Today’s post is sponsored by Katie L. Carroll and Black Butterfly!
Title Black Butterfly
Author Katie L. Carroll
Intended Target Audience Young Adult
Publication Date May 21st 2024 by Shimmer Publications
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Is she the hero or the villain?
Black Butterfly wakes to a country devastated by terrorist attacks, supposedly at the hands of the Chinese government. She remembers nothing of her personal life — not even her name. All she knows is that she was in New York City on the day of the attacks. Though, she soon discovers she has an unsettling repertoire of violent talents.
Elijah and his found family of off-gridders from upstate New York take in Black Butterfly and mend her wounds. With nowhere else to go, she joins them as they head to a rally in Washington D.C. The eclectic group begins to feel like the family she can’t remember — or never had.
An encounter with Luca, a spy for a shadowy government agency, confirms Black Butterfly’s worst suspicions about who she was in the life she can’t remember. As more memories surface, Black Butterfly heads to the agency’s headquarters to find out who’s behind the terrorist attacks. It’s unclear whether she intends to reveal the truth or go back to her villainous way. And it’s more than her life she’s putting at risk.
If you have any questions about the specific queer representation in any of the books listed in this post, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send an email to jen@popgoesthereader.com. I’m more than happy to discuss this with you in greater depth to ensure you’re able to find the right book and representation for you!
Looking for even more queer fiction? Over on Patreon, I compiled a list of 90 Adult Romances With LGBTQIA+ Representation Being Published In 2025! The individual post is available for purchase for $3 or you can access over 200 exclusive posts and rewards for one month for $5. You can also save 15% off an annual membership to the $5 Anne Shirley tier with code PRIDE in honour of Pride Month!
Publication Date January 7th 2025 by Candlewick
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This riveting, superpowered adventure unveils a shadow world of Talented bounty hunters — and plumbs the nature of identity, deadly secrets, and found family.
Tru has been hiding all her life. Her parents taught her to conceal her bastion Talent: indestructible skin, muscles, and bones. In a world where Talents are common and varied, no one trusts a bastion — they’re too powerful. Hiding failed to keep Tru’s parents alive, but moments before their murder, Tru’s mom pointed her to Logan Dire, a famed recluse assassin who adopted and trained orphaned Tru. At seventeen, she’s still hiding. Not even her closest friends know her true name or Talent, or that she’s balancing high school with knife and stealth training (while crushing on her BFF’s older sister).
When assassins interrupt a mundane babysitting job booked through BountyApp — where lethal hunters find work and babysitters for their kids — Tru flees with a one-year-old strapped to her chest and spiraling questions: Who killed her parents? Whom can she trust? What does it mean to be a bastion? And is it ever OK to kiss a girl who’s trying to hunt you down?
From an award-winning author comes a masterfully plotted thriller that holds character and relationship on a par with action and nail-biting suspense.
Publication Date January 7th 2025 by HarperCollins
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Perfect for fans of Angie Thomas and Jason Reynolds, this highly anticipated sequel to Lambda Literary Award finalist Pritty finds Jay and Leroy togetha again as they fight to save not only their home but themselves from the powerful Bainbridge family’s treacherous endgame to retake Savannah for themselves, no matter the cost.
After finally reuniting, Jay and Leroy have never been in more danger. Caught in the crosshairs of the affluent Bainbridge family, who they’ve learned is determined to reshape Savannah in their own image, the duo has only just survived a series of near-death experiences before reaching the safety of the Black Diamonds. But the BDs’ ability to protect the Black neighborhoods of their city is slipping…
Missing the key piece of evidence that could have broken the Bainbridges’ hold over Savannah, everyone is scrambling for options. But when one of their own is kidnapped, Jay and Leroy realize they can’t rely on anyone but themselves to save them. Recruiting old friends, former enemies, and their most risky ally, Jay’s once-upon-a-time crush, Will, they set out to do the impossible: find the evidence they lost in order to finally expose the Bainbridges’ corruption to the world, by any means necessary.
But even as their plans bring them closer to revealing the Bainbridges’ treacherous endgame, Jay and Leroy’s own secrets from each other threaten to pull their love apart, just as old feelings between Jay and Will begin to blossom again. And as the battle for a brighter future boils over into the streets, to save their homes — and everyone they love — Jay, Leroy, and Will must decide: When the cost of justice might be each of their happiness, will they be able to make the sacrifice togetha?
Publication Date January 7th 2025 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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A noblewoman in the scandalous French court finds herself under the dangerous and watchful eye of the Parisian royalty when she falls in love with the handsome king who is betrothed to her former lover in this bisexual The Three Musketeers by way of Bridgerton and F.T. Lukens.
Paris, 1572. Seventeen-year-old Jacqueline “Jac” d’Argenson-Aunis is lady-in-waiting to her best friend and former lover, the French Princess Marguerite “Margot” de Valois, but she dreams of more. If Jac plays her cards right, one day, she’ll become a full member of the Societas Solis, a secret society of spies — just like her uncle and guardian, Viscount Gabriel d’Argenson-Aunis.
But it’s hard to think about her own ambitions while France is on the brink of war, and the only thing that might save the country is an alliance — a marriage between the Catholic Princess Margot and Henry, the awful son of the Huguenot queen. Who would be the perfect person to play matchmaker? Jac, of course.
Jac resents lying to her best friend almost as much as she resents the brazen and arrogant King Henry, but it’s her one chance to prove to the Societas Solis that she belongs among their ranks before her uncle can marry her off or worse. The more time Jac spends in the French Court’s clandestine corners, though, the more she starts to wonder if Henry is…not as terrible as she once believed. And the Societas Solis may not be what they seem.
Politics. Spies. Chaos in the French court. Perhaps even witchcraft? Everything’s more dangerous when love is involved.
Publication Date January 7th 2025 by Tundra Books
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Queer horror at a boarding school with a Lovecraftian twist in this new YA novel from E. Latimer, author of the acclaimed The Strange and Deadly Portraits of Bryony Gray.
Northcroft is an elite boarding school with a deadly secret. Each night as the bell tolls and the shutters slam down, cutting off the outside world, the Afterdark descends, turning the surrounding old growth forest into a macabre copy of itself. A negative photograph crawling with horrors.
Evie Laurent is certain of one thing from the moment she sees Holland Morgan on the front steps of Northcroft: she wants to know everything there is to know about her. But there are some things about Evie herself that are better kept secret. Especially the fact that she let her sister drown. And that it’s getting harder to ignore her dark impulses…
Holland Morgan knows falling for Evie is just one more terrible choice in her long history of terrible choices. The problem is, she’s not sure she cares.
As attraction turns slowly to obsession, they find themselves playing a dangerous game. Something out there is calling to each of them. Beckoning to the shadows within.
Do they fight the call and protect one another, or answer and embrace the darkness?
Publication Date January 7th 2025 by Delacorte Press
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Two teen girls fall in love and fight for survival in an abandoned bookstore weeks before another cataclysmic storm threatens to bring about the end of the world in this unforgettable YA debut. Perfect for fans of Station Eleven and The Last of Us.
The world is about to end. Again.
Ever since the first Storm wreaked havoc on civilization as we know it, seventeen-year-old Liz Flannery has been holed up in an abandoned bookstore in suburban New Jersey where she used to work, trading books for supplies with the few remaining survivors. It’s the one place left that feels safe to her.
Until she learns that another earth-shattering Storm is coming…and everything changes.
Enter Maeve, a prickly and potentially dangerous out-of-towner who breaks into the bookstore looking for shelter one night. Though the two girls are immediately at odds, Maeve has what Liz needs — the skills to repair the dilapidated store before the next climate disaster strikes — and Liz reluctantly agrees to let her stay.
As the girls grow closer and undeniable feelings spring up between them, they realize that they face greater threats than the impending Storm. And when Maeve’s secrets and Liz’s inner demons come back to haunt them both, they find themselves fighting for their lives as their world crumbles around them.
Publication Date January 7th 2025 by Page Street YA
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Adrasteia Dantes always knew she’d be a pirate captain. She just didn’t know she’d be seventeen years old when it happened.
Adra takes the helm of the Worldeater after her half brother Cameron attacks their father and steals a priceless treasure map. Now, the young captain has only one desire: revenge. She will restore her father’s honor by killing her brother, reclaiming the map he stole, and finding the legendary treasure at the grave of the first pirate king.
But when Adra discovers her brother’s ship destroyed and his crew dead ― spare a sole survivor ― she learns there’s something lurking in the sea that’s killing pirates, taking entire ships down with ease. Adra takes the surviving girl prisoner in hopes of tracking down Cameron, but no one will survive to see the treasure if they don’t find and stop the Devourer first.
If Adra wants to save her ship, she’ll have to strike a deal to help the Devourer reclaim something that was taken from her long ago. But it seems that their individual quests for vengeance might be leading them to the same end…
Publication Date January 14th 2025 by HarperCollins
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#1 New York Times bestselling author Eric Geron delivers heart and humor in this irrestibly relatable love story.
Leo Anthony Martino loves love.
Unfortunately, love doesn’t love him back.Leo Martino’s hunt for love has been a total flop. Over the years, every single crush has ghosted him, leaving him miserable and alone. By senior year, Leo concludes he must be unlovable. It’s time to stop trying.
But when he finds himself obsessing over the irresistible Lincoln Chan, Leo decides to give love one last shot — and this time, he has a plan. He’s going to change everything about himself to become the “perfect boyfriend.” And the plan actually works…but will he take it too far?
Publication Date January 14th 2025 by Penguin Workshop
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For fans of Frankly In Love and Tokyo Ever After comes a romantic dramedy about finding love and reconnecting with your culture in the most surprising ways.
Taiwanese American Catie Carlson has never fit in with her white family. As much as she loves her stepmom and stepsister, she yearns to understand more about her culture and find her biological mother.
So Catie is shocked when an opportunity comes knocking on her door: Her summer spa coworker, Toby, says he’ll teach her Mandarin. In exchange, she needs to teach him how to date so he can finally work up the courage to ask out his crush. The only problem is that Catie doesn’t actually have any dating experience. But she can fake it.
With her late father’s copy of The Five Love Languages and all his annotated notes, Catie becomes the perfect dating coach. Or so she thinks. As she gets dangerously close to Toby and to finding out what really happened to her biological mom, she realizes that learning the language of love might be tougher than she thought.
Stefany Valentine’s debut novel is both a fresh, fun romance as well as a profound, luminous story about grief, family, transracial adoption, and what it means to truly follow your heart.
Publication Date January 14th 2025 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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A teen deep-dives into her dating history to uncover her mistakes, become the perfect girlfriend, and get revenge on the wrong guy so she can ride into the sunset with the right one in this debut rom-com.
To the surprise of no one, Amelia Hernandez is once again single. It’s her family curse at work; whether it’s by heartbreak, scandal, or even accidental death, every romantic relationship that a Hernandez woman has will meet its demise eventually. And that may be fine with Amelia’s sisters, mom, and aunts, but definitely not with Amelia.
So, convinced that she is the problem, Amelia decides to embark on an “Ex Retrospective:” tracking down her exes, finding out where she went wrong, and using that information to finally become un-break-up-able for whenever her next relationship comes along. Because Amelia is determined to be free of the family curse…and her family.
However, when Amelia is unwillingly reunited with Leon, the ex to end all exes, she can’t resist having a little revenge on the side, too. After all, what better way to test out her new persona of perfect girlfriend traits than on the boy who broke her heart?
But old loves die hard, and as Amelia’s feelings grow more complicated, she suspects that she may be in for more than she bargained for.
Publication Date January 14th 2025 by Joy Revolution
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A cozy sapphic romantasy about a teen witch trying to keep her family’s apothecary up and running, with a little help from her ex-best friend — and first crush.
Plant witch Sage Bishop intends to run her family’s apothecary one day. The doors just have to stay open until she can take over from her nana. That’s why she spends all her time perfecting a tonic that’ll put Bishop Brews on the map.
She certainly doesn’t need their latest hire — and her ex–best friend — Ximena Reyes causing any distractions. Alas, at the first sight of Ximena’s cheeky smile, Sage flees the shop, allowing someone to break into Bishop Brews and steal the tonic she’s been tinkering with, one that wipes their high school cheer captain’s memory.
With Bishop Brews now at risk of being shut down, Sage reluctantly partners with Ximena to find the culprit. As the mystery deepens, so do pesky old feelings. Their first kiss and Ximena’s subsequent ghosting keep replaying in Sage’s mind. Will she be able to resist Ximena’s charm, or will she let it work its magic for a second chance at love?
Publication Date January 28th 2025 by Zando Young Readers
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In this opposites-attract YA rom-com inspired by Emma, a failed romantic gesture puts a damper on a queer teen bookseller’s summer of book matching and matchmaking until a handsome lifeguard and romance skeptic waltzes into his bookstore. Sometimes you get a second chance at happily ever after when you least expect it…
Curvaceous, clever, and an avid reader, seventeen-year-old Bobby Ashton never misses a main character moment. So when it comes to asking out his crush, he plans a romantic gesture grand enough to go down in local history. Unfortunately, though, his extensive knowledge of every rom-com trope ever doesn’t prepare him for how tragically he misreads the situation. Suddenly Bobby’s very public romantic gesture turns into an ordeal so embarrassing it could be a villain origin story.
Having masterfully shattered every plan for his perfect summer before college, Bobby’s last resort is working at his uncle’s sleepy bookstore. Soon, Bobby is expertly recommending books for customers to perfectly cure what ails them. Attempting to rebound after a breakup? There’s a book for that. Trying to tame your crochety coworker? There’s a book for that too. Then a plot twist Bobby never saw coming walks through the door in the form of Luke, an unfairly attractive and staunchly anti-romantic lifeguard.
Bobby’s blossoming connection with Luke reminds him of some of his favorite tropes: grumpy-sunshine, quippy banter, and even forced proximity. But after his last romantic disaster, should Bobby use all the tricks in his arsenal to turn Luke’s head? Or is he misreading all the signs again? Do grand gestures really need to be so…grand?
Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli, Kacen Callender, and Jason June, Recommended Reading is a bighearted rom-com about discovering love beyond what’s in the books…but hey, the perfect recommendation can get you pretty far!
Publication Date January 28th 2025 by Storytide
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Fans of Rachael Lippincott, Elise Bryant, and Dahlia Adler will love this joyful debut novel, a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance between a hotheaded hockey player and the ice princess at the figure skating rink next door.
Charlie Porter is a force to be reckoned with, both on and off the hockey rink. When she accidentally starts a brawl after a game, she’s suspended from school, meaning no hockey this season — and no chance to play in front of college scouts.
Alexa Goldstein’s pairs skating partner was hurt in the fight, and with only four months until their next competition, pickings for a replacement are slim. So she strikes a deal with Charlie — skate with her at the competition well enough to place, and her Olympian mother will use her formidable connections to get Charlie in front of scouts at D-1 schools, even without her team.
It seems impossible, and not just because Charlie has never figure skated before. Where Charlie is powerful, Alexa is elegant; where Charlie is quick to blow up, Alexa is cold as ice. But as the frostiness between them starts to thaw, they begin to wonder if they’ve found a partner for more than just skating.
Publication Date January 28th 2025 by Abrams ComicArts
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A group of high schoolers get more than they bargained for when the drag show they’re attending is attacked by monsters in this funny YA graphic novel from acclaimed queer comics creator Sina Grace.
Marvin Matocho just wanted to have a simple night out with his friends at the local drag show. But when a mysterious pink snow starts to fall, Marvin finds himself the hero of his own story when Los Angeles suddenly becomes overrun by monsters.
Now he, along with his group of friends consisting of several queer teens, a drag queen, and a 50-something bar manager, are the only folks who can prevent the complete annihilation of the city — that is, if they can sort through their personal issues before they become dead meat.
As they fight for their lives through a thrilling night, the gang must work together to find out who’s behind the sinister pink snow. With the city of angels overrun with demons, these misfits will have to solve the mystery — or die trying.
Publication Date January 28th 2025 by Wednesday Books
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Heartstopper meets Derry Girls in this wonderfully hilarious rom-com about finding your first love when your personality might be too big for the world around you.
Patch Simmons has decided that this is the year he will get a boyfriend, so it’s goodbye to his French pen-pal Jean-Pierre and hello to the world!
Unfortunately, the only other “out” boys in his school year are dating each other, so finding a boyfriend isn’t going to be easy…Until fate finally intervenes and two new mysterious boys join drama club: Peter, who’s just moved from New York (very chic) and his best friend, Sam.
Patch is confident that one of them (although either of them will do!) will be his first boyfriend. So armed with his single mum’s outdated self-help books, his over-supportive best friend Jean and an alarming level of self-confidence, Patch is confident that this mission will be a complete success. Whether or not they actually like boys or him is a problem for later.
The Romantic Tragedies Of A Drama King is a heartfelt, laugh-out-loud comedy from rising star Harry Trevaldwyn, a story about boldly being yourself, going for what you want, but never losing sight of who truly has your back.
Publication Date January 28th 2025 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
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Noche is a Lechuza by night, an ethereal jet-black owl who guides the dead to the after. Except now, Noche cannot bring herself to escort her dead girlfriend, whose soul is fading the harder Noche holds on — an aching romance about first and second loves and finding the strength to let go.
Death waits for Estrella (Noche) Villanueva. In her human form, she is a lonely science girl grieving the tragic accidental drowning of her girlfriend, Dante Fuentes. At night, she is a Lechuza who visits her dead girlfriend at the lake, desperate for more time with her. The longer Dante’s soul roams the earth, the more likely it is that she will fade into the unknown, lost forever, but Noche cannot let go…
That’s when a new kid comes to town, Jax, another science nerd like Noche. They connect in a way she can’t ignore, seemingly pulled together by an invisible thread. For the first time, Noche begins to imagine a life without Dante. As Noche’s heart begins to beat for two people, her guilt flares. Then, she finds herself at risk of losing both Jax and Dante, and Noche is forced to question her purpose as a lechuza and everything she has ever believed in.
Publication Date January 28th 2025 by Bloomsbury YA
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Dangerous magic. Fateful choices. Broken promises. The spellbinding series by New York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer continues.
The King’s Courier Tycho has made a treacherous bargain. Now beholden to the magical scraver who saved King Gray’s life, one false move could end everything.
Jax escaped his life in Briarlock and traveled with Tycho to Emberfall. But life outside his small village brings unexpected challenges – and unlikely adversaries.
After years of hating the royal family and their magic, Callyn never expected to be at the Queen’s side, with magic on her fingertips. But at the royal court, she can’t trust anyone – including the man she thought she loved.
Cast apart, Tycho, Jax, and Callyn must learn to wield the magic that is dividing their kingdom. As the magical scravers attack from the north and the king’s rivals gain strength, time is running out.
War is looming. Love is tested. And magic could be the only answer…
Publication Date February 4th 2025 by PUSH
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A fantastic, queer enemies-to-lovers story – in one corner, a girl with ADHD experiencing her first girl crush in a monumental way; in the other corner, a posh, rich girl who’s new to school and has her own reasons to be guarded. Told with humor and heart, this is a perfect novel for Alice Oseman and Becky Albertalli fans, and marks a great new YA romcom voice.
Darci catches Elle’s eye the minute she arrives as the new girl in school. But Elle keeps her curiosity in check, and even seems dismissive (which Darci overhears). Then Darci is equally dismissive (which Elle overhears)…and immediately a rivalry is born. Things become knottier when Darci is asked to be Elle’s tutor, and even knottier than that when Elle starts to recognize her feeling as something other than disdain or derision. In fact, it might be…the opposite. There are many misunderstandings that need to be gotten past for Elle and Darci to figure out how perfect they are for each other.
