnight, Ruby’s sister seems to change. There are strange noises coming from her bedroom at all hours; and the once sweet, funny Tina has been replaced by something dark and unnatural.
As Ruby races to save her sister from demonic possession, she is thrown into an ancient battle over the gateway to the underworld. On one side, an evil traveling temple known for making dark wishes come true has returned to Chinatown after many years—intent on breaking down the gateway and unleashing the evil within. On the other side, the guardians who must stop them.
And in order to survive, Ruby must not only face the horror taking over her community, but must also confront the horror within herself.
Chinese and Taiwanese mythology get the Junji Ito treatment in this bone-chilling, propulsive story that takes the horrors of the Asian diaspora experience to a whole new level.
Make My Wish Come True by Rachel Lippincott and Alyson Derrick (Simon and Schuster) - moved from September 2024.
Hollywood teen actor Arden James' messy reputation is interfering with her career when a notoriously picky director won't give her a role based on her party-girl image. So she and her publicist make up a lie – not only is she from a small town (true) but her childhood best friend Caroline, is her long-term girlfriend (false) and she can prove it when she goes home for Christmas.
Caroline Beckett hasn't thought about her ex-best friend Arden James for years, focusing instead on her dreams about becoming a journalist. When Arden turns up on her doorstep and promises her an article in Cosmopolitan magazine on their twelve snow-covered romantic days together, Caroline agrees to play along.
But when old feelings start to bubble up, what will fall faster – Arden and Caroline or the Christmas Eve snow?
A gorgeous, heartwarming cosy romance - perfect for the holidays!
Killer House Party by Lily Anderson (Henry Holt)
Red Solo cups? Check. Snacks? Check. Abandoned mansion full of countless horrors that won’t let you leave? Check.
The Deinhart Manor has been a looming shadow over town for as long as anyone can remember, and it's been abandoned for even longer. When the final Deinhart descendent passes, the huge gothic manor is up for sale for the first time ever. Which means Arden can steal the keys from her mom’s real estate office...It’s time for a graduation party that no one will ever forget.
Arden and her best friends Maddy, Remi, and Shane, each have different reasons for wanting to throw the party to end all parties. But when the manor doors bar everyone inside and the walls begin to bleed, all anyone wants to do is make it out alive.
The Magic You Make by Jason June (Melissa De La Cruz Studio)
In this propulsive sequel to The Spells We Cast, sunshine/grump soulmates Nigel and Ori must overcome magical corruption and an evil force inside Nigel.
Still reeling from their deadly encounter with the Knife and the revelation that the Culling was unnecessary, soulmates Nigel and Ori have been thrust into a resistance movement overnight.
They’ll do whatever it takes to end the tradition of greedy elites taking power from teen magicians. But with Alister rallying the Guild against them, a mysterious spell erasing the memories of every ally they recruit, and a dark force threatening to take control of Nigel, the road ahead is treacherous. Can Nigel and Ori’s newfound love protect them as they fight for justice—and their lives?
The action-packed follow-up to The Spells We Cast will make readers laugh, swoon, cheer, and hold their breath right down to the stunning conclusion.
Prince of Glass and Midnight by Linsey Miller (Disney Hyperion)
Ever
since the death of his mother, Prince August of Charmant has sworn off
love. Now with only a few months until he inherits the throne, August is
unable to delay conversations of marriage any longer. But news of a
magical memory curse plaguing a nearby village—the same village he used
to spend his summers with his mother—offers August a reprieve. He
convinces his father to give him one week to lead the royal
investigation before returning to the palace for good. Despite feeling
relief, August dreads confronting his own bittersweet memories of the
village, his mother, and Ella, the childhood friend he hasn’t spoken to
in nearly six years. But maybe the best person to help him restore the
town’s memories is the girl he hasn’t been able to forget.
Once
reunited, August is surprised to see how Ella has changed. While she’s
still beautiful and clever, she’s more reserved and possibly keeping
secrets of her own—a fact August finds increasingly hard to ignore.
Together they investigate the origins of the magic impacting the town,
but with more and more people forgetting their true loves, their
rekindled friendship places them in more danger than they could have
imagined. With time ticking down to his return to the castle, August
must grapple with his growing feelings for Ella and solve the mystery
before it’s too late.
When the clock strikes midnight, the fate of the kingdom may just rely on finding the owner of a lost glass slipper…
No Rules Tonight by Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada (Penguin Workshop) - YA graphic novel.
It's time for the annual winter camp at Anjeon University. A full weekend, deep in the mountains, with no parental supervision. But this is no ordinary getaway. It is 1980s South Korea, where political tensions are high and curfew is strict. Luckily, it’s the only night of the year when Koreans have no curfew, no obligations, and no rules. Christmas Eve.
In the snowy mountains, everyone has a different plan for their one night of freedom. Hyun Sook is trying to restart her banned book club but has to hide from a boy she suspects of being a spy. Taehee and Kiwoo are trying to build up the nerve to confess their feelings for one another, while Sujji pines after her crush, ready to risk it all and finally tell someone the secret she’s been hiding for her entire life.
Acclaimed creators Kim Hyun Sook and Ryan Estrada deliver a cinematic, hilarious, and heartfelt story about the universality of growing up, making friends, and falling in love.
Some Like It Cold by Elle McNicoll (Wednesday Books) - moved from October 4th.
Jasper Montgomery is heading home for the holidays and keeping secrets. Determined to return to her small town home one last time before leaving for good, Jasper doesn’t bank on accidentally ruining her sister's engagement - or bumping into her teen adversary, budding filmmaker Arthur Lancaster.
Jasper came back to Lake Pristine for one to say goodbye. But during the holidays, old relationships come to light, small-town tensions rise, and a certain brooding film buff starts to look like a very big reason to stay. Can Jasper decide what she wants from Arthur, and from Lake Pristine, before she leaves them both forever?
Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter (Simon and Schuster) - moved from September 2024.
For a few beautiful months, Wes had his dream girl: strong-willed girl-next-door Liz. But right as the two were about to set off to UCLA to start their freshman year together, tragedy struck. Wes was left dealing with the fallout, which ultimately meant losing Liz in the process.
Flash forward months and months later and Wes and Liz find themselves in college, together. In a healthier place now, Wes knows he broke Liz’s heart when he ended things, but he is determined to make her fall back in love with him.
Wes knows Liz better than anyone, and he has a foolproof plan to win her back with the rom-com worthy big gestures she loves. Only…Liz will have none of it. Wes has to scheme like a rom-com hero to figure out how to see her. Even worse, Liz has a new friend…a guy friend.
Still, Wes won’t give up, adapting his clever plans and going hard to get Liz’s attention and win back her affection. But after his best efforts get him nowhere, Wes is left wondering if their relationship is really over for good.
Heir by Sabaa Tahir (G.P. Putnam and Sons)
An orphan.
An outcast.
A prince.
And a killer who will bring an empire to its knees.
Growing up in the Kegari slums, AIZ has seen her share of suffering. An old tragedy fuels her need for vengeance, but it is love of her people that propels her. Until one hot-headed mistake lands her in an inescapable prison, where the embers of her wrath ignite.
Banished from her tribe for an unforgiveable crime, SIRSHA is a down-on-her-luck tracker who speaks to the earth, air, and water to trace her marks. Destitute, she agrees to hunt down a killer who has murdered children across the Empire. All she has to do is carry out the job and get paid. But then, she falls for a charismatic and inconvenient fugitive who keeps getting in her way.
QUIL is the crown prince of the Empire, nephew of a famed and venerated empress, but he’s loathe to pick up the mantle when his aunt steps down. As the son of the most hated emperor in the history of his people, he, better than anyone, understands that power corrupts. When a vicious new enemy threatens the survival of the Empire, Quil must ask himself if he can rise above his tragic lineage and be the heir his people need.
