Category: What’s Up in YA

It’s the queer Repunzel retelling you didn’t know you needed, featuring a vampire and a witch.

Kaye and Ava were always best friends. But after vampires broke down the barriers protecting their community two years ago, Kaye lost her mother and Ava was turned into a vampire. The thing is, despite being stuck in her house, Ava still does have some of her witch powers and her mother needs to take them. Because her mother is also a vampire and taking her daughter’s remaining powers will keep this a secret. Ava does not want to give her powers up and she certainly does not want her mother to destroy their town, so she needs to escape.

Meanwhile, Kaye has been training to be a Flame witch and she’s just about ready to put her skills protecting her town to the test. She’ll be able to vanquish vampires, including her former best friend, to ensure peace. So when Ava escapes her confinement and Kaye finds her, they make an agreement: they’ll travel together through the forest for safety. Ava doesn’t know Kaye’s secret plan is to turn her in, though. And Kaye doesn’t know Ava hopes to reignite their friendship and the feelings that may have been more than friendship between them.

As they travel deeper into the dangerous forest, both of their motivations and desires are put to question…and to the test. Do they destroy each other because they have to? Do they put their differences aside for safety and protection…or more?

You might recognize the author from her work in the capital-R romance genre, and now she’s taking her skills to YA (with, of course, plenty of romance, too!).

Sonia Patil hopes she’ll be able to catch the attention of her crush at the local comic-con. But in a weird twist of fate, Sonia ends up saving her crush after he faints into a canal. No one knows it was her though, since she was dressed up, and now, everyone wants to know who the masked heroine was.

Problem? Sonia’s sister is undocumented and her mother was deported; they’ve been trying to stay under the radar. So as people work to uncover the do-gooder, Sonia worries that all of the positive attention might lend to some very negative consequences for her, for her family, and for her future with her crush.

Can I share that I don’t think I’ve ever read Little Women? I may have when I was really young but I don’t recall anything of it. That said, I DO know the general themes of it, and I know there is fierce debate over which March sister is best.

This book takes that story and gives it an update. Set in 1942, the four authors give voice to March sisters on the precipice of World War II as they work to unravel their grief over the death of sister Beth. The three living sisters are each going their separate ways — some to the war effort and some to the effort at home – as they begin to unpack the loss they’ve suffered.

Great Or Nothing is told in both verse and prose, weaving together the story of sisters sharing a loss and coming to understand what is about to be a very different world with the looming war.

Technically, this work of graphic nonfiction is a simultaneous release, so you can purchase either the hardcover or paperback today.

If you love science, you’re going to love this look at how things work. We get internet and electricity and water to our homes and offices…but how? How do these systems work? This comic will take you beneath and behind the scenes, showcasing how some of the most incredible systems we use every day work.

The art is compelling and includes plenty of diagrams…and this is a book with a lot of humor, too, so you’re not getting any boring science lecture. Nerd the heck out here, y’all.

Alicia is 16, and she’s subject to nonstop judgment from her classmates. It comes because she has sex, so she’s, of course, seen as easy. A slut. Every other name you can imagine for a girl like her.

Except: Alicia was sexually abused by a teacher. She’s a survivor. And of course, it’s a popular teacher who did that to her.

As Alicia begins to drop out of everything that brings her joy, she finds a series of letters from someone else at school. Someone who claims they’ve been a victim, too. Now, she wants to get to the truth of that story and her own.

This verse novel is one for readers who are itching for a compelling and powerful story of redemption, race, power, and maybe even love.

One part I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and one part Furia, Shukairy’s debut follows Khadija and Leene, two teens at a suburban Detroit high school. Khadija is determined, and she sets her sights on traveling the world to leave behind her sheltered life. So when she collides with Leene, a girl who is a Syrian refugee and struggling with anxiety and nonstop pressure from her family, things are rocky, fast. Both girls see each other as the opposite of who they should be as Syrians in America.

Khadija, though, finds a secret in Leene’s past and it brings the girls together in a way neither expect…but in a way that will ultimately help them understand themselves, each other, and their realities as Syrian immigrants.

Tania de Batz is disabled, and she feels wholly herself, fierce and powerful, while she has a sword in her hand. She wants to be like her father, who was a Musketeer and who has always been supportive of Tania, despite her near-constant dizziness.

When her father is murdered, his final wish is for her to attend a finishing school. But it’s not any finishing school. It’s where young women are trained to be proper on the outside but fiery Musketeers beneath the surface.

Now connected with a collection of fellow female fighters, Tania is ready to exact revenge for her father’s death.

If you want a gender bent retelling of The Three Musketeers with a disabled main character, you can do no better.

This is the first book in a duology about a culture full of Dreamers whose traditions and ways of life are threatened by a greedy, evil new King.

Indir has the ability of Dreaming truth, but with the arrival of the new king, she might need to make the ultimate choice between allowing her community to end OR fighting to survive and keep in tact two secrets no one else can know.

Although Saya is a seer, she’s not a Dreamer. At least, that’s the story her mother has told; her mother who has used Saya’s gifts, claiming they are her own. But when Saya learns that she might have actual powers her mother has kept secret from her, she’s ready to get to the truth.

Indir and Saya’s lives are about to intertwine as both struggle to determine what should remain secret and what needs to be shared in order to save themselves and their community.

The art for this graphic memoir looks incredible, and I’m so eager to get my hands on it.

Jung-Jin Lee — Deborah’s Korean name — has grown up in between cultures. She’s in New Jersey but never fits in, and things only get harder in high school. Her mental health challenges her to the point where she attempts to die by suicide. In her recovery, Deb finds solace in art and self-care. Not only does it help her mental health but it also helps her understand her Korean heritage and who she truly is.

