by Phil Stamper
Teen boys find love when their parents’ NASA mission uproots their lives in this sweet debut perfect for Adam Silvera fans.
As a successful social media journalist with half a million followers, seventeen-year-old Cal is used to sharing his life online. But when his pilot father is selected for a highly publicized NASA mission to Mars, Cal and his family relocate from Brooklyn to Houston and are thrust into a media circus.
Amidst the chaos, Cal meets sensitive and mysterious Leon, another “Astrokid,” and finds himself falling head over heels–fast. As the frenzy around the mission grows, so does their connection. But when secrets about the program are uncovered, Cal must find a way to reveal the truth without hurting the people who have become most important to him.
Expertly capturing the thrill of first love and the self-doubt all teens feel, debut author Phil Stamper is a new talent to watch.
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by Adalyn Grace
SHE WILL REIGN.
As princess of the island kingdom Visidia, Amora Montara has spent her entire life training to be High Animancer—the master of souls. The rest of the realm can choose their magic, but for Amora, it’s never been a choice. To secure her place as heir to the throne, she must prove her mastery of the monarchy’s dangerous soul magic.
When her demonstration goes awry, Amora is forced to flee. She strikes a deal with Bastian, a mysterious pirate: he’ll help her prove she’s fit to rule, if she’ll help him reclaim his stolen magic.
But sailing the kingdom holds more wonder—and more peril—than Amora anticipated.
A destructive new magic is on the rise, and if Amora’s to conquer it, she’ll need to face legendary monsters, cross paths with vengeful mermaids, and deal with a stow-away she never expected… or risk the fate of Visidia and lose the crown forever.
I am the right choice. The only choice. And I will protect my kingdom.
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by Isabel Ibañez
A lush tapestry of magic, romance, and revolución, drawing inspiration from Bolivian politics and history.
Ximena is the decoy Condesa, a stand-in for the last remaining Illustrian royal. Her people lost everything when the usurper, Atoc, used an ancient relic to summon ghosts and drive the Illustrians from La Ciudad. Now Ximena’s motivated by her insatiable thirst for revenge, and her rare ability to spin thread from moonlight. When Atoc demands the real Condesa’s hand in marriage, it’s Ximena’s duty to go in her stead. She relishes the chance, as Illustrian spies have reported that Atoc’s no longer carrying his deadly relic. If Ximena can find it, she can return the true aristócrata to their rightful place.
She hunts for the relic, using her weaving ability to hide messages in tapestries for the resistance. But when a masked vigilante, a warm-hearted princess, and a thoughtful healer challenge Ximena, her mission becomes more complicated. There could be a way to overthrow the usurper without starting another war, but only if Ximena turns her back on revenge—and her Condesa.
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by Cindy L. Otis
HOW SPIES SPOT FAKE NEWS explores the history of fake news, disinformation, and propaganda, using well-known historical and contemporary events. It also provides a guide to help readers identify false information in an age of information overload, based on the author’s experience as a CIA intelligence analyst.
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by Alechia Dow
After Earth is invaded by the alien Ilori, humans are kept in centers while awaiting a mysterious vaccine that will end life as they know it. Seventeen-year-old Janelle “Ellie” Baker survives in a New York City center, but keeps a secret library after all art is banned. When a book goes missing, Ellie fears the Ilori will track it back to her and kill her.
Born in a lab, Morr1s was raised to express facts, never emotions, and to fulfill a purpose set for him by his creators. When he finds Ellie’s book, he’s duty-bound to deliver her for execution. Trouble is, he finds himself drawn to music and humanity. As the two escape and embark on a dangerous cross-country road trip, they’ll have to make a story and a song of their own that just might save the world.
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by Daniel Aleman
Sixteen-year-old Mateo’s life is thrown into chaos after his parents, undocumented Mexican immigrants, are detained by ICE, leaving him to care for his young sister and fight for his family’s future.
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by Kim Smejkal
Celia Sand and her best friend, Anya Burtoni, are inklings for the esteemed religion of Profeta. Using magic, they tattoo followers with beautiful images that represent the Divine’s will and guide the actions of the recipients. It’s considered a noble calling, but ten years into their servitude Celia and Anya know the truth: Profeta is built on lies, the tattooed orders strip away freedom, and the revered temple is actually a brutal, torturous prison.
Their opportunity to escape arrives with the Rabble Mob, a traveling theater troupe. Using their inkling abilities for performance instead of propaganda, Celia and Anya are content for the first time . . . until they realize who followed them. The Divine they never believed in is very real, very angry, and determined to use Celia, Anya, and the Rabble Mob’s now-infamous stage to spread her deceitful influence even further.
To protect their new family from the wrath of a malicious deity and the zealots who work in her name, Celia and Anya must unmask the biggest lie of all—Profeta itself.
A lush, dark YA fantasy debut that weaves together tattoo magic, faith, and eccentric theater in a world where lies are currency and ink is a weapon, perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Kendare Blake.
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by David R. Slayton
An apprentice mage must solve the murder of his seditious master at the hands of the impossible, a ghost dragon, while uncovering secrets that will force him to choose between the magical empire of his people and the mundane province of the boy he loves.
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by Chloe Gong
Perfect for fans of The Last Magician and Descendant of the Crane, this heart-stopping debut is an imaginative Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai, with rival gangs and a monster in the depths of the Huangpu River.
The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.
A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.
But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.
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by Tracy Deonn
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by Kyrie McCauley
Tens of thousands of crows invading Auburn, Pennsylvania, is a problem for everyone in town except seventeen-year-old Leighton Barnes. Residents complain about the nuisance, the strangeness of the birds. But for Leighton, it’s no stranger than her house, which inexplicably repairs itself every time her father loses his temper and breaks things. No stranger than growing up in a town full of people who look the other way. Leighton’s dream college is finally within reach, but grabbing that lifeline means leaving her sisters behind, a choice Leighton isn’t ready to face. Leighton tries to balance school, her first love, and survival under the shadow of sixty thousand feathered wings, but she knows that this fragile equilibrium can only last so long before it shatters.
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by Eva V. Gibson
Lane Jamison’s life is turned upside down the week before her senior year when her father introduces her to his new fiancée: mother of Grey McIntyre, Lane’s secret, longtime crush. Now with Grey living in Lane’s house, there’s only a thin wall separating their rooms, making it harder and harder to deny their growing mutual attraction—an attraction made all the more forbidden by Grey’s long-term girlfriend Sadie Hall, who also happens to be Lane’s friend.
Torn between her feelings for Grey and her friendship with Sadie—not to mention her desire to keep the peace at home—Lane befriends Sadie’s older brother, Connor, the black sheep of the strict, evangelical Hall family. Connor, a metal working artist who is all sharp edges, challenges Lane in ways no one else ever has. As the two become closer and start to open up about the traumas in their respective pasts, Lane begins to question her conviction that Connor is just a distraction.
Tensions come to a head after a tragic incident at a party, forcing Lane to untangle her feelings for both boys and face the truth of what—and who—she wants, in this gripping and stunningly romantic debut novel.