Publication Date February 4th 2025 by Page Street YA
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What starts as a simple rescue mission for a crew of teen aliens to recover one of their own soon becomes an interstellar encounter no one will forget.
Captain Iona is organizing an impromptu retrieval for her brother, an undercover alien posing as a movie star. But her efforts go awry when a technical malfunction turns her heroic rescue into an unintentional invasion. With tales of disguised extraterrestrials stuck in theme parks, starship engineers hitchhiking to get home, and myth-inspired intergalactic sibling reunions, each story in this multi-author anthology explores the universal desire to be loved and understood, no matter where you come from. After all…aliens are just like us.
Edited by beloved YA author Rosiee Thor and YA talk show host Vania Stoyanova, the anthology crosses genre bounds to bring in tropes from romance and contemporary adventure with stories from Alex Brown, Beth Revis, Emily Lloyd-Jones, Eric Smith, Julian Winters, Laura Pohl, Maya Gittelman, M. K. England, Rebecca Kim Wells, and S. J. Whitby.
Publication Date February 4th 2025 by Wattpad Books
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This contemporary romance is from a debut author, and is perfect for fans of LGBTQ+ YA and fake-dating, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance. Fans of authors like Jennifer Dugan and Becky Albertalli will embrace this novel.
This contemporary romance from a debut author is perfect for fans of LGBTQ+ YA and fake-dating, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance about opposites who do not attract. Perfect for fans of Jennifer Dugan and Becky Albertalli.
Ashley Marie Parker and Lizzie Hernandez have exactly three things in common: neither have been in a relationship for more than two weeks; they share the same best friend, Camille; and they cannot stand one another. Parker is a boundary-pushing fashionista and Lizzie is an introverted musician with stage fright. When an epic Parker-Lizzie bickering match goes way too far, Camille finally snaps and challenges them to date each other for one month.
So Parker and Lizzie spend a month going on dates, and opening up to one another. But as they start to fall in like, the other parts of their lives start to crumble. Facing their own separate hurdles, Parker and Lizzie need to understand if their relationship is strong enough to combat their old habits, and if you can truly fall in love after only 30 days.
Publication Date February 4th 2025 by Delacorte Press
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The experiment continues in the dark and disturbingly thrilling conclusion to the HappyHead duology where Seb will find the secret to escaping is more heart-wrenching than he ever imagined.
Seb was sure surviving the experimental health center of HappyHead would be enough to send him home. But now he joins the top ten contestants in the next stage of the testing, which will take place on a remote island, under the watchful eye of a mysterious couple.
Unsure if Finn is dead or alive, Seb reluctantly teams up with Eleanor again as the pair are forced to compete in a series of ever stranger trials to prove their connection and get their lives back. But Seb can’t stop thinking about Finn and how he may have been too much of a threat to the program.
Determined to find him, Seb’s search uncovers an even darker reality…and the only way to escape the island will be to expose the sinister truth behind HappyHead once and for all.
Publication Date February 4th 2025 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
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From New York Times-bestselling author Libba Bray comes an evocative and groundbreaking young adult historical mystery that examines truth, rebellion, reconciliation, and what must be sacrificed for a better world.
It was said that if you write to the Bridegroom’s Oak, the love of your life will answer back. Now, the tree is giving up its secrets at last.
In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to discover a message waiting for her in the Bridegroom’s Oak from a mysterious suitor. Meanwhile, her best friend, Hanna, is sending messages too ― but not to find love. As World War II unfolds in their small town of Kleinwald, the oak may hold the key to resistance against the Nazis.
In 1980s West Germany, American teen transplant Jenny feels suffocated by her strict parents and is struggling to fit in. Until she finds herself falling for Lena, a punk-rock girl hell-bent on tearing down the wall separating West Germany from East Germany, and meeting Frau Hermann, a kind old lady with secrets of her own.
In Spring 2020, New York City, best friends Miles and Chloe are in the first weeks of COVID lockdown and hating Zoom school, when an unexpected package from Chloe’s grandmother leads them to investigate a cold case about two unidentified teenagers who went missing under the Bridegroom’s Oak eighty years ago.
Publication Date February 4th 2025 by HarperCollins
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Vying for the hand of one brother.
Falling in love with the other.
A new Victorian-inspired romantasy, perfect for fans of Bridgerton, The Selection, and The Cruel Prince.
London, 1848 — For four hundred years, England has been under the control of an immortal fae queen who tricked her way onto the throne. To maintain an illusion of benevolence, Queen Mor grants each of her subjects one opportunity to bargain for their deepest desire.
As Ivy Benton prepares to make her debut, she knows that not even a deal with the queen could fix what has gone wrong: Her family’s social standing is in shambles, her sister is a shadow of her former self, and Ivy’s marriage prospects are nonexistent. So when the queen announces a competition for Prince Bram’s hand, Ivy is the first to sign her name in blood. What a bargain can’t fix, a crown certainly could.
Ivy soon finds herself a surprising front-runner — with the help of an unexpected ally: Prince Bram’s brother, the rakish Prince Emmett, who promises to help Ivy win his brother’s heart…for a price. But as the season sweeps Ivy away, with glittering balls veiling the queen’s increasingly vicious trials, Ivy realizes there’s more at stake than just a wedding. Because all faerie bargains come with a cost, and Ivy may have discovered hers too late.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch Haven comes a tale that will leave readers eager to bargain for a sequel.
Publication Date February 4th 2025 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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Perfect for fans of Raybearer and Fourth Wing, this astonishing sequel to the bestselling novel So Let Them Burn doesn’t hold back. After all, there are no easy endings in war — especially when sisters are forced to fight on opposite sides.
Faron Vincent was once the saint of San Irie. Now, she’s done the unthinkable: betrayed her country. Alone, disgraced, and kidnapped, Faron is forced to help Iya grow his bloody empire. With her soul bonded to a ruthless killer, Faron has become an enemy to her people… and she fears they might be right.
Elara Vincent — the new Empyrean — must undo the damage her sister has caused. San Irie has been brought back to the brink of war as Iya proclaims no nation will be safe from his brutal invasion. But how can Elara save her sister, her best friend, her country, and her world when she’s already cracking under the pressure?
This heart-pounding conclusion to the Divine Traitors duology pushes these unforgettable heroines to their breaking point and beyond. Because when the lines between hero and villain are blurred, deadly sacrifices must be made.
Publication Date February 11th 2025 by HarperCollins
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Fans of Allison Saft and Margaret Rogerson will be swept away into this lush and beguiling sapphic romantasy from the bestselling author of Flowerheart, Catherine Bakewell.
Ofelia has lived her life dreaming of entering Le Château Enchanté — the mysterious court of the gods-blessed King Léo, where the shadow monsters that roam Ofelia’s home never trespass.
Lope has lived her life as a knight, defending Ofelia and her home from Shadows even as she dreams of escaping with Ofelia by her side.
When the Shadows venture too close, Lope and Ofelia are thrust into a journey that will lead them to the heart of the darkness haunting their home: the dazzling and deceptive Château Enchanté itself.
A mesmerizing daydream with a subtle edge of darkness that will leave you utterly unable to put it down, Where Shadows Bloom pits terrifying monsters, chilling secrets, capricious gods, immortal kings, and death itself against the unstoppable love between two girls.
Publication Date February 11th 2025 by Delacorte Press
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From the author of The Revenge Game comes a twisty YA thriller about the underbelly of Manhattan’s high society, where nothing is off-limits — not even murder.
Aspiring journalist Noa has a secret she’s been keeping. Ever since her sister’s tragic death, she’s felt almost…relieved. Noa and Leah had been locked in competition with one another since childhood, and things came to a head when her sister scored a glitzy internship at a New York society newspaper. Noa can’t help but revel in her new found autonomy.
But when she gets a lead about the sketchy circumstances surrounding her sister’s untimely death, she knows she needs to investigate − she owes it to Leah.
Noa sets out to infiltrate the seedy underbelly of Manhattan high society to investigate her sister’s final days. Along the way she finds herself entangled with the glamorous Avalons and their close-knit circle of friends and frienemies. But will Noa be able to resist the allure of the Avalons’ world and uncover a shocking scandal. Or will she find herself in over her head…like Leah?
Publication Date February 18th 2025 by Make Me A World
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Fresh off her triumph in the Night Forest, Lucha Moya is back in Robado to settle unfinished business. The stunning fantasy duology about addiction, power, and love comes to a close in tale of treacherous villains, environmental disaster, and a love triangle its heroine doesn’t see coming.
A ruthless monster.
A daring heist.
A heart pulled in two directions.
A long-forgotten myth.Killing a god was only the beginning of Lucha Moya’s story…
Her mission is simple — eradicate olvida, the forgetting drug, once and for all. But something sinister is lurking in the Night Forest, eager to claim its prize…
Will Lucha’s training allow her to survive the machinations of the Forest and save the vulnerable people at its mercy?
In this page-turning conclusion to this Latine folklore-inspired duology, Lucha must face long-avoided fears to save the people she cares for — or risk losing everything she’s fought so hard to obtain.
Publication Date February 18th 2025 by Bloomsbury YA
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A dark academia thriller about who is allowed to break the rules and who suffers the consequences, perfect for fans of Jessica Goodman and Holly Jackson.
The week before Luna’s twin sister Solina was supposed to head back for her final semester at Kingswood Academy, an elite boarding school in the Washington mountains, she told Luna she was dropping out. When Luna refused to let her throw away her future, Solina disappeared.
Twelve hours later, she was dead.
Luna knows Solina’s death wasn’t an accident, even if the police say otherwise. There’s a reason Solina didn’t want to go back to Kingswood, and Luna knows she’ll find the truth there. All she has to do is become Solina. Playing Solina comes easy, but finding answers is far from it. Between the cunning, cruel people Solina called her friends, Luna’s budding feelings for her roommate Claudia, and the harsh realization that Solina had dark secrets, getting to the bottom of her sister’s murder is more difficult than Luna could have ever anticipated. But when you have nothing left to lose, you’re willing to do anything to get what you want. There’s no limit to how far Luna will go to avenge her sister – even if she has to burn all of Kingswood to the ground.
Publication Date February 25th 2025 by Quill Tree Books
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Dear Knucklehead,
perhaps you are like me:
always figuring out if your soul and your skin
are thick enough to protect your body from sticky stones
thrown from the mouths of those who know
that spoken words have the power to spit out freedom
and break-in bones.
While society often assigns the label “knucklehead” to kids with attitude problems, this brilliant and electric poetry collection by spoken word poet and hip-hop educator Tony Keith Jr. subverts that narrow way of thinking and empathizes with young people who are misunderstood and unheard.
There are poems about the power of language to transcend the racist and homophobic constructs of a society prejudging Black boys. There are poems that serve as a salve for a world that inflicts hurt, poems that offer a beacon of hope for the curious and questioning, and poems that transform the way people love Black gay boys and men.
This is a journey of self-discovery through history, family, friendship, and falling in love. Knucklehead is a breathtaking work, full of black-and-white illustrations and unforgettable poetry that will heal, provoke, and inspire.
Publication Date February 25th 2025 by Wednesday Books
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In this sapphic Snow White retelling, if Snow is to save her kingdom from being ravaged by the Blight, she’ll have to kill the Evil Queen’s daughter…if she doesn’t fall in love with her first.
When her glass coffin unexpectedly shatters, Snow White awakens to anything but a dream. The land is rotting. The animals have mutated. In the twenty years that have passed since Snow bit into the poisoned apple, the kingdom of Roanfrost has transformed from a luscious wild land to a blight-ravaged nightmare. In search of answers and a way to restore her kingdom to its former glory, Snow sets out on a dangerous journey that will test the strength she never knew she had.
Friends will become foes.
New alliances will form.
The Queen with the blood red lips will stop at nothing to seize her power as well as her heart.
If Snow has any chance to survive and restore not only her kingdom, but all of Garedenne, her only option is to become the Seasonkeeper and access the life-giving magic that will heal the plague. But the path to becoming the Seasonkeeper is more treacherous than she could ever imagine ― because the wild things have awakened and Snow’s darker impulses yearn to set them free.
Publication Date March 4th 2025 by Viking Books for Young Readers
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Saved! meets Casey McQuiston in this wry, heartfelt tale of a teen who’s taking her church camp by storm — one deadly sin at a time.
Riley quietly left church a year ago when she realized there was no place for a bi girl in her congregation. But it wasn’t until the pastor shunned her older sister for getting an abortion that she really wanted to burn it all down.
It’s just her luck, then, that she’s sent to the principal’s office for slapping a girl talking smack about her sister — and in order to avoid suspension, she has to spend spring break at church camp. The only saving grace is that she’ll be there with her best friend, Julia. Even if Julia’s dad is the pastor. And he’s in charge of camp. But Riley won’t let a technicality like “repenting” get in the way of her true mission. Instead of spending the week embracing the seven heavenly virtues, she decides to commit all seven deadly sins. If she can show the other campers that sometimes being a little bad is for the greater good, she could start a righteous revolution! What could possibly go wrong? Aside from falling for the pastor’s daughter…
Publication Date March 4th 2025 by HarperAlley
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In this stunning graphic novel by two-time Ignatz award–winning graphic novelist Ariel Slamet Ries, Oberon must choose between fantasy and reality when he develops the ability to conjure his dreams in real life — including the facsimile of the boy who got away.
In the not-too-distant future, most of humanity resides on its last-ditch effort at utopia: Meridian, a remote alien planet where you’re more likely to be born superhuman than left-handed.
None of that is important to Oberon Afolayan. Since his mildly public breakdown, his whole life seems to be spiraling out of control — from dropping out of university to breaking up with his boyfriend, it seems like only a karmic inevitability when he wakes up one day with the ability to conjure his dreams in the real world.
Oberon’s newfound powers come with a facsimile of his high school crush, Kon, who mysteriously dropped off the face of the planet almost three years ago and who is a little more infuriating (if not also infuriatingly hot)than Oberon remembers.
Kon makes it his mission to turn Oberon’s life around, and while they struggle to get a handle on his powers and his disastrous personal life (not to mention the appearance of strange nightmare creatures), it turns out this dream version of Kon has secrets of his own — dangerous ones.
Oberon might have more on his plate than he originally thought, but is giving up his dreams — even the one he might have accidentally fallen in love with — the only way to find happiness in reality?
Publication Date March 4th 2025 by HarperAlley
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Once dubbed the Queen of Balance as her school’s top rock climber, Kirby Tan suffers an injury that sidelines her for the rest of the season. Now she’s forced to join the newspaper club for some desperately needed extra credit. Worse, she’s recruited by crystal-wearing, tarot-reading Bex Santos for her astrology-based love advice column. As Kirby reluctantly agrees to orchestrate “matches made in heaven” with Bex, she begins to wonder if their own stars could be aligned. But loving who she wants isn’t so easy when her family and church community are on the line. Can Kirby pull off her greatest balancing act yet?
From Laura Gao, the acclaimed creator of Messy Roots, comes an authentic slow-burn romance and coming-of-age story perfect for fans of Heartstopper, lovers of astrology and tarot, and anyone looking for answers on the right way to fall (in love).
Publication Date March 4th 2025 by Delacorte Romance
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A swoony rivals-to-lovers romance between driven, practical Lynda Fan and her rich, arrogant classmate, Angela Wu. When Angela offers Lynda the chance to design characters for her Otome game, Lynda discovers things she never knew about herself…or her heart.
Love is an art.
Sixteen-year-old Lynda Fan has the skills and the drive to get into the Rhode Island School of Design — but not the money. Her parents are too busy paying off her stepsister’s violin lessons to help Lynda get into art school.
So when her rich and arrogant classmate, Angela Wu, offers to hire Lynda as a character designer for an otome game — a love story-based video game — she jumps at the opportunity.
Lynda isn’t exactly a romantic, but in pursuit of her dreams, she discovers things she never knew about herself while also finding love with every heart she draws.
Publication Date March 4th 2025 by HarperCollins
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A holographic foil case, glitch-effect endpapers, custom designed edges, stunning foiled case, and exclusive bonus content make this limited deluxe edition of Fable for the End of the World a must-have for fans of dystopian romance like The Last of Us and The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, from Ava Reid, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Study In Drowning.
By encouraging massive accumulations of debt from its underclass, a single corporation, Caerus, controls all aspects of society.
Inesa lives with her brother in a half-sunken town where they scrape by running a taxidermy shop. Unbeknownst to Inesa, their cruel and indolent mother has accrued an enormous debt — enough to qualify one of her children for Caerus’s livestreamed assassination spectacle: the Lamb’s Gauntlet.
Melinoë is a Caerus assassin, trained to track and kill the sacrificial Lambs. The product of neural reconditioning and physiological alteration, she is a living weapon, known for her cold brutality and deadly beauty. She has never failed to assassinate one of her marks.
When Inesa learns that her mother has offered her as a sacrifice, at first she despairs — the Gauntlet is always a bloodbath for the impoverished debtors. But she’s had years of practice surviving in the apocalyptic wastes, and with the help of her hunter brother she might stand a chance of staying alive.
For Melinoë, this is a game she can’t afford to lose. Despite her reputation for mercilessness, she is haunted by painful flashbacks. After her last Gauntlet, where she broke down on livestream, she desperately needs redemption.
As Mel pursues Inesa across the wasteland, both girls begin to question everything: Inesa wonders if there’s more to life than survival, while Mel wonders if she’s capable of more than killing.
And both wonder if, against all odds, they might be falling in love.
Publication Date March 4th 2025 by Bloomsbury YA
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The author of the New York Times bestselling horror phenomenon She Is A Haunting is back with a novel about the monsters that swim beneath us…and live within us.
Since the hurricane, the town of Mercy, Louisiana has been overtaken by a strange red algae bloom. Noon and her mother have carved out a life in the wreckage, trawling for the mutated wildlife that lurks in the water and trading it to the corrupt harbormaster. When she’s focused on survival, Noon doesn’t have to cope with what happened to her at the Cove or the monster itching at her skin.
Mercy has never been a safe place, but it’s getting worse. People are disappearing, and the only clues as to why are whispers of underwater shadows and warnings to never answer the knocks at night. When the harbormaster demands she capture the creature that’s been drowning residents, Noon finds a reluctant ally in his daughter Covey. And as the next storm approaches, the two set off to find what’s haunting Mercy. After all, Noon is no stranger to monsters…
Publication Date March 4th 2025 by Wednesday Books
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Preorder now and receive the stunning deluxe limited edition while supplies last ― featuring a gold foiled cover, gorgeous gilded edges as well as a unique foiled case stamp. This breathtaking collectible is only available on a limited first print run, a must-have for any book lover.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue meets This is How You Lose The Time War in this fantastical love story that defies death as two souls reincarnate through the centuries.
They’ve loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They’ve killed each other in every one.
Evelyn can remember all her past lives. She can also remember that in every single one, she’s been murdered before her eighteenth birthday by Arden, a supernatural being linked to her soul. The problem is that she’s quite fond of the life she’s in now, and her little sister needs her in order to stay alive. If Evelyn wants to save her sister, she’ll have to find the centuries-old devil who hunts her through each life before they find her first, figure out why she’s being hunted and finally break their curse, and try not to fall in love…again.