A diverse twist on Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde? Yes, please!

Last spring, Gabriel and Henry were kicked out of their London Medical School due to a scandal…and the beliefs about the true nature of their relationship. Gabriel is back in London now and is not ready to start over again without Henry. But Henry has become distant, and Gabriel is desperate to find out what happened.

So Gabriel keeps an eye on the Jekyll house, hoping for any signs of Henry. Instead, he meets Hyde, who claims to be close to Henry. But what unravels opens more questions than answers.

Set in the 1880s in London, readers will fall into this strange, dark world.

It feels like this book has been out for a long time, and it has — at least in book life years. The first volume hit shelves in September 2021, and this week, the paperback is finally here.

Aliens plague the world outside the Great Wall of China. Chrysalises are giant transforming robots which can take down the aliens, and the boys of Huaxia long to find girls to copilot those machines with them, even (especially?) if it means those girls will die from it.

Zetian is going to play into the game, and she is eager to to become a “concubine-pilot,” in order to get revenge against the pilot who killed her sister.

Except things don’t go according to plan. She is an Iron Widow, bestowed with the rare power of being able to sacrifice males in order to keep Chrysalises moving. So when she’s paired with the strongest male pilot in Huaxia, she’ll have to both learn to understand him…and her own strength.

Stewart’s novel won this year’s Schneider Family Book Award for teens (a personal favorite of mine!).

Three months ago, Lily walked in on her sister Alice harming herself. Lily’s been trying to keep the peace around home while her sister is in treatment, but now that Alice is returning home, Lily can no longer tamp it down.

Micah is a new student and happened to attend the same treatment program as Alice. Now that he and Lily are paired up for an art project at school, Lily begins to open up about her own compulsions and the realities of both living with her own — and her sister’s — mental health challenges.

A queer coming-of-age set in 1930s Chicago? Count me in.

Joe comes to Chicago in 1934 in order to make enough money to save the family farm. He’s been set up at a hotel job, and he decides to take part in a con coordinated by his cousin in order to make a lot of money really fast. As he’s in on the scheme, Joe befriends two guys who expose him to things he’s never seen: a rich queer life in the city.

But Joe soon finds himself in big trouble. Between the con and being caught up in danger with the cops and gangsters, he knows he’s gotta get out of town. Leaving, though, means deciding who he truly wants to be.

Mar, a nonbinary transmasc Latinx pirate, can manipulate fire and ice. Unfortunately, as magical as that power is, they’re not strong enough to reverse a bargain made by their father. El Diablo is out for revenge, hoping to collect Mar’s father’s soul and the rest of those on the ship.

By miracle, there’s hope. But not for long: now El Diablo wants to make a bargain with Mar.

Set in the war-ravaged countryside of Russia, this is a fresh take on Anastasia. Anna is running for her life, having barely escaped the murders that rocked the rest of her family. A Red commander is after her, though, and Anna believes if she can just find the Tsarist army, she can get to safety — but it comes with convincing a peasant to take her across communist territory.

That peasant is Evgenia, who is not happy about her lot in life. Her brother, a Red soldier, is in desperate need of a doctor, and she sells a wagon ride across the communist countryside to Anna to raise the funds.

The girls, from opposing sides, learn on this trip how much they have in common, as well as what it means to survive.

We can always used more stories of Black girls in sports, and this one about a Black ballerina is super compelling. I only wish the cover were a little more YA and less middle grade! Or maybe clearer that the main character uses a wheelchair, since the wheel around the skirt is a confusing?

Anyway!

Genie used to be a leading student at her New York dance studio, but an accident left her in a wheelchair. She “used to be,” and she wants to be left alone to pick up the pieces of the future that’s been destroyed.

Then she meets Kyle. Kyle, who is himself a former gymnast and whose future career ended because of a traumatic brain injury. With Kyle’s help and the help of her best friend, maybe Genie can forge a new creative future…and admit the truth about what happened to her.

This one deals with some heavier topics, too, including parental substance abuse and an ex-boyfriend who may hold a secret himself.

It’s senior year and with graduation on the horizon, Leila is especially crushed when her long-time boyfriend Dev breaks up with her. Has it all been a big waste? Maybe…or maybe this is a big chance.

The school hosts an annual Last Chance Dance. Students submit a list of three crushes to the committee and if there is a match, those students get paired up and can decide whether or not to attend the big shebang together. So when Leila gets matched with all three of her crushes, including her semi-enemy from chemistry class, she’ll have to decide who is her perfect fit for the dance…and maybe more.

There’s a very interesting microtrend with YA book covers and that’s sunflowers. And, as the case is with this book, those sunflowers aren’t exactly, err, sunny.

Bishop is a town known for three things: terrible windstorms, sunflower fields, and women who go missing. So when three women disappear one night, three daughters are left without mothers, without answers, and alone with no one but each other and their grief.

At the memorial for all of their mothers, the wind is at it. Now, secrets have come to the surface and all three of the girls who are now motherless must confront their own truths…and the truth of the eerie town which might be desperate for their blood, too.

I’m getting a little bit of the vibes from Robin Wasserman’s utterly creepy The Waking Dark with this one.

Ri Fernández’s strict grandmother did not allow her to learn Spanish growing up, despite the fact she’s Mexican American. Ri has been angry at her grandmother for years, as she’s been cut off from ever getting to know who she is and where she came from.

So when Ri discovers a letter from her birth mother, she decides she’s going to seek her out. But the visit is anything but the empowering and meaningful one she anticipated. Her mother is not at all what Ri hoped and, as it turns out, being of mixed heritage is a lot more complicated than she could have ever imagined…but maybe that is indeed what she should embrace.

This one is pitched as I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter meets Color Me In and I’m itching to read it.