Hey YA Readers!
I hope that July is treating you okay, and that you’re reading your newest favorite book (well, that you’re reading it when you’re not reading your newsletters, at least!). I just got back from a long weekend out of town where I got to visit two fun indie bookstores and indeed, did some damage. I regret nothing.
Let’s dive into this week’s new paperback books and YA book news.
Bookish Goods
I know it’s July, but for me, witchy season is every season, and the vibes of this witchy bookshelf enamel pin are just *chef’s kiss*. $7 (Note that this ships from Australia, so your shipping costs might be higher than average if you’re not there).
New Releases
The summer edition of the mega roundup of new YA paperbacks is up. Below, you’ll find two out this week, but you can find all of the rest hitting shelves this week through the end of September over here.
Note: you may need to toggle to the paperback edition once you click the link.
All These Bodies by Kendare Blake
It’s been a bloody summer across the midwest. Or, rather, it hasn’t been, though there’s been a lot of death. Each of the murders has been bloodless, victims found with a handful of slashes but without blood remaining in their bodies. Now the killer — or killers — has turned to Michael Jensen’s town in Minnesota, killing a mother, father, and high school student, and standing among them pooled in blood is Marie.
All signs point to Marie as the killer, but she refuses to talk to anyone except Michael. He’s an aspiring journalist and sees this as his opportunity to break a huge story. But the longer he talks with Marie, the less he begins to believe what happened to be clear, true, or easy. She’s convinced him that she worked alongside a vampire — nameless, faceless, long-gone from the crime scene — and she can’t help locate him. But the legal system in Nebraska is hot on the case, pressing for more and more details, hoping to extradite Marie back to Nebraska in order to charge her. The law there allows for conviction for accomplices to murder, not just the murderer, and this would bring peace and closure.
But as the truth….or the supposed truth…unravels, it becomes much more complex. Who is Marie? Where did she come from? What happened to her family and what did her stepfather do to her? And is that story or her relationship to her stepfather the narrative she wants in the news?
This is a clever take on vampires, but it’s also based loosely on two separate murder sprees in the midwest during this time. It’s got Midwest Gothic vibes, wrapped in an In Cold Blood style true fictionalized crime narrative.
The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
It is bad enough that Jake isn’t as popular as his older brother, especially when both of them are among the only Black kids at their prep high school. But worse is that Jake sees dead people. They are mosssstly not harmful. But now, that’s about to change.
Sawyer begins to haunt Jake, and Sawyer’s backstory isn’t a pleasant one. He killed six kids at a high school the previous year, and now he’s out to tell his story. Jake, whether he likes it or not, will be the one to hear it.
This one is for those who like scary stories, and it features a queer Black boy main character.
YA Book News
- A look at what we do–and don’t–know about the Pretty Little Liars adaptation reboot.
- Plus everything that is known so far about the second season of The Summer I Turned Pretty.
- New YA science fiction, fantasy, and horror for July and August.
- I think I missed this earlier this summer, but here’s the trailer for The Midnight Club (Netflix, fall).
Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll have your deals on Saturday.
Until then, happy reading!
— Kelly Jensen, @veronikellymars on Twitter.