Publication Date March 11th 2025 by Bloomsbury YA
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You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight meets Scream in this YA slasher that turns classic horror tropes on their heads.
Few people can say they faced the infamous Satterville Wolf Man and lived. But CJ Smith can.
She doesn’t talk about that, though.
CJ has survived the horror movie that is her life by following one rule: blend in and stay out of it. But that’s hard to do when your trauma gets turned into a bestselling book series. The Slasherville books are a true crime phenomenon, documenting the Wolf Man massacres that changed CJ’s life forever. CJ hates everything about the books and their fans, but at this point she’s just grateful there aren’t any more murders to write about.
Until one day when an unpublished Slasherville book shows up on her doorstep predicting new Wolf Man killings. CJ is sure it’s a bad prank. But then the events in the book start coming true, and when CJ breaks her one rule, the Final Girl-the person who, according to the book, was supposed to stop the Wolf Man-ends up dead. Suddenly, blending in and staying out of it is not an option, and CJ will have to use everything she knows about the rules of horror to make it out alive.
Publication Date March 11th 2025 by Feiwel & Friends
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Inspired by an ominous Prague legend, What Wakes The Bells is a lavish gothic fantasy by debut author Elle Tesch that is perfect for fans of Adalyn Grace, Margaret Rogerson, and V.E. Schwab.
Built by long-gone Saints, the city of Vaiwyn lives and breathes and bleeds. As a Keeper, Mina knows better than most what her care of Vaiwyn’s bells means for the sentient city. It’s the Strauss family’s thousand-year legacy ― prevent the Vespers from ringing, or they will awake a slumbering evil.
One afternoon, to Mina’s horror, her bell peals thirteen times, shattering the city’s tenuous peace. With so much of the city’s history and lore lost in a long-ago disaster, no one knows the danger that has been unleashed ― until the city begins to fight back. As the sun sets, stone gargoyles and bronze statues tear away from their buildings and plinths to hunt people through the streets. Trapped in Mina’s bell, the soul of a twisted and power-hungry Saint festered. Now free of his prison, he hides behind the face of one of Vaiwyn’s citizens, corrupting the city and turning it on itself.
As the death toll rises, the only chance Mina has to stop the destruction and horrific killings is finding and destroying the Saint’s host. Everyone is a suspect, including Mina’s closest loved ones. She will have to decide how far she’ll go to save her city ― and who she’s willing to kill to do it.
Publication Date March 18th 2025 by Page Street YA
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Cuban American Camila Núñez has always been afraid of the future. She’s been working hard to keep her anxieties in check, but with so many new experiences―her first queer love, trouble with her dog walking job, her mother’s judgments about her body, learning to drive, her father being too busy with work ― there’s just so much to worry about.
So when Camila’s best friend gives her a tarot card reading for her sixteenth birthday, she believes it when the cards predict terrible things to come. As the year unfolds, the cards seem to be spot-on ― is her papi having an affair? Will her best friend’s love life ruin their friendship? Are all her relationships doomed to fail?
Whether she’s ready or not, Camila will have to reckon with all the ways her fear about the future is ruining her life and learn to find peace amidst it all.
Publication Date March 18th 2025 by Wednesday Books
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Love, family, and food collide in this sparkling Romeo and Juliet-inspired romance.
Julie Wu and Randall Hur used to be best friends. Now they only see each other on Saturdays at the Pasadena Farmers Market where their once close families are long-standing rivals.
When Julie and Randall are paired with ultra-rich London Kim for a community-service school project, they are forced to work together for the first time in years. It quickly becomes obvious that London has a major crush on Julie. But Julie can’t stop thinking about Randall. And Randall can’t stop thinking about how London is thinking about Julie. Soon, prompted by a little jealousy and years of missing each other, school project meetings turn into pseudo dates at their favorite Taiwanese breakfast shop and then secret kisses at the beach ― far from the watchful eyes of their families.
Just as they’re finally feeling brave enough to tell their grandmas, the two matriarchs rehash their old fight and Julie and Randall get caught in the middle and Julie’s brother finds out they are dating. Their families are heartbroken.
But it’s the Year of the Dragon, an auspicious time to resolve disagreements and start anew, and Randall isn’t going down without fighting for what – and who ― they love. Could the Lunar New Year provide not only a second chance for Randall and Julie, but for their families as well?
Jennifer Chen’s Hangry Hearts is a funny, big-hearted romance about friendship, family, and first love ― and being brave enough to have it all.
Publication Date March 18th 2025 by MTV Books
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Two gay men — one young, one ageless — sink their teeth into reclaiming their lives and identities from those who would silence them in this insatiable romantic horror novel from Hugo and Nebula Award–nominated author Kellan McDaniel.
Howard is biding his time until he can finally leave for college, where he has been promised it gets better. The last thing he expected was to meet a boy. But George reminds Howard of the movie stars from the 1960s he’s obsessed with. Plus, George is endearingly formal and well-read, and his grandpa fashion is super authentic.
After over twenty years together, George is about to lose his life partner. He met James when they were teenagers then lost track of him until they reconnected in their early sixties. Now, James is going somewhere beyond George’s reach — because George is a vampire, forever trapped in the body of a nineteen-year-old.
As the two grow closer, George begins to see a future beyond losing his first love, and Howard stops imagining himself always being alone…even if companionship comes at the cost of his mortality. When the discrimination the men have suffered their whole lives rears its ugly head to take away their happy ending, they finally strike back at the world that’s done its best to subdue them their entire lives.
Publication Date March 25th 2025 by Amulet Books
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From bestselling and award-winning author Kacen Callendar comes a thrilling, dark academia YA about murder, blackmail, and the one person determined to discover the truth, no matter the cost.
What happened to Arianna Reynolds?
Ari’s death was ruled an accident, but for her best friend Milo, it’s shrouded in mystery. Why was she in the woods on the night of the fire? Had she been alone? Figuring out what happened the night Ari died is the only reason Milo returns to Yates Academy, even knowing he’ll be in constant danger…
Liam is the King of Yates, a role he keeps hold of through his family’s old money — and the threat of violence. So when he begins receiving ominous letters from another student accusing him of murdering Ari, the suspect list is long. Desperate to prove his innocence before the accusation ruins his reign, Liam enlists Milo’s help to find the blackmailer. But the more Milo helps Liam, the more he becomes certain that Liam has something to hide.
As Milo comes closer to the truth, he uncovers secrets that everyone wants to keep buried. Featuring a cast of queer characters of color, We Are Villains is an electrifying mystery that will keep readers guessing.
Publication Date March 25th 2025 by Feiwel & Friends
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From author Elisa A. Bonnin comes Lovely Dark and Deep, a YA dark academia novel exploring magic, loneliness, and the power of found family.
Hidden off the coast of Washington, veiled in mist, there is an island that does not appear on any map. And on that island is Ellery West.
The acclaimed school for magic has always been home for Faith. After an international move and a childhood spent adjusting to a new culture and a new language, Faith feels like Ellery is the only place she can be herself. That is, until Faith and another student walk into the forest, and only Faith walks out.
Marked with the Red Stripe across her uniform that designates all students deemed too dangerous to attend regular classes, Faith becomes a social pariah, an exile of Ellery West. But all she has to do is keep her head down for one more year so she can graduate, and get to keep her magic. Because when students fail out of Ellery West, they have their magic taken away. Forever. And Faith can’t let that happen.
Except terrifying things are happening to students, and the dark magic that was unleashed in the forest still seems to be at work. To stop it, Faith and the other Red Stripes will have to work together, risking expulsion from the magical world altogether.
Publication Date April 1st 2025 by Disney Hyperion
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Zoe Hana Mikuta delivers a bloody and unrelenting fantasy about young witches dangling on the edge of love and obsession, of magic and madness, of life and death (and death and death and death)…
Just like her mother and her mother’s mother, 18-year-old Vanity Adams is destined to lead a lavish life under the patronship of the Museum, someday taking her place as its premiere necromantic Spectacle and the centerpiece of their weekly soirees thrown for the City’s elite.
But until that day, Vanity (and the other young witches of the Museum) is isolated from the outside world and purged of her magic — magic being particularly unstable for teenagers and often leading to antisocial conduct, mood swings, bloodlust, delusions, and, most concerning, a habitual, violent obsession with one another.
To all of this, Vanity thinks: Well, whatever. Better than being confined to the Sanatorium with the less fortunate witches, imprisoned in a chemically induced coma as her blood is harvested to make World, the City’s favorite designer drug. At least she’ll be dead someday, there’s always that. And at least the Museum has Arrogance, Vanity’s twin sister, who just might remember how to do magic, and who just might be where our story begins…
Publication Date April 1st 2025 by Sourcebooks Fire
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Why get over your cheating ex when you can get even? John Tucker Must Die meets One Of Us Is Lying in a gripping, page-turning debut thriller.
His first mistake was underestimating them.
Senior year is going to be perfect. Meghan won’t settle for anything less. She’s already crushing her classes and dating the star of the basketball team. Nate’s friends have been less than welcoming, but it’s never easy being one of the only Black kids at a mostly white prep school. Still, Meghan did not expect the scene at pep rally.
Robin and Bria dated Nate too. Correction: are dating him. He never broke up with them, and Meghan is furious.
When Nate is found bloodied and unconscious in the locker room after the big game, suddenly the three teens are prime suspects ― and a tenuous alliance may be the only way to clear their names. Except Meghan doesn’t remember everything that happened that night, and she’s starting to have feelings for one of the exes. One thing is for sure: the more clues they uncover, the more Meghan, Bria, and Robin each look responsible…
Publication Date April 1st 2025 by Scholastic Press
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From #1 New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Brian Selznick, a profoundly romantic YA novel about two boys finding each other and falling in love over one summer in Rome.
“I’m going to call you Danny. What are you going to name me?”
“Angelo.”
Danny is spending his sixteenth summer in Rome. As his mother spends the day at work in a mysterious museum, he wanders the ancient sites and streets. Soon after his arrival, he encounters a shadow…who becomes a voice…who becomes a boy his age. Angelo.
Soon Danny and Angelo are spending as much time as they can together, piecing together stories of the city while only gradually letting their own histories be shared. Attraction leads to affection, and affection leads to both an intimate closeness and a profound fear of what happens next. Danny has never really had a home, or known the love of another boy. Angelo seems to have more experience…but he also has secrets just out of Danny’s reach.
Run Away With Me is a stunning creation, weaving words and illustration to tell the story of a transformative love over the course of one Roman summer.
Publication Date April 1st 2025 by Little, Brown Ink
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A swoonworthy queer romance set against a riveting story of social change in the 1880s, this historical graphic novel reimagines the life of America’s first stunt girl — a young undercover reporter — and her whirlwind summer of romance and fighting injustice.
Seventeen-year-old Helena “Nell” Cusack came to New York this summer looking for a story — a real story. She dreams of one day writing hard-hitting articles for the New York Chronicle, but so far she’s only managed to land a job as a lowly society reporter. That is, until Alice Austen strolls into her life, an audacious street photographer who encourages Nell to shake up polite society…and maybe also take a chance on love.
When her best friend, Lucia, is injured while working in a garment factory, Nell is determined to crack the story wide open. Posing as a seamstress, she reports on the conditions from the inside, making a name for herself as the Chronicle’s first ever stunt girl. But as Nell’s reporting gains momentum, so do the objections of those who oppose her. Will Nell continue to seek justice — even if it hurts her in the end?
Based on real-life stunt girl Nell Nelson and photographer Alice Austen, this tenderly drawn narrative is about bringing buried stories to light and the bravery of first love.
Publication Date April 1st 2025 by Quill Tree Books
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Perfect for fans of Mason Deaver and Becky Albertalli, this tender, raucous novel follows a rule-following, perfectionist teen who starts an underground GSA club at her conservative Catholic high school, from the acclaimed author of Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens.
Cassie Perera is a star student in St. Luke’s junior class. But the new school year brings an unwelcome surprise — the return to St. Luke’s of Cassie’s former friend, Ben, who left a few years ago after a homophobic bullying incident Cassie knows she didn’t do enough to prevent.
Still harboring guilt from her inaction, Cassie decides, in her usual, overzealous way, to team up with the neighboring public school to found an underground Gender and Sexuality Alliance — as a complicated strategy for making things up to Ben. Secretly, Cassie is also tempted by the possibility of opening up about her own sexuality for the first time.
As Cassie’s new friends urge her out of her comfort zone, she unlocks a kind of joy and freedom she’s never felt before — even as she struggles to balance these experiences with her typical tightrope of being the perfect daughter, student, and Catholic.
Cassie’s perfectly curated life unravels into turmoil, but can she embrace the mess enough to piece together something new?
Publication Date April 1st 2025 by Wednesday Books
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The dark and thrilling Black sapphic vampire romantasy that questions what it truly means to sacrifice for love.
You have no idea what I’ve done for love. Just as you have no idea what you may one day do.
Once long ago, a girl named Favre sacrificed her wings for love. Thana, the young goddess she so willingly gave them up for, sacrificed that same love for power. But everything has a cost.
Favre never got over the loss of her wings. And Thana’s choices led to a life of eternal night, and later, their destruction. Favre has bided her time ever since, waiting for the chance to resurrect the girl she loves who turned her into the creature she hates.
Now, a thousand years later, Leyla, the crown princess of a vampire nation, must travel to Nekros, the island of the dead, when her best friend is captured during an attack on her nation’s capital. But nothing is as it seems. The closer she gets to her goal, the more her body seems to work against her, and the more she risks awakening an ancient evil and destroying everything she holds dear.
Set in the aftermath of a war between vampires, humans, and the gods that created them, Patrice Caldwell’s devastatingly romantic fantasy debut, Where Shadows Meet, centers the heart-wrenching pain of loss and the struggle of self-discovery to ask: do we choose our fates, or do our fates choose us?
Publication Date April 1st 2025 by Viking Books for Young Readers
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Rear Window meets The Ring in this sinister YA thriller, in which a teen girl witnesses the livestreamed murder of a popular online streamer by a paranormal entity…and could be its next victim.
After surviving a car accident that claimed the life of her best friend, Teresa is now terrified to leave the safety of her bedroom. Since then, her only solace and window to the outside world has been the online community she found through streaming.
But one night, the safe world Teresa created starts to break down. A shadowy figure appears in the background of her favorite’s streamer’s video, and his behavior mysteriously changes over the next few days before he dies in front of thousands of viewers. Teresa finds herself at the center of a life-and-death investigation as the world tries to figure out what or who this figure could be…especially as it begins appearing in the other people’s streams, compelling them to “open the door” and let it in — including Teresa’s own. In order to save herself and the rest of the internet from this relentless entity, Teresa must venture outside of the mental and physical walls she’s created. But will she be able to conquer her fears before anyone else loses their life?
Publication Date April 8th 2025 by Delacorte Romance
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A sapphic rival-to-lovers story about two counselors who find an unexpected romance during a summer they will never forget! Perfect for fans of Auriane Desombre’s beloved debut, I Think I Love You.
Ivy Raines needs camp for an escape like she did as a child. After going through a very public breakup with her first girlfriend and teen TV show mega star, she wants nothing more than a summer of sunshine, friends and s’mores as newest counselor.
But when she signs up to run the camp’s musical production she soon finds herself in a rivalry she didn’t see coming with the co-director, Rynn. She’s bossy and thinks she knows everything because she’s been most experienced counselor. Worse, it’s a girl Ivy had a falling out with when she was younger. It’s the last thing Ivy needs while going through a breakup but as tension between them builds, sparks begin to fly brighter than a campfire.
As the days get hotter, will Ivy discover she can still have the summer escape she needed after all…in the way her heart has always wanted?
Publication Date April 8th 2025 by Running Press Kids
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A second-chance queer romance about two teens whose in-world D&D characters fall in love, but in IRL…things are more complicated, perfect for lovers of Ashley Poston and Becky Albertalli.
Harper Reid’s summer is not off to a great start. After the death of her grandpa, she moves across the country, leaving her friends and Dungeons & Dragons group behind. She wasn’t exactly planning to start her senior year on the farm where she spent her childhood summers, but running into Ollie Shifflet — former best friend and first crush — makes things much better. When Harper discovers Ollie and her friends are starting a new D&D campaign, she quickly joins the group. As Harper and Ollie reconnect in the real world, romantic tension begins to build between Harper’s brash barbarian and Ollie’s proud paladin, but it’s all just part of the game…right?
Ollie’s future depends on keeping her bisexuality private while Harper’s dreams include an out-and-proud life in their rural town, but as their feelings continue to grow with each gaming session, their relationship begins threatening everything they’ve worked so hard to build. As the school year comes to a close and the campaign’s final boss looms on the horizon, Harper and Ollie must decide: are their feelings more than just a fantasy? Because if they want a second chance at love, they’ll have to fight for it, both in-game and in real life.
Publication Date April 15th 2025 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
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From the National Book Award finalist and author of Pet comes a novel set in a magical West African world, about a teen girl who must save her missing twin while learning to navigate her own terrifying new powers.
Somadina and her twin brother, Jayaike, are practically the same person: they finish each other’s sentences and make each other whole. When the twins come of age, their magical gifts begin to develop, but while Jayaike’s powers enchant, Somadina’s cause fear to ripple through her town.
Always an outsider, Somadina now faces blatant – and dangerous – hostility. And things go from bad to worse when her brother — the one person she trusted — vanishes. Somadina knows that no matter the dangers, she must track him down. Even if it means entering the Sacred Forest. Even if it means grueling, otherworldly travel she may not survive. Even if it means finding the hidden places where those closest to the spirit world don’t dare to go. Does Somadina have the strength – within both her body and her soul – for the trying journey ahead?
National Book Award finalist Akwaeke Emezi masterfully weaves a tale of family, identity, and the power of the past, in a world where the extraordinary is ordinary.
Publication Date April 15th 2025 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
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The Substance meets Girl In Pieces, in this new YA psychological thriller exploring the dark secrets of the wellness and beauty world, brimming with sapphic romance, class exploration, and friendship clashes.
Frances Bean has always been content living life on the perimeter. Until she gets paired up for a class project with rich and popular Julia, daughter of famous wellness guru Deena Patterson. The “magic” skincare products, healing sound baths, and extravagant parties of Deena’s company DEEP never really interested Frances before, who wears the badge of goth outcast and bookworm proudly. But face time with the girl she has been crushing on for years is starting to give her a new outlook.
When Frances gets an exclusive invite to a DEEP event, she is blown away by the beauty and luxury of Julia’s world and the group’s focus on empowering girls to be their most true selves surprisingly strikes a chord. Before long Frances finds herself invested in DEEP, a whirlwind romance with Julia, and a future that feels hopeful.
But when an infamous DEEP party takes a dark turn, Frances wonders if the allure of being a part of Julia’s life was actually just a deadly distraction…
Publication Date April 15th 2025 by Wednesday Books
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When the members of an LGBTQ+ club find themselves accidentally framed for attempted murder, it’s up to them to clear their names before it’s too late in “this dark and comedic mystery [which] deftly explores the gray areas between right and wrong, successfully addressing the complexity of people’s characters.” –Kirkus
It’s kind of hard to graduate high school when you’re the prime suspect in an attempted murder.
Seventeen-year-old Eleanora Finkel just wants to finish her senior year and get the hell out of Texas. But when her LGBTQ+ club meeting inconveniently coincides with an attack on the school’s head cheerleader, she and her friends find themselves in the hot seat.