Beloved storyteller Sabaa Tahir masterfully interweaves the lives of three young people as they grapple with the burdens of power, the treachery of love and the devastating consequences of unchecked greed. Get ready for a dark and breathless journey that will captivate readers and that may cost these young people their lives―and their hearts. Literally.
Inheritance of Scars by Crystal Seitz (Margaret K. McElderry Books) - not yet added to Goodreads
Never go beyond the stave church.
Within Tiveden Forest, bloodthirsty monsters known as draugr lurk behind every tree, and secrets run through the soil like twisted roots. When her grandmother vanishes into the forest, Astrid won’t let Crohn’s disease get in the way of finding her. But in searching for her lost loved one, Astrid soon uncovers an even greater conflict that’s haunted her village and family for generations. An ancient blood oath her ancestor made to protect them. A deadly draugr imprisoned for centuries…who Astrid accidentally awakens.
Newly revived, Soren first mistakes Astrid for her ancestor, his ex-lover turned enemy. Astrid can’t tell if he would rather kill her or kiss her. But Soren knows the forest better than anyone, and Astrid quickly realizes that she’ll need his help to rescue her grandmother. The deeper they venture into Tiveden, the closer Astrid gets to the cold, alluring Soren and the truth behind her grandmother’s disappearance. To save her home, a dark ritual must be performed before Midwinter—and only Astrid can fulfill her ancestor’s blood oath…or break it. That is, if Soren—or the forest—doesn’t break Astrid first
Ros Demir Is Not the One by Leyla Brittan (Holiday House)
Sixteen-year-old Ros is a go-getter. When she wants something, she makes sure she gets it.
But
a lingering rumor (and maybe some ambivalence about her half-Turkish
heritage) has kept Ros from achieving the kind of reputation she
deserves. So, after years of plotting her big comeback, she just needs
one thing: a hot, adoring guy on her arm at junior year homecoming. And
when she meets charming new classmate Aydın at the Pine Bay resort over
the summer, she thinks she’s found The One.
It doesn’t work,
though. And things get messy when Ros’s plan ends up hurting the only
friend she has left… poor, sweet, forgiving Eleanor. This has happened
before—things tend to get messy with Ros around—and it’s getting harder
for her to ignore the pattern of hurt feelings. Plus, it seems like Ros
and Aydın aren’t really meant to be. What kind of a plan results in everyone ending up unhappy? Not a very good one.
A
not-quite rom com starring a bold, outspoken antiheroine, this
Turkish-American Romeo and Juliet remix is refreshingly snarky. Witty,
whip-smart dialogue plays with the complexities of multicultural
identity and female friendships, from Ros’s very first screw-up to her
unconventional happy ending. Perfect for fans of Crystal Maldonado and
Michelle Quach.
Class Act by Kelsey Rodkey (HarperTeen) - moved from September 2024, then from October 4th.
As a new student, Ella isn’t sure she can secure the votes until she meets unfailingly flirtatious Patrick and hears his wild idea to help her. He’ll pretend to be her boyfriend and show their classmates that she and her ideas for the school aren’t so bad. It’s like something out of her sister’s fan fiction.
But when their fake romance starts feeling too real, and Patrick’s true motives for their arrangement come to light, Ella has to decide what’s more important: Patrick or the polls.
Three Things About Emmy Crawford by Allison L. Bitz (HarperTeen)
1) Taking Nationals in debate this season.
2) Shielding her sister Issy from anything that could hurt her, especially her anxiety.
3) Representing her family well, since her mom may be the next President.
And nothing can get in Emmy's way. Not Crohn’s disease, even if her gut has been acting up. Not the paparazzi, who snap any photos they can get of the daughters of a Presidential candidate. And definitely not her feelings for Gabe Castillo, the only debater in D.C. who stands a chance at beating her—and who she used to be on secret kissing terms with, before he ghosted her. When Gabe unexpectedly returns to the debate scene and Issy starts crushing on him, Emmy works harder than ever to keep her eyes on winning and off her aching heart and body, because the alternative means losing the three things that matter most.
Gentlest of Wild Things by Sarah Underwood (HarperTeen) - moved from April 2024.
Eirene and her beloved twin sister, Phoebe, have always managed to escape Desire’s thrall. Until Leandros’ wife dies mysteriously and he sets his sights on Phoebe. Determined to keep her sister safe, Eirene strikes a bargain with Leandros: if she can complete the four elaborate tasks he sets her, he will find another bride. But it soon becomes clear that the tasks are part of something bigger; something related to Desire and Lamia, the strange, neglected daughter Leandros keeps locked away.
Lamia knows her father hides her for her own protection, though as she and Eirene grow closer, she finds herself longing for the outside world. But the price of freedom is high, and with something deadly―something hungry―stalking the night, that price must be paid in blood...
The Ballerina of Auschwitz by Dr Edith Eva Eger (Simon and Schuster) - YA edition of previously published memior.
Edie is a talented dancer and a skilled gymnast with hopes of making the Olympic team. Between her rigorous training and her struggle to find her place in a family where she’s the daughter “with brains but no looks,” Edie’s too busy to dwell on the state of the world. But life in Hungary in 1943 is dangerous for a Jewish girl.
Just as Edie falls in love for the first time, Europe collapses into war, and Edie’s family is forced onto a train bound for the Auschwitz concentration camp. Even in those darkest of moments, Edie’s beloved, Eric, kindles hope. “I’ll never forget your eyes,” he tells her through the slats of the cattle car. Auschwitz is horrifying beyond belief, yet through starvation and unthinkable terrors, dreams of Eric sustain Edie. Against all odds, Edie and her sister Magda survive, thanks to their sisterhood and sheer grit. Edie returns home filled with grief and guilt. Survival feels more like a burden than a gift—until Edie recognizes that she has a choice. She can’t change the past, but she can choose how to live and even to love again.
The Blood Orchid by Kylie Lee Baker (Inkyard Press)
Since Zilan entered the world of royal
alchemists, she has learned that alchemy comes at a price. She has lost
loved ones in her search for broader justice against the evil Empress
and all she wants now is to find some way to bring them back.
Resurrection is her specialty, after all.
In search of the myth
of Penglai Island, where it’s rumored life can be fully restored, Zilan
starts a new adventure. But when old threats come back to haunt her and
the path to Penglai Island means facing down unpredictable, sometimes
dangerous, alchemists, she wonders just how high of a price she may be
willing to pay.
The Brightness Between Us by Elliot Schrefer (Katherine Tegan Books)
Seventeen years have gone by since the Coordinated Endeavor crashed on a distant exoplanet. Ambrose Cusk and Kodiak Celius are now the devoted parents of two teenage children, Owl and Yarrow, in a hardscrabble frontier home. Though life on Minerva is full of danger, the family’s bond is enough to make it all worth it—until they learn that the biggest threat to their survival might come from within.
More than thirty thousand years in the past, Ambrose wakes on Earth to find that his mission to save his sister was a ruse. His mother betrayed him, and the truth of her plan—to send twenty clones of him to continue human civilization thousands of light-years away—sets Ambrose spiraling. When he discovers that another spacefarer is suffering his same fate, he will have to decide whether to risk crossing a world at war to reach him.
Separated by time and space, a young family and two strangers learn that their lives are intimately intertwined. They race to uncover the unexpected connections that might save them all . . . and perhaps humanity as well.
A Queen's Game by Katherine McGee (Random House)
In the last glittering decade of European empires, courts, and kings, three young women are on a collision course with history—and with each other.
Alix of Hesse is Queen Victoria’s favorite granddaughter, so she can expect to end up with a prince . . . except that the prince she’s falling for is not the one she’s supposed to marry.
