While technically still summer until later this month, it’s hard not to picture the forthcoming season and all it has to offer for readers. Sure, there’s a lot of romanticizing fall reading–cozy blankets, mugs of cider, wide-open windows with cool breezes, and delicious pumpkin baked goods at the ready–and while not everything we dream about happens, there is one truth about this season when it comes to reading: there are a lot of new books. We saw the fall publishing bonanza begin last week, and it continues.
This week’s new YA books include two books being published simultaneously in hardcover and paperback (one with an adaptation already underway), a pair of holiday romances (see Pining For You and All The Jingle Ladies), a Frankenstein reimagining, and so much more. It’s a packed and stacked release week!
New Hardcover YA Releases This WeekAdam, Mine by K. Ancrum
Ancrum has become a force in YA over the last several years, and her latest endeavor is being described as a romantic queer horror thriller that is ultimately a love letter to Frankenstein. I’m sold.
Victor Frankenstein has everything he could ever want, except that money and privilege aren’t enough to prove himself or to change the world. He wants to figure out how to bring people who are sick and dying back to life.
It’s not entirely surprising that no one wants to allow him to try this, but after a drunken bet, Victor has to take things into his own hands. He’s taken a teenage boy from a neighboring village as his monster. That boy, Elias, taken under the dark of night, awakens covered in stitches and scars. His loved ones abandon him. Elias is, however, tethered to Victor, who has set out to find a way to reverse what he’s done to Elias. He’s afraid, and he feels guilty about what he’s done.
The connection Victor and Elias feel includes one another’s joys, pains, regrets, and more. Even though both are looking for answers and ways to end the other’s existence, the bond they feel may lead to something else entirely.
A Taste of Somewhere Else by Michael Ruhlman
Miles is not thrilled about what junior year looks like, since he’ll be spending it in Cleveland with the dad he hardly knows. But Miles knows just surviving this year will help him get things back in order, and he can return to New York.
But then Miles gets suspended. Between that, the unexpected death of his mom, and his father’s art house theater facing closure, things go from bad to worse. Then Miles’s dad proposes a road trip across Spain to track down a long-lost film director.
Is it unconventional? Absolutely. Will it work? Probably not. But Miles and his dad are in for a life-changing father-son road trip across Spain that will alter their relationship forever.
This one’s getting compared to Darius The Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram.
A Thousand Nights edited by Nafiza Azad and Intisar Khanani
YA anthologies have been few this year, so not only is this a welcome addition to that format, but it’s also a groundbreaking one. This collection features 17 Muslim women writers–including Hanna Alkaf, Ausma Zehanat Khan, Diana Ma, Ardo Omer, and Farah Naz Rishi–and the book itself is a take on Arabian Nights.
The story begins when one refugee fleeing her home runs into another, then another, and another. The group decides to take turns telling one another stories as they travel, and those stories weave fantasy with the reality of their lives. This collection is infused with an array of cultural mythologies and legends.
Evamar by Margarita Engle
Engle’s latest novel in verse follows Evamar as she travels to Cuba to connect with her ancestry. She’s got her grandmother’s ashes with her, and she’s been warned numerous times by her mother to avoid talking politics and absolutely, positively do not fall for anyone.
But when Evamar meets Río, a drummer with an incredible presence, she feels her heart do all the fluttery things. Río has had a rough life himself, including being separated from his family.
Even though she’s not supposed to fall in love, Evamar is. She’s also discovering an ancestral treasure that could change not only her life but also the lives of millions of other Caribbean people.
Of Sorcery and Science by Mike Chen
Science fiction and fantasy author Mike Chen may be a familiar name to readers who’ve read his adult titles. He’s now venturing into the world of YA.
Andy Lao entered a portal months ago, where he became a powerful mage and was able to save a distant realm. But no one actually believes him here at school–and he’s also just not doing well in school, period. It’s hard to explain to peers or teachers, let alone demanding parents, that you’ve been named The Chosen One in another world.