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by Lyla Lee
Pitched as DUMPLIN’ meets WHEN DIMPLE MET RISHI, the book follows Skye Shin, a bisexual Korean-American teen girl who competes on a reality TV show to become the first plus-sized K-pop star, while falling in love with her competitor, Henry Cho, who happens to be a world-famous celebrity.
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by Marisa Kanter
The story follows a viral pseudonymous teen book blogger who moves to a new town and starts running into her internet BFF absolutely everywhere IRL–in class, at the library, at synagogue. The only problem is, he has no idea who she really is, and while he’s in love with her online persona, she’s falling for him in person.
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by Nora Shalaway Carpenter
Sage is a high school volleyball star desperate to find a way around her sudden medical disqualification. Lennon is a loner teen photographer with a guilty secret. As Sage’s carefully planned life unravels and Len’s past increasingly threatens her safety, the girls develop an unlikely bond, finding the strength to conquer their internal monsters in a place neither of them expected: each other. Set in the mountainous outskirts of Asheville, North Carolina, THE EDGE OF ANYTHING explores the transformative power of friendship and how it can help you find yourself and the goodness in life, even when everything feels broken.
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by E.M. Castellan
France, 1661 – Henriette of England must navigate her arranged marriage to Louis XIV’s brother while keeping her magical abilities a careful secret from all at the Sun King’s court, but when a mysterious sorcerer uses a forbidden spell to murder royal magicians, she must decide if she will reveal her powers to help Louis defeat him and build a new, enchanted seat of power — the Palace of Versailles.
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June Hur
Set in Korea in the 1800s, where a sixteen-year-old indentured to the police bureau takes a murder investigation into her own hands, delving deep into a restless city swirling with intrigue and secrets, where honor often comes before justice.
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Anuradha D. Rajurkar
Fans of Sandhya Menon, Erika Sanchez and Jandy Nelson will identify with this story of a young artist grappling with first love, family boundaries and her boyfriend’s exoticization of her Indian heritage.
Rani Kelkar has never lied to her parents, until she meets Oliver. The same qualities that draw her in—his tattoos, his charisma, his passion for art—make him her mother’s worst nightmare.
They begin dating in secret, but when Oliver’s troubled home life unravels, he starts to ask more of Rani than she knows how to give, encroaching on her family and her culture. Their relationship is nearly at the breaking point when a family tragedy draws Rani to India for a summer. There, she gains perspective on what it means to be true to herself and what that means for her and Oliver.
Winner of SCBWI’s Emerging Voices award, Anuradha Rajurkar takes an honest look at the ways privilege and bias can twist an interracial relationship into something unrecognizable as love. Rani’s journey to reclaim her identity will speak to anyone who’s ever had to fight to be seen as more than a stereotype.
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Jennifer Gruenke
Ren Kolins is a silver wielder—a dangerous thing to be in the kingdom of Erdis, where magic has been outlawed for a century. Ren is just trying to survive, sticking to a life of petty thievery, card games, and pit fighting to get by. But when a wealthy rebel leader discovers her secret, he offers her a fortune to join his revolution. The caveat: she won’t see a single coin until they overthrow the King.
Behind the castle walls, a brutal group of warriors known as the King’s Children is engaged in a competition: the first to find the rebel leader will be made King’s Fang, the right hand of the King of Erdis. And Adley Farre is hunting down the rebels one by one, torturing her way to Ren and the rebel leader, and the coveted King’s Fang title.
But time is running out for all of them, including the youngest Prince of Erdis, who finds himself pulled into the rebellion. Political tensions have reached a boiling point, and Ren and the rebels must take the throne before war breaks out.
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Liz Lawson
May is a survivor. But she doesn’t feel like one. She feels angry. And lost. And alone. Eleven months after a school shooting that killed her twin brother, May still doesn’t know why she was the only one to walk out of the band room that day. No one gets what she went through – no one saw and heard what she did. No one can possibly understand how it feels to be her.
Zach lost his old life when his mother decided to defend the shooter. His girlfriend dumped him, his friends bailed, and now he spends his time hanging out with his little sister . . . and the one faithful friend who stuck around. His best friend’s needy and demanding, but he won’t let Zach disappear into himself. Which is how Zach ends up at band practice that night. The same night May goes with her best friend to audition for a new band.
Which is how May meets Zach.
And how Zach meets May.
And how both figure out that surviving might be an option after all.
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Tara K. Ross
Thea Fenton’s life looks picture-perfect, but inside, she is falling apart. Wracked by anxiety no one seems to understand or care about, she resorts to self-harm to deflect the pain inside.
When a local teen commits suicide, Thea’s anxiety skyrockets. Unexplainable things happen, leaving her feeling trapped within her own chaotic mind. The lines between reality and another world start to blur, and her previously mundane issues seem more daunting and insurmountable than ever.
Then she meets Khi, a mysterious new boy from the coffee shop who seems to know her better than she knows herself—and doesn’t think she’s crazy. His quiet confidence and unfounded familiarity draw her into an unconventional friendship.
Khi journeys with her through grief, fear, and confusion to arrive at compassion for the one person Thea never thought she could love.
A deeply transformational novel from an authentic new voice in Christian young adult fiction.
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Aiden Thomas
Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and he can’t get rid him.
Bestowed by the ancient gods of Maya, Yadriel and the gifted members of his Latinx community can see spirits: women have the power to heal bodies and souls, while men can release lost spirits to the afterlife. But Yadriel, a trans boy, has never been able to perform the tasks of the brujas – because he is a brujo.
When his cousin suddenly dies, Yadriel takes matters into his own hands and successfully summons a ghost. The only problem is, it’s not his cousin, it’s Julian Diaz, the resident bad boy of his high school. Worse, he’s pissed about his death and demands answers.
Yadriel agrees to help Julian discover how he died. In exchange, Julian will let Yadriel release his spirit, finally proving himself a brujo. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less Yadriel wants to let him go, and time is running out.
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by Betty Culley
This moving debut novel in verse about a teenage girl dealing with the aftermath of an accident that nearly takes her brother’s life is a stunning exploration of grief and the power of forgiveness.
The reminder is always there—a dent on the right side of Jonah’s forehead. The spot you’d press when you felt a headache coming on. The bullet tore away bone, the way dynamite blasts rock—leaving a soft crater.
Life changes forever for Liv when her older brother, Jonah, accidentally shoots himself with his best friend Clay’s father’s gun. Now Jonah needs round-the-clock care just to stay alive, and Liv seems to be the only person who can see that her brother is still there inside his broken body.
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by Lani Forbes
Six royal daughters vie to become the empress of the Chicome people in a competition only one will survive.
Thrust into leadership upon the death of his emperor father, young Prince Ahkin feels completely unready for his new position. Though his royal blood controls the power of the sun, he’s now responsible for the lives of all the Chicome people. And despite all Ahkin’s efforts, the sun is fading—and the end of the world may be at hand.
For Mayana, the only daughter of the Chicome family whose blood controls the power of water, the old emperor’s death may mean that she is next. Prince Ahkin must be married before he can ascend the throne, and Mayana is one of six noble daughters presented to him as a possible wife. Those who are not chosen will be sacrificed to the gods.