Hélène d’Orléans, daughter of the exiled King of France, doesn’t mind being a former princess; it gives her more opportunity to break the rules. Like running around with the handsome, charming, and very much off-limits heir to the British throne, Prince Eddy.
Then there’s May of Teck. After spending her entire life on the fringes of the royal world, May is determined to marry a prince—and not just any prince, but the future king.
In a story that sweeps from the glittering ballrooms of Saint Petersburg to the wilds of Scotland, A Queen’s Game recounts a pivotal moment in real history as only Katharine McGee can tell it: through the eyes of the young women whose lives, and loves, changed it forever.
There Is No Map for This by Tom Birdseye (Groundwood) - details not yet updated on Goodreads.
Seventeen-year-old Ren Adams feels lucky to be living Levi and Ellie -- a welcome escape from his mother and the fundamentalist husband she married after the death of Ren's father in the Afghan War. Ren is working two jobs to save money for college, and he finally feels able to breathe, even if Levi and Ellie insist on trying to RENovate him, make him "man up," push his limits, live up to his potential ... whatever that may be.
Ren does his best to keep up -- until Levi is killed in an avalanche on one of their follow-the-leader dares. In his grief, Ren feels unmoored, while Ellie almost maniacally embraces new risks and adventures, and tries to pull Ren into her orbit. He cannot resist her wattage, and when she comes to his bed one night, he stops trying.
The next morning, Ellie has disappeared. Ren throws himself into full Ren-to-the-rescue mode -- out of love, brotherly loyalty, guilt or grief? He doesn't quite know. His search is by turns enlightening and reckless, as he discovers that life's biggest tests -- whether of character or physical prowess -- cannot be mapped in advance, and that true loyalty starts with oneself.
This Dark Pardise by Erin Luken (Bloomsbury) - previously titled Our Shattered Masks.
An enchanted island. A deadly secret. A dangerous heist.
In the tenements where Lucia lives, everyone dreams of making it to the enchanted island of Estaralla, where mystical fountains reveal your deepest desires, fantastical feasts appear from nowhere, and dark caverns allow you to whisper with the dead. But Lucia Arsten isn't there to experience miracles. She's there to steal the most valuable object in the world: the source of the island's magic.
Posing as a magical tour guide for wealthy tourists visiting the island, Lucia has five days to steal the source or a dangerous gang will go after her brother. But Estaralla is not what it seems. Torn between a boy who once broke her heart and a girl with a dark secret, Lucia soon discovers that something sinister is happening behind the enchantments…and she might not survive the island's magic long enough to steal it.
This dark YA fantasy with a bisexual love triangle is perfect for fans of Caraval and Belladonna.
The Devourer by Alison Ames (Page Street YA)
But her plans are thwarted. A sudden surplus of magic in the world is causing ancient sea monsters to awaken. Worse yet, Adra discovers that the ship she's been chasing for almost a year now is captained by a girl who’s been impersonating Cameron, while Cameron himself is missing.
The two pirate captains will have to work together if they are to find Cameron, but before they can do so, they must vanquish the beast―known as The Devourer―that is sinking ships and causing so much fear. Adra will have to descend leagues beneath the sea to the creature’s lair to strike a deal with her, but she’ll discover she isn’t the only one looking for her brother―and what he stole.
The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard (Tor Teen)
October 8th
The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew (Joy Revolution)
Liv is a Proxy, a member of the lower class who lives to enrich the lives of others. She's supposed to use the neurochip in her brain to give her workaholic clients memories of experiences they've never had, so they can stay productive. And yeah, maybe she also deals a few happy memories illegally on the side, to her fellow lower class citizens who need a reason to keep going. She makes an extra buck, and it's harmless, right?
Rookie enforcer Adrian doesn't think so. He doggedly tracks Liv to the woods on the Metro's outskirts, only to find that she's wiped all memories of who she is, what she's done, and how much she should hate someone in his uniform.
It was supposed to be simple: find the perpetrator, bring her in. But if Liv can’t remember anything, is she truly guilty? And is the law Adrian's pledged his life to defend truly in the best interest of all? Turns out justice looks a little different in the woods’ golden light.
The Wild Huntress by Emily Llyod Jones (Little, Brown) - moved from September 2024.
BRANWEN possesses a gift no other human has: the ability to see and slay monsters. She’s desperate to cure her mother’s sickness, and the Wild Hunt is her only option.
GWYDION is the least impressive of his magically-talented family, but with his ability to control plants and his sleight of hand, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep his cruel older brother from becoming a tyrant.
PRYDERI is prince-born and monster-raised. Deep down, the royal crown doesn’t interest him—all he wants is to know is where he belongs.
If they band together against the monstrous creatures within the woods, they have a chance to win. But, then again, nothing is guaranteed when all is fair in love and the Hunt.
Red in Tooth and Claw by Lish McBride (Putnam)
Faolan Kelly’s grandfather is dead. She’s alone in the world and suddenly homeless, all because the local powers that be don’t think a young man of sixteen is mature enough to take over his grandfather’s homestead…and that’s with them thinking Faolan is a young man. If she revealed that her grandfather had been disguising her for years, they would marry her off at the first opportunity.
The mayor finds a solution that serves everyone but He hires a gunslinger to ship her off to the Settlement, a remote fort where social outcasts live under the leadership of His Benevolence Gideon Dillard. It's a place rife with mystery, kept afloat by suspicious wealth. Dillard's absolute command over his staff just doesn't seem right. And neither do the strange noises that keep Faolan up at night.
When Faolan finds the body of a Settlement boarder, mangled by something that can’t possibly be human, it’s clear something vicious is stalking the palisades. And as Settlement boarders continue to drop like flies, Faolan knows she must escape to evade the creature’s wrath.
If You're Not the One by Farah Naz Rishi (Quill Tree Books) - moved from 2023.
Anisa Shirani is…well, perfect. A fact, not an opinion. Of course, it’s all a front to feed her own praise-obsessed ego. Behind closed doors, she is—some might say—a little slobbish and snobbish, and she works obsessively to maintain her God-given talents. Fate has favored her, but Ani knows better than anyone that fate is made by effort.
But she must, especially when all signs point to her being a top-notch lawyer with a top-notch education and being destined to marry Isaac, total heartthrob and eldest son of the richest family in the community. A perfect girl deserves a perfect life, and Ani’s perfect life is going exactly the way it should…
Until Ani’s parents announce they’re getting divorced.
Until Isaac shows all the signs of…cheating. Sort of.
Until she starts catching feelings for Marlow, an overly friendly weirdo she’s hated since the moment she laid eyes on him in class.
How can fate be so wrong?
Divine Mortals by Amanda M. Helander (Disney Hyperion) - previously titled Isle in the Flood, moved from November 2024.
Blessed by the crow god of love, eighteen-year-old Mona Arnett has the power to traverse the watery realm of the gods, speak with its seven deities, and divine soulmate matches with absolute certainty. Though Mona refuses to read her own match, she’s predicted pairings for wealthy nobles seeking amusement and lovesick couples desperate for affirmation. Still, it’s a shock when the king’s closest advisor demands her services.
The king is dying without an heir, explains Master Delmar Whitman—and if the royal line ends, the realm’s gods-given nexus will shatter and magic will vanish from the land. Only Mona can name the future queen and prevent the kingdom’s collapse.
But according to her reading, Mona is the king’s soulmate. Mona is destined to be queen—a role she doesn’t want and doesn’t believe she deserves. Worse: It’s not the king she thinks about when she’s alone at night.
Mona will lie, cheat, or contend with scheming gods if it keeps her off the throne. The only thing she can’t do is face her past. But when a mysterious blackmailer threatens murder, confronting her secrets may be the only way to survive.
I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner (HMH) - YA graphic novel, moved from September 2024.
