Category: What’s Up in YA

Looking for a book that is mostly realistic except there are ghosts? Look no further.

Sara comes from a large Afghani-Uzbeck family, but she’s feeling alone after the divorce of her parents. Her dad’s started dating someone new, and making things more awkward is the fact that her dad and mom still work together in their house flipping business. Sara’s recruited as part of their work to take photos of the before and after.

The newest project, Sumner, is not giving great vibes. Sara begins to see a ghost of her grandmother, then the ghost of a strange little girl. No one else is seeing this, and she can’t capture it on camera. Her grandmother, who struggles with memory, has been having strange conversations about having another child none of her family seems to know about. Are these comments and what Sara’s seeing related?

This is an immersive story about family, about history, and about the stories and choices immigrants sometimes have to make in order to build a new life.

Maya and Skye are both recruited for a reality TV show, wherein they’re competing to win back the adoration of their ex-boyfriend Jordy. Jordy, brother to royalty, has captured the spotlight in his new country as an eligible bachelor, and this show is a way to really play into the public’s interests in him.

Here’s the problem: Jordy cheated on Maya with Skye, and now, the two girls are sharing the same room during the show. Maya is angry and mean toward Skye, who has no idea what she’s done to draw Maya’s ire. But as Maya opens up, she and Skye begin to develop a bond that no guy — not even someone as eligible as Jordy — could break.

And there just might be a lot of kissing and hijinks involved.

This is a fun bisexual romcom, packed with absurd situations that make it an easy, delightful read. You’re going to root for the girls and be so glad they get their HEA.

When Rowenna’s mother dies, she takes with her the training that Rowenna needs to unlock her magical talents. But when a stormy night brings with it a shipwreck and Rowenna rescues Galen, it appears her mother has come back from the dead.

Her mother, though, is anything but. She’s infused with evil and turns Galen, as well as Rowenna’s brothers, into swans. She’s also taken Rowenna’s voice. Desperate to save her brothers, Galen, and herself, Rowenna travels to a nearby town, desperate to break the curse.

But how can she use her raw magic for her own needs if strangers keep trying to take it from her?

Kim’s boyfriend has dumped her for another girl, and now, Kim is stuck on a class trip to London with both of them. Kim wishes he was dead so she did not have to deal with him.

Nikki, who is Kim’s seat mate on the flight, listens to her story. They have a quick bond and Nikki jokes about them swapping murders. It’s fun and games until Kim’s ex-boyfriend dies mysteriously, and now, Nikki is blackmailing Kim until she upholds her end of the bargain (one she never actually made).

Adler’s third anthology features yet another star-studded contributorship. This time, 15 different writers offer up twists on beloved fairy tales ranging from Rumpelstiltskin to Puss in Boots to The Nutcracker, Cinderella, and more. Among the contributors are Malinda Lo, Alex London, Stacey Lee, and Tracy Deonn.

Bayside and Hamilton are racially-divided towns, and no one crosses the tracks. When Zach, who is white, moves to Bayside and pursues his dreams of music by visiting the historic jazz music shop in Hamilton, he meets Capri. Capri, who dreams of Broadway, lives in Hamilton and knows that even if she and Zach are connecting in a powerful way, their relationship could raise eyebrows.

When a white Bayside cop kills the star of the Hamilton football team — who happens to be best friends with Capri’s older brother — everything will be put to the test.

Pass this along to readers who love The Hate U Give and All American Boys.

Lena was cursed by a witch before she was born, leading her to a secret: she can kill with the touch of her skin. But when she and her father are forced from their lives of isolation, they end up in a village near the Silence, a forest that reportedly lures people in who are never again seen.

But when Miranda stumbles out of the Silence and meets Lena, she tells her about Gather, a city within the forest with magic. Miranda is on a search for someone who can wake the sleeping princess of Gather, who she believes holds the secret to liberating Gather from their tyrant leader. Miranda offers Lena a chance to break free from her own curse, so long as she helps find someone to wake the princess.

Lena’s on it…but the more she discovers about Gather and Miranda, the more she sees she’s been lied to about her own past. Dive into a fantastical bisexual retelling of The Sleeping Beauty.

Social activism + enemies-to-lovers + thriller + college campus setting, this one is checking all of the boxes for so many readers.

Anna is moving into the dorms across town to attend Brookings University; she’s still close to her parents’ home and their struggling bakery. She’s determined to not only do well in school but to investigate a crime that happened on campus and claimed the life of her former babysitter.

When Anna encounters middle school rival Chris, whose family opened a bakery near the one her parents run, she’s wary. But a vandal who hit his family’s bakery left a racist tag and it matches something in Anna’s other investigation.

After a threat against Anna, she realizes that her connections with Chris might be what helps her get to the bottom of the death of her former babysitter, the vandalism at Chris’s family’s bakery, and a series of other local racist events.

This is the second contemporary Black YA prep/boarding school book I can think of that published this year (the first being Seton Girls) and I am here for this! More, this one features a 14 year old lead.

Avielle LeBeau is just starting Briarcliff Prep, a historically Black Boarding School. She’s excited to fit in with kids who look like her and get her, and she’s eager to follow in her family’s legacy. But when Avielle discovers a secret about her sister’s boyfriend, she realizes she has to make a choice that could change everyone’s life: keep the secret or tell her sister and potentially ruin their sibling relationship.