The life-and-death competition begins immediately. Each princess commands a different power. Fierce Itza, daughter of the stormlords, can control the wind. Teniza can grow crops to fruition in only seconds. Zorrah uses her power over animals to immediately make herself Mayana’s enemy. Yoli, daughter of the volcano, commands the power of fire, and Yemania, who becomes Mayana’s best friend, can heal all wounds.
Only one girl can become Ahkin’s bride. Mayana and Ahkin feel an immediate connection, but the gods themselves may be against them. Both recognize that the ancient rites of blood that keep the gods appeased may be harming the Chicome more than they help. As a blood-red comet and the fading sun bring a growing sense of dread, only two young people may hope to change their world.
Rich in imagination and romance, and based on the legends and history of the Aztec and Mayan people, THE SEVENTH SUN brings to vivid life a world on the edge of apocalyptic disaster.
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by Helen Corcoran
Eighteen-year-old Lia won’t mourn her uncle. The idiot’s left her a bankrupt kingdom considered easy pickings by its neighbours. She’s sworn to be a better ruler, but loyalty is bought and lost with coin she doesn’t have. If she wants to push through her reforms, she needs to beat the Court at its own manipulation games.
Xania is biding her time. For years, she’s been building the skills to uncover the vile person who murdered her father. The change in power provides her with the perfect opportunity to act when the Queen gives her a choice: become Lia’s new spymaster, with the full force of royal power to fuel her vengeance, or take a one way trip to the executioner’s axe. It’s an easy decision.
When Lia and Xania fall for each other, their love complicates Lia’s responsibility to marry for an heir, and threatens Xania’s precarious Court status. As they’re drawn together amid a deluge of royal suitors and new diplomats, they uncover treason that could not only end Lia’s reign, but ruin their weakened country. As Lia realises it’s easier to rule through cruelty than kindness, Xania must decide if she can accept the darker aspects of loving a queen. They’re not only in danger of turning into people they despise: they must now decide how much they’re willing to sacrifice for each other.
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by Isaac Fitzsimons
The book follows a queer, biracial, transgender teen fighting for his rights and falling in love for the first time on the soccer field. When Spencer is benched due to the “F” on his birth certificate, he has to make a choice: cheer from the sidelines or fight the ruling even though it would mean coming out to everyone, including the conservative Christian teammate he’s falling for.
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by Roseanne A. Brown
For seventeen-year-old refugee Malik Hilali, the weeklong festival of Solstasia is a chance to escape his poverty-stricken life for a new one in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But just as he reaches the city’s gates, a vengeful spirit kidnaps his younger sister and offers him a deal: her freedom in exchange for the death of Crown Princess Karina Almorahad before Solstasia ends. With nothing but his own wits and dark magic he barely understands, Malik disguises himself as a nobleman and enters Solstasia to compete for Karina’s hand in marriage—the perfect opportunity to assassinate her.
But the night before Solstasia begins, an assassin murders Karina’s mother, and she inherits a court that threatens mutiny. Grief-stricken and distrustful of everyone around her, Karina resorts to using forbidden magic to bring her mother back from the dead. But resurrection comes at a steep cost, and this ritual requires sacrificing her future husband—the winner of Solstasia.
Over a week of heart-pounding celebrations and dazzling displays of magic, an unlikely bond forms between Karina and Malik, and their interactions force them to question everything they thought they knew about their world. But though they’re more alike than their enemies would have them believe, both are willing to do whatever it takes to save the ones they love—even if they have to destroy each other.
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by Laynie Bynum
What would you give up to be with your idol? Your reputation? Your best friend? Your sanity? Addie is a small-town high school senior with a best friend to take care of and college plans to figure out. Jude is a drop-dead-gorgeous British rock star turned actor and one-half of Hollywood’s favorite “it” couple along side his co-star Lana Thatcher. When the two cross paths at a music festival in Addie’s hometown and begin an undercover whirlwind romance, the press becomes vicious, his faux fiance flames rumors, and Addie must decide if her “dream come true” is worth the nightmare it is turning into.
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by Adiba Jaigirdar
When Dimple Met Rishi meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this rom com about two teen girls with rival henna businesses.
When Nishat comes out to her parents, they say she can be anyone she wants—as long as she isn’t herself. Because Muslim girls aren’t lesbians. Nishat doesn’t want to hide who she is, but she also doesn’t want to lose her relationship with her family. And her life only gets harder once a childhood friend walks back into her life.
Flávia is beautiful and charismatic and Nishat falls for her instantly. But when a school competition invites students to create their own businesses, both Flávia and Nishat choose to do henna, even though Flávia is appropriating Nishat’s culture. Amidst sabotage and school stress, their lives get more tangled—but Nishat can’t quite get rid of her crush on Flávia, and realizes there might be more to her than she realized.
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by Lora Beth Johnson
When a girl wakes from a cryogenic sleep on a planet she doesn’t recognize, she must team up with the mysterious soldier who woke her to navigate a future world where technology is considered magic and its practitioners revered as Deities.
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by Jennifer Moffett
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by Rebecca McLaughlin
When King Fallow passes away, everyone expects his daughter Esther will inherit the throne. But rulers of Seriden aren’t picked by blood. Instead, a magical tattoo is gifted to the last name spoken on a sovereign’s dying breath. Which is why Coin can’t believe she has the tattoo. After all, she’s Nameless, a class of citizens so low and disrespected that they are not even deemed worthy of a name. Suddenly Coin is thrust into the palace and a world where the corridors are as dangerous as the streets, and the rules all the more unknowable. While getting the crown was easy, keeping it may be a fight to the death. NAMELESS QUEEN is a tale of one girl who must make a name for herself—or die trying.
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by Sheena Boekweg
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by Shannon Takaoka
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by Amanda Sellet
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by Neicole M. Crepeau
In a near future world, Cyborg Delta has one hundred days to pass as human or she’ll be dismantled. To help, she’s been given a program built on the memories of a dead seventeen-year-old named Emma. The Emma program is supposed to help Delta bridge the chasm between machine and human. It’s more than a program to Delta. Emma is her guide, her confidante, and the equivalent of her soul. So it’s a disaster when the Emma program has an existential crisis. Instead of helping Delta, it begins sabotaging their mission. On top of that, Delta discovers her creators are keeping secrets from her: she’s not the only teen cyborg they’ve made. She has a competitor and only one machine can win. Driven by these threats, she secretly digs into Emma’s past. Delta must uncover the truth about how she was created and help the Emma program come to peace with its fate —or both she and the last echo of Emma will disappear forever.
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by Suzanne Park
The story follows a Korean-American teen who meets his dream girl at the zombie-themed escape room where they both work. When they realize they each have a critical need for money, they team up for a survivalist competition with a huge cash prize, finding love along the way.
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by Rebecca Coffindaffer
A deadly competition for the throne will determine more than just the fate of the empire in this riveting duology opener, perfect for fans of The Hunger Games, Aurora Rising, and Three Dark Crowns.