George has major problems: they’ve just inherited the failing family estate and the feelings for their best friend, Eleanor, have become more complicated than ever. Not to mention, if anyone found out they were secretly dressing in men’s clothes, George is sure it would be ruination for the family name.
Eleanor has always wanted to do everything ‘right,’ including falling in love—but she’s never met a boy she was interested in. She’d much rather spend time with her best friend, George, and beloved cousin Charlotte. However, when a new suitor comes to town, she finds her closest friendships threatened, forcing her to rethink what ‘right’ means and confront feelings she never knew she had.
Inspired by Jane Austen and queer history, I Shall Never Fall in Love shines a light on what it means to be true to yourself and rewrites the rules for what makes a happily ever after.
Side Quest by Samuel Satin and Steenz (Versify) - YA graphic novel/non-fiction.
With a fantasy-themed meld of history and memoir, Side Quest: A Visual History of Roleplaying Games gives existing fans of roleplaying games (RPGs) new insight into the history of the medium—and provides a gateway for anyone new to this phenomenon.
The creators, Steenz and Samuel Sattin, narrate the book, switching between personal stories about their RPG experiences and concrete information that reveals the fascinating and sometimes little-known history of these games. (Did you know that H. G. Wells created an RPG in the early 1900s? You will soon, along with so much more!)
This is an inviting introduction into what RPGs and tabletop RPGs are, why they matter, and how readers can get involved. And much like any popular guide to arcana, this book is geared toward an audience of gamers, non-gamers, and general readers alike. Equal parts enlightening, adventurous, and approachable, this appealing nonfiction graphic novel is one that everyone can enjoy!
Lucy, Uncensored by Mel Hammond and Teghan Hammond (Knopf)
Lucy imagines college as more than a chance to party with other drama nerds and be roommates with her best friend Callie. College will be her fresh start. For the first time, she’ll be able to introduce herself as Lucy to people she hasn’t gone to school with since kindergarten. Plus, she happens to live an hour away from one of the most prestigious theater programs in the country. She’s always dreamed of going to Central, but when she finally has a chance to visit, it’s not what she imagined.
While Lucy and Callie are on their campus tour, two kids from their high school make the typical transphobic comments Lucy’s gotten used to in her small town. She starts to worry that her dream school might end up being High School 2.0. What if she belongs somewhere else? Somewhere that she can truly have a fresh start?
When Lucy finds a beautiful school with a great theater program on a list of the most LGBTQ+ friendly colleges, it seems like fate—except that the school is hundreds of miles away. And there’s something unexpected about it: it’s a women’s college. As far as she can tell, they’ve never admitted a trans woman. Will they let Lucy in? There’s only one way to find out: road trip!
The Terrifying Tales of Vivian Vance by Joshua Ulrich (Razorbill) - YA Graphic Novel, moved from Summer 2023, then from July 2024.
It’s just a bedtime story….right?
Parents in Pensmouth tell their children a devious bedtime tale—their beloved town is riddled with skin-takers, monsters who snatch unruly kids off the street if they don’t go to sleep on time.
Vivian Vance, amateur teen detective, heard that story as a kid and never believed it.
When Vivian takes on a case in the Pillars, a downtrodden and long-ignored community beneath the highway, she stumbles on a dark secret about her town's history and finds herself face-to-face with those horrifying monsters. Saved from certain death by a group of kids from the Pillars, Vivian decides her next job will be exposing the skin-takers to the world--at any cost.
But her biggest opportunity quickly becomes her worst nightmare. Her pride puts Pensmouth and her new-found friends in mortal danger. In order to right her mistakes, she must stand up to the creatures that offer all her heart desires before she loses the only people left who matters.
Light Enough to Float by Lauren Seal (Rocky Pond) - YA novel-in-verse, details not yet updated on Goodreads.
Evie has just barely acknowledged that she has an eating disorder when she’s admitted to an inpatient treatment facility. Now her days are filled with calorie loading, therapy sessions, and longing—for home, for control, and for the time before her troubles began. As the winter of her treatment goes on, she gradually begins to face her fears and to love herself again, with the help of caregivers and of peers who are fighting their own disordered-eating battles. This insightful, beautiful novel will touch every reader and offer hope and understanding to those who need it most.
Giddy Barber Explodes in 11 by Dina Havranek (Peachtree Teen)
A spectacular YA novel from a long-time teacher and debut author, perfect for fans of coming-of-age stories like Radio Silence and The Rest of Us Just Live Here.
Giddy
Barber knows with certainty she’s going to become a mechanical
engineer. What she does not know is the last time she smiled.
With
her parents overworked and unavailable, it falls to Giddy to make sure
her siblings stay on track. But she’s exhausted. When you’re the person
everyone else turns to, what do you do when you hit a wall?
Giddy
finds an answer online—if you can’t handle how things are going, shake
them up. Is it sound advice? Unclear. But is Giddy willing to try
anything? Absolutely. Putting eleven days on the clock, she’ll change
her routine. But soon it becomes clear that some problems are bigger
than what an online column can fix—her family is fracturing, her anxiety
is mounting, and all she knows is this: Something. Has. To. Give.
In Dina Havranek’s Giddy Barber Explodes in 11,
a long-time teacher dives into the issues of depression, overwork, and
lack of support many of her students are dealing with. In a
results-obsessed society, how much are we demanding of teens? And what
happens when their burdens become too much?
Wrong Answers Only by Tobias Madden (Page Street) - previously dated November 2024, previously published in Australia.
But now it's time for wrong answers only.
Marco should be at university, studying biomedicine. Instead, he’s been sent to live on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean with his estranged uncle, all because of a ‘blip’ everyone else is convinced was a panic attack. (Which it most definitely was not.)
And even though Marco’s trip is supposed to provide answers – about himself, about his family – all he finds on board the Ocean Melody are more and more questions.But then his best friend CeCe proposes a new for someone who has always done the right thing, in every possible way, it’s time for Marco to get a few things wrong.
And hooking up with a hot dancer from the ship is only the beginning...
Zodiac Rising by Katie Zhao (Random House) - previously titled Descendants of Dragons.
When the lost statues suddenly resurface and a powerful classmate is found dead, all signs point to foul play from the fae. The Descendants finally have the chance to take back what's rightfully theirs and break the curse. To pull this deadly heist off, though, they must assemble an elite crew:
THE VAMPIRE: After a century of burning hunger, Evangeline is out for blood.
THE SHAPESHIFTER: Nicholas yearns to restore justice to his people—and make peace with his past.
THE MORTAL: Alice seeks the truth of her mysterious heritage, and this mission may be the key.
THE WEREWOLF: Tristan will do anything to break free from the monstrous wolf inside.
Only these four have the power to save the Descendants, but the wrath of the fae waits at every turn. One wrong move and the fate of their kind will come crashing down...
Under All the Lights by Maya Ameyaw (Annick Press)
After one of his songs goes viral, Ollie Cheriet gets the opportunity of a lifetime: a cross-country tour, an album deal, and a chance to help his family with their financial struggles. The only problem? Ollie has major stage fright, a symptom of his anxiety disorder. As pressure from performing, social media rumors, and his romantic life rises, his mental health starts to spiral. So he’s surprised at how grounded he feels when he collaborates with his wildly talented—and distractingly cute—touring partner, Jesse. Music has always helped Ollie through hard times, but he’s going to have to be more vulnerable than he ever thought possible to find self-acceptance in the glow of the spotlight.
Featuring characters from Maya Ameyaw’s acclaimed debut When It All Syncs Up, this story takes readers into the green room, immersing them in the vivid behind-the-scenes world of touring musicians.
Remember Me Tomorrow by Farah Heron (Skyscape) - upper YA, details not yet updated on Goodreads.