So when Andy walks by where the portal was and sees a piece of glowing mana, he knows he can go back. Just as he does, though, he’s joined by a teen girl who also claims she’s The Chosen One. In fact, she says, Andy’s the one who wreaked havoc in the other world, and she was the brave heroine. The two of them will have to work together to save the magic.
Traitors’ Nest by Frances Hardinge
A Great Game takes place above the Kingdom of Thaletal. Castles can be moved around like chess pieces, and people who live in Thaletal are but pawns.
Burr, 15, finds his village disrupted when a new and ominous castle is plunked down. He’s going to stage a coup. Except that before he can do anything, the castle is moved again, dropped in a far corner of the Kingdom. That castle now resides where there are rumors of an ancient maiden who uses magpies to collect her debts.
The stakes are high, but Burr is working with both his sisters and his friends to do something important: they’re going to get to the truth of the Magpie Maiden and the origins of the Great Game being played. He’ll have to ensure he and his crew are not game casualties first.
Hardcover YA Series Releases This Week:
- Cemetery Boys: Espiritu by Aiden Thomas
- Mischief Girls by Aashna Avachat–this one’s being simultaneously released in hardcover and in paperback.
- Wicked Endeavors by Kamilah Cole
More Hardcover YA Releases This Week:
- My Own Kind of Person by Tim Manley
- Our Dark Unraveling by Margot McGovern
- Pining for You by Stef Ferrari
Capsized by Charlotte Lillie Balogh
The second of two YA books being released in hardcover and paperback at the same time, Balogh’s book is also being adapted by Hulu. The people behind the adaptation are the ones behind Pretty Little Liars, and you can see why this title would appeal to that team.
Margaret Douglas is a high achiever, and she’s obsessed with rowing. It’s where she’s built family and friendships. It’s how she plans on going to college. It’s senior year, and now she’s varsity captain–something that took tremendous work and sacrifice. But she disappears for the summer, and rumors swirl about where she went and why.
Whatever happened, it’s haunting her, and when Margaret returns for the next season, it feels like everyone has moved on without her.
Jo Bryant is a new girl. The freshman is rowing because of her father. He’s a former rower, Olympian, and local legend; he’s also the person Jo blames for her parents’ divorce. While Jo isn’t as bought into the crew as others and has no idea why everyone cares so much about Margaret’s disappearance and return, she’s found camaraderie with Margaret. Margaret seems to be the only one who sees Jo as serious.
Their relationship deepens as the season begins, and it becomes clear this is going to be a year unlike any other. Secrets will be revealed, and the biggest one is about to change everything.
If Looks Could Kill by Julie Berry
Okay, let’s keep this one really, really simple because the shortest pitch will be the biggest sell: what if Medusa was hunting Jack the Ripper in late 19th-century New York? That’s the book, y’all.
There’s more, of course. Two girls working at a local Salvation Army who couldn’t be more different team up with a girl reporter and a bartender to take on a rescue effort. But that rescue effort puts them right in the path of Jack and Medusa’s story.
Lost In The Never Woods by Aiden Thomas
In this queer Peter Pan retelling, it’s been five years since the disappearance of Wendy and her two brothers. The woods are restless again, and children are disappearing. Questions are swirling again, especially for Wendy, about what really happened the night they disappeared.
That’s when Wendy stumbles upon an unconscious boy in the middle of the road. It’s Peter. Wendy didn’t believe he existed outside of her stories, but he does, and he wants her help in finding the kids who are disappearing.
This requires not only entering the woods again but also facing head-on what happened to her that night half a decade ago.
Paperback YA Series Releases This Week:
- Our Vicious Descent by Hayley Dennings
- Slayer by Leia Stone
- Torchfire by Moira Buffini
More Paperback YA Releases This Week:
- All The Jingle Ladies by Beth Garrod
- Beasts by Ingvild Bjerkeland and translated by Rosie Hedger
- Mothdark by Kika Hatzopoulou
Don’t miss our picks for (some of!) The Best YA Books of the Century So Far.