This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
There are over 40 new YA books hitting shelves this week. That is one of the largest release dates so far this year, and as a result, it’s tough to figure out which ones to make sure get highlighted here. So here’s the deal: you’ll get a handful of titles in detail for both hardcover and paperback releases, and then you’ll get a list of some additional titles of note out as well. If you’re still craving more — you’re a YA lover, so of course you are — you can then hit up the big quarterly roundups linked below the bonus titles.
Let’s roll.
New YA Hardcover Releases
Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White
We’re kicking this off with a book that is a queer Appalachian thriller and not for readers who can’t stomach brutal reads. White’s latest novel follows Miles Abernathy, a 16-year-old West Virginian socialist, who comes out to his parents as trans. The night he does, Miles heads to a party, eager to prove that he knows how to solve a blood feud in town that’s been running for generations. He has photos proving that it was the county sheriff who caused an “accident” that hurt Miles’s dad and not only killed several people but also helped disrupt the plans to unseat the sheriff.
The feud goes back to Miles’s 100 years ago. His great-great-grandfather incited a miner’s rebellion that led to the police holding a public execution. But Miles’s plans to prove what the sheriff did has now made him the victim of the feud, thanks to the sheriff’s son and friends. They’ve found Miles and beaten him so hard he’s now in the hospital.
He’s not going to give up on his question to prove the sheriff is up to no good, and when Miles accidentally kills one of the boys who hurt him, he discovers how many people in his small town want to join him in taking the authority down.
Guava and Grudges by Alexis Castellanos
I love a foodie romance — a topic worth covering in and of itself! — and this one sounds delicious. Ana Maria Ybarra wants to be a pastry chef, and while she’s honed some great skills at her family’s bakery, she’s frustrated her father will not update the menu with some of her creations. This is made worse when Morales Bakery opens up across the street, and they’re taking off on social media.
Ana Maria’s plan is to enter a scholarship contest that has a social media element. If she wins, it’ll help her get to school and help her convince her dad to take some new chances.
What Ana Marie didn’t bank on was that a boy she had a fling with, Miguel, is in town. And worse, he’s behind the popular bakery that’s rivaling her family’s. Can she both pursue her goals and hold off on falling in love? Or does she pursue her goals *and* let herself feel those feels?
One Last Chance to Live by Francisco X. Stork
What happens when you believe in dreams and want to pursue them, but that pursuit might not always be in your best interests?
Nico believes in what he dreams, and it’s why he’s so set on becoming a writer. It’s a path he knows will be satisfying. But then he has a dream about his own funeral, and in that dream, his former neighbor Rosario — who died a year prior and the girl Nico had a big crush on — tries to tell him something. Nico knows it has to be important, and now, awake, he’s determined to figure out why she died and what she wanted him to know so badly.
The thing is, Nico’s balancing a lot of other challenges. He’s got a sick mom, and his brother is finding himself engaged in a gang. Nico needs to be the man of the house, but he also knows that he needs to know what that message Rosario had for him.
The Loss of the Burying Ground by J. Anderson Coats
Duran and Ariminthian have been warring nations for as long as anyone remembers. So when a ship carrying delegates from both countries and their about-to-be-signed peace treaty wrecks, the only two survivors are teen girls, one from each of the nations.
Cora and Vivienne must now learn how to trust one another in order to survive on the island where they’re stranded. That sounds easier than it is, given the girls have grown up in two very different worlds with very different perspectives. Can they transcend their histories and political upbringings to survive? If they can, will they be able to also prove the war was on its way to a resolution before the shipwreck?
Wednesday: A Novelization by Tehlor Kay Mejia
It’s been a while since novelizations have been popular in YA. Certainly, we’ve had plenty of tie-in novels, but an actual novelization? This one is going to be exciting.
This is Wednesday’s story of her time at Nevermore Academy, where she navigates how to grow her psychic abilities and attempts to solve a mystery that’s over 25 years old.
When Haru Was Here by Dustin Thao
Thao’s debut was an instant success, so there’s little surprise that his second is highly anticipated. It’s pitched as Wandavision meets We Are Okay.
Eric Ly’s best friend is dead. So he does what he needs to in order to survive, and that includes creating an imaginary world in his head. But one of those imaginary scenarios becomes all too real when a boy he met the previous summer in Japan is suddenly and really back in his life. Haru meets Eric at a coffee shop, sits down, and they’re together IRL again.
But no one else can see Haru. Only Eric can. So, is Haru real? Or is Haru a figure only there to help Eric through the grief? The more time they spend together, the more Eric realizes knowing the truth could shatter his world further — and send Haru away forever.
More Hardcover Releases This Week:
Want more? Check out the full slate of YA hardcover releases this week.
New YA Paperback Releases
Find Him Where You Left Him Dead by Kristen Simmons
Meido is a card game without rules, and it’s the game that five best friends got together to play four years ago. One of those friends, Ian, did not come back out alive.
Now seniors, the surviving four friends — who have not been friends since — have been summoned by the ghost of Ian. They’re going back to where they last played the game with the goal of finding and bringing their friend home.
What they don’t anticipate is being sucked into the Japanese underworld. They have to complete seven challenges in one night, or they’ll be stuck there forever.
The cover for this book is excellent, isn’t it? This is the first in a duology, and the second book, She Waits For You Beyond the Dark, hits shelves in March.
Gather by Kenneth M. Cadow
Ian’s mom has been struggling with an opioid addiction. Ian’s now had to quit many of the things he loves in his life in order to help her survive, and while he never planned to have a dog, he’s grateful for Gather’s companionship. As Ian works to keep the family afloat, tragedy strikes, and now, he and Gather are on the run. They don’t want to lose everything they’ve got, which is really not that much anyway. But Ian is unsure he’s safe enough to come back home, even with the help of neighbors and people he trusts.
Gather was a Printz award winner last year and it’s the story of a teen boy, his best companion, and the ways in which resilience is built.
The Gathering Dark edited by Tori Bovalino
Monsters and curses? Yes, please! This YA anthology features authors such as Chloe Gong, Erica Waters, Courtney Gould, and Aden Polydoros exploring haunted lakes, wicked and burning towns, isolated bridges, and more.
House of Marionne by J. Elle
Quell has a secret: she’s got deadly magic in her. This is why she and her mother have fled from place to place. They need to keep this a secret.
But when someone finds out about her secret. Quell needs to keep her and her mother safe from assassins, so she enters into a series of rituals that would induct her into a magical secret society. She needs to pass three rites of membership, after which she’ll be guaranteed safety and security. If she fails, she could be killed.
It might not be the rituals that make Quell sweat, though. It might be the secrets she unlocks about the secret society….and her own brand of magic.
Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers (Cherokee)
Following a family from their ancestral lands in Georgia to World War I, the present, and the future, Rogers delivers a series of horror stories ripe with classic horror creatures like vampires and zombies, as well as real-life horrors like colonization and intimate partner violence. Interspersed are, of course, legends of Cherokee horror, and each story includes a beautiful illustration by Cherokee artist Jeff Edwards.
More Paperback Releases This Week:
If that’s not enough, dive into the entire list of this week’s YA paperback releases.
If you’re reading this “What’s Up in YA?” newsletter on bookriot.com or got it from a friend, consider getting it sent directly to your inbox. You can sign up here.
Thanks as always for hanging out, and we’ll see you again on Monday next week with your new books for next week. It’s likely Thursday will bring you a big batch of YA book news.
Until then, happy reading!