East House is the oldest and least desirable dorm on campus, but it has a draw for lonely university freshman Aleeza Kassam: Jay Hoque, the hot and broody student who vanished from East House five months ago without a trace. It’s irresistible to an aspiring investigative journalist like Aleeza.
But when she starts receiving texts from Jay, the mystery takes an unexpected turn. To put it mildly. His messages are coming not only from Aleeza’s own dorm room but from the past—only weeks before he disappeared. Sharing space, if not time, Aleeza and Jay are living the impossible, and they start working together to prevent his inevitable disappearance. Causing a temporal paradox that could blow up the universe is a risk they’re going to have to take.
Aleeza digs through Jay’s suspicious friends, enemies, and exes, determined to find out what happened to him. Or what will happen to him. But it’s becoming more than a mystery. Aleeza is catching feelings for her charming new roommate. Wherever, and whenever, he may be.
Sally's Lament by Mari Mancusi (Disney Hyperion)
Sally has mostly loved her creepy hometown of Halloween Town. But lately, she can't help but want something more. In a place full of the frightening, you'd think living in the shadows wouldn't feel so . . . isolating. She knows she could do so much more if she wasn't always stuck in the lab of her creator, Dr. Finkelstein. Soon Sally is surprised to learn that the Pumpkin King, Jack, is longing for a change of his own. Determined to find a solution for them both, Sally follows a vision that could be the key to changing their fates.
But the more time Sally spends in the strange, jolly land of Christmas Town, the more suspicious she grows of the seemingly idyllic winter wonderland. What is lurking behind those dancing sugar plums? And what exactly does it mean to be put on the Naughty List? Will Sally be able to save the best of both towns—before it's too late?
A Vile Season by David Ferraro (Page Street YA) - moved from October 4th.
In the mountains, he finds the god of vampires, who is disappointed in Lucian for being outsmarted by humans. As punishment, he is transformed into a human until he can pass a trial of cunning and Lucian must win the heart of a marquess without the supernatural powers he’s grown accustomed to.
Unfortunately, Lucian isn’t prepared for the emotions that come with humanity, nor the treacheries of courting season with its competing potential suitors posing as friends, enemies, and wholly unsuitable romantic distractions. To succeed, Lucian will need to help the very humans he was meant to deceive. But to win the life he wants, he'll have to decide if being a vampire is worth giving up the friendship and love he’s found.
Fledgling by S.K. Ali (Kokila)
Would you trade love for peace?
Raisa of Upper Earth has only lived a life of privilege and acquiescence. Ever dutiful, she accepts her father’s arrangement of her marriage to Lein, Crown Prince of the corrupt, volatile lands of Lower Earth.
Though Lein is a stranger, Raisa knows the wedding will unite their vastly different worlds in a pact of peace: an infusion of Upper Earth technology will usher in the final age of enlightenment, ending war between humans forever.
Or is justice more urgent?
Newly released from imprisonment, Nada of Lower Earth has found her own calling: disrupting the royal wedding.
Convinced her cousin Lein’s alliance with Upper Earth will launch an invasive, terrifying form of tyranny, Nada sets out undercover to light the spark of revolution.
When Raisa goes missing a week before the wedding, all eyes turn to the rebels, including Nayf, Nada’s twin brother, a fugitive on the run.
In Nayf and Raisa meeting, the long-simmering animosity between their worlds slowly burns away into something unexpected.
But the Crown Prince wants his bride — and future — back. And he will go to the ends of the earths.
The Scarlet Veil #2 by Shelby Mahurin (HarperCollins) - moved from 2023, some editions dated 2025.
Sink your teeth into a deliciously gothic enemies-to-lovers vampire romance, set in the world of the New York Times bestselling series Serpent & Dove!
Vampires, powerful women, dark magic, morally grey love interests and an off-the-charts romance – this is the breathtaking finale to the stunning fantasy duology, THE SCARLET VEIL!
October 15th
The Bitter End by Alexa Donne (Crown)
The trip of a lifetime might be the death of them all.
The students of LA’s elite Warner Prep can’t wait for their Senior Excursion—five days of Instagrammable adventure in one of the world’s most exclusive locations. This is not your average field trip.
Which is why eight students can’t believe their bad luck when they end up on a digital detox in an isolated Colorado ski chalet. Their epic trip is panning out to be an epic bore . . . until their classmates start dropping in a series of disturbing deaths. The message is clear: this trip is no accident.
And when a blizzard strikes, secrets are revealed, betrayals are exposed, and survival is at stake in a race to the bitter end.
Tangleroot by Kalela Williams (Feiwel and Friends) - previously titled The Tangleroot Papers.
When Dr. Castine takes a job as the president of the prestigious Stonepost College in rural Virginia, Noni is forced to leave her New England home and, most importantly, a prime internship and her friends. She and her mother move into the “big house” on Tangleroot Plantation.
Tangleroot was built by one of Noni’s ancestors, an enslaved man named Cuffee Fortune—who Dr. Castine believes was also the original founder of Stonepost College, and that the school was originally formed for Black students. Dr. Castine spends much of her time trying to piece together enough undeniable truth in order to change the name of the school in Cuffee’s honor—and to force the university to reckon with its own racist past.
Meanwhile, Noni hates everything about her new home, but finds herself morbidly fascinated by the white, slaveholding family who once lived in it. Slowly, she begins to unpeel the layers of sinister history that envelop her Virginia town, her mother’s workplace, her ancestry—and her life story as she knew it. Through it all, she must navigate the ancient prejudices of the citizens in her small town, and ultimately, she finds herself both affirming her mother’s position and her own—but also discovering a secret that changes everything.
No Better Than Beasts by Z.R. Ellor (Roaring Brook Press) - moved from January 2024, then from September 2024.
The Gogitdan siblings had suffered much to fight for their place in Szpratzian Society. Immigrants from the cursed neighboring kingdom of Kolznechia, they spent their childhood on the street and in workhouses until Vdradir, the eldest, lifted from poverty with the help of a wealthy patron.
Now nineteen, Nabik is a conflicted soldier, forever in the shadow of his older brother. Vdradir has been appointed governor, ruling and grasping for power with a merciless iron fist. And Drakne, their little sister, is a dancer who dreams of peace and comfort and protection. Together, they are as broken and divided as the land they once called home.
When a powerful enemy rises, and signs of war between the Szpratzian empire and Kolznechia begin to spread, the siblings are forced to choose—cling to power and safety or save the remains of their tattered bond? When Rat Kings and Pinewood Princes force them into the Kolznechian woods, the siblings will be forced to fight for their home and humanity with teeth and claw...
Under the Heron's Light by Randi Pink (Feiwel and Friends)
“Four-thousand-six-hundred-forty-two steps in,” Grannylou interrupted. “You remember that now, Baby. Four-thousand-six-hundred-forty-two steps to paradise.”
On a damp night in 1722, Babylou Mac and her three siblings witness the murder of their mother at the hands of the preacher’s son—so Babylou kills him in retaliation. With plantation dogs now on their heels, the four siblings breach the treacherous confines of the Great Dismal Swamp. Deeper and deeper into Dismal they delve, amid the biting moccasins and pitch-black waters, eventually creating a refuge within the swamp’s natural—and supernatural—protection.
Centuries later, college student Atlas comes home for the annual Bornday cookout and hog roast: a celebration of the fact that she and her three cousins were all born on the same day almost nineteen years ago and share a birthday with their Grannylou. But this Bornday, Grannylou’s usual riddles and folktales about a marvelous paradise deep in the Great Dismal Swamp start to take on a tangible quality. Change coming.