For readers looking to fall into a thoughtful and evocative book about grief and healing, this is one to have on your radar.

Jamison’s mother died two years ago. He, his little sister, and his dad are all coping in their separate ways, but when Jamison comes close to completely forgetting the date of his mom’s birthday, he worries that he’s losing the memory of someone he holds dear.

This is his reason for picking up the Nikon camera his mother gave him as a gift, and he decides to take photos on the street at the same time every single night. The simple routine is anything but, and Jamison discovers an incredible world around him and it helps him keep the memory of his mother alive and reconnect more deeply with his dad and sister.

This one is pitched as American Royals meets The Winner’s Curse and is set in a reimagined American monarchy.

It’s 1893 and Claire’s father is a highly sought-after inventor, though he believes his magic comes through the touch of his daughter to whatever it is he is creating. This means she’s under his eye nearly all the time.

The province is preparing for war, and Claire is preparing to leave, despite her best friend begging her to stay and fight in the resistance. But her father’s invention doesn’t work as planned at the World’s Fair and Claire is taken captive by a young ruler who believes she has the magic to help him become more powerful as a leader.

Now Claire has a rare opportunity she never saw coming: does she help build a new world or does she burn everything down?

Willa, Luz, and Britton were the best of friends at 15, at 16, and at 17, through good times and bad. Then, Willa ruined it all at 18.

Now it’s the week of graduation and Willa cracks open a memory box from the times they spent together. She begins to wonder what could end what they had, then realizes that, without them, she has no idea who she herself is.

So often I see YA readers talk about the lack of friendship stories — and there are actually many of them, though they’re overshadowed by stories with a romantic arc — and this is a solid entry into the world of friendship (and friendship breakup) YA.

Maisie Rojas, 17, has spent her life inside the Q. The Q is a post-pandemic quarantine zone, where security walls seal off the perimeter. She is a lieutenant for one of the Q’s leading families.

Lennon Pierce is the son of a U.S. presidential candidate. Kidnapped by enemies of his father, he’s dropped into Q. While given a temporary antidote to the disease, if he’s not out within 48 hours, he’ll become infected and forced to remain within the city’s walls.

Maisie is responsible for getting Lennon out, and what begins is a compelling adventure full of danger and a clock counting down the time way too fast.

If you loved this star-studded author lineup’s Blackout, you’ll be wanting to grab this one ASAP.

12 teens are out to help a friend make a giant apology, but then, Atlanta is struck by a snowstorm. Will they be able to make it happen? This is a sweet winter romance told through several voices, perspectives, and, of course, packed with feelings.

This one is going to be short and sweet, y’all.

It’s a snow-covered kingdom.

Two rivals are secretly competing for the heart of the price.

Except…in the midst of their rivalry, they might be falling for one another.

A queer historical YA book about teens who choose a life outside the norms of their small-town? Yes please!

In 1904, Asta is against marrying Nils, to whom she’s been betrothed. Her parents believe she should feel lucky to be married, as she is partially deaf, has an odd appearance, and is strange. Asta wants instead to run away with her friends who are more like her and live as a performer in the village theater.

When Nils lashes out against one of Asta’s friends, she decides things are officially over. She and her two friends move to a secluded cabin and are determined to make their off-grid life work…by winning the annual horse race put on by their village. None of them have experience, but that doesn’t matter. Their determination and drive are going to help them plan their lives out exactly as they wish.

They’ll just have to avoid death.

Jasmine Zumideh is in high school in 1979 California and just itching to leave for NYU where she’ll study to become a music journalist. She’s already applied and everything’s in order, except she kinda sorta lied about being Senior Class President-Elect. *ahem* She entered into the race for it, and it’s not like she’d ever lose to Gerald, who wants to enforce a dress code. But then Iran becomes a hot topic on the news because of an incident and now Jasmine is caught between her outspoken brother, who’s proud of their heritage, and the anti-Iranian sentiments that have started coming out.

The town of Hemlock Falls is out of the way, not on maps, and has no cell phone reception. It also has a forest full of monsters that come out at night, and an ancient order called the Luminaries who protect humanity from these monsters. And Winnie can’t wait to restore her family’s name by entering the deadly trials to become a Luminary. When she enlists the help of her ex-best friend Jay to help her train, she soon learns that he knows a little too much about the monstrous forest…

Iris is used to being regarded as strange. As an African tightrope dancer in Victorian England, she is always made to feel like a spectacle. If only people really knew how strange she was. Like how she can’t die, for instance. Knowing this oddity about herself and little else, she’s obsessed with learning about herself. That’s why when the dark and mysterious Adam Temple lets on that he knows something of who she is, she’s intrigued. But his help comes with a price, namely competing as his champion in a tournament where people with fantastical abilities compete to become the leader of the upcoming apocalypse.

Here is the final book in the Montague Siblings trilogy. This time, we follow Adrian Motague, a political writer making a name for himself. But he has a secret: he has the same mental illness his mother struggled with for years. Once he finds a relic of hers — a broken spyglass — the past descends on him and he meets the older brother he never knew about. To find answers about his and his mother’s past, he’ll travel pirate courts, Amsterdam’s canals, and uncharted waters.