In order to clear their names and ensure the survival of their club for future queer teens, they’ll have to track down the real culprit themselves. Unfortunately, Eleanora is far from a professional detective; she’s riddled with anxiety, annoyingly attracted to the case’s cute victim, and her trusty crochet hook feels insufficient for fighting off a killer. But if her chaotic friend group can’t sleuth their way out of an entire freaking murder mystery, they might just become the next targets.
Publication Date April 15th 2025 by Tor Teen
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WHEN THE WORLD BURNS, ASH WILL RISE.
The explosive sequel to instant New York Times bestselling YA debut Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender.
The hardcover edition features a beautiful jacket with silver foil, a case stamp, an in-world map and illustrated endpapers.
Ever since he rose up against his father and saved New Anglia from destruction, Ash has been struggling to adapt to his new life. He has nightmares every night, haunted by strange black orbs and his screaming dead mother. Ash is sure she’s trying to warn him that the world is still in danger, and becomes determined to find a way to speak to her again ― but communicating with the dead isn’t easy, even for an alchemist as powerful as Ash.
It doesn’t help that violent anti-alchemist sentiment is spreading across New Anglia. When Ash is captured by a radical group, inspired by his father’s legacy, he must decide if alchemist rights can be trusted in the hands of the Houses, along with his partners Callum and Ramsay ― or if Ash must follow the path his father laid for him, and become the leader of an alchemist revolution.
Can Ash keep his relationships together and stop the world from falling apart?
Publication Date April 22nd 2025 by HarperCollins
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From acclaimed author K. Ancrum comes a queer romantic thriller in which the lives of Hollis, a boy in search of meaning, and Walt, a spirit with unfinished business, collide when Walt takes possession of Hollis’s body…and maybe his heart. For fans of Adam Silvera and Aiden Thomas!
Hollis Brown is stuck. Born to a blue-collar American Dream, Hollis lives in a rotting small town where no one can afford to leave. Hollis’s only bright spots are his two best friends, cool girls Annie and Yulia, and the thrill of fighting his classmates.
As if his circumstances couldn’t get worse, a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger named Walt results in a frightening trap. After unknowingly making a deal at the crossroads, Hollis finds himself losing control of his body and mind, falling victim to possession. Walt, the ghost making a home inside him, has a deep and violent history rooted in the town Hollis grew up in and he has unfinished business to take care of.
As Walt and Hollis begin working together to put Walt’s spirit to rest, an unspeakable bond forms between them, and the boys begin falling for one another in unexpected ways. But it’s only a matter of time before Hollis’s best friends begin to notice that something about Hollis isn’t quite…right.
With the threat of a long-overdue exorcism looming before them, will Walt and Hollis be able to protect their love and undo the curse that turned their town from a garden of possibility into a place where dreams go to die?
Publication Date April 22nd 2025 by HarperCollins
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Booksmart meets Phantom of the Megaplex in Zakiya N. Jamal’s debut enthralling enemies-to-lovers queer romance, set against the backdrop of a historic Black-owned movie theater, the quirky employees who work there, and the suburbs of Long Island. Perfect for fans of Leah Johnson and Today Tonight Tomorrow.
Lights. Camera. Love?
Rochelle “the Shell” Coleman is laser focused on only three things: becoming valedictorian, getting into Wharton, and, of course, taking down her annoyingly charismatic nemesis and only academic competition, Amira Rodriguez. However, despite her stellar grades, Rochelle’s college application is missing that extra special something: a job.
When Rochelle gets an opportunity to work at Horizon Cinemas, the beloved Black-owned movie theater, she begrudgingly jumps at the chance to boost her chances at getting into her dream school. There’s only one problem: Amira works there…and is also her boss.
Rochelle feels that working with Amira is its own kind of horror movie, but as the two begin working closely together, Rochelle starts to see Amira in a new light, one that may have her beginning to actually…like her?
But Horizon’s in trouble, and when mysterious things begin happening that make Horizon’s chances of staying open slimmer, it’s up to the employees to solve the mystery before it’s too late, but will love also find its way into the spotlight?
Publication Date April 29th 2025 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
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In this fresh, speculative blend of queer romance and coming-of-age, Eddie meets Theo in present-day New York and Francis in a New York of the past…torn between eras and his heart, he must make a decision that will change his life forever.
High school has just ended and Eddie is at a loss for what’s next. He had a falling out with his best friend, and he never really related to the rest of his peers in the sleepy Colorado town he calls home. The future is bleak.
Until his ancient and eccentric great aunt Cookie asks him to care for her in New York City as she recuperates from an illness. Eddie leaps at the opportunity. Soon after he arrives at her tiny Greenwich Village apartment, homebound Cookie asks Eddie to use her vintage polaroid camera to snap pictures of her favorite places she can no longer visit. But something’s unusual about this camera. When he takes a photo, he’s launched back in time to an entirely different New York of the early 20th century.
As Eddie explores the underground queer life of the 1930s, he discovers new undercurrents of his own identity. Not to mention a dangerously handsome boy in scuffed boots and tattered stovepipe trousers who keeps popping up in his visions of the past.
But when Eddie begins to develop a crush on the mercurial Francis, a cute baker named Theo enters the picture ― and he’s in the present. Caught between timelines and feelings, Eddie must make a decision about what he’s willing to chase: his romantic fantasies of the past or a reality that might just be what he’s wanted all along.
Publication Date April 29th 2025 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
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When a teen has an unexpected vision about a future murder, he must juggle newfound interest from the supernatural community with trying to prevent the murder from happening in this “riveting” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) new romantic fantasy from New York Times bestselling author F.T. Lukens.
Fifteen-year-old Cam Reynolds wants to spend his sophomore year flying under the radar. That shouldn’t be too hard, considering he’s a human going to school with kids who have paranormal powers, like his best friend and witch, Al, and his longtime werewolf crush, Mateo.
Then Cam has a psychic glimpse of the future in front of most of the student body, seeing a gruesomely murdered teen girl from the point of view of the killer. When Cam comes to, he knows two things: someone he goes to school with is a future murderer, and his life is about to change. No longer a mere human but a clairvoyant, one of the rarest of supernatural beings, Cam finds himself at the center of attention for the first time.
As the most powerful supernatural factions in the city court Cam and his gift, he’ll have to work with his friends, both old and new, to figure out who he can trust and who might be a werewolf in sheep’s clothing. Because the clock is ticking, and Cam and his friends must identify the girl in the vision, find her potential killer, and prevent the murder from happening. Or the next murder Cam sees might be his own.
Publication Date April 29th 2025 by HarperCollins
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Nav knows how to flirt, but she also knows love is a messy losing proposition. As proof, her best friend, Hallie, is constantly getting her heart broken. And when Hallie goes to her boring academic camp this summer, Nav won’t be there to protect her for the first time in their lives.
So when shy new girl Gia asks Nav for help getting Hallie’s attention, Nav finds a way to make it work for her. In exchange for lessons in romance, Gia, whose mom runs the camp, will help get Nav a spot there. And if her coaching works, maybe Hallie can date someone who will treat her right for a change.
Except…Gia’s not just bad at flirting, she’s terrible. She’s too anxious to even speak to Hallie, never mind date her. Training Gia quickly becomes a disaster. Worse, Gia’s every awkward joke and catastrophic fake date makes Nav like Gia a little bit more…and not in a friend way. Which puts a really, really big wrench in Nav’s plans. As Nav’s feelings change, she’ll have to decide what’s more important: sticking to her plan for the perfect summer or taking a chance on learning more about love than she ever expected.
Publication Date May 6th 2025 by Delacorte Press
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When the mayor of a small Alabama town starts targeting Pride events, bad boy Zeke begins hosting a series of “Pride Speakeasies” in this joyful queer coming-of-age!
There’s nothing Zeke Chapman wants more than to tarnish the perfect reputation his father is so obsessed with. He quit the baseball team, started fighting at school, and nearly flunked junior year. Newly out as gay, Zeke isn’t sure where his queer identity fits in with his bad-boy persona. His father has always told him to stay quiet and not attract attention, but his friends are pushing him to be just as out and proud as they are. Most days, Zeke isn’t sure how to be a “good gay” or what that even means.
When his best friend, Sawyer, begs him to help the QSA plan Pride Day, he obliges — mostly to piss his dad off. But then the mayor announces an ordinance that cancels all LGBTQ+ celebrations. Angered by the injustice — and his father’s support of it — Zeke decides to put his rebellious ways to good use and plans a series of underground “Pride Speakeasies”.
As the speakeasies grow, and the community comes together to declare him “King of Pride”, Zeke finally feels like he’s doing something that matters. But friendship drama, a mysterious cyber-crush, and rising tension with his rival and ex Cohen “Coco” Fisher threaten to undermine his newfound pride. When his final party ends in near-disaster, Zeke must ask himself what he’s really trying to do. After all, there’s a reason that the first pride was a riot.
Publication Date May 6th 2025 by Delacorte Romance
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A high school field hockey star must choose between her love of the game and her new, distractingly beautiful rival in this queer YA romance perfect for fans of She Drives Me Crazy and Cleat Cute!
Evelyn was raised to see field hockey as war.
Before she could write her own name, her family’s legacy on the field was already spelled out. Every step Evelyn takes toward glory is within a footprint her mother left behind. And no step matters more than this next one, with Evelyn about to lead her varsity team into their final battle season. Evelyn is beyond ready to score the Nationals title and win the critical scholarship to her mom’s alma mater that comes with it.
This year, she’s out for blood, and nothing can stand in her way…
…except for Rosa Alvarez, the highly talented new recruit on her biggest rival’s team.
After a humiliating homecoming game and follow-up prank leave the two enemies in a stalemate, they grudgingly strike a deal to help each other overcome their weaknesses on the field. But the more time Evelyn spends with Rosa, the more she finds herself casting her hardened armor aside, until she begins to wonder what life might be like if she left the battlefield behind and fought for love instead.
Publication Date May 6th 2025 by Union Square & Co.
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Gorgeous in its sincerity and its precision — in its raw, honest depiction of what it feels like to be a gay teen in a world that says that you don’t deserve a home.
Gloria Forman and Xia Harper go to the same high school in a small South Carolina town, but they couldn’t be more different. While Gloria is part of the popular, Christian crowd, Xia sleeps through class, antagonizes anyone who dares talk to her, and buries herself in books that help her pretend she’s somewhere else — anywhere that being lesbian wouldn’t be a waking nightmare.
When the two form an accidental friendship, they begin noticing each other in ways they promised themselves they’d avoid. After all, Xia’s isolation is self-imposed for a reason, and the last thing Gloria needs is more upheaval, especially after her parents kicked her out of the house for being gay. Ever since, she has spent her nights under the stage in the school auditorium and her days terrified of being discovered.
Xia just wants to keep her head down until the end of senior year. Gloria just wants to keep her living situation quiet until her parents come around. But as their feelings for each other intensify and the truths they’ve hidden work their way to the surface, what they truly want will change forever.
Publication Date May 6th 2025 by Quill Tree Books
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In this third book of the USA Today and #1 New York Times mega-bestselling They Both Die At The End series, two strangers — each with their own complicated relationship to Death-Cast — help each other learn to live.
Paz Dario stays up every night, waiting for the Death-Cast call that would mean he doesn’t have to keep faking his way through this lonely life. After a devastating day, Paz decides he’s done waiting around for Death-Cast. If they say he’s not dying, he’ll just have to prove them wrong. But right before Paz can die, a boy saves his life.
Alano Rosa is heir to the Death-Cast empire that encourages everyone to live their best lives, but he doesn’t feel in control of his own existence thanks to his father. And with a violent organization called the Death Guard threatening Alano, his End Day might be closer than he thinks. It’s time to live.
Fate brings Paz and Alano together, but it’s now up to the boys to survive the tragic trials ahead so no one dies at the end.
This book contains themes that some readers may find difficult.
Publication Date May 6th 2025 by Sourcebooks Fire
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Murder Land opens tonight. Not everyone will survive. Buckle up for a thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat, perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Holly Jackson.
Seventeen-year-old Billie feels like she is on top of the world. She gets to spend the summer with her best friend, sparks are flying with her crush, and she has received a promotion to ride operator for one of the most buzzworthy new attractions in the theme park she works at. But the first night on the new job takes a dark turn when her creepy coworker mysteriously dies…on her ride, when she isn’t authorized to be running it.
At first, it seems like he died by heart attack, but by the time she returns to the body with help, it looks like a broken neck. Had she just imagined him sitting upright a few minutes ago? It’s as if someone is trying to pin his death on her, and she has one night to figure out who is really responsible before she is blamed.
Billie recruits the help of her friends to sneak around the park after-hours and search for the truth. But as the night stretches on and more people wind up dead, Billie realizes she may not make it out of Murder Land alive. And her friends may know more than they’re letting on.
Publication Date May 6th 2025 by Quill Tree Books
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In this emotional novel in verse by the Stonewall Award–winning author of The Black Flamingo, a queer biracial teen confronts issues of race, privilege, class, and sexuality on his journey to falling in love.
Kai knows who he is to others: The good grandson, the reliable best friend, the romantic backup. But he doesn’t quite know who he is to himself.
Kai wants to come out at school, but his best friend there, Matt, stays closeted for fear of getting kicked out by his conservative parents — and wants Kai to do the same. Kai unhappily agrees, but when a rumor goes around that Kai and Matt are dating, Matt starts acting differently anyway.
Kai’s other best friend, Vass, is proudly nonbinary and thinks Matt is a negative influence — though maybe that’s just their crush on Kai talking. Kai has always turned to writing to express his emotions, but when his on-page emotions erupt into the real world, he might just be putting the delicate balance of his life at risk.
Told with Dean Atta’s signature lyricism and candor, this deeply feeling story explores the complexities of crushes, navigating identity, and coming out.
Publication Date May 6th 2025 by Carolrhoda Lab
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Eighteen-year-old Holiday needs to sort her life out.
She’s still shaken from her brother’s recent suicide attempt; still pining over her ex, Maya; and still struggling to write again after a long dry spell. To earn enough money for a rebalancing trip with Maya, Holi gets a short-term job: organizing the attic of acclaimed author Elsie McAllister. It’s an unglamorous gig with a difficult boss. Elsie ― whose fame rests on a single novel published decades ago ― is in her nineties, in failing health, and fiercely protective of her privacy. But as Holi sorts through the attic’s surprising contents, she realizes there’s much more to Elsie than the novel that made her a legend.
Unearthing Elsie’s secrets will change how Holi sees art, life, and the way they intertwine, as she grapples with choices that will redefine her own path.
Publication Date May 13th 2025 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
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From the author of Some Girls Do comes a YA sapphic romance about two girls from different sides of the tracks.
Cass has a rule about dating summer girls — just say no. Every year, her idyllic beach town is flooded with summer girls, the obnoxious daughters of the rich, who stay in their families’ summer homes, sail their yachts, and generally make things unbearable for townies like Cass.
Birdie is the ultimate summer girl. She’s the daughter of a wealthy real estate developer dad and a social media influencer mom, and this summer Birdie happens to be in big trouble for accidentally crashing her boyfriend’s very expensive car.
Birdie’s punishment is to spend the summer with her father at the beach — but it won’t be a vacation. He’s enlisted the help of Cass, whose dad works for him, to keep Birdie on the straight and narrow, including getting her a job at the public beach where Cass lifeguards.
At first the two despise each other. Birdie doesn’t want a babysitter, and Cass doesn’t want to be one. But as the season heats up, Birdie surprises Cass time and again, and before long both girls can’t help but wonder: Are some rules made to be broken?
Publication Date May 13th 2025 by Zando
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A YA debut about found family and queer awakening, set in the lively world of roller derby, perfect for fans of Whip It and Heartstopper.
Eighteen-year-old Casey feels stuck; while her friends are all going to university, she’s taking a gap year at home to care for her disabled mother. Then she walks in on her boyfriend blatantly cheating on her. Surprisingly, though, she’s not as heartbroken as she thinks she should be. And when a chance encounter with the young woman in question, the very pretty and confident Imogen, includes both an apology and a tentative extension of friendship, Casey realizes her life may be about to change.
Imogen convinces Casey to tag along to a roller derby bout, and there Casey finds herself surrounded by fearless women and nonbinary teammates who aren’t afraid to speak their minds ― and body slam each other. Her friends and family aren’t so sure about all the injuries, but she doesn’t care; there’s something magic about this game and this team. Plus, she soon finds herself nursing a serious crush on her magnetic new friend. Can Casey become a brand-new, stronger, more confident version of herself? And will dating a teammate lead to a winning season, or total heartbreak?
Publication Date May 13th 2025 by Candlewick
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An essential introduction to trans history, from ancient times to the present day, in full-color graphic nonfiction format. Deeply researched, highly readable, and featuring a broad range of voices.
What does “trans” mean, and what does it mean to be trans? Diversity in human sex and gender is not a modern phenomenon, as readers will discover through illustrated stories and records that introduce historical figures ranging from the controversial Roman emperor Elagabalus to the swashbuckling seventeenth-century conquistador Antonio de Erauso to veterans of the Stonewall uprising Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. In addition to these individual profiles, the book explores some of the societal roles played by trans people beginning in ancient times and shows how European ideas about gender were spread across the globe. It explains how the science of sexology and the growing acceptance of (and backlash to) gender nonconformity have helped to shape what it means to be trans today.
Illustrated conversations with modern activists, scholars, and creatives highlight the breadth of current trans experiences and give readers a deeper sense of the diversity of trans people, a group numbering in the millions. Extensive source notes provide further resources. Moving, funny, heartbreaking, and empowering, this remarkable compendium from trans creators Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett is packed with research on every dynamic page.
Publication Date May 13th 2025 by Levine Querido
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Grace Woodhouse has left a lot behind. She used to have a great friend group, an amazing girlfriend, and a right foot set to earn her a Division I football scholarship — before she came out as trans. As senior year begins, Grace is struggling to find her place in early transition, new social circles, and a life without football. But when her skills as the best kicker in the state prove to be vital, her old teammates beg her to come out of retirement, dragging her back into a sport — into a way of life — she thought had turned its back on her forever. When a chance meeting cracks the door to college football back open, she has to decide how much of herself she’s willing to give up for the game she loves.
Publication Date May 13th 2025 by Delacorte Press
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The young adult debut from the award-winning author of Arsenic and Adobo! When a high school tarot reader’s latest client goes missing after a troubling reading, she must apply everything she’s learned from her private investigator mother to solve a case of her own.
Danika Dizon is a natural problem-solver. Thanks to her private investigator mom and mystery author dad, she’s equipped with the skills to offer guidance to anxious classmates who come to her for a tarot reading between classes. For a price, of course.
But when one of her clients vanishes shortly after they’re dealt a death card, the girl’s younger sister Gaby begs Danika to figure out what went wrong. Danika takes on the case, thinking it’s the perfect way to prove to her parents that she should be an official investigator in the family’s detective agency.
What starts off as a compelling challenge quickly devolves into something darker as Danika and Gaby peel back layer after layer of the secret life the missing girl has been living. A life that those involved would do anything to keep from being revealed…
Publication Date May 13th 2025 by Page Street YA
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A trans teen who steals and ransoms body parts with magic investigates a string of missing girls ― falling in love with one of them from afar.
Wielding a magic that allows him to pop off limbs, con artist Phyllis steals body parts and his partner Lucent ransoms them. Everyone who knows about Phyllis’s magic is afraid of him ― except for Lucent. But his partner’s love comes with one condition: Phyllis must keep stealing. But when a mark can’t afford ransom for his missing nose, Phyllis loses his resolve. The man claims his sister, Adeline, was taken, and without her money he can’t pay until she’s found.