When Dismal calls, sucking Grannylou in, it’s up to Atlas and her cousins to uncover the history that the black waters hold. Centuries of family tension, with roots all over Virginia and North Carolina, are about to be dug up. Because Babylou and Grannylou are one and the same, and the power she helped cultivate—steeped in Black resistance, familial love, and the otherworldly mysteries of the Great Dismal Swamp—is bubbling back up. But so is a bitterness that runs deep as the swamp’s waters. And some are ready to take what they feel they’re owed.
The Unfinished by Cheryl Isaacs (Heartdrum)
The black water has been waiting. Watching. Hungry for the souls it needs to survive.
When small-town athlete Avery’s morning run leads her to a strange pond in the middle of the forest, she awakens a horror the townspeople of Crook’s Falls have long forgotten.
Avery can smell the water, see it flooding everywhere; she thinks she’s losing her mind. And as the black water haunts Avery—taking a new form each time—people in town begin to go missing.
Though Avery had heard whispers of monsters from her Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) relatives, she’s never really connected to her Indigenous culture or understood the stories. But the Elders she has distanced herself from now may have the answers she needs.
When Key, her best friend and longtime crush, is the next to disappear, Avery is faced with a choice: listen to the Kanyen’kehá:ka and save the town but lose her friend forever…or listen to her heart and risk everything to get Key back.
In her stunning debut, Cheryl Isaacs pulls the reader down into an unsettling tale of monsters, mystery, and secrets that refuse to stay submerged.
Sixteen Minutes by K.J. Reilly (Nancy Paulsen Books)
When Nell finally confronts them, she learns the impossible truth: Charlotte is actually from the future, a future that holds a life-saving cure for Cole’s younger sister who has been in and out of the hospital for years. To access the cure, Cole will have to jump to the future himself, leaving Nell behind. It’s dangerous, it’s reckless, but it’s also the only choice they have. The trio’s future has always seemed set—but with the knowledge that time travel is real and a multiverse of futures before them, they now have the option to live lives they could only dream about. The only questions are will they take the leap and will someone be left behind.
The Judgement of Yoyo Gold by Isaac Blum (Philomel)
Yoyo Gold has always played the role of the perfect Jewish daughter. She keeps kosher, looks after her siblings, and volunteers at the local food bank. She respects the decisions of her rabbi father and encourages her friends to observe the rules of their Orthodox faith. But when she sees her best friend cast out of the community over a seemingly innocent transgression, Yoyo’s eyes are opened to the truth of her neighbors’ hypocrisies for the first time. And what she sees leaves her shocked and unmoored.
As Yoyo’s frustration builds, so does the pressure to speak out, even if she can only do so anonymously on TikTok, an app that’s always been forbidden to her. But when one of her videos goes viral—and her decisions wind up impacting not only her own life but also her relationship with the boy she’s falling for—Yoyo’s world is thrown into chaos. She is forced to choose which path to take, for her community, for her family, and most importantly, for herself.
Award-winning author Isaac Blum returns with a new novel that asks what it really means to be part of a community—and what it means to break free.
Legend of the White Snake by Sher Lee (Quill Tree Books)
When Prince Xian was a boy, a white snake bit his mother and condemned her to a slow, painful death. The only known cure is an elusive spirit pearl—or an antidote created from the rare white snake itself. Desperate and determined, Xian travels to the city of Changle, where an oracle predicted he would find and capture a white snake.
Seven years ago, Zhen, a white snake in the West Lake, consumed a coveted spirit pearl, which gave him special powers—including the ability to change into human form.
In Changle, Xian encounters an enigmatic but beautiful stable boy named Zhen. The two are immediately drawn to each other, but Zhen soon realizes that he is the white snake Xian is hunting. As their feelings grow deeper, will the truth about Zhen’s identity tear them apart?
The Shadow Road by K. D. Kirchmeirer (Bloomsbury YA)
When the monsters came, the power went out. Towns and cities became darkened ruins, and terrified survivors fled west, trailed by the blitz, dragon-like creatures screeching down from the sky enshrouded in lightning, delivering death.The old world is ending, but not all hope is lost. Left behind is a timid dreamer, Thomas, and a brash and outspoken daredevil, Cassie. When their paths unexpectedly cross, they must outwit both monsters and humans alike on an epic journey across a dangerous ravaged landscape.
Re-ignite hope. Defeat the blitz. Save humanity.
In this postapocalyptic fantasy perfect for fans of Rick Yancey and Neal Shusterman, readers will find high-stakes adventure and compelling characters they won't soon forget.
Prince of Fortune by Lisa Tirreno (Atheneum) - moved from 2025.
Shy Prince Edmund will be a great king one it has been Seen again and again. With rare magic giving him dominion over the nation’s plants and weather, Edmund feels a great deal of pressure to live up to his nation’s many expectations, including making a perfect diplomatic alliance through marriage. That is, until he meets Lord Aubrey Ainsley. Charming, romantic, and politically insignificant, Aubrey is a Seer, but not even he could have predicted catching the eye of Edmund, the Prince of Fortune—nor that the anxious prince who talks to plants more than people could feel so right for him.
Aubrey’s dream-visions have been full of battle, not love, but to say that Prince Edmund has captured his fancy would be a grand understatement. As the two become more and more intertwined, the nation of Saben falls under attack. War and dark sorcery loom on the horizon. To save their homeland, Edmund and Aubrey must resist the outside forces seeking to drive them apart and find the power within themselves to create a future for Saben—and each other—they never could have imagined.
October 22nd
Love & Lattes by Beth Reekle (Delacorte)
One summer internship. Two complete opposites. And a connection neither expected...
Annalise Sherwood has worked herself to the bone to get a place on a prestigious internship program and nothing is going to stop her now. Work hard, play later, that's her motto. She figures one night letting her guard down won't hurt, though - especially when it ends with the best kiss of her life.
But to Anna's horror, she discovers that the mystery guy she kissed that night is none other than Lloyd, the company CEO's son. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he's everyone's favorite guy and a total charmer, swanning around like he owns the place. And from the moment they meet again, he rubs Anna up the wrong way.As the summer and the internship wane on, Lloyd seems to be finding any excuse to annoy Anna, and she's not afraid to give it right back to him. But when a lot of late night working brings them unexpectedly closer, she begins to wonder if there's more to him than she originally thought.
Scorched Earth by Danielle L. Jensen (Tor Teen) - moved from December 2022, then from 2023.
The thrilling finale in Danielle L. Jensen's Dark Shores series,
which Sarah J. Maas calls "everything I look for in a fantasy novel."
Lydia and Killian escaped their enemy’s grasp, but not without consequences. While they race to destroy the blight, Lydia fights an internal war against the Corrupter’s influence knowing defeat means death for those she loves. Tormented by a battle that can’t be won with blades, Killian must find the queen they risked everything to rescue without falling prey to Corrupter’s weapons, both living and dead.
Teriana and Marcus thwarted assassination, but now must live with the dark truths that have been revealed. As Teriana hunts for allies, she must face the dire circumstances of her imprisoned people, driving her to strike a dangerous deal with the Empire. Consumed by guilt over his crimes, Marcus embarks on an ambitious campaign to save those he condemned, which risks him becoming the conqueror the Empire desires him to be.
With the blight consuming everything in its path and the Empire crushing everyone who stands before it, Reath is falling beneath the tide of evil. Secrets will be revealed that break hearts even as they forge new alliances, but only the greatest sacrifices of all will turn the tide in the battle for the liberty of every nation on Reath.
Lydia and Killian escaped their enemy’s grasp, but not without consequences. While they race to destroy the blight, Lydia fights an internal war against the Corrupter’s influence knowing defeat means death for those she loves. Tormented by a battle that can’t be won with blades, Killian must find the queen they risked everything to rescue without falling prey to Corrupter’s weapons, both living and dead.