Alyssa Farshot has spent her whole life trying to outrun her family legacy. Her mother sacrificed everything to bring peace to the quadrant, and her uncle has successfully ruled as emperor for decades. But the last thing Alyssa wants is to follow in their footsteps as the next in line for the throne. Why would she choose to be trapped in a palace when she could be having wild adventures exploring a thousand-and-one planets in her own ship?
But when Alyssa’s uncle becomes gravely ill, his dying wish surprises the entire galaxy. Instead of naming her as his successor, he calls for a crownchase, the first in seven centuries. Representatives from each of the empire’s prime families—including Alyssa—are thrown into a race to find the royal seal, which has been hidden somewhere in the empire. The first to find the seal wins the throne.
Alyssa’s experience as an explorer makes her the favorite to win the crown she never wanted. And though she doesn’t want to be empress, her duty to her uncle compels her to participate in this one last epic adventure. But when the chase turns deadly, it’s clear that more than just the fate of the empire is at stake. Alyssa is on her most important quest yet—and only time will tell if she’ll survive it.
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by Nicole Bea
Morrigan Westhaver isn’t convinced anything could make her forget her abusive ex-boyfriend—not even if she travels all the way from her home in Michigan to her father’s ranch in Alabama. Saved text messages and voicemails haunt her life with poisonous words and crippling self-doubt, but she can’t seem to let them go. On the ranch, much to her surprise, she immediately takes to a rescued horse, Stormy, as well as Levy, an attractive ranch hand. Will their understanding and gentle support help her heal, or is the damage too deep?
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by Maria Ingrande Mora
Sixteen-year-old Nate is a Gem—a Genetically Engineered Medical Surrogate—created by the scientists of Gathos City as a cure for the elite from the fatal lung rot ravaging the population. As a child, he was smuggled out of the laboratory where he was held captive and into the Withers—a quarantined, lawless region. Nate manages to survive by using his engineering skills to become a Tinker, fixing broken tech in exchange for food or a safe place to sleep. When he meets Reed, a kind and fiercely protective boy that makes his heart race, and his misfit gang of scavengers, Nate finds the family he’s always longed for—even if he can’t risk telling them what he is.
But Gathos created a genetic failsafe in their Gems—a flaw in their DNA that causes their health to rapidly deteriorate as they age unless they are regularly dosed with medication controlled by Gathos City. As Nate’s health declines, his hard-won freedom is put in jeopardy. Violence erupts across the Withers, his illegal supply of medicine is cut off, and a vicious attack on Reed threatens to expose his secret. With time running out, Nate is left with only two options: work for a shadowy terrorist organization that has the means to keep him alive, or stay — and die — with the boy he loves.
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by KayLynn Flanders
As second born to Hálendi’s royal family, Princess Jennesara was never supposed to inherit magic. She is supposed to wed the prince of Turia to strengthen the alliance between their kingdoms. While traveling to Turia, she feels the magical tethers connecting her to her family snap one by one—a sign of her family’s death. At the same moment, a mage bent on revenge blasts through her traveling party, killing everyone in his path to get to her. Knowing she has to survive for her kingdom’s sake, Jennesara flees into the Wild, chased by hunger, wolves, and shadowmen.
She’s barely alive when she stumbles out of the Wild and into Turia, but vows to find a way to protect others from the mage’s destruction. She befriends the prince she was supposed to wed and works her way into Turia’s palace. But with war threatening at every border and the murder of her family fresh in her mind, she can’t reveal her identity to anyone, including the prince. Not if Jennesara, with her forbidden magic, hopes to defeat the mage before he becomes unstoppable and destroys all the kingdoms on the Plateau.
Find it on:Goodreads | Random House Children’s Books
by Francina Simone
SMASH IT, is an original Othello retelling (except OLIVIA thinks Shakespeare was an old white dude who didn’t know shit about black people and even less about women). At a Halloween party, while Olivia’s best friends are performing on stage and basking in the glory that comes with being high school rock stars, Olivia is standing in the crowd. After she passes up an opportunity to stand out to her crush (read: unrequited love of her life), he ends up flirting with another girl. Olivia decides enough is enough, she’s tired of letting her insecurities steer her life. Having just read Shonda Rhimes’ Year Of Yes, she makes her own list of things she has to do to change—but Year Of Yes sounds way too “old black lady with a midlife crisis”. She’s making a F*ck It List.
Auditions for the school’s rap musical Othello are just the right opportunity to test her new resolve. And with her best friends interested in trying-out too, she can’t back down. Getting the part of the play’s notorious whore is just the first step in her quest of self-discovery. She quickly learns saying “f*ck it” opens a lot of really cool unexpected doors, like making friends she never would have approached before and meeting a too-hot-for-words transfer student from Hawaii. Saying f*ck it also means following her heart. But what happens when your heart is being pulled in three different directions? Directions named Dre, Eli and Kai? In the words of Olivia: “F*ck it. What’s the worst that can happen?” A lot, apparently.
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by Alex Richards
Having been raised to believe that her mother died in a car crash, 16-year-old Johanna Carlson is devastated to learn that she actually shot and killed her own mother with her father’s gun when she was just two years old. Now, she must choose whether to trust her dad, who has suddenly popped back into her life, or the grandparents who raised her but lied the whole time.
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by Francesca Flores
Welcome to Diamond City where secret magic could save your life or get you killed.
Meet Aina Solís, whose wit is as sharp as her blade.
At twelve years old, Aina Solís was pulled off of the streets she slept on and trained to be one of the most feared assassins in Sumerand, a kingdom founded by immigrants and built by magic—and in recent years transformed by an industrial revolution. When Aina is given the most lucrative and dangerous job of her career—killing a wealthy industrialist named Kouta—she knows it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to leave her impoverished roots in her past once-and-for-all: the payout is enough to free her from under her boss Kohl’s thumb. But when the job goes wrong and Kouta escapes, she is left without a penny to her name and in the crosshairs of Kohl, who is eager to show the world what happens to those that fail him.
With Kohl on her heels, Aina is running out of time to find Kouta and finish what she started. But the closer she gets to killing him, the more she begins to ask the questions assassins are never meant to ask: who wants Kouta dead? And why? In a city full of half-constructed subway tunnels, hidden magical dens, secret weapons markets, and wolf-sized spiders, Aina discovers a conspiracy that could rewrite her city’s history and—if it isn’t stopped—sink her country into a catastrophic war.
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by Amelia Diane Coombs
Sparks fly when two ex-best-friends team up to save a family business in this swoon-worthy and witty debut perfect for fans of Jenn Bennett and Sarah Dessen.
Caroline “Chuck” Wilson has big plans for spring break—hit up estate sales to score vintage fashion finds and tour the fashion school she dreams of attending. But her dad wrecks those plans when he asks her to spend vacation working the counter at Bigmouth’s Bowl, her family’s failing bowling alley. Making things astronomically worse, Chuck finds out her dad is way behind on back rent—meaning they might be losing Bigmouth’s, the only thing keeping Chuck’s family in San Francisco.
And the one person other than Chuck who wants to do anything about it? Beckett Porter, her annoyingly attractive ex-best friend.