Intrigued, Phyllis investigates Adeline’s disappearance, but she is not the only missing girl in their seedy city. To gain answers from the nobility, Phyllis masquerades as a duke ― Lord Phillip of Rabbiton ― and begins to fall in love with both stories of Adeline and the man he’s becoming to try and find her. Soon, he’s not sure he ever wants to return to Lucent and their life of crime together.
When he finally finds Adeline with another missing girl, it turns out they’re not dead ― but undead.
To win Adeline’s heart and break from his toxic past, Phillip will have to scheme to keep his title and master his evolving magic.
Publication Date May 13th 2025 by Holiday House
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When Chloe Torres plans the perfect summer to reunite her estranged BFFs — a cross-country road trip to see their favorite boy band! — there’s only one difficulty…getting them to actually go along for the ride.
Chloe Torres’ birthday has always marked the end of summer — but as she turns eighteen and prepares to leave for her freshman year of art school, it feels like the end of more than that. It’s the end of her adolescence, which means it’s time to leave the past behind…but can she really let go of the two estranged best friends she left there?
NOPE. Chloe decides to take one more shot at healing the friend breakup she’s always regretted: planning the bucket-list trip neither girl can say no to. She’s taken care of everything: the car, the hotels, and concert tickets to see their favorite boy band’s reunion show in Las Vegas — stage seats, so close they can fangirl right in front of the boys’ faces. But first, her ex-BFFs have to say yes.
And to say yes, they’d all have to be talking…which they haven’t done since Ramona kissed Chloe, and everything imploded.
But with some clever finagling (and some undignified begging) Chloe gets them all on board. Of course, being in a car together for two weeks brings back old feelings…a lot of old feelings…and soon enough, Chloe wants Sienna, Ramona wants Chloe, and everything is on fireeeee.
This sizzling summer adventure from YA star Crystal Maldonado is a hilarious and heartfelt romcom with a little something for everyone: fat positivity, sapphic romance, a blazing love triangle, ADHD representation, a diversity of Latine identities, a once-in-a-lifetime roadtrip — and the perfect it’s-finally-happening kiss.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Publication Date May 13th 2025 by Bloomsbury YA
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In this exuberant YA romance from the critically acclaimed author of And They Lived…, a budding social media influencer sets out to win back his first love at a family wedding in an Italian lemon grove.
Ever since he was a kid, Fielder Lemon’s large, opinionated Italian-American family has lived next to Ricky DeLuca and his large, opinionated Italian-American family. For almost as long, Fielder has known that he wants to marry Ricky one day. And he thought Ricky felt the same way – until Ricky breaks up with Fielder, saying he needs to figure out who he is on his own.
One year later, Fielder is asked to be one of the best men in his cousin’s destination wedding on the Amalfi Coast in Italy, but there’s a twist: his cousin is marrying Ricky’s sister. Fielder hasn’t talked to or seen Ricky once during the last entire, terrible year, but he hasn’t given up on his first love quite yet-and isn’t a wedding in an Italian lemon grove the perfect setting to rekindle their relationship? Except Ricky might have already moved on.
Now, Fielder has less than a week to win back Ricky’s heart while also trying not to ruin his cousin’s wedding. But if there’s one thing Fielder knows, it’s that when life gives you lemons, take a bite!
Publication Date May 13th 2025 by Hyperion
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Shampoo Unicorn: (noun)
1. A shower hairstyle in which one styles their lathered hair into the fluffiest soapy unicorn horn possible.
2. A podcast by two mysterious hosts exploring rural queer life — the isolation, the microaggressions, the boredom, and occasionally, the sky-shattering joy.In the small town of Canon, West Virginia, most people care about three things: God, country, and football.
Brian is more into Drag Race, Dolly Parton, and his gig as one of the mystery hosts of his podcast, Shampoo Unicorn.
Greg’s life should be perfect as the town’s super-masc football star, but his secret is he’s just as gay as Brian.
Leslie is a trans girl living in nearby Pennsylvania, searching for reasons to get out of bed every day. Her solace is listening to her favorite podcast…
When a terrible accident occurs, it’s Shampoo Unicorn that brings the three teens’ lives together. And what begins as a search for answers becomes a story of finding connection.
Sawyer Lovett’s powerful and ultimately joyful debut novel is about three teens, one podcast, and carving out a rainbow pocket in an otherwise red state.
Publication Date May 20th 2025 by Storytide
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From Emmy Award winner Jonathan Van Ness of Queer Eye and #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy comes a bighearted story about friendship, love — and discovering the secrets and beauty of your own hometown.
Sully is ready to get out of Hearst, Pennsylvania. With a fashion internship secured, the gender-nonconforming eighteen-year-old is trading in their stifling small town for the big city. Sully even sells their beloved car, to Bread — er, Brad — the most boring (and maybe only other) gay kid in town.
When Sully’s internship goes up in smoke, they’re trapped in Hearst with no cash — and no car. Desperate, they go to the thrift store, their personal sanctuary. There, they discover a vintage bag—like “put this baby in an airtight case at the MET” vintage. If Sully can authenticate it, the resale value would be enough for a new life in the city.
But when they begin to investigate, Sully finds themself haunted. Literally. With the ghost of Rufus, a drag performer from the fifties with no memory of how he died standing — no, floating — in their bedroom, Sully’s summer has a new purpose: 1) help this ghostly honey unlock his past and move on and 2) make bank—after all, the Real Real doesn’t take poltergeist purses.
With Rufus in tow, and Brad — who’s looking pretty scrumptious these days — playing chauffeur, Sully delves into the history of the town they’re so desperate to escape. Only to discover that there might be more to Hearst than they ever knew.
Publication Date May 20th 2025 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
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Out of Step, Into You is a sapphic contemporary romance following childhood friends turned cross-country team rivals who are forced to work together to win the state championship – for fans of She Gets The Girl.
You can’t outrun love.
Taylor and Marianna were each other’s whole world – best friends, running partners, practically sisters – until Marianna moved away and Taylor promptly ghosted her. When the former best friends turned rivals end up on the same cross-country team three years later, everything is a competition… and a reminder of old feelings, as well as blossoming new ones.
Marianna runs because she’s angry.The oldest child of a single mother, she knows all about responsibility – for her siblings, at her part-time job. She just has to stay focused and be faster than the past nipping at her heels if she wants to secure a new, brighter future. With or without Taylor.
Taylor runs to prove herself. The only child of a Divison 1 athlete, she’s no stranger to high expectations. With enough effort, she knows she can immortalize herself with a state record and make her parents proud. Then, she can discover her own passion. She definitely doesn’t have time to untangle her feelings towards Mari.
Can this pair figure out a way to work together before their past catches up with them?
Publication Date May 20th 2025 by HarperCollins
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From acclaimed author Kevin Christopher Snipes comes a moving romance about two star-crossed boys trapped in a millennium-spanning cycle of reincarnation whose only hope of escape may be a price that neither is willing to pay. Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Eliot Shrefer!
Out and proud, Riley Iverson knows there’s nothing more cringe than crushing on a straight boy. But from the moment that the handsome, sporty, and painfully heterosexual Jackson Haines walks into his life, Riley can’t help but feel an instant and undeniable connection. Mainly because, as impossible as it seems, Jackson is the spitting image of the boy who’s recently appeared in Riley’s dreams — dreams set in another time and another place where he and Jackson were desperately in love.
At first Riley tries to dismiss the coincidence as a product of his hormone-fueled, overactive imagination, but as his friendship with Jackson deepens into something more, the dreams prove harder to ignore. Especially when Jackson begins having them too. Plunged into increasingly vivid visions of the past, the boys find themselves in various eras scattered throughout history. No matter where or when their dreams take them, though, two things remain constant: Riley and Jackson are always together, and they always die at the end.
As it becomes increasingly difficult to view their dreams as anything but warnings, the boys are forced to consider the possibility that their burgeoning relationship might be propelling them headfirst into their own tragic ending. But is it worth staying apart to save their lives if the price is forsaking a love that has defied not only time and space but even death itself?
Publication Date May 20th 2025 by Quirk Books
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In this gripping queer YA romance perfect for fans of Malinda Lo and Becky Albertalli, an Asian American teen longs to break free of the conservative cult she was raised in.
Valerie Danners is in a cult. She just doesn’t know it yet. But when she stumbles upon a queer romance novel at the library, everything about her life — centered around a fundamentalist Christian homeschooling group — is thrown into question.
And to make things even more complicated, there’s a new girl in town. Riley is rebellious, kindhearted, and impossibly cool. As the two bond over being multiracial teens in their very white and very religious community, Valerie finds herself falling in love.
Soon Valerie and Riley are exchanging notes in secret and stealing kisses behind the church. But even as their romance blooms, Valerie knows that they’re trapped. If Valerie wants a chance at writing her own story, she must choose between staying with a family she fears will never accept her and running away with the girl she loves.
Publication Date May 20th 2025 by Quill Tree Books
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From acclaimed author Edward Underhill comes a trans rom-com about serendipity, chance encounter, and the ultimate missed connection. This joyful celebration of queer love and found family is perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli, Emery Lee, and Julian Winters.
Arden isn’t excited about moving. Los Angeles was an easy place to fit in and find a supportive queer community. But Winifred, Michigan? That sounds like a much more difficult place to exist.
Pasadena, California, is the perfect city for Gabe’s reinvention. Everyone knew everything about him in small-town Shelby, Illinois. Gabe, who wants to be out and proud, can’t wait to relocate.
When Arden and Gabe randomly meet in the lobby of a motel in Nebraska, it feels like fate. Both are trans, but more importantly, both are huge fans of the band Damaged Pixie Dream Boi. Clearly, the universe is trying to tell them something. Right?
But after an incredible evening of hanging out, the pair part ways only knowing the other’s first name. And as both boys struggle to adjust to their new homes, their thoughts keep being drawn back to their time together. Is one perfect night enough to bring Arden and Gabe back to each other, or will the boys need some help to find each other again?
Publication Date May 20th 2025 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
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A bold young adult graphic novel about the highs and lows of growing up, queer love, and learning to accept yourself for who you are, perfect for fans of Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, Daria and Ladybird.
High school senior Carson Flynn doesn’t give a damn ― about you, about school, or about her future. The only thing she cares about is jumping into mosh pits at concerts with her best friend Ash.
But when Ash and Carson’s friendship becomes something more, a lot of complicated feelings enter the pit swinging: the unresolved grief they share over the loss of Carson’s mother, the realities of growing up queer in small-town America, and the biggest bruiser of all: what does it mean to love and be loved?
As Carson discovers new corners of her heart, she sees that her too-cool approach to life may have been keeping her closed off from her potential. Maybe there is something greater out there, a bright future full of promise…if only she could convince Ash to see it too.
Everyone Sux But You, the first young adult graphic novel from award-winning comics creator K. Wroten, defines what being a teen feels like while redefining what a graphic novel for teens can be.
Publication Date May 27th 2025 by Roaring Brook Press
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A hilarious, unputdownable second-chance-romance about the most unlikely, gay roommate mishap. Perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Gwen & Art Are Not in Love.
Romance is the last thing on Charlie’s mind.
On his first day at Valentine Academy for Boys, Charlie’s carefully crafted plan to hide his identity as the school’s only trans student is set in motion. Only to be immediately destroyed. Charlie has been assigned the worst roommate in the world (possibly the universe): Jasper Grimes, the boy who broke Charlie’s heart the year before he transitioned.
Except, Jasper doesn’t recognize Charlie.
Who knows how long until Jasper realizes the truth? Charlie has one shot at freedom and a dorm room all to himself, but only if he helps Jasper write love letters on behalf of their fellow students first. No problem. Charlie can help Jasper with some silly letters.
Long nights spent discussing deep romantic feelings with Jasper? Surely, no unintended consequences will arise…
Publication Date May 27th 2025 by Random House Studio
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In this riveting YA non-fiction set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, trace Lorena Hickok – or Hick’s – rise from devastating childhood to renowned journalist, and watch as she forms the most significant friendship and romantic relationship of her life with first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.
Lorena Hickok came from nothing. She was on her own from the age of 14, cooking and scrubbing for one family after another as she struggled to finish school. But the girl who secretly longed for affection discovered she had a talent with words.
That talent allowed Hick to carve out a place for herself in the male-dominated newsrooms of the Midwest where she earned bylines on everything from football to opera to politics. By age 35 she’d become one of the Associated Press’s top reporters.
At the moment her career was taking off, Hick was assigned to cover Eleanor Roosevelt during FDR’s presidential campaign. By the close of 1932, Hick was head over heels in love with the wife of the president-elect. And her life would never be the same.
Acclaimed author Sarah Miller read the 3500 letters that exist between Lorena Hickock and Eleanor Roosevelt to reconstruct their friendship and love, and bring Hick’s story to a new generation.
Publication Date May 27th 2025 by Candlewick
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Calisto and Fawkes are drawn to each other for the first time, again, as they travel from when to when to take on a threat to all they hold dear in this lyrical and playful fantasy from award-winning author A. R. Capetta.
Anyone who has hiked through time knows the town of Pocket. It’s the place travelers first reach after they stumble away from their hometime, passing through on their way to any other when. To Calisto, Pocket is home. They love their grandmother’s shop, which is filled with clothes from every era that are used to make costumes for time travelers. Calisto has no intention of traveling — it’s too dangerous. For Fawkes, traveling is life. He put on time boots when he was young and has been stumbling through eras ever since. When he floats into Pocket, Calisto meets him for the first time, though Fawkes has seen Calisto — in glimpses of what hasn’t happened yet. He’s also seen the villains chasing them both. Now Calisto and Fawkes must rush — from Shakespeare’s London to ancient Crete to California on the eve of a millennium — to save Pocket, and travelers, from being erased.
From the Lambda Literary Award–winning author of The Heartbreak Bakery comes a fairy-tale romance that weaves in and out of time, from kiss to kiss and costume to costume.
Publication Date May 27th 2025 by Wednesday Books
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In this opposites attract romance for fans of Begin Again and Better Than The Movies, a fresh start doesn’t have to mean changing yourself.
Hot on the heels of a broken heart, Everett “Evie” Riley arrives at Camden Academy ready for a new beginning – one far away from her cheating ex-boyfriend, the sister who stole him, and the best friend who let it happen. But her fresh start is stopped in its tracks when she’s accidentally placed in an all-boys dorm, with no choice but to stay.
When rumors and gossip about Evie’s housing predicament spread like wildfire, she decides the only way to survive is to lean into her questionable new reputation…but she’s definitely going to require help. Her grumpy emo dorm mate Salem Grayson isn’t exactly her first choice, but he does need her help to repair his relationship with his parents every bit as much as she needs his to learn how to be cool. And so they make a pact: he’ll teach her how to be bad, if she teaches him how to be good.
It’s a flawless plan, except while Salem thrives academically, romantically, and – annoyingly enough – even physically, Evie’s quest feels like one dead end after another. But when Evie realizes what she wants more than anything, she’ll have to contend with her thrice-broken heart and figure out how to become someone capable of chasing happiness.
Dahlia Adler’s Come As You Are is about refusing to accept less than you deserve, and realizing that the best relationships are forged with people who know exactly who you are.
Publication Date May 27th 2025 by Quill Tree Books
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Booksmart meets Today, Tonight, Tomorrow in this page-turning romp about two archnemeses — the valedictorian and the class slacker — who band together for a whirlwind night after discovering that they need each other to achieve their very different sunrise goals.
Autumn Povitsky is a high-achieving, booked and busy, straight-A nightmare. She’s currently having a crisis of self — she needs a fake ID ASAP — but because she’s a total square, she has no idea where to get one.
Enter buzzcut hottie Tara Esposito. She’s a rule breaker and party crasher of the highest degree, and if anyone knows where to get a fake, it’s her. But Tara has hung up her James Dean leather jacket for the night. If she doesn’t finish this godforsaken essay that’s already weeks late, she can kiss her upcoming graduation goodbye.
One brainy girl who needs a fake ID before sundown. One serial rebel who needs to turn in an essay before sunrise. It’s obvious what needs to happen here. But with a years-long feud keeping the girls from working together, this may be a night to forget…or one they’ll remember forever.
With razor-sharp dialogue and fiery tension perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Casey McQuiston, All-Nighter is a caffeine-fueled labyrinth of chaotic escapades — from prom after-parties to library séances to underground roller discos — led by two enemies who must decide if working together is better than their worlds falling apart.
Publication Date May 27th 2025 by Random House Books for Young Readers
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ALL GODS MUST DIE in this searingly relevant YA from award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked Bargain and Most Ardently. In a world bound by violence, a teen descended from the god of Death must keep their true identity a secret as they fight their way through a gladiator-style competition towards victory and rebellion against the gods who murdered their family.
Years ago, the descendants of the god of Death were murdered. The few that remain are in hiding, including Crow, a teen who survived the genocide and hides their magic to stay alive. After fleeing their village, Crow now lives with their uncles in the lowest part of the city: the Shallows.
Life in the Shallows is tough, but Crow’s even tougher. Hiding their magic has made Crow resourceful, cunning, and unbeatable – which comes in handy as a fighter in the city’s lucrative underground fighting ring.
Then, Crow’s uncles are arrested for harboring Deathchildren.
With fists tightly clenched, Crow vows to set their uncles free. But to do that, they’re going to need to enter a world that threatens Crow’s very existence. Carefully navigating the politics of the wealthy and powerful, they enter the Tournament of the Gods — a gladiator-style competition where the winner is granted a favor. As they battle their way towards the winner’s circle, Crow plans to ask the gods for their uncles’ freedom as their reward.
But in a city of gods and magic, you don’t ask for what you want.
You take it.
Publication Date May 27th 2025 by Lee & Low Books
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Activism. Art. Community care. Education. These are the hallmarks of the work done by the youth highlighted in this collection featuring LGBTQ+ leaders working to make our world more inclusive.
Civil Rights activist Marian Wright Edelman once said, “You can’t be what you can’t see.”
In this collection of short biographies, readers will see the example of thirty young trailblazers representative of a generation that values intersectional, collaborative social justice and who are working to build a world that values everyone.
Meet leaders who founded organizations for their liberation as teenagers, leaders who brought Black transgender representation to people’s television screens, and leaders who successfully advocated for access to restrooms for transgender students. Meet the first transgender athlete to compete in Division I sports, and artists advocating for inclusiveness through poetry, film, fashion, and other mediums.
Whether their work involves protesting, working with policymakers for change, or just existing in the world as their creative selves, each of these young leaders shares what brings them joy and keeps them motivated to do the work they do – even when it’s hard – and their hope for better things to come.
Publication Date May 27th 2025 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
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Two love stories. One hundred years apart. An unforgettable sapphic romance from the screenwriter and coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestselling novel and film Five Feet Apart.
Libby has always been inexplicably drawn to the old Victorian house on Mulberry Lane. So much so that when she sees a For Sale sign go up in the front yard, Libby uses all the money her grandmother left her to pay for college to buy the house instead, determined to fix it up herself — even though she knows her parents will be furious.
Tish, a brash, broke fellow student, doesn’t need much to get by. She can fix almost anything, so she makes do by building sets for the theater department and working odd jobs at the nearby salvage yard. Tish passes by the house one day and is mysteriously compelled to knock on the door. Libby offers her a room in exchange for her help with repairing the old house, and as they begin to work together, the two young women quickly find themselves growing closer.