Teriana and Marcus thwarted assassination, but now must live with the dark truths that have been revealed. As Teriana hunts for allies, she must face the dire circumstances of her imprisoned people, driving her to strike a dangerous deal with the Empire. Consumed by guilt over his crimes, Marcus embarks on an ambitious campaign to save those he condemned, which risks him becoming the conqueror the Empire desires him to be.
With the blight consuming everything in its path and the Empire crushing everyone who stands before it, Reath is falling beneath the tide of evil. Secrets will be revealed that break hearts even as they forge new alliances, but only the greatest sacrifices of all will turn the tide in the battle for the liberty of every nation on Reath.
The Sweetness Between Us by Sarah Winifred Searle (First Second) - YA graphic novel, moved from 2025.
After health problems wiped out their first few weeks of school, Perley and Amandine are both starting their Junior year behind their classmates, and both have major changes in their lives that they’re struggling to get used to. Perley was diagnosed with diabetes over the summer, and worries that all these new medical expenses will be a hardship on his family. And Amandine, part of a venerated family of vampires, has been turned much younger than she expected to be after a car accident nearly killed her. The two of them form a fast friendship – both feel a little out of step with their old lives, and as a bonus, it turns out that Amandine’s new vampire abilities can help Perley save money on blood glucose tests. But as the year goes on, they’re forced to admit that maybe their coping strategies – and their blood-sipping-turned-romance – aren’t working out so well after all. Will they be able to get their lives back to normal? Or will both have to figure out new ways for their “normal” to look?
Spectacular by Stephanie Garber (Flatiron Books)
Snowflakes are falling.
Invitations are arriving.
And holiday magic is swirling in the capital city of the Meridian Empire.
It’s Great Holiday Eve Eve. Scarlett Dragna is planning a spectacular Holiday celebration for the city. Donatella is searching for the perfect gift. Julian is looking ridiculously handsome in green. And Legend....
Well, sadly Legend is not fond of the Great Holiday. Tella is hoping her perfect gift will change his mind. Unfortunately, she hasn’t found this perfect gift just yet. But it is Great Holiday Eve Eve... surely there’s some holiday magic swirling around.
Welcome, welcome back to the world of Caraval, where even holidays are not as they seem.
Set after Stephanie Garber's #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling Caraval series, this delightful novella will take readers on the ultimate holiday adventure full of clockwork boys, poisoned candy, impish snow globes, merriment, and—if Tella gets her way—love.
Gorgeously illustrated by Rosie Thorns, SPECTACULAR is the perfect edition for collectors, readers, dreamers, and lovers of holiday magic.
Thief of the Heights by Son M. and Robin Yao (HarperAlley) - YA graphic novel, moved from 2022.
Lifelong friends Basem, Mustafa, and Aarfah have carved out a place for themselves in their corner of Muqadas, where they dream of climbing from their place in the city’s lowest level, above the limb-snatching, disease-infested waters, to the very top of their vertical city. Young inventors who’ve seen firsthand the havoc the Habar infection causes set out to dazzle the masses with their innovative prosthetics and escape the dangers of Lake Saha.
When their inventions catch the eye of a scout who is on the hunt for new talent to bring to the higher tiers, their dreams are suddenly within reach. But as the wonders of the upper tiers enchant, Basem, Mustafa, and Aarfah begin to question why the bounty of Muqadas falls short of reaching Lake Saha's inhabitants.
Behind the beauty of the city's upper tiers lies dark and dangerous secrets—ones that threaten not only everything they’ve worked for but everyone they love. And when Mustafa and Aarfah are cast away for their allegiance to Lake Saha, Basem is faced with the difficult Fight to bring justice to all of Muqadas? Or abandon his friends and fall in line to achieve everything he’s ever dreamed of?
The Bane of Asgard by Cinda Williams Chima (Balzer + Bray) - moved from August 2024, cover not yet updated on Goodreads.
Reunited in New Jotunheim, Reginn, Eiric and Liv discover that they are game pieces being played on a hidden board. Eiric’s slaughter of the old council has opened Tyra’s path to power—she now has the perfect excuse to launch a war against the Archipelago. Tyra is also using her dottir, Liv, as a vehicle to raise a dangerous goddess. And Reginn is tasked with crossing the boundary between the living and the dead to gain access to powerful magical secrets.
With Reginn’s help, Eiric escapes prison and returns home to find his brodir and warn the Archipelago of the impending attack. Meanwhile, she remains at the Grove to try to prevent the outbreak of war. Soon, though, Reginn learns her true role in this game: use her power to raise the dead to ensure victory for New Jotunheim. The demon Asger Eldr tells her that she alone can prevent another Ragnarok. But how?
Back in the Archipelago, Eiric agrees to join the king’s forces, though that means taking up arms against his systir, Liv, and Reginn, the spinner who has ensnared his heart. For perhaps the first time in his life, he dreads the coming fight.
As the two sides prepare for an apocalyptic battle, Eiric, Reginn, and Liv find allies and enemies in unexpected places and draw on new strengths as they seek to prevent the destruction of the last of the Nine Worlds.
Eleven Houses by Colleen Oakes (Simon and Schuster)
On a forgotten part of Nova Scotia, there lies an island. On that island are Eleven Houses. In those houses sit eleven ancient families. And they are waiting… Mabel is one of the last surviving members of House Beuvry, one of the eleven houses on the haunted island of Weymouth.
Her days, like all the other teens on the island, are spent readying her house for The a once-a-decade event that pummels the island with hurricane-level wind, water, and waves. But that’s not all the Storm brings with it—because Weymouth Island is a gate between the world of the living and the dead. When Miles Cabot arrives on Weymouth Island after the death of his mother, he realizes quickly it isn’t like other places—and Mabel Beuvry isn’t like other teenagers. There’s an intense chemistry between Miles and Mabel that both feel, yet neither understand—nor the deadly consequences that will come with it. With the suspicious death of an island elder, a strained dynamic with her younger sister Hali, and the greatest Storm in years edging ever closer, Mabel’s life is becoming as chaotic as the weather.
One thing becomes if the fortified houses of Weymouth Island can’t stand against the dead, then she—and everyone she loves—will pay the price. Fares Well the House That’s Ready.
Happyhead by Josh Silver (Delacorte) - previously published in the UK.
Seb has been selected for a new experimental mental health center called HappyHead, designed to solve the national crisis of teenage unhappiness. There he and fellow participants will complete in a series of assessments meant to test them, so they can better face the challenges of the real world. Seb is determined to win so he can change how people see him and make his parents proud.
But then Seb meets a mysterious participant named Finn who has drawn unwanted attention to himself by resisting the program’s rules. The leaders want everyone to believe Finn is mentally unstable but as Finn exposes cracks in the system around them, Seb is left questioning the true nature of the challenges–and wondering if Finn is actually the only one he can really trust.
Something sinister is at play…and as the assessments take a dark turn, it becomes impossible to ignore the voice in his head telling him that even if he wins, there might be no way out.
The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley (Quill Tree Books) - reprint of a 2014 release.
It's 1993, and Generation X pulses to the beat of Kurt Cobain and the grunge movement.
Sixteen-year-old Maggie Lynch is uprooted from big-city Chicago to a windswept town on the Irish Sea. Surviving on care packages of Spin magazine and Twizzlers from her rocker uncle Kevin, she wonders if she'll ever find her place in this new world. When first love and sudden death simultaneously strike, a naive but determined Maggie embarks on a forbidden pilgrimage that will take her to a seedy part of Dublin and on to a life- altering night in Rome to fulfill a dying wish. Through it all, Maggie discovers an untapped inner strength to do the most difficult but rewarding thing of all, live.
The Carnival at Bray is an evocative ode to the Smells Like Teen Spirit Generation and a heartfelt exploration of tragedy, first love, and the transformative power of music. The book won the 2014 Helen Sheehan YA Book Prize.