So when Beckett propositions Chuck with a plan to make serious cash infiltrating the Bay Area action bowling scene, she accepts. But she can’t shake the nagging feeling that she’s acting irrational—too much like her mother for comfort. Plus, despite her best efforts to keep things strictly business, Beckett’s charm is winning her back over…in ways that go beyond friendship.
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by S.A Patel
Seventeen-year-old Muay Thai fighter Kareena Thakkar’s world is turned upside down when she learns she’s landed an invitation to the US Open, which could lead to a spot on the first-ever Muay Thai Olympics team. But to make it to the US Open, she has to come clean about being a Muay Thai fighter—a sport that her traditional Indian community deems too rough for girls —and own who she truly is.
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by Hayley Krischer
SOMETHING HAPPENED TO ALI GREENLEAF is told from the point of view of two high school girls, Blythe Jensen and Ali Greenleaf. At a party one night, sweet, naive Ali goes upstairs with the hottest boy in school, the beatific soccer player, Sean Nessel. Ali emerges from upstairs hysterical. She had gotten drunk with Sean and he raped her. Meanwhile Blythe Jensen, the most popular and feared girl in school is best friends with Sean Nessel. She’s also secretly in love with him. Sean begs Blythe to become friends with Ali so Blythe can cover up the story.
At first Blythe agrees to befriend Ali… but it triggers Blythe about her own past with sexual assault. When she was a freshman, she agreed to be part of an elite sexual “initiation” with senior boys. The worst part: the initiation is run by senior girls. Now that Blythe is a senior, she’s under pressure to keep the system in place, but things have changed since meeting Ali.
by Olivia Smit
Skylar Brady has a pretty good idea of how her life is going to turn out, and getting in a car accident the summer before twelfth grade isn’t supposed to be part of the plan. Although Skylar escapes mostly unharmed, the accident has stolen more than just her hearing from her: she’s also lost the close bond she used to have with her brother.
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by Nicole B. Tyndall
For fans of Nina LaCour and The Spectacular Now, a powerful coming-of-age story about a girl with creative aspirations and the boy who charms his way into her life, centering on themes of addiction, loss, and the tumultuousness of first love–and how to find strength when everything falls apart.
Ever since her mom’s cancer scare, Hadley hasn’t been one for taking risks. And after seeing her sister go through one too many heartbreaks, she definitely has no interest in dating. Hadley just wants to keep her head down and enjoy the rest of high school with her friends, focusing on her photography and getting into the art school of her dreams.
Then enters Braden, star of the swim team and precisely the kind of person Hadley avoids, all bravado and charm and impulsivity. From their first moment together, they are perfect sparring partners, equally matched. And it’s intoxicating. Braden sees her, really sees her, and Hadley decides it might be time to break all her rules.
Braden shows Hadley how to live again, and soon Hadley is happier than she’ll ever admit out loud. But that’s before her family is faced with devastating news, and Braden starts hiding a growing, dark secret. As it threatens to shatter everything they’ve built, Hadley must confront her own actions and determine if she has the strength to walk away.
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by Namina Forna
In the ancient West African-inspired world of Otera, a woman’s worth is tied to her purity and she must bleed to prove it. Red blood for the pure, gold blood for the demon.
When sixteen-year-old Deka is found to be a demon, she is taken to the capital of Otera, where she learns how to fight against the monsters who are threatening the kingdom. But nothing is quite as it seems – both the world around Deka, and Deka herself…
Set in a deeply patriarchal society, Deathless explores what it is to be a woman and a monster, alongside questions of trust, control and empowerment.
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by Kristy Dallas Alley
Raised in isolation at Heavenly Shepherd, her family’s trailer-dealership-turned-religious-compound, Ami Miles knows she was lucky to be born into a place of safety after the old world ended. But when her grandfather arranges to mate her with a cold-eyed stranger, she realizes that her “destiny” as one of the few females capable of still bearing children isn’t something she’s ready to face.
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by Laura Rueckert
When an assassin kills Princess Jiara’s older sister Scilla, her vengeful ghost is doomed to walk their city of glittering canals, tormenting loved ones until the killer is brought to justice. The mourning period hasn’t even reached its end when Scilla’s betrothed, the king of a country far away, requests that seventeen-year-old Jiara take her sister’s place as his bride.
Marrying the man meant for her sister would make her feel bad enough, but with dyslexia and years of scholarly struggles, Jiara believes her chances of learning a new language are slim. She’s terrified of life in a foreign land, where she’d be unable to communicate. Then Jiara discovers evidence that her sister’s assassin came from the king’s country. Marrying the king would allow Jiara to hunt the murderer and release her family from Scilla’s spirit, whose thirst for blood mounts every day.
To save her family, Jiara must find Scilla’s killer . . . before he murders her too.
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by Chelsea Ichaso
When she was a child, Cassidy Pratt accidentally started a fire that killed her neighbor. At least, that’s what she’s been told. She can’t remember anything from that day, and her town’s bullies, particularly the cruel and beautiful Melody Davenport, have never let her live it down.
But then Melody goes missing, and Cassidy thinks she may have information. She knows she should go to the cops, but she recently joked about how much she’d like to get rid of Melody. She even planned out the perfect way to do it. And then she gets a chilling text from an unknown number: I’m so glad we’re in this together.
Now it’s up to Cassidy to figure out what really happened before the truth behind Melody’s disappearance sets the whole town ablaze.
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by Nicole Kronzer
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by Abigail Hing Wen
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by June CL Tan
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by Kat Dunn
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by Kim Johnson
Every week, seventeen-year-old Tracy Beaumont writes letters to Innocence X, asking them to help her father, an innocent Black man on death row. After seven years, Tracy is running out of time—her dad has 267 days left.
Then one night changes everything. The police arrive, pounding on the door, and Tracy’s older brother, Jamal, goes from being a bright, promising track star to a “thug” on the run, accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save her brother, Tracy investigates what really happened between Jamal and Angela down at the Pike. And as Tracy discovers the racist history that still haunts her small town’s present, she begins to wonder if she’s lighting the torch that will illuminate her family’s innocence . . . or lighting the fuse that will cause her world to explode.
by Karin Biggs
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by Dana Swift
Adraa is the royal heir of Belwar, a talented witch on the cusp of taking her royal ceremony test, and a girl who just wants to prove her worth to her people.
Jatin is the royal heir to Naupure, a competitive wizard who’s mastered all nine colors of magic, and a boy anxious to return home for the first time since he was a child.
Together, their arranged marriage will unite two of Wickery’s most powerful kingdoms. But after years of rivalry from afar, Adraa and Jatin only agree on one thing: their reunion will be anything but sweet.
Only, destiny has other plans and with the criminal underbelly of Belwar suddenly making a move for control, their paths cross…and neither realizes who the other is, adopting separate secret identities instead.
Between dodging deathly spells and keeping their true selves hidden, the pair must learn to put their trust in the other if either is to uncover the real threat. Now Wickery’s fate is in the hands of rivals..? Fiancées..? Partners..? Whatever they are, it’s complicated and bound for greatness or destruction.
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by Rabiah York Lumbard
Salma Bakkioui has always loved living in her suburban cul-de-sac, with her best friend Mariam next door, and her boyfriend Amir nearby. Then things start to change. Friends start to distance themselves. Mariam’s family moves when her father’s patients no longer want a Muslim chiropractor. Even trusted teachers look the other way when hostile students threaten Salma at school.
After a terrorist bombing nearby, Islamaphobia tightens its grip around Salma and her family. Shockingly, she and Amir find themselves with few allies as they come under suspicion for the bombing. As Salma starts to investigate who is framing them, she uncovers a deadly secret conspiracy with suspicious ties to her new neighbors–but no one believes her. Salma must use her coding talent, wits, and faith to expose the truth and protect the only home she’s ever known–before it’s too late.
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by Sasha Laurens
The Black Book showed Dan and Liss how to transform themselves into witches. They never thought they’d need its help to stay best friends forever.
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by Leah Johnson
Liz Lighty has always believed she’s too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it’s okay—Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.
But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz’s plans come crashing down—until she’s reminded of her school’s scholarship for prom king and queen. There’s nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington.
The only thing that makes it halfway bearable is the new girl in school, Mack. She’s smart, funny, and just as much of an outsider as Liz. But Mack is also in the running for queen. Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams . . . or make them come true?
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by Emma Theriault
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by Kester Grant
For anyone who knows that Eponine deserved so much more.
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by Shveta Thakrar
The daughter of a star and a mortal, Sheetal is used to keeping secrets. But when a flare of starfire injures her human father, Sheetal needs a full star’s help to heal him. A star like her mother, who returned to the sky long ago.
Sheetal’s quest will take her to a celestial court of shining wonders and dark shadows, where she must act as her family’s champion in a competition to decide the next ruling house of the heavens—or risk never returning to Earth at all.
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by Cameron Lund
When the only other virgin in her group of friends loses it at Keely’s own eighteenth birthday party, she knows it’s time for drastic measures. If she’s going to avoid heading to college without any experience of her own, she needs to find the guy, and fast. Problem is, she’s known all the boys in her small high school forever, and it’s kinda hard to be into a guy when you watched him eat crayons in kindergarten. So she can’t believe her luck when she meets a ridiculously hot new guy named Dean.
Not only does he look like he’s fallen out of a classic movie poster, but he drives a motorcycle, flirts with ease, and might actually be into her. But Dean’s already in college, and Keely is convinced he’ll drop her if he finds out how inexperienced she is. That’s when she talks herself into a new plan: her lifelong best friend, Andrew, would never hurt or betray her, and he’s clearly been with enough girls that he can show her the ropes before she goes all the way with Dean. Of course, the plan only works if Andrew and Keely stay friends–just friends–so things are about to get complicated.
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by Candice Marley Conner
Sixteen-year-old Bea Pearl knows her brother isn’t dead. Even if her parents don’t agree. Even if the entire town doesn’t believe her. She knows it’s true. When orders came to evacuate Lake George due to rising floodwaters, Bea Pearl saw Jim head toward the river. She followed him. Only she returned.
When her parents have Jim declared legally dead, Bea Pearl decides it’s up to her to figure out where her brother could be if he is alive, and so begins to unravel the mystery of his disappearance. But it seems like someone else wants to know what he was hiding when his bedroom is ransacked. More clues come together: a scrap of paper, mysterious numbers that may lead to swamp monkeys, Jim’s shoes turning up in unexpected places. Bea Pearl can’t figure out what connects them all until she’s stolen from her bed in the dead of night.
by Cat Scully
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by Diana Pinguicha
Seventeen-year-old Yzabel of Aragon is engaged to marry the King of Portugal. Under her touch, food turns to flowers, an ability she’s kept hidden from all save for her personal guard and lady’s maid.
With the populace starving, Yzabel needs to find out a way to end her curse. But her power is not so easily tamed, and she sets to find an Enchanted Moura rumored to live nearby. Inside a magical stone, she finds Fatyan, and together they enter a bargain. Fatyan will teach Yzabel how to master her magic; in return, Yzabel will give Fatyan freedom from the stone, and a job in the Queen’s household.
As she begins to control her power, Yzabel sneaks out of the castle to leave loaves of bread to the poor. Yet it becomes almost impossible to evade her betrothed, his questions, and her future duties in his bed. Duties Yzabel isn’t sure she can perform, for she’s in love with Fatyan, and the magic she bears is the least of her problems.
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by Maria Romasco Moore
Jo lives in the same town where her mother disappeared fifteen years ago. Everyone knows what happened to Jo’s mom. Now people are starting to talk about Jo. She’s barely passing her classes and falls asleep at her desk every day. She’s following in her mom’s footsteps. Jo has a secret — she has a twin sister. Her sister is not like most people. She lives in the woods, wild and free. Night after night, as often as she can manage, Jo slips out of her bedroom window and meets her sister in the woods, where together they run, fearlessly.
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by Hanna C. Howard
Siria Nightingale has never seen the sun, but neither has anyone else her age in the kingdom of Terra Volat. For sixteen years–her entire life–the world has been shrouded in enchanted Darkness, a declared protective gift from the Witch Queen who rules there. And though Siria has an inexplicable fear of the dark, she also longs to win the approval of her strict and demanding parents, who want to see her selected for the Queen’s court.
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by Nita Tyndall
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by Kelly McWilliams
The Handmaid’s Tale meets Wilder Girls in this unique, voice-driven, standalone novel from Kelly McWilliams.
Agnes loves her Red Creek home—its quiet, sunny mornings, its dusty roads, and its God. There, she cares tirelessly for her younger siblings and follows the town’s strict laws. What she doesn’t know is that Red Creek is a cult, controlled by a madman who calls himself a prophet.
Then Agnes meets Danny, an Outsider boy, and begins to question what is and isn’t a sin. Her younger brother, Ezekiel, will die without the insulin she barters for once a month, even though medicine is considered outlawed. Is she a sinner for saving him? Is her sister, Beth, a sinner for dreaming of the world beyond Red Creek?
As the Prophet grows more dangerous, Agnes realizes she must escape with Ezekiel and leave everyone else, including Beth, behind. But it isn’t safe Outside, either: A viral pandemic is burning through the population at a terrifying rate. As Agnes ventures forth, a mysterious connection grows between her and the Virus. But in a world where faith, miracles, and cruelty have long been indistinguishable, will Agnes be able to choose between saving her family and saving the world?
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by Erica Waters
Shady Grove is her father’s daughter, through and through. She inherited his riotous, curly hair, his devotion to bluegrass, and his ability to call ghosts from the grave with his fiddle.
That cursed instrument drowned with him, though, when his car went off the road, taking with it the whispering ghosts, nightmares, and the grief and obsession that forced her daddy to play.
But Shady’s brother was just accused of murder, and so she has a choice to make: unearth the fiddle that sang her father to the grave and speak to the dead to clear her brother’s name, or watch the only family she has left splinter to pieces.
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by Nicole Kilpatrick
So much for the luck of the Irish.