Soon after moving in, Libby discovers a journal written by a young woman, Elizabeth, who lived in the house a century earlier and was deeply in love with her personal maid, Patricia. As Elizabeth’s journal entries delve deeper into her secret affair with Patricia — a love that was forbidden and dangerous in their time — Libby can’t help but notice uncanny similarities between that young couple and Tish and herself.
Have she and Tish lived this life before? And is this their chance to get it right?
Publication Date May 27th 2025 by Tundra Books
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Alien meets The Titanic in this tense YA science fiction horror series by #1 New York Times bestselling author E.K. Johnston.
Celeste knows every inch of this ship. She’s proud of her work as apprentice engineer. And as the maiden voyage of the Titan launches, she’s optimistic for the promises of this new journey from Earth to Mars — this new life.
Dominic arrives at his suite where his valet is busy unpacking his things. His chest is tight, already feeling anxious inside his dad’s precious new ship. Once it launches, he’s trapped, inside the ship and inside the life his father has chosen for him — a life that will leave his dreams of art school behind.
Discovered under melted ice caps, ancient aliens have been brought onto the Titan as well, and stored in display cases for the entertainment of the passengers…until an act of sabotage releases them into the ship, with zero discrimination for class, decks or human life…
Publication Date June 3rd 2025 by HarperCollins
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Summer Ali has been making a name for herself in the music industry for years, slowly but surely climbing the charts — but the world doesn’t know her stage parents are the ones who molded her entire public persona. Finally eighteen, Summer breaks free of their control and focuses on creating her own path.
Upon running into writer’s block, Summer grows eager to take any opportunity to shake things up — even if it means agreeing to a PR stunt with child-actor-turned-playboy, Jules Moradi, famous for his tabloid escapades.
At first, Jules keeps his distance, maintaining professional boundaries. But as time passes, his walls come down, and Summer uncovers who he is beyond his reputation, and it’s someone more like her than she ever realized. As the lines blur between fake and real, Summer begins questioning who she is and what she wants — and if her dreams are worth sacrificing her heart.
Publication Date June 3rd 2025 by Scholastic Press
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A heartbreaking story of suicide, addiction, and hard truths from acclaimed author Jay Coles, for fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, You’ve Reached Sam, They Both Die At The End, and Tiffany D. Jackson.
Hakeem goes to Narcotics Anonymous meetings to keep his addictions in check. But when his best friend Miles kills himself, Hakeem finds the days harder and harder to get through. He loved Miles – maybe even loved loved him – and he’s haunted by the fact that there might have been something he could have done to ease his friend’s pain. He meets a girl named Eliza in his NA meetings, and she is there for him when something truly out-there happens…Hakeem calls Miles’s old phone number. And Miles not only calls back from beyond the grave, but has news to share: He didn’t kill himself. He was murdered.
Finding out the truth about Miles might end up helping Hakeem find his way to his own truth…and further strength to stay alive himself. But as his relationship with Eliza grows, other cracks begin to show…and holding his world together may be even harder than he thought it would be.
Publication Date June 3rd 2025 by Penguin Workshop
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In this modern reimagining of Anne of Green Gables, effervescent extrovert Dan Stewart-Álvarez is surprised to find home and community in rural Tennessee.
Despite a life on the road with his free-spirited mother, fifteen-year-old Dan Stewart-Álvarez has always wanted to settle down. He just didn’t think it’d be like this: with his mother abandoning him in rural Tennessee with two strangers — his gentle grandmother and conservative, rough-around-the-edges grandfather. Here, he is forced to adjust to working the farm, entering high school, and hardest yet — reckoning with his queerness in a severe Southern Baptist community.
But even as Dan grows closer to his mawmaw, befriends fellow outsiders at school, and tries to make a new life for himself in Green Gables, he has to discover whether he can contend with intolerance and adapt to change without losing himself in the process.
From award-winning author Rey Terciero and Eisner Award nominee and illustrator Claudia Aguirre comes a new retelling of Anne of Green Gables about unconventional families, queer identity, and finding the meaning of home in the most unlikely of places.
Publication Date June 3rd 2025 by Storytide
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From Lambda Literary Award finalist Linsey Miller comes this thrilling stand-alone fantasy about the lengths we’ll go to get ahead — an incredibly fresh, twisty love letter to dark academia…with a body count.
Perfect for fans of A Study In Drowning by Ava Reid, Gallant by V. E. Schwab, and All Of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and C. L. Herman.
There is only one school worth graduating from, and it creates as many magicians as it does graves…
First in his class and last in his noble line, Fabian Galloway’s only hope of a good future is passing his elite school’s honors class. It’s only offered to the best thirteen students, and those students have a single assignment: kill their professor.
If they succeed, their student debt is forgiven. However, if an assassination attempt fails or the professor is alive at the end of the year, the students’ lives are forfeit.
And dealing with the professor, a devil summoned solely to kill or be killed, is no easy task.
Fabian isn’t worried, though. He trusts his best friends — softhearted math genius Credence and absent-minded but insightful Euphemia — to help. After all, that’s why he befriended them.
As the months pass and their professor remains impossibly alive, the trio must use every asset they have to survive. Or else failure will be on their academic records — and their tombstones—forever.
Publication Date June 3rd 2025 by Wednesday Books
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Young Royals meets The Prince and Me when a disgraced princess falls for a new student at their all-girls boarding school, but the two must hide their forbidden love at all costs.
Princess Rosemary of Henland can’t afford distractions. She’s working tirelessly to repair her image following a scandal that lost the trust of both her country and her best friend. Unfortunately, when a beautiful and funny new student joins her boarding school, Rose finds herself quite distracted indeed.
Attending Bramppath College on a music scholarship, talented pianist Danni expects to be an outcast amongst the wealthy children of the elite, but she is pleasantly surprised to be taken in by the ex-best friend of the princess. The more Danni gets to know her new classmates, the more intrigued she becomes by Rose.
When somebody sees something they shouldn’t and rumors circulate throughout Henland, Rose and Danni must either find a way to deflect the ever-increasing eyes on their relationship, or end it altogether. Because one thing is clear: if Rose’s fragile reputation takes any more hits, the palace will do whatever they must to separate Rose and Danni. Forever.
Publication Date June 3rd 2025 by Storytide
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An undeniably fierce, unforgettably funny, unapologetically queer feminist romp through the England of medieval legend. Bestselling and acclaimed authors Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner bring readers along on an epic quest for valor, freedom, and, above all, love. A Knight’s Tale meets the Lady Jane series, with a dash of The Great!
Gwen is sick of hiding — hiding the fact that she’s taken over her father’s blacksmithing duties, hiding her attraction to girls, hiding her yearning for glory as a knight.
Meanwhile, Lady Isobelle of Avington, queen bee of the castle, has never once considered hiding who she is — until now. She’s been chosen as the grand prize in the Tournament of Dragonslayers, to be given to whichever knight can claim her hand. And for the first time in her life, she can’t talk her way out of trouble.
When Isobelle discovers Gwen’s knightly ambitions, they hatch a scheme together — Gwen will joust in the tournament, disguised as Sir Gawain. Winning means freedom for Isobelle, and glory for Gwen. Losing means…well, let’s not go there.
One thing’s for sure: Falling in love was never the plan.
But the best laid plans…are often trampled all over by dragons.
Publication Date June 3rd 2025 by Bloomsbury YA
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Our Flag Means Death meets The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue in this YA historical fantasy about three queer teens and their found family of queer pirates facing down a secret magical society.
Cas has a rule: Don’t tell anyone. Not about the nagging gender discomfort, and certainly not about the prophetic visions of untimely deaths. Cas broke this rule only once, and in response, Remy DeWindt ended their friendship forever.
Remy has spent the last eight years researching the secret society that kidnapped her father and the dark magic they practice. She’s determined to take them down and bring her father home-no matter what her former friend Cas thinks happened to him.
Finn is desperately in love with Remy, but Remy would never give in to a desire the church deems a sin. But Finn isn’t worried about sin. She already committed the worst sin of all when she made a sinister bargain for a deadly price-a price that will soon have to be paid.
When Cas’s latest vision sets the three of them on a collision course, they embark on a journey that will force them to confront hidden secrets and deadly magic – and also offer them the chance to find out who they truly are.
Publication Date June 3rd 2025 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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This queer take on As You Like It features first loves, friend breakups and madcap mix-ups, from award-winning author Julia Drake.
Celia Gilbert is the perfect friend — loyal, trustworthy, and committed to mending her best friends’ broken hearts.
She’s the reason the trio is spending the summer in Lovesick Falls, the idyllic little town where Touchstone’s sort-of-uncle’s cabin was waiting to be house-sat by three unsupervised (but totally responsible) teenagers.
After all, Celia, Ros, and Touchstone have been best friends since childhood. Sure, Celia is in love with Ros, and Touchstone was once in love with Celia — but that’s the beauty of a place like Lovesick Falls. If you fell in love, you could fall out.
Unless you can change the other person’s mind.
They started the summer closer than ever. Will living together tear them apart?
Publication Date June 3rd 2025 by Sourcebooks Fire
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Last summer, Sara Ellis was found dead by the lake, and only Mandy knows what really happened.
This summer, she’s desperate to keep it a secret.
For a few weeks every summer, Sara was Mandy’s best friend. At Highmark, the lake resort where their families vacationed, the two were in a world of their own. Or at least Mandy got to be part of Sara’s world.
But now Sara’s dead. The police ruled her death an accident; a tragic mistake after a night of impaired judgment. For the past year, Mandy’s coped by escaping: leaving home and barely keeping it together at school. The last thing she wants to do is return to Highmark this summer ― even if she does need “closure.” As soon as she’s back, though, she hears the whispers: someone killed Sara Ellis.
And if she’s not careful, they’ll figure out it’s all her fault.
As evidence resurfaces and anonymous accusations are scrawled in angry red spray paint, Mandy must confront the truths she’s been avoiding about last summer. Because someone wants to make her pay for what happened to Sara that night.
Publication Date June 10th 2025 by Flux
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All eighteen-year-old Maisie Clark wants to do is leave her tiny town in upstate New York. Crescent Valley is home to Glenna’s, the family-run portrait shop she loves more than anything. But after years of imitating her dad’s artistic style, Maisie fears she will never find her own voice. So, she comes up with a plan: quit working at Glenna’s, go to art school in London, and, most importantly, stop painting portraits. If she can’t find her voice by the end of the year, she’ll give up art entirely.
Unfortunately, pushing outside her comfort zone is (surprise!) uncomfortable. Maisie struggles to connect with her eccentric new flatmates, feels farther away from her best friend than ever, and hates every art course she signed up for — especially photography, where her talented but prickly partner, Eli, is not afraid to point out her every mistake on their semester-long project. Maisie is already questioning all her life choices when a crime strikes Glenna’s, reopening old family wounds she thought she’d long healed from. It’ll take even more discomfort, as well as help from Eli, her older brother, Calum, and his earnest boyfriend, Benji, to confront the layers she’s painted over the past. But maybe, just maybe, the keys to finding herself lie closer to home than she realized.
Publication Date June 10th 2025 by Wednesday Books
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Sweet Tooth meets The Raven Boys in this queer young adult contemporary fantasy about what it means to belong from H.E. Edgmon.
You can never go home…
Every day, all across the world, inhuman creatures are waking up with no memory of who they are or where they came from – and the Caravan exists to help them. The traveling community is made up of these very creatures and their families who’ve acclimated to this new existence by finding refuge in each other. That is, until the morning five teenage travelers wake to find their community has disappeared overnight.
Those left: a half-human who only just ran back to the Caravan with their tail between their legs, two brothers–one who can’t seem to stay out of trouble and the other who’s never been brave enough to get in it, a venomous girl with blood on her hands and a heart of gold, and the Caravan’s newest addition, a disquieting shadow in the shape of a boy. They’ll have to work together to figure out what happened the night of the disappearance, but each one of the forsaken five is white-knuckling their own secrets. And with each truth forced to light, it becomes clear this isn’t really about what happened to their people – it’s about what happened to them.
Publication Date June 10th 2025 by Kokila
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From the author of Rules For Rule Breaking comes a queer YA romance about two solo concertgoers and unwitting seatmates who, when the show is abruptly cut short, embark on an unforgettable North Carolina summer night together, discovering how opposites can attract under the right circumstances.
Dakarai (Kai) Barbier was supposed to be at CYPHR’s sold-out show with his best friends. Instead, he finds himself going solo, reeling from the news that they’ve decided to accelerate the next chapter of their lives, leaving him alone the summer after high school graduation.
Meanwhile, Elias Davis has just been sent from New York City to North Carolina to live with his uncle after a last-straw fistfight. Stuck in a town he doesn’t want to be in, and without knowing a soul his own age, he buys a single ticket to CYPHR’s Raleigh show.
When a sudden blackout ends the show early, forcing these unwitting seatmates back onto the streets of Raleigh, they are faced with a choice: get on the bus and head home or take a chance on each other. They might have arrived alone, but will they be leaving together?
Publication Date June 10th 2025 by HarperCollins
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Amelia Applebaum isn’t in love with Walter Holland. He just happens to be her favorite moderately famous, chaotically bisexual YouTuber. Who she just happened to invite to prom. (But it’s fine. No, for real. If you delete the post, it didn’t happen.)
Okay, maybe her friends are right: She’s slightly parasocially infatuated. But Amelia just knows sparks would fly — if only she could connect with Walter for real.
If only he would host a meet and greet.
If only it were just a short road trip away.
And if only Amelia could talk her best friends into making it the perfect last hurrah before graduation — even her newly single, always-cynical, guitar-toting best friend Natalie.
One thing’s for sure: All roads lead to butterflies.
But what if Amelia’s butterflies aren’t for Walter at all?
Publication Date June 10th 2025 by Bloomsbury YA
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In this swoonworthy YA romance, an ordinary teenage boy finds himself accidentally fake dating a crown prince.
Tyriq Howell is swearing off of love. After a fight with his cheating ex leads to missing his college scholarship interview, he vows to be done with dating for good. Until Desmond, a boy who works in the scholarship office, approaches with a curious proposal: he’ll get Tyriq another interview if he pretends to be Desmond’s date to a fancy gala in two weeks.
When Tyriq shows up to the gala, he’s shocked when photographers swarm him and Desmond. He’s even more shocked when he finds out that Desmond is Prince Desmond of Catalina. And now that the whole world knows Desmond is gay, he’s front page news.
When the King angrily summons Desmond and his new boyfriend to Catalina, Desmond begs Tyriq to play along. If his father realizes Desmond is serious about coming out, he might finally agree to let Desmond pass the crown to his sister instead. But navigating court politics and pretend relationships is harder than Tyriq imagined-especially when he realizes that he may have accidentally broken his swearing-off-of-love rule.
Publication Date June 10th 2025 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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A teen tries to save her quickly gentrifying neighborhood — and make her cynical partner in festival-planning believe in love — in this opposites-attract romance perfect for fans of Lynn Painter and Sandhya Menon.
Sana Merali is a certified hopeless romantic.
It’s inevitable when she literally lives on Love Street, a cute side-street full of mom-and-pop shops and cozy apartments. With her florist mother, her part-time job at a vintage shop, and her adorably curated wardrobe, Sana knows she’s what meet-cutes are made of — and it’s only a matter of time until her own HEA.
When the neighborhood is threatened by new developments, however, her plans for love get pushed to the backburner as she and her neighbors rally to host a festival that will finally put the neighborhood on everyone’s radar. Because what better way to get people to fall in love with Love Street?
Unfortunately, Miles Desai is also on the planning committee. Miles is contrary, judgmental, and…anti-romance. His hard stance on love inspires Sana with another goal for the summer: to matchmake Miles and knock the cynicism right out of him.
But as her set-up for Miles starts to actually work, Sana realizes that happily-ever-afters, for herself and for her street, aren’t that easy to come by.
Publication Date June 10th 2025 by Peachtree Teen
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This thrilling historical fantasy set days before Mount Vesuvius destroys Pompeii is a meet cute with an explosive fallout.
An exploration of ambition and class, autonomy and religion, survival and love, Vesuvius combines the romantic angst of They Both Die At The End and the blended magic and history of The Song of Achilles to show readers that it is never too late to change your fate — or change the world.
Clever thief Felix slips from city to city to survive the present and escape a past he can’t remember. When Felix steals a divine artifact — Mercury’s helmet — from a temple in Pompeii, pieces of his forgotten past begin to surface.
Loren, an ambitious temple attendant, has seen Felix in his apocalyptic nightmares for years. The last thing Loren expects is for his dream to stumble headfirst through his temple doors, moments after an earthquake rocks the city.
When Felix shows Loren the helmet, Loren sees the world coming to an end. He knows they have mere days to uncover Felix’s ties to the relic and to Loren’s visions if they have any hope of saving the city. But Ancient Rome is ruled by bloody politics and unstoppable destinies, and now that Loren and Felix are intertwined, their lives aren’t all they risk losing. When all has turned to ash and rubble, the boys will have to piece together their fates to make it out of a burning city alive.
Publication Date June 17th 2025 by Feiwel & Friends
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The Walking Dead meets Yellowjackets in If We Survive This, a tense and emotional young adult horror novel from award-winning author Racquel Marie about a teen girl leading a group of survivors on a perilous journey during the apocalypse.
Flora Braddock Paz is not the girl who survives. A colorful creative who spends as much time fearing death as she does trying to hide that fear from her loved ones, she’s always considered herself weak. But half a year into the global outbreak of a rabies mutation that transforms people into violent, zombielike “rabids,” she and her older brother, Cain, are still alive. With their mom dead, their dad missing, and their Los Angeles suburb left desolate, they form a new plan: venture out to the secluded Northern California cabin they vacationed in growing up ― their best chance at a safe haven and maybe even seeing their dad again.
The dangers of the world have changed, but so has Flora. Still, their journey up the state is complicated by encounters with familiar faces, hidden truths, new allies, and painful memories of the whole family’s final time making this trip the previous year. And for Flora, one thing inevitably remains: No matter how far you run, death is never far behind.
Publication Date June 17th 2025 by Page Street YA
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After spending the year suffering as a reality TV villain IRL, Alec Braud will do anything to get his redemption arc.
Alec Braud may have won his season of the hit teen reality TV show Campfire Wars, but he’s lost the war of public opinion. At seventeen, he’s the most hated teen in America just because he betrayed his showmance, Joaquín Delgado. Alec only did it to use the cash prize to help his parents’ wildlife rehabilitation center. And Joaquín forgave him―so why can’t everybody else?
Joaquín was the golden boy of their season, and everyone still loves him ― including Alec. So when he asks Alec to join him on a trip to re-create classic movie kisses for his art school portfolio, Alec agrees in the hopes it’ll mend his reputation. What could possibly go wrong on a week-long cross-country road trip with his ex and lots of fake kissing?
Lines get blurred between what part of the trip is for the camera and what isn’t. From there, things get even more complicated when trouble at his parents’ wildlife rehabilitation center tempts Alec to attend a CW convention for a chance to get his family more money. At the convention, Alec hears that villains from other seasons are plotting to get onto an upcoming allstars season to redeem themselves ― and they want him to join.
With former players trying to recruit him, Joaquín hinting he might want to get back together with him, and show execs whispering in his ear, Alec will have to decide for himself who he really is and what he really wants.