October 29th
Don't Let the Forest In by CG Drews (Feiwel and Friends) - previously titled Skeleton Boys, moved from December 2024.
Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him.
Kill for him.
High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality—Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more.
But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won't say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork—whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew's wicked stories.
Desperate to figure out what's wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster—Thomas's drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator...
The Debutantes by Olivia Worley (Wednesday Books)
For the New Orleans elite, the Les Masques Ball is sure to be the social event of the season—if they can avoid another dead Queen. When debutante Margot Landry was found dead the morning after her reign at last year’s ball, it was a tragedy, but not a shocking one. Margot was a wild child with a self-destructive streak, nothing like this year’s Queen, Lily LeBlanc. With a perfectly poised debutante on the throne, everything is going according to plan…until the ball is hijacked by a mysterious figure in a Jester costume. That night, Lily sends a text to three of the Maids on her royal court—her best friend, Vivian; her boyfriend's sister, Piper; and April, her former frenemy—asking them all to meet the next morning. But Lily never shows up.
On the surface, these three debutantes don’t have anything in common except their exclusive private school and their ties to Les Masques. But soon, they realize why Lily brought them together: something dark is lurking beneath the glamorous surface of the debutante world, and it might be the reason she disappeared. And the further the girls dig, the more they begin to suspect that Margot's death may not have been an accident—and that Lily may be next. When the Jester starts threatening to expose their own secrets, this unlikely trio must team up to uncover the monsters behind the Mardi Gras masks—before they’re left with another dead debutante.
For She Is Wrath by Emily Varga (Wednesday Books)
Betrayed by the boy she loved and framed for a crime she didn't commit, Dania counts down her days in prison until she can exact revenge. When fellow prisoner Noor digs into her cell while trying to escape, Dania seizes her opportunity. Together, she and Noor hunt for a hidden Djinn treasure that could be the key to achieving their vengeance.
Armed with power and a new identity, Dania enacts a plan to bring down those who betrayed her and her family. But revenge is a complicated game of cat and mouse, especially when the boy she once loved stands in her way and an undeniable fire still burns between them. As Dania falls deeper into the dark djinn power and her web of traps and lies, she risks losing her humanity to the djinn magic and her heart to the only boy she’s ever loved…because the power to destroy her enemies has a price, and it may be much more than Dania ever bargained for.
The Ancient's Game by Loni Crittenden (HarperCollins)
Sixteen-year-old Kellan DuCuivre is the descendant of traitors. She never knew her family members or which one of them betrayed the isle of Nanseau. But like all Du orphaned after the war, Kellan is forbidden by law from practicing makecraft, the trade of carving magic into metal that was perfected by the Guild of Engineers and their maker apprentices. No one can know that Kellan has been using makecraft in secret and that, in the wake of a tragic miscarve, she’s been helping her adoptive father, Edgar, run his celebrated makeshop.
But Edgar’s condition is worsening, and his shop is on the brink of ruin. On the eve of the Eighty-Fourth Annual Makers’ Exposition in Nanseau’s sparkling city of Riz, Kellan is thrust into the Guild’s twisted web of political intrigue and ancient secrets when she strikes a dangerous deal with one of its members to save Edgar and his shop. Now Kellan must compete in a rigorous gauntlet against the nation’s elite for a coveted spot as a maker’s apprentice.
But danger lurks at every turn. And as Kellan falls into a budding relationship with the illegitimate son from one of Nanseau’s most revered families, she’s put into the limelight when something sinister begins targeting the Gauntlet’s competitors and wreaking havoc on Riz. Amidst a crumbling city and a ticking clock, winning the Gauntlet won’t just be a test of survival—it will mean pulling back the veil of secrets behind the Guild and uncovering the shrouded legacies of Nanseau itself.
The Witch of Wol Sin Lake by Lena Jeong (HarperTeen) - moved from July 2024.
After her fraught journey to save her queendom, Mirae has finally cast the Netherking back into his dark cage in the Deep.
But his imprisonment brings her no peace—because in his final schemes, the Netherking managed to possess her beloved older brother, Minho, and it is his body that languishes in the Deep, tormented by his possessor.
Mirae is determined to free her brother and destroy the Netherking once and for all. But when the Netherking steals the all-powerful pearl of Seolla, all of Mirae’s careful plans are destroyed. She must set out once more to stop him, slipping in and out of the future with her divine powers as she races a path to the heavens itself.
When she discovers the truth about the Netherking’s intentions, and learns that the only way to destroy him is with a sacrifice larger than she can bear, Mirae begins to doubt her free will and even the fate of the entire peninsula and the gods beyond.
Dark and thrilling, this action-packed sequel to And Break the Pretty Kings pulls readers deeper into its captivating world of lavish, fantastical magic and dangerous secrets, as Mirae faces overwhelming odds to save her queendom—and an impossible choice.
The Fate of Magic by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis (Sourcebooks Fire)
Fritzi is a champion. After escaping the clutches of Dieter Kirch, the sadistic leader of the witch hunters, Fritzi and Otto have taken refuge among the witches of the Black Forest. Fritzi is finally ready to assume her place on the council as the coven's goddess-chosen champion. Plagued by distrust and self-doubt, Fritzi throws herself into her duty to serve the goddesses . . . until she uncovers a powerful secret that could mean the very undoing of magic itself.
Otto is a warrior. He swears himself to Fritzi as her bonded protector, certain the peaceful unity of a witch and hunter will heal the wounds he helped make. But as the horrifying plot that threatens the Black Forest's magic comes to light, Otto will have to face his both his past and what it means to bind himself to a magic he does not fully understand.
Shadows loom. Truths are revealed. And as dangers new and old arise, Fritzi and Otto must stand together against everything that threatens magic—even if the biggest threat might be the very bond they share.
They Watch From Below by Katya de Becerra (Page Street) - moved from September 2024.
Sabine suspects the message is from Dr. Julia Rogoff, the enigmatic professor who taught the subject—she disappeared twenty years ago.The message launches Sabine straight into the heart of an old campus mystery which, to this day, keeps students and faculty wary of the shadowy “Pale Men”, believed to be the omens of death.
As Sabine untangles the clues surrounding Julia’s long-ago disappearance, she believes the Pale Men are the ones being referenced in the message. But they do not want to be found. Sabine’s investigation lands her in the crosshairs of the vicious occult society that might be responsible for Julia’s fate, while her mother’s entanglement with the society twists everything Sabine thought she knew about herself, pushing her toward the point of no return.Will she resist the magicians or lose herself to their dark thrall?
Lonely Places by Kate Anderson (Flux)
After a traumatic experience steals her younger sister Guthrie’s voice, sixteen-year-old Chase and her family move to an isolated fire lookout in Pando, a grove of Aspen tree clones connected by a massive underground root system.
The lookout is supposed to give the family stability after years spent traveling the country in a converted school bus, but all Chase wants is to go back to the hometown they fled eight years ago.When Chase gets a job at a nearby summer camp, she learns that something happened at the lookout, something no one wants to talk about. Chase isn’t entirely Pando is a place where odd things happen, like birds singing on a loop or bones sprouting out of the ground like wildflowers. Worse? Pando is changing Guthrie, and Chase doesn’t know how to stop it or even if she should.Despite her resolve to protect Guthrie, Chase becomes increasingly distracted by Wilder, the lifeguard at camp who offers her a taste of normalcy and a new perspective on her skoolie family. But more time with Wilder means less time with Guthrie, and the mysterious force in the forest draws Guthrie deeper into its darkness—until she’s nowhere to be found.
Chase must face her own childhood trauma and find her way into a strange and sinister world to rescue her sister before Guthrie is lost to the lonely places forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment