This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
This is my favorite time of year: the days are full of light and warmth — sometimes straight-up hot — and the evenings and nights are cool enough to throw open the windows. The transition between seasons is magical. There’s time to reflect on what the current season has offered and anticipate what’s to come.
In the world of publishing, this is an amazing season of new books. They release in huge numbers in September, October, and even into early November. That you have time to enjoy them outside during the day and beside a flickering candle and cup of tea inside in the evening…it’s perfect.
Last week offered up a huge array of new books, and this week is no different. I have about 25 new YA titles on my release list, though it is likely even higher than that. Let’s take a look at a few of the ones you’ll want to know about across as wide an array of genres and formats as possible.
Hardcover Releases
Ida, In Love and In Trouble by Veronica Chambers
If you’re looking for a novel that takes inspiration from a real-life heroine, look no further. This is the story of Ida B. Wells, whose career in investigative journalism was groundbreaking in covering violence against Black Americans, as well as women. But this isn’t that story exactly — it’s instead a story about Ida’s adolescence. Follow as she is born to newly freed parents, who then die in a yellow fever epidemic. As she tries to be the best role model for her sister, Ida also pursues not only her dream to become a teacher but also her desire to have good friends and romantic experiences.
Readers who loved The Davenports will want to snap this one up, as will readers who’ve enjoyed books like Saving Savannah by Tonya Bolden.
The Monstrous Kind by Lydia Gregovic
Hop aboard the romantasy trend if you’re not already there with this new novel inspired loosely by Sense and Sensibility.
A toxic fog lives across England, and Phantoms live at the edges of the province. But for Merrick Darling, this isn’t an issue. She’s safely enshrined in her family’s Manor as the daughter of the Manor Lord of Sussex. Her only job is to marry the right person or accept the fact that because her older sister Essie will inherit the estate, she might need to live with her down the road.
But when Merrick’s father dies, she and her sister are sent away to their former home, the Darling estate of Norland House. It’s not what it once was when they were younger, and the fog and the Phantoms seem to be getting closer and closer. The girls agree not to tell anyone what’s going on, but as Essie gets weaker and then disappears altogether, Merrick will need to ask others to help find her sister and keep them safe. What unravels are loads of secrets that might be as, if not more, dangerous than the world around them.
Old Wounds by Logan-Ashley Kisner
Compared to Midsommar and Hell Followed With Us, if you want a chilling read starring two transgender teens for the spooky season, pop this on your TBR stat.
Erin and Max are traveling to California, where they hope to find some semblance of freedom. Max wants to finally be able to transition. Erin, on the other hand, is honestly unclear why she’s even here, given that she and Max broke up two years ago and haven’t spoken since.
That’s neither here nor there, though, when the duo are stranded in a small wooded area in Kentucky. Now, the locals are telling them that they need a female sacrifice in order to feed the monster who lives in the woods. If they don’t feed that monster, the sun won’t rise again.
Despite the locals telling Erin and Max there is no way the sacrifice will survive, the secrets the duo have between them might be more than enough to stave off a monster who doesn’t know what it’s getting itself into.
They Thought They Buried Us by NoNieqa Ramos
Yuiza loves horror and dreams of film directing. So when Yuiza gets a scholarship to Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy and is among the only students of color, things begin to feel very off. The workload is heavy, everything is expensive, and both faculty and students are downright weird.
Then Yuiza has a series of disturbing dreams about the school’s history and realizes that the fate of the scholarship students isn’t a good one. It will be up to Yuiza to convince others what’s happening in order to save them all from what Our Lady plans to do with them.
Till The Last Beat of My Heart by Louangie Bou-Montes
Jaxon Santiago-Noble lives in the small town of Jacob’s Burrow, where his mom is the local mortician. That means anyone who dies in town ends up at his house. For the most part, he thinks nothing of it because that’s just life. But when the body of Christian Reyes shows up after a car accident, Jaxon loses it — Christian was his best friend once and also his first crush. Jaxon wishes he could tell Christian a few more things.
So when Jaxon resurrects Christian by accident, he realizes he can do exactly what he wishes. Except that necromancy Jaxon realizes he has is also dangerous. Christian’s on some borrowed time, and the secrets of Jaxon’s newfound power open up a host of family secrets that may have been better kept buried.
This one is comped to Cemetery Boys and The Taking of Jake Livingston.
To The Bone by Alena Bruzas
This book sounds incredible. It’s part survival story, part horror story, and part historical fiction.
James Fort marks the start of Ellis’s new life. She’s traveled from England to America and will be working as an indentured servant to Henry and his pregnant wife. Ellis sees this as her opportunity to gain independence, to make money, and to find love with Jane Eddows.
But not everything is as it seems in her new home. Henry is terrifying, the colonists treat the local Indigenous populations terribly, and when winter comes, the community is facing hunger on a whole new level.
Not only does Ellis need to figure out how to survive. She needs to figure out how to survive in a community willing to do anything to ensure their own lives are spared.
Want more? Check out the full slate of YA hardcover releases this week.
Paperback Releases
Note that you might need to toggle your view to see the paperback editions of each title below.
Curses by Lish McBride
Merit Cravan does not want to marry a prince. Now, she’ll be forced to live as a beast forever, thanks to a godling’s curse. The only way out of the curse is to marry a person of her mother’s choosing before she turns 18.
Enter Tevin Dumont. He’s a con artist who tricks girls into leaving their engagements, then he turns around and tells those girls’ families they must pay him in order to free the girl. But then Tevin’s mother stumbles upon the beast and decides to trade Tevin for her freedom.
Merit and Tevin realize they can use one another now to better each of their lots. Tevin will work to pay off his mother’s debts by using his con artist skills to match Merit with her perfect partner. The problem is? He might be that partner.
Into the Bright Open by Cherie Dimaline
I’m not going to offer a big description for this one because it’s an easy, hooky premise: this is a retelling of The Secret Garden but with an Indigenous cast of characters.
Midnight at the Houdini by Delilah S. Dawson
Anna has always stayed in the background, letting her big sister Emily have the spotlight. But when Emily gets married and announces that she’ll be moving away, Anna is shattered. Angry, sad, and devastated, Anna rushes out of the wedding reception and makes her way to The Houdini, a hotel she has never seen before.
Immediately, Anna is taken by the hotel and its luxury…and the cute boy named Max, who has lived inside the hotel his entire life. What Anna doesn’t know is that once the clock hits midnight, she’ll be stuck inside forever, too. Can she break through the magical spell the hotel has cast upon her and leave Max behind in order to get out? Or will she become the next Max herself?
There’s No Way I’d Die First by Lisa Springer
Noelle, 17, loves horror. It is her personality. Her brand. She’s going to throw the biggest Halloween bash this year, and she invites all of the popular classmates she can. It’ll help bolster her popularity, super useful for brand opportunities as an influencer.
But as the party begins, her low-budget It impersonator begins his rampage, and suddenly, Noelle may find herself in the role of the Final Girl.
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 Thursday.
Until then, happy reading!