When a handsome leprechaun reveals himself to Clover O’Leary on her eighteenth birthday, she is faced with three hard facts. One: he is the reason for her remarkably charmed life; Two: her luck has now taken a turn for the worse. Three: her name is a curse; a malicious gift from the powerful leprechaun who named her while she was still in the womb.
In order to get her life back and undo the evil spell, she must travel to Ireland to seek the only creature who may be able to help: the Seelie Queen. With her intriguing leprechaun in tow, Clover crosses into the Faerie Realm, where fairies and mythical creatures abound and where finding her luck may ultimately lead to finding her love.
by Dallas Woodburn
“A poignant and gripping heart-tug of a page-turner filled with heart and hope. I couldn’t put it down. Magic.” ~ Jennifer Niven, New York Times bestselling author of All the Bright Places and Holding Up the Universe
After her parents’ bitter divorce, family vacations to the Big Island in Hawaii ceased. But across the miles, eighteen-year-old Tegan Rossi remains connected to local Kai Kapule, her best friend from childhood. Now, Tegan finds herself alone and confused about how she got to the Big Island. With no wallet, no cell phone, purse, or plane ticket, Tegan struggles to piece together what happened. She must have come to surprise-visit Kai. Right? As the teens grow even closer, Tegan pushes aside her worries and gets swept away in the vacation of her dreams.
But each morning, Tegan startles awake from nightmares that become more difficult to ignore. Something is eerily amiss. Why is there a strange gap in her memory? Why can’t she reach her parents or friends from home? And what’s with the mysterious hourglass tattoo over her heart?
Kai promises to help Tegan figure out what is going on. But the answers they find only lead to more questions. As the week unfolds, Tegan will experience the magic of first love, the hope of second chances, and the bittersweet joy and grief of being human.
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by Erin Riha
Arden Thatcher wasn’t meant to be chosen.
But when her name is announced, she’s presented with something she never thought she’d have: a future away from her abuser. Shuttled off to attend the prestigious National Women’s Institute, Arden will receive Nordania’s highest honor, studying with other elite candidates to become leaders, diplomats, and ambassadors on the world stage.
Only, the institute’s not quite what she expected. Paraded around in gown after gown, the tests seem less about educating and more about a different competition, with a very specific prize at stake—the Nordanian Prime Minister’s son. Despite the dean’s protestations that angling for an engagement leads to expulsion, Arden sees the truth. There’s a secret bubbling beneath the institute’s refined surface, and those who refuse to play along may well wind up dead.
With the danger escalating, and the return of her abuser on the horizon, Arden’s shiny future becomes a gilded cage. And this time, she’s going to need powerful allies to escape.
Political intrigue, swoon-worthy romance, and a dash of dystopian flare, But for the Mountains begs the question, how do you change the world when you’re not allowed to try?
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by Adam Sass
Connor Major’s summer break is turning into a nightmare.
His SAT scores bombed, the old man he delivers meals to died, and when he came out to his religious zealot mother, she had him kidnapped and shipped off to a secluded island. His final destination: Nightlight Ministries, a conversion therapy camp that will be his new home until he “changes.”
But Connor’s troubles are only beginning. At Nightlight, everyone has something to hide from the campers to the “converted” staff and cagey camp director, and it quickly becomes clear that no one is safe. Connor plans to escape and bring the other kidnapped teens with him. But first, he’s exposing the camp’s horrible truths for what they are— and taking this place down.
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by Jordyn Taylor
Code Name Verity meets Jennifer Donnelly’s Revolution in this gripping debut novel.
NOW:
Sixteen-year-old Alice is spending the summer in Paris, but she isn’t there for pastries and walks along the Seine. When her grandmother passed away two months ago, she left Alice an apartment in France that no one knew existed. An apartment that has been locked for more than seventy years.
Alice is determined to find out why the apartment was abandoned and why her grandmother never once mentioned the family she left behind when she moved to America after World War II. With the help of Paul, a charming Parisian student, she sets out to uncover the truth. However, the more time she spends digging through the mysteries of the past, the more she realizes there are secrets in the present that her family is still refusing to talk about.
THEN:
Sixteen-year-old Adalyn doesn’t recognize Paris anymore. Everywhere she looks, there are Nazis, and every day brings a new horror of life under the Occupation. When she meets Luc, the dashing and enigmatic leader of a resistance group, Adalyn feels she finally has a chance to fight back.
But keeping up the appearance of being a much-admired socialite while working to undermine the Nazis is more complicated than she could have imagined. As the war goes on, Adalyn finds herself having to make more and more compromises—to her safety, to her reputation, and to her relationships with the people she loves the most.
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by Sara Hosey
Running away from home hasn’t solved Iphigenia Murphy’s problems. In fact, it’s only a matter of time before they’ll catch up with her. Iffy is desperate to find her long-lost mother, and, so far, in spite of the need to forage for food and shelter and fend off an unending number of creeps, living in Queens’ Forest Park has felt safer than living at home. But as the summer days get shorter, it all threatens to fall apart.
A novel that explores the sustaining love of friendship, the kindness of strangers, and the indelible bond of family, Iphigenia Murphy captures the gritty side of 1992 Queens, the most diverse borough in New York City. Just like Iffy, the friends she makes in the park—Angel, a stray dog with the most ridiculous tail; Corinne, a young trans woman who is escaping her own abusive situation; and Anthony, a former foster kid from upstate whose parents are addicts—each seek a place where they feel at home. Whether fate or coincidence has brought them together, within this community of misfits Iffy can finally be herself, but she still has to face the effects of abandonment and abuse—and the possibility that she may be pregnant. During what turns out to be a remarkable journey to find her mother, will Iffy ultimately discover herself?
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by Olivia Wildenstein
Angie gets thrown into the deep end of the music industry and goes head to head with a sexy new boy.
Success requires sacrifice.
No one understands this better than high school senior Angie, who’s worked her entire life toward her dream of making it onto Nashville’s music scene. When her idol, Mona Stone, launches a songwriting competition, her dream suddenly feels within reach. Against her mother’s wishes, Angie pours her heart and soul into creating a song worthy of Mona.
But soon it isn’t only her mother who stands in the way of her dream. Reedwood High’s newest transfer student, Ten, becomes a major roadblock in Angie’s path to success. With his endless collection of graphic tees, his infuriating attitude, smoldering good looks, and endearing little sister, Ten toys with the rhythm of Angie’s heart.
She’s never desired anything but success until Ten mauled her with his big black car. Now she wants him and Mona Stone, but she can’t have both.
And picking one means losing the other.
Against the glittery backdrop of Nashville’s music scene unfolds a story of betrayal and abandonment, of first love and acceptance, and of ties that go far beyond those made of blood.
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by Trace Kerr
Never leave someone behind: it’s a promise easier made than kept, especially when seventeen-year-old Pip takes the headstrong twelve-year-old Iris under her protection in the wake of an earth-shattering plague.
After an unspeakable tragedy, the duo must navigate the nearly unrecognizable remains of Spokane, facing roving slave traders, merciless gangs―and worse. Pip and Iris soon meet Fly, a stubborn and courageous older girl, and as the three grow closer and their circumstances grow more perilous, they must also grapple with their own identities in this cruel new world. Pip’s vow to never leave someone behind may have made survival more difficult for her, but this promise could also be the key to finding meaning in the ashes of what came before.
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by Sarah Watson
Ava, CJ, Jordan, and Martha (listed in alphabetical order out of fairness) have been friends since kindergarten. Now they’re in their senior year, facing their biggest fears about growing up and growing apart. But there’s more than just college on the horizon. One of these girls is destined to become the president of the United States. The mystery, of course, is which girl gets the gig.
Is it Ava, the picture-perfect artist who’s secretly struggling to figure out where she belongs? Or could it be CJ, the one who’s got everything figured out…except how to fix her terrible SAT scores? Maybe it’s Jordan, the group’s resident journalist, who knows she’s ready for more than their small Ohio suburb can offer. And don’t overlook Martha, who will have to overcome all the obstacles that stand in the way of her dreams.
This is the story of four best friends who have one another’s backs through every new love, breakup, stumble, and success–proving that great friendships can help young women achieve anything…even a seat in the Oval Office.
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by Sheila M. Averbuch
What happens when an online friend becomes a real-life nightmare?
Roisin hasn’t made a single friend since moving from Ireland to Massachusetts. In fact, she is falling apart under constant abuse from a school bully, Zara. Zara torments Roisin in person and on social media. She makes Roisin the laughingstock of the whole school.
Roisin feels utterly alone… until she bonds with Haley online. Finally there’s someone who gets her. Haley is smart, strong, and shares anti-mean-girl memes that make Roisin laugh. Together, they are able to imagine what life could look like without Zara. Haley quickly becomes Roisin’s lifeline.
Then Zara has a painful accident, police investigate, and Roisin panics. Could her chats with Haley look incriminating?
Roisin wants Haley to delete her copies of their messages, but when she tries to meet Haley in person, she can’t find her anywhere. What’s going on? Her best friend would never have lied to her, right? Or is Haley not who she says she is…
With twists, turns, and lightning-fast pacing, this is a middle-grade thriller about bullying, revenge, and tech that young readers won’t be able to put down.
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by Karma Chestnut
Nearly a century has passed since the world was devastated by pandemics and wars that wiped out over ninety-percent of the earth’s population. To assure the survival of mankind, the leaders of the rebuilt city of Haven are breeding a better human race: meaning those deemed too stupid, too weak, too poor – too “unfit” – are arrested and forcibly sterilized.
John Hunter is a penniless, self-educated young man from the wrong side of Haven struggling to make something of himself to provide for his wife and their hopes of starting a family. Until the authorities show up at his door and arrest him for the crime of being “unfit.” Heartbroken and humiliated, will John abandon his aspirations and resign himself to quietly accept his fate?
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by Amy Noelle Parks
Seventeen-year-old Evie Beckham has always been too occupied with her love of math and frequent battles with anxiety to want to date. Besides, she’s always found the idea of kissing to be kind of weird. But by senior year, thanks to therapy and her friends, she’s feeling braver than before. Maybe even brave enough to enter the national math and physics competition or flirt back with the new boy. Meanwhile, Evie’s best friend, Caleb Covic, has always been a little in love with her. So he’s horrified when he is forced to witness Evie’s meet-cute with the new guy. Desperate, Caleb uses an online forum to capture Evie’s interest—and it goes a little too well. Now Evie wonders how she went from avoiding romance to having to choose between two—or is it three?—boys.
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by Cole Nagamatsu
Last summer, Link Miller drowned on dry land in the woods, miles from the nearest body of water. His death was ruled a weird accident, but Noemi Amato knows the truth: Link was killed. He told her so himself, because he’s been texting her from beyond the grave, warning her to keep away from the forest.
Amberlyn, Link’s sister, can’t shake the feeling that Noemi is hiding something, and Jonas, Noemi’s new housemate, can’t get past the walls that she has constructed around herself. Because Noemi has a dangerous secret even bigger than Link’s ghost…
Link drowned in an impossible lake that only she can find.
Now, if the three don’t work together to unravel the truth about what is happening in the woods, someone else may wind up dead.
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by Kylie Schachte
When a girl with a troubled history of finding dead bodies investigates the murder of her ex, she uncovers a plot to put herself — and everyone she loves — on the list of who’s next
Flora Calhoun has a reputation for sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. After stumbling upon a classmate’s body years ago, the trauma of that discovery and the police’s failure to find the killer has haunted her ever since. One night, she gets a midnight text from Ava McQueen, the beautiful girl who had ignited Flora’s heart last summer, then never spoke to her again.
Just in time to witness Ava’s death from a gunshot wound, Flora is set on a path of rage and vengeance for all the dead girls whose killer is never found. Her tunnel-visioned sleuthing leads to valuable clues about a shocking conspiracy involving her school and beyond, but also earns her sinister threats from the murderer. She has a choice: give up the hunt for answers, or keep digging and risk her loved ones’ lives. Either way, Flora will regret the consequences. Who’s next on the killer’s list?
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by Leslie Lutz
For an experienced scuba diver like Sia, it was supposed to be like any other wreck dive. Take the tourists out. Explore the reef. Uncover the secrets locked in the sunken craft. But when a bioluminescent beast bursts up from below, it destroys Sia’s boat and kills dozens of her customers. Sia and a handful of survivors, including her seven-year-old brother, wash up on a deserted island with no sign of rescue in sight, and the only food they can find lies in the strange beast’s hunting ground.
But the island isn’t what it seems. A horrible déjà vu clings to everything. Haunted by her own mistakes and an inescapable dread, Sia’s best hope for finding answers may rest in the center of the island, at the bottom of a flooded sinkhole that only Sia has the skills to navigate. But if the creature lurking in the depths doesn’t swallow her and the other survivors, the secrets of a fractured reality within might.
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by Andrea Contos
A timely edge-of-your-seat thriller from a debut writer to watch.
Caroline is only three months from her great escape — leaving behind her rigid prep school and the parents who think they can convert her to being straight — when her best friend, Madison, goes missing. There’s no question that Caroline will get involved in the investigation. After all, she has her own reasons for not trusting the police, and she owes Madison big time.
But Caroline uncovers a wider mystery as she follows the clues, with other missing girls and no one on the case. Why isn’t anyone looking for these girls? And what’s the connection between them and Madison? Could it be Caroline herself?
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by Heather Buchta
Seventeen-year-old Lovette has two rules in life. One: no surfing. Not after her brother’s accident. Two: absolutely, no dating. And going into her junior year of high school, she’s pretty happy with that arrangement. She has friends, her church youth group, and God to fall back on when things get dicey. But after Jake Evans walks into her life, following these two simple rules gets a lot more complicated.
Jake is the boy from Lovette’s childhood who grew up. Handsome and sweet, he unlocks the part of Lovette that wants nothing more than to surf the waves again. And as their relationship grows, she begins to question what it means to be faithful: to her family, to God, but mostly, to herself.
Told with humor and heart, Heather Buchta delivers a sparkling debut that asks the question: Can you fall in love, be a teenager, and also be a good Christian?
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