Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don’t forget your booties ’cause it’s cooooold out there today!
Tomorrow is the best holiday of the year. But you know this already because I said it on Monday, and I said it last year, and I said it the year before. I can’t be the only one who loves Groundhog Day and also thinks that we’ve been in a time loop now for….a lot of years.
One way out? Books. Whatever Willie sees tomorrow doesn’t matter when you’ve got a stack of good reads to enjoy, whether that enjoyment happens indoors or out.
2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!
Bookish Goods
Personalized Leather Heart Bookmarks by AmericanPersonalized
If you’re in the market for a Valentine’s Day gift for someone—including yourself, of course!—perhaps a personalized leather bookmark in the shape of a heart will fit the bill. $8+.
New Releases
It’s paperback o’clock! Let’s look at two very different paperbacks that hit shelves this week. You can catch the entire list of this week’s new YA paperbacks here.
Once A Queen by Sarah Arthur
Eva, 14, is spending the summer at an English manor with the grandmother she’s never met. Pretty quickly, she notices odd things happening at night in the gardens and cannot help herself but to explore. What she finds is that the manor staff believe the gardens hold hidden portals to other worlds and that Eva’s grandmother used to be queen in one of them.
Now, Eva wants to try to get her grandmother to talk and share her story—even though it is painful. Does Eva have a royal lineage she should know about?
We Are All So Good at Smiling by Amber McBride
Whimsy is back in inpatient care after an attempted suicide. This time, she meets Faery, a boy who, too, is in treatment. She is instantly drawn to him for reasons she can’t quite put her finger on. So when she’s released and learns that Faery and his family have moved to her town and they’ll be attending school together, she’s glad to have someone who “gets” her.
What the two of them share, though, beyond their mental challenges, is a fear of the Forest near town. But when they enter and realize there is no way out but through, they encounter a host of Sorrows, as well as characters from global fairy and folk tales, who give them guidance on the path toward understanding Sorrow and trauma.
This is a complex and magical fantasy in verse about mental illness and trauma.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
YA Book News
- This is some insidery publishing stuff but it will be fascinating to many of you as it was to be: a look at Alloy Media and its shift toward adult titles.
- What’s holding back the adaptation of the Bluford High series.
- There is a Disney villains line of young adult comics hitting shelves soon.
- 15 fascinating facts about The Outsiders.
- The adaptation of We Were Liars begins filming this summer. If you’re in Halifax, maybe you’ll bump into it!
As always, thanks for hanging out. We’ll see you on Saturday with your YA book deals.
Until then, happy reading!
–Kelly Jensen, currently reading Rez Ball by Byron Graves