Publication Date June 17th 2025 by Norton Young Readers
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Three lifelong friends confront restless ghosts and malevolent family secrets in this fierce, propulsive debut young adult horror novel.
Iris, Gum, and Aidan are vacationing in Bad Creek, just like every summer. Except Iris’s older sister, Glory, drowned in the lake last year, and Iris can’t seem to move on; Gum is hiding his sexuality from his family while being viciously haunted by Glory’s rotting ghost; and Aidan is distraught over a drunken argument with Glory that he fears may have led to her death. When Iris sleepwalks to the dilapidated house that Glory obsessively sketched in her final days, she and the boys begin to uncover a sinister history in the very bones of the town. The trio must reckon with the events of last summer and uncover what lurks within Bad Creek before it takes Iris’s life next.
Gripping and vengeful, Bad Creek confronts the intersection of religion, sexuality, and feminism, and forces readers to reckon with monsters in all their forms ― human included.
Publication Date June 17th 2025 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
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Three girls with entangled pasts compete for glory in their private school’s annual tournament, putting their survival skills and their relationships to the test, in this young adult thriller that’s “Shakespearean…stunning…dark academia at its finest” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).
Gardner isn’t like other boarding schools. They take in those who’ve been rejected everywhere else, they offer a survival skills class that has students killing and gutting animals, and then there’s the Tournament.
A competition available only to seven elite seniors, the Tournament is revered by the entire student body. They’d do almost anything — including completing a series of grueling physical challenges — to win the champion’s cup.
And this year, three seniors make the Tournament more cutthroat than ever.
Max, the ruthless scholarship student who can’t afford any distractions, not even her ex best friend Nora’s stupid confession of love at the end of last year that ruined everything between them.
Nora, who always put herself on the sidelines so Max could have everything she wanted, but might just be ready for center stage now that Max has brutally excised herself from Nora’s life.
And Teddy, the transfer who’s on her last chance and will chase any high that can pull her back from the gaping, dark void inside herself that’s always threatening to pull her in.
If one of them wants to win, then they can’t let anything — or anybody — get in their way.
Publication Date June 24th 2025 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
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From the New York Times bestselling author of Where The Dark Stands Still comes an atmospheric fantasy based on Swan Lake, following Odile as her plan to restore magic to her kingdom gets disrupted by a murder—forcing her to beg for help from the young woman whose identity she stole.
Can two girls — one enchanted, one the enchantress — save their kingdom and each other?
Two hundred years ago, a slighted deity stole the magic from Auréal and vanished without a trace. But seventeen-year-old Odile has a plan. All her life, her father, a vengeful sorcerer, has raised her for one singular task: infiltrate the royal palace and steal the king’s crown, an artefact with enough power to restore magic. But to enter the palace, she must assume the identity of a noblewoman. She chooses Marie d’Odette: famed for her beauty, a rumored candidate for future queen…and Odile’s childhood-friend-turned-sworn-enemy.
With her father’s help, Odile transforms Marie into a swan and takes her place at court. But when the king is brutally murdered and her own brother is accused, her plans are thrown into chaos. Desperate to free her brother, Odile is forced to team up with none other than elegant, infuriating Marie, the girl she has cursed…and the girl she can’t seem to stop thinking about despite her best efforts.
To make matters worse, there are whispers that the king’s murder was not at the hands of man, but beast. Torn between loyalty to her father and her growing feelings for Marie, Odile becomes tangled in a web of treachery and deceit. To save her kingdom, she must find the true path to magic…and find the real killer before they — or it — strikes again.
Publication Date July 1st 2025 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
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Perfect for fans of Saltburn, A Study In Drowning, and Don’t Let The Forest In, Tenderly, I Am Devoured is a moody, monstrously Gothic romantic folk horror in which a young woman must bind herself to a dangerous chthonic god with the help of the son of a rival family to save her family’s legacy ― and herself ― from ruin.
Expelled from her prestigious boarding school following a violent incident, eighteen-year-old Lacrimosa Arriscane returns home in disgrace to discover her family on the point of financial ruin. Desperate to save them, she accepts a marriage of convenience…to Therion, the chthonic god worshipped by Lark’s isolated coastal hometown.
But when her betrothal goes horribly wrong, Lark begins to vanish from the mortal realm. Her only hope is to seek help from Alastair Felimath: the brilliant, arrogant boy who was her first heartbreak, and his alluring older sister, Camille. As the trio delve into the folklore of gods, Lark falls under the spell of both Felimath siblings.
Ensnared by a fervent romance, they perform a bacchanalia with hopes the hedonistic ritual will repair the connection between Lark and her bridegroom. Instead, they draw the ire of something much darker, which seeks to destroy Therion ― and Lark as well.
Featuring a polyamorous bisexual romance, lush prose, and flower-threaded horror, Tenderly, I am Devoured is a romantic folk horror that is intoxicating as chthonic liquor, and as unstoppable as the haunted tides.
Publication Date July 1st 2025 by Feiwel & Friends
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A geeky overachiever determined to save the world through science and a troublemaking chosen one lashing out against her destiny meet and fall in love in a magical coffeeshop as their two very different universes begin to collide in the deluxe trade paperback edition of Coffeeshop In An Alternate Universe, C.B. Lee’s fun, sapphic, cozy fantasy YA romance featuring gorgeous sprayed edges.
When Brenda’s internet goes out right before an important scholarship deadline, she stumbles right into Kat’s family’s coffeeshop. Brenda is swept away by cool, confident Kat, who actually cares about Brenda’s 19-step plan to save the world through science. Meanwhile, Kat can’t stop thinking about Brenda, who is smart, passionate, and doesn’t seem to care that Kat is the prophesized Chosen One.
The only problem? Kat and Brenda are from different universes. Like need-to-find-a-portal-to-go-on-a-second-date different universes.
As their universes collide and things spiral out of control, can a girl who is determined to save the world find love with a girl determined to outrun her destiny?
Publication Date July 1st 2025 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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She Gets The Girl meets Bottoms in this fun and flirty young adult sapphic rom-com about two teens who want revenge on the flaky popular girl they’re both crushing on.
Cynical but sensitive Beau Carl is on a mission. She needs to know if ultra-popular Maia Moon — the girl she’s been secretly hooking up with for months — really has feelings for her. But when she shows up at the last big party of the year before prom, she sees Maia about to kiss someone else.
Sweet, inexperienced Charm Montgomery is the “someone else.” And she’s ecstatic that she’s been reading Maia’s flirty behavior in their tutoring sessions correctly. But when the kiss is interrupted and Maia accepts an elaborate promposal from her douchey, popular boyfriend just a few days later, both Charm and Beau end up heartbroken.
There’s only one thing for them to do — get her back. And the only way to do that is for Beau to tutor Charm on how she can get their former crush to fall for her so hard that Maia will dump her ex…and then get dumped for once.
As their plan starts working, Beau and Charm grow closer too, in a way neither expected. But are either of them ready to let go of their scheme to take a chance on something a little sweeter — and scarier — than revenge?
Publication Date July 8th 2025 by HarperCollins
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Part historical mystery, part sweeping romance, The Rebel Girls of Rome brings the stories of two young women to brilliant life: Lilah, a college student looking to understand her grandfather’s mysterious past, and Bruna, a queer Jewish woman who joins the resistance during World War II.
From Jordyn Taylor, author of The Paper Girl of Paris, this dual-contemporary and historical tale — where heartbreak, hope, and finding light in times of darkness are inevitably intertwined — is perfect for readers of Ruta Sepetys and Monica Hesse.
Now:
Grieving the loss of her mother, college student Lilah is hoping to reconnect with a grandfather who refuses to talk about his past. Then she receives a mysterious letter from a fellow student, Tommaso, claiming he’s found a lost family heirloom, and her world is upended.Soon Lilah finds herself in Rome, trying to unlock her grandfather’s history as a Holocaust survivor once and for all. But as she and Tommaso get closer to the truth — and their relationship begins to deepen into something sweeter — Lilah realizes that some secrets may be too painful to unbury…
Then:
It’s 1943, and nineteen-year-old Bruna and her family are doing their best to survive in Rome’s Jewish quarter under Nazi occupation. Until the dreaded knock comes early one morning, and Bruna is irrevocably separated from the rest of her family.Overcome with guilt at escaping her family’s fate in the camps, she joins the underground rebellion. When her missions bring her back to her childhood crush, Elsa, Bruna must decide how much she’s willing to risk — when fully embracing herself is her greatest act of resistance.
Publication Date July 15th 2025 by Viking Books for Young Readers
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The occasionally magic, always superstitious town of Prior’s End is famous for three things: whimsical charm at the annual Fall Festival, the legend of the wishing well hidden in a forest bristling with secrets, and Nova Marwood’s missing hiker father.
Every year without him, it gets easier to pretend Nova doesn’t believe in myth and magic. Easier to pretend she’s doing okay. Easier to pretend she doesn’t have a secret crush on the girl she fake-hates.
Kiara Mistry is the luckiest girl in town and the thief of every crush Nova had her heart set on first. In theory, Nova should resent Kiara. But it’s getting harder to deny her feelings.
When Nova lays an unintended hex on Kiara at the Fall Festival, and one misfortune after another swiftly follows, soon Kiara’s very survival is at stake. To reverse the bad luck, Kiara’s exes turned BFFs commence a quest for the miraculous wishing well. There’s only one person who can get them there…Nova.
But to save Kiara — and maybe find her dad, too — she’ll have to believe in something much stronger than magic. Nova will need to believe in herself.
Publication Date July 22nd 2025 by Dutton Books for Young Readers
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A fast-paced and thought-provoking queer sci-fi/fantasy novel from #1 New York Times bestseller E.K. Johnston.
Morgan Enni has things to do. A science prodigy in a university full of mage-scientists, she’s notable for having no magical ability, which only increases her ambition and drive to prove herself. Her research has the potential to devastate every aetherworker in the galaxy and shake the crumbled foundations of the Stavenger Empire. It’s no wonder she can’t find anyone who wants to listen to her, much less fund her expedition.
But Morgan is stubborn, and eventually her work catches the attention of a group of rebels, who hope it might turn the tide in their favour. When they try to recruit the young scientist, they get much more than they bargained for. Morgan Enni has secrets of her own.
Set in the world of Aetherbound, E.K. Johnston continues to entwine Arthurian myth and the history of North Atlantic fisheries in a clever, character-driven space fantasy.
Publication Date July 29th 2025 by Quill Tree Books
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Anita Kelly delivers their YA debut — a sweet and satisfying queer romance about two teens who fall for each other while trying to save the local donut shop where they’re working for the summer.
“Relaxing” and “getting a tan” may be on most teens’ summer to-do lists, but for chronically freckled and deeply anxious Penny Dexter? Not a chance. Socking money away for college? Of course. Babysitting her siblings? Sure. Becoming a climate scientist and saving the world? She wishes.
At least she can tackle the tuition money with the seasonal gig she landed at Delicious Donuts. But when she finds out that her genderqueer nemesis, Mateo della Penna, will also be working behind the counter, Penny’s summer of mindless labor instantly vanishes before her eyes. Mateo is ridiculous and artsy, and their favorite kind of donut is Boston Crème (gross!). But the duo’s two-and-a-half-year feud will have to take a backseat when the donut shop is threatened by a corporate takeover.
As their small town faces big pressure, and anxiety threatens everything Penny’s worked for, there’s still one person who remains by her side. And though their taste in donuts is questionable, Mateo’s presence manages to keep Penny calm and focused. Could it be that Penny’s found the perfect, most infuriating person to change the world with?
Publication Date July 29th 2025 by Labyrinth Road
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In the sequel to the “unforgettable” (People), New York Times bestselling fantasy debut Blood At The Root, a Black teenager with magical powers returns to Caiman University only to find new dangers and new secrets.
It’s Homecoming season at Caiman University, and all 17-year-old Malik Baron wants to do is be a regular college student…or as regular as he can get at a magical HBCU for young, Black Conjurers. He’s ready to go to parties, hang out with his new friends, choose a major, and talk to girls. Instead, he’s reeling from a summer of revelations, heartbreak and betrayal, and still uncovering the truth about his powers and his legacy.
The family he only just discovered is already fractured beyond repair, and a new relative who shows up on his doorstep brings even more questions. Then there’s the mother he risked everything to find, who might be the biggest threat to the life he’s trying to build. To protect his new community, Malik joins an elite secret society with roots in ancient magic.
His journey takes him even deeper into his own heritage and the history of the magical world, while bringing him closer to a classmate whose friendship might mean something more, if Malik is ready to let her in. But how can he use powers he can’t even control to defend a world he’s not sure will ever fully accept him? And as the pressure and danger builds, will he be able to confront the deepening cracks within the magical society, and those building within himself?
Publication Date July 29th 2025 by Viking Books for Young Readers
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The first book in Maggie Stiefvater’s #1 New York Times bestselling series The Raven Cycle, now gorgeously illustrated as a graphic novel!
Blue Sargent comes from a family of psychics. Only, she has never had the same clairvoyant abilities they had and has always felt too ordinary within the magic that surrounded her. Enter Gansey, a rich student from Aglionby, the town’s all-boys private school teeming with wealth, privilege, and trouble. Blue’s always made it a point to stay away from its students, the Raven Boys.
But when Gansey asks her to join him and three other Raven Boys on his quest to find a long-forgotten Welsh king rumored to be sleeping beneath the mountains of their quiet Virginia town, Blue doesn’t hesitate. She jumps at the chance to finally be a part of something real and full of magic, a world she was born into yet one that always stood just out of reach. Soon enough, she’s swept into a strange and shifting world woven into theirs, one far more dangerous than anything they could have dreamt up.
Now reimagined as a stunning full-color graphic novel adapted by Stephanie Williams and illustrated by Sas Milledge, The Raven Boys unravels a thrilling plot around a cast of characters impossible to forget.
Publication Date August 5th 2025 by Flatiron Books
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From the acclaimed author of Beating Heart Baby, an immersive novel following three estranged high schoolers who are pulled into a video game to pursue the disappearance of their friend.
Three years ago, Elle (the “E” in the self-proclaimed L.O.V.E. Club) disappeared from Calendula, an affluent Chinese American suburb in inland California. Soon afterward, Liberty and Vera (“L” and “V”) moved away, leaving O alone with her grief, abandonment, and confusion…until Liberty and Vera return for their senior year of high school.
Though the L.O.V.E. Club’s three remaining members once bonded as outcasts and gamers, they can’t pick up the pieces of their friendship. But the girls are drawn back to their old clubhouse, where they discover, loaded for them to play, a new game created by none other than the missing Elle.
One click, and Liberty, Vera, and O are ported into Morning Glory, an ever-evolving botanical fantasy coded with their lived experiences, complicated history, and repressed insecurities. Unbeknownst to the others, O can’t remember the events surrounding Elle’s disappearance ― but within the game, Elle has sent O a cryptic hint about Morning Glory’s real nature.
While Liberty and Vera defeat increasingly sinister bosses, O grapples with the secret knowledge that her deepest wish, to reunite with Elle, might just come true. But as the girls progress through Morning Glory, O begins to wonder how well she actually knew any of her former best friends and if she’s ready to confront the hard truths ― and dangerous revelations ― about Elle in her returning memories.
Publication Date July 29th 2025 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
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A murder mystery game turns deadly in this young adult whodunit by the author of Suddenly A Murder.
Everyone in town knows about the game. For decades, J. Everett High has staged an annual murder mystery to put its criminology students to the test. And this year, crime junkie Dulce Castillo is dead set on winning. Soon, the game kicks off, and the student playing the victim, Xavier Torres, is found poisoned in the school’s greenhouse…except his death is not pretend.
It’s murder.
When the authorities open an investigation, all the evidence points to Sierra Fox, Xavier’s ex-girlfriend and Dulce’s ex-best friend. Claiming innocence and desperate to clear her name, Sierra begs Dulce to look past their bad blood and find the culprit.
After all, Dulce knows this school better than any investigator ever could, but she must use caution to solve this mystery. Because these historic halls are full of suspects with no shortage of motives. And in this game of cat and mouse, the other player kills.
Publication Date August 12th 2025 by Joy Revolution
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A teen actress lands a role on the same high-profile show as her ex-boyfriend — only for things to get messy when she falls for his cute scene partner — in a dazzling sapphic rom-com from the author of Caught In A Bad Fauxmance.
Actress Marisol Polly-Rodriguez might be entering her flop era. After wrapping up a hit show, she’s neither booked nor busy. Not to mention, her former costar turned boyfriend, Miles, recently dumped her for being an “unserious” performer. Can you imagine?
To prove to Miles — and online trolls — that she takes her craft very seriously, Marisol lands a role on the same upcoming drama series he does. But with the eccentric director constantly rewriting her lines and a snobby castmate trying to upstage her, Marisol quickly realizes that her hope of nabbing an award nomination might be a pipe dream.
The only person she doesn’t have to put on a performance for is the show’s leading lady, Jamila. Marisol hasn’t been able to look away from her since their first audition. Falling for Jamila wasn’t part of Marisol’s plan, but even the most dedicated actors go off script sometimes, right?
Publication Date August 12th 2025 by Amulet Books
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This genre-bending YA novel follows a boy who finds a century-old diary written by a young woman in Nagasaki, Japan — and becomes haunted by her vengeful spirit.
When Adam discovers a diary in his attic, he is enthralled by its account of a young woman’s life in Nagasaki. A hundred years separate them, yet like Adam, she is caught between cultures, relationships, and heartbreak.
She also writes of the ghosts that have begun to seek her out, which Adam dismisses as fantasy — until he begins to be haunted by her terrifying spirit. Unravelling the mystery of her identity — and the wrong done to her — seems to be the only way to save himself.
This leads Adam to a home stay in Nagasaki, where he begins to reconnect to his heritage not only through Japanese language and culture, but also by connecting with long-lost family members. And then begins a race against time as Adam and his new crush, Jo, attempt to untangle a story that has rippled through generations…
Publication Date August 19th 2025 by Wednesday Books
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The third book in the sweeping, richly imagined Guardians of Dawn fantasy series from S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.
Princess Yulana has a few problems. Her late grandfather has died without naming an heir, civil war threatens to tear the Morning Realms apart, a strange waking dreamer sickness is sweeping through the land, and a plague of hungry ghosts roam the steppes. On top of all of that, Kho, her former best friend turned rival, is getting under her skin. A struggle for power divides the north, and the outcome rests on the winner of the Grand Game ― a competition that will determine not just the future of her people, but the course of the entire empire.
When the world is out of balance, the Guardians of Dawn are reborn.
As the Guardian of Wind, it is Yuli’s responsibility to bring order to chaos, along with the Guardian of Fire and the Guardian of Wood. But can she restore balance to the Morning Realms when she can’t even win the political games being played at home? The fate of the Morning Realms depends on the Guardians of Dawn, and whether Yuli can manage both the demonic and political chaos at once.
Guardian of Wind, there you are.
Publication Date August 19th 2025 by Storytide
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Nina LaCour meets Alyson Derrick in this cross-country journey of identity, love, and friendships as Zoe tries to figure out her life, one train stop at a time.
Zoe’s life has gone off the rails.
When she left Seattle to go to college in New York, she was determined to start fresh, to figure out what being a lesbian meant to her, to experiment with clothes and presentation away from home for the first time.
Instead, she lost touch with her freshman orientation friend group, skipped classes, and failed completely at being the studious premed student her parents wanted her to be.
But the biggest derailment of all? Her newly minted ex-boyfriend — and the fact that she had a boyfriend to begin with. When she met Alden, he made her feel wanted, he made her feel free. He made her feel…like she could be like him, which was exciting and confusing all at once.
So, Zoe decides a second fresh start is in order: She’s going to take a cross-country train from New York to Seattle for fall break. There, no one will know who she is, and she can outrun her mistakes.
Or so she thinks until she meets Oakley, who’s the opposite of Zoe in so many ways: effortlessly cool and hot, smart, self-assured. But as Zoe and Oakley make their way across the country, Zoe realizes that Oakley’s life has also gone off the rails — and that they might just be able to help each other along before that train finally leaves the station.
Publication Date August 26th 2025 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
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A skateboarding vampire falls for a human artist as they combine their talents to create a skating brand in this lightly paranormal coming-of-age young adult graphic novel romance for fans of Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and The Girl From The Sea.
Pepper Mint might be born a vampire, but she’s pretty much your average teenager who loves skateboarding and her dog. What she doesn’t love is her mother’s continuous efforts to find her a vampire bride so that she can become fully immortal. Then Pepper meets Ana — she’s a charming art student, a part-time waitress…and interested in Pepper.
Ana’s presence changes everything, especially when she uses Pepper for the inspiration behind her art. But the two girls’ instant chemistry seems to provide the perfect opportunity for Pepper to finally commit to becoming the immortal creature of the night her mother desperately wants her to be.
Between the pressure from her mom and her inability to figure out whether Ana likes Pepper for herself or her aesthetic, it feels like everyone just wants a bite of Pepper. And with all these looming questions, will Pepper be ready to take the biggest bite of her life, committing to an unchanging immortality?
Publication Date August 19th 2025 by Random House Books for Young Readers
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Everything’s chill in Coolsville…until the Hex Girls move to town. Can Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. gang solve the mystery surrounding the goth rockers before someone gets hurt? Find out in this dark, mysterious, and exciting take on the beloved Scooby-Doo cartoon!
Coolsville is shaken up when eco-goth band The Hex Girls move to town. Teenagers Thorn, Luna, and Dusk are looking for a fresh start for themselves and their band after the disastrous events that destroyed their hometown and Thorn’s reputation. But things take a turn for the worse when a mysterious mist starts killing crops and making people sick wherever Thorn goes. She quickly becomes the town’s prime suspect and is outcast once again.
As her band falls apart, Thorn turns to the Mystery Inc. gang, especially Velma, for help as they try to solve the mystery and prove Thorn’s innocence. While the gang thinks that Thorn’s magical powers are the key to stopping the growing threat to Coolsville, Thorn is sure magic will only bring more harm than good — and that revealing her true nature would make her an outsider forever. Can they solve the mystery and save Coolsville before someone gets seriously hurt…or worse?
Full of classic Scooby-Doo antics mixed with darker, more mysterious horrors, this spooky, romantic mystery is sure to thrill teens and Scooby-Doo fans!
Publication Date August 26th 2025 by Wednesday Books
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Heartstopper meets Buffy in this queer paranormal rom-com where a college sophomore must navigate suddenly becoming a vampire, the underground society he’s now part of, and the cute boy who discovers his secret.
It’s only natural nineteen-year-old Brennan’s life would be upended by something as ridiculous and unexpected as turning into a vampire. But if there’s one thing Brennan can do, it’s pretend everything’s fine when he’s close to losing his mind. Brennan has just clawed his way back to Sturbridge University after recovering from a suicide attempt, and this is not the new life he was hoping for.
Brennan’s newly bloodthirsty existence gets way more complicated when Cole, the super cute librarian and everyone’s campus crush, stumbles on Brennan drinking from a stolen blood bag. Luckily, adorable Cole is happy to keep Brennan’s secret, and even seems to maybe like him? Navigating a new relationship is hard enough without the added struggles of vampire puberty, an eclectic clan of self-proclaimed “good” vampires, and growing feelings for the one person who makes Brennan feel normal. With swirling rumors of a missing student and a rise in strange “animal attacks” near campus, Brennan must uncover the secrets of the clan and figure out how to balance vampirism and humanity, or risk losing the first real friends he’s ever had.
Filled with humor and heart, The Good Vampire’s Guide To Blood & Boyfriends has a gentle bite.
Publication Date August 19th 2025 by Union Square & Co.
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You are safe, my child. You are loved, my child. You are one with the good earth.
Darian Sabine Arden is haunted by a monster who claims to love her.
Her only respite is the New England village where she spends summers with her three best friends. Kesuquosh is serene and idyllic, and the townsfolk’s odd worship of a godlike scarecrow only adds to the charming local color. But when Darian pays a surprise Halloween visit to her summer crush — a beautiful, unreadable girl named KJ — just in time to see her swept up in a bizarre harvest ritual, she’s forced to admit that Good Arcturus is more than a quaint superstition. He’s terrifyingly real.
Something ancient and sinister lurks behind the dying sunflower fields and glowing windows of Kesuquosh…and in the hearts of the people who live there. Something that doesn’t take kindly to its paradise being threatened. To save KJ — and themselves — Darian and her friends must question everything they thought they knew about their home. And Darian will have to tell the awful truth about the monster that’s been with her all along.
Empty Heaven is a propulsive and original love story, a darkly funny tribute to the power of queer found family, and a haunting exploration of the hidden horrors of beautiful places.
Publication Date August 19th 2025 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
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Two teen girls must uncover the dark, occult secrets lurking in their Cape Cod town to solve a series of murders — and save themselves from the same fate — in this twisty, witchy thriller.
When Mazzy and her best friend Nora sneak down to the beach one moonlit night to cast a spell, they don’t expect to find a dead body. But as the tide rolls in, it carries the remains of a woman who is missing her hands and teeth.
The girls know they should leave the investigation to the police, but they can’t shake the weird, supernatural connection they feel with the dead woman. Using spellwork and divination, they set out to find answers of their own. But after they uncover a rash of local disappearances stretching back years — and both girls start having occult visions and hearing ghostly, whispering voices — Mazzy worries that she and Nora are in danger.
Then, Nora finds a second body. And the whispering voice is telling her where to find more. With everything spiraling, Mazzy needs to figure out who to trust and how to sever this supernatural connection — or she and Nora might be the next bodies to wash up on the beach.
Publication Date August 19th 2025 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
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If you knew the world was ending, who would you save? And would they let you?
Sixteen-year-old Winnie Bray is a liar. As the resident psychic at an oddities shop, Winnie truly can see the future. But her customers only want reassurance, and Winnie only wants their money. Favorable fortunes are a fast track to funding her way out of Buffalo, New York for good, after all.
But all of that changes when a vision sends her stalking in the remains of her family home that burned down in a fire 10 years ago. Among the ash and rubble, Winnie finds a box made of bone, untouched by flames and…whispering. At the touch of her finger, the box shows her a vision of death, chaos, and apocalypse, with her and rich kids Apollo and Cyrus Rathbun at the center.
Apollo knows their cousin is up to no good, and with the Rathbun family scattered to the wind, they know Cyrus is aiming to present himself as the new patriarch. Despite an initial attraction, Apollo is reluctant to believe Winnie. But soon it becomes clear that their family histories are intertwined, with the whispering, hungry box at the very center, and more than their lives are on the line. Together, they must discover the origins of the box and stop unforeseen forces from fulfilling the apocalyptic prophecy, or die trying.
From the author of I Feed Her To The Beast and The Beast Is Me comes a speculative thriller about the ties that bind us to places and people, perfect for fans of Andrew Joseph White and Tochi Onyebuchi.
Publication Date August 19th 2025 by Page Street YA
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Scholarship student Mars Chang has finally been accepted into the most prestigious dance academy ― and she’ll do anything to stay.
Earning a scholarship to the Allegra Academy summer intensive was supposed to fix everything for Mars Chang. The academy is owned and run by the Bechlers, a big pharma family. And if Mars befriends the right girls, she could unlock the doors to the Ivy League future of her dreams.
When Mars is unexpectedly assigned to room with Alex Bechler, she knows impressing Alex will make or break all her plans. Alex is annoyingly attractive, the best dancer at the academy, and her great-aunt runs the program. So when the headmistress pulls Mars aside and asks her to swap Alex’s supplements with a new Bechler product, APL, in exchange for year-round admittance, Mars can’t say no.
But as Mars gets to know Alex and how much she dislikes her family and ballet, swapping the pills proves harder than Mars bargained for. Knowing Alex better only makes it clearer how unfair the academy is. So Mars decides to help another scholarship student by letting her try the supplements. At first, the pills give the girl an instant edge in class. But when they also produce terrifying side effects, Mars suspects that APL might not be safe after all.
But how can Mars, the new girl, convince the academy’s best that her life is in danger without jeopardizing her own dreams in the process?
Publication Date August 19th 2025 by Feiwel & Friends
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Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina meets The Priory of the Orange Tree in Lady Dragon, a sapphic YA romantasy from A.M. Strickland.
The age of queens is over…unless they can save it.
Since the last war between humans and dragons left the leaders of both species slain – the last human king of Andrath and the legendary dragon queen – both queendoms have been living under a tentative truce: only women will sit on the throne of Andrath, the dragons will have free passage through the human lands…and if men ever try to retake the throne, the draconic realm will retaliate.
Samansa and Kirek are two new leaders coming of age in war-scarred lands – Samansa a reluctant human princess and Kirek the favored contender for the draconic queenship. Per tradition, Kirek must undergo the distasteful task of using a mysterious gem called the Heartstone to shift into human form and maintain the strained ties between the species…and study human weaknesses, a new and secret task she’s been given by her queen.
As the princess and the dragon girl grow closer, they are sent to investigate a potential breach of the treaty and encounter a plot that could reignite an even bloodier war. While fighting to maintain the peace their ancestors fought for and uncovering centuries-old secrets, Samansa and Kirek must grapple with betraying their clashing nations…or their unexpected feelings for each other.
Publication Date September 2nd 2025 by Candlewick
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A hilarious and heartfelt novel about a neurodivergent theater nerd that tackles slut-shaming, what it means to be a friend, and the power of forgiving others — and yourself.
There are countless good reasons to hate seventeen-year-old Jess Lanza, Stone Bridge High’s premier autistic theater nerd and Champion of Questionable Life Choices. Unfortunately, the cyberbullies that hounded her all summer are stuck on last year’s life-ruining mistake, the one that earned Jess the title “Boyfriend Stealing Slutbag.” To relieve the bullies of their stale content, Jess vows to dazzle them with online posts about her own ridiculous fails and embarrassing character traits. But somehow, all of Jess’s posts circle back to her friendship with Chloe — the friendship her alleged sluttiness pulverized — and the gaping hole she left in Jess’s life. As Jess chases Chloe’s forgiveness, she must confront some of her darkest weaknesses—and darker still, the truth of what happened with Chloe’s boyfriend, a story neither of them wants to hear.
Told through a series of blog posts and short scripts, this cleverly staged and structured debut novel crackles with spot-on dialogue, features a range of fully developed neurodiverse characters, and sharply evokes high school in all its hilarious and agonizing complexity.
Publication Date September 2nd 2025 by Tundra Books
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In a world where magical beings, fey, are mistrusted and often institutionalized, a human brother and fey sister must team up to solve a bizarre murder in this 1920s-inspired queer teen fantasy novel.
In the city of Puck’s Port, where motorized vehicles fill the streets and new technological marvels abound, something rotten is lurking under the surface. A violent murder at the docks seems to point to a fey killer, igniting a powder keg of distrust between the city’s humans and its fey inhabitants — folks who wield wonderful but often uncontrollable magical power.
Gristle Senan Maxim Junior finds himself caught in the middle. Forced into the reluctant role of private investigator, like his late father, he’s working to solve the mystery of this fiery murder…mainly because his sister, Hawthorne Stregoni, is a fey herself with an unfortunate penchant for setting things ablaze.
Hawthorne is part of an experimental study to control feyism but struggles to keep her powerful magic in check in a country that hates what she is. Can she and Gristle work together to find the true instigator of the murder before it’s too late?
Publication Date September 2nd 2025 by Christy Ottaviano Books
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Night of the Witch meets The Handmaid’s Tale in this queer Gothic horror debut set against the monstrous Bavarian forest of Hexenwald.
In the Bavarian village of Heulensee, women feed their terror to an ancient Saint of Fear. In return, it protects them from the monsters of the Hexenwald, the haunted forest on their doorstep. Born unfearing, Ilse Odenwald has felt like an outsider all her life. When the Saint discovers Ilse’s divergence, it levels a threat: she must find her fear, or the Saint will devour her sister, Dorothea — the only person who loves Ilse unconditionally.
Unwilling to lose Thea, Ilse enters the Hexenwald. She hopes that its horrors will finally unleash her fear and, in turn, save her sister. But during her quest Ilse inadvertently uncovers something more sinister than the monsters that hunt her: a darkness within herself. As the forest closes in, Ilse’s hopes for a normal future begin to slip away, as well as the chance to save not just Thea, but all women in Heulensee.
Bewitching and timely, this gripping debut novel is a dark fairy tale about the fate of girls and women in a world grown accustomed to sacrificing them.
Publication Date September 2nd 2025 by Scholastic Press
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When the town’s “it-couple,” Brad and Shelley, are found brutally murdered in a secluded manor, a brave group of teen friends takes on the mystery.
Set in 2001 Sanera, California – a small, quiet community where nothing ever happens – the shocking murders shake everyone, leaving them to believe the ghost of a murdered landowner has finally taken his revenge. Join Cam, Jonesy, Amber, and the new girl Buffy as they dig deeper into the sinister secrets of the mansion. With every clue they uncover, the eerie rumors seem frighteningly real. As they decide whether to stick together or split up to find evidence, they must face the ultimate question: will this decision be their salvation or their doom?
Publication Date September 9th 2025 by Page Street YA
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Mirabella Owens grew up with legends of wolves that traveled to her midwestern town to protect humans from vampires. Of a werewolf that fell in love with one of the undead, unraveling a blood-soaked history. But Mira stopped believing in those fairy tales years ago. She stopped believing in a lot of things after her mom left without a trace when she was only thirteen.
As Mira begins her freshman year at Lakeland University, she’s ready to leave the past behind her. Only the past isn’t finished with her yet. Strange animal attacks are occurring around campus, reopening cold cases tied to her mother’s disappearance. And the only person who seems to know anything is Julian Santos, the boy who is hell-bent on getting Mira to leave campus for reasons she can’t begin to understand. But Mira refuses to let him keep his secrets, not when the truth is the difference between life and death.
Mira will have to accept that there is much more to the old town myths, and her growing feelings for Julian, than she ever could have anticipated. And as the Blood Moon rises, she will come to know a world that will shatter her past and change her future.
Publication Date September 9th 2025 by Atria Books
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In this richly atmospheric, dark academia debut novel, a young woman with a secretive past will risk everything — including her life — to fit in.
Belles never tell…
It’s 1951 at the secluded Bellerton College, and Deena Williams is an outsider doing her best to blend in with her wealthy and perfectly groomed peers. Infamous for its strict rules as much as its prestige, attending Bellerton could give Deena the comfortable life she’s always dreamed of.
She quickly forms an alliance with the five other freshmen on her floor, and soon they are singled out by the president’s wife as the most promising girls of their class, who anoints them: The Belles. They walk the college’s halls in menacing unison, matching velvet ribbons in their hair. But no sisterhood comes without secrets, and the Belles are no exception. Playing cruel pranks on their dormitory housemother and embarking on boundary-shattering night games, the Belles test the limits of the campus rules.
But as Deena begins to piece together the sinister history of Bellerton, her own past threatens to come to light, forcing her to make a dangerous choice. A chilling and seductive coming-of-age story, The Belles is an excavation of the dark side of girlhood, the intricacies of privilege, and the unbridled desire to belong at any cost.
Publication Date September 9th 2025 by Storytide
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“You never know what’s going to happen, Milo. No matter how hard you try to control things, this is our summer in Paris, and it might just be unpredictable. There might just be boys.”
Milo is determined to have the most magical summer in Paris after winning an apprenticeship at a prestigious fashion house. The plan is simple: work hard, impress the team, and land a permanent job. With his best friend Celeste by his side, nothing will stand in his way of getting what he wants — especially not a boy.
Enter Rhodes Hamilton: London’s resident tabloid magnet and the son of a famous footballer. Milo is devastated to learn that Rhodes’ connections have also landed him an apprenticeship, which means he’s now the competition. Milo knows he has to win at any cost, so he can’t risk getting close to Rhodes, no matter how nice and charming and cute he is…
Publication Date September 9th 2025 by Delacorte Romance
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A brooding witch and a bubbly mortal must team up during their town’s fall festival in this cozy sapphic romance, perfect for fans of Gilmore Girls and Wicked!
In the charming town of Fableview, every day is Halloween.
Darcy Keller, resident ray of sunshine and town spirit princess, loves every moment of Fableview’s fall festivities. But she’s also really ready to leave for college next year, even though her parents expect her to stay and take over their Halloween empire.
Enter brooding new girl Anya Doyle, a real-life witch and almost a full member of her coven. In order to be initiated, she has to choose a mortal ally to act as her “protector.” But having moved around so much, Anya is completely friendless. So she does what any self-respecting teenage almost-witch would — she lies and tells her coven her secret crush, Darcy, is willing to do the job.
The solution? Work together, of course. The girls agree to help each other out, attending everything from a costume parade to a pumpkin patch party to an apple bobbing contest together. But with Anya’s magical powers and Darcy’s future independence on the line, the last thing they need is the added complication of pesky feelings…
Publication Date September 9th 2025 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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A blood-curdlingly spooky and darkly funny romance about how falling in love is scary AF, perfect for fans of Wednesday and Heartstopper.
When Gray gets a text from a wrong number, he’s pretty sure it’s a serial killer — or worse, his ex — on the other end of the line. But, the anonymous texter shares his same taste in music and movies, and Gray’s bored while stuck at home all summer, so why not respond? Being anonymous actually helps them open up to each other, and Gray finds himself hopeful that this could be his dream goth crush. All they have to do is meet—on Halloween, the night of Sleepy Hollow’s big house-decorating contest, and the perfect opportunity for Gray to show his mystery texter his true feelings.
But between Gray’s closeted ex coming back into the picture, a cute but obnoxious new goth kid vying to win the contest, and a maybe serial killer lurking around and killing local gay teens, Gray’s prospects are looking grim. Come Halloween, he’ll either get his dream guy or die trying…
You’ve Goth My Heart is the romantic and hilarious accidental-connection romance you don’t want to miss!
Publication Date September 16th 2025 by HarperCollins
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From bestselling author Sonora Reyes comes a poignant and searingly honest companion novel to the multi-award-winning The Lesbiana’s Guide To Catholic School, following beloved character Cesar Flores as he comes to terms with his sexuality, his new bipolar diagnosis, and more mistakes than he can count.
Seventeen-year-old Cesar Flores is finally ready to win back his ex-boyfriend. Since breaking up with Jamal in a last-ditch effort to stay in the closet, he’s come out to Mami, his sister, Yami, and their friends, taken his meds faithfully, and gotten his therapist’s blessing to reunite with Jamal.
Everything would be perfect if it weren’t for The Thoughts — the ones that won’t let all his Catholic guilt and internalizations stay buried where he wants them. The louder they become, the more Cesar is once again convinced that he doesn’t deserve someone like Jamal — or anyone, really.
Cesar can hide a fair amount of shame behind jokes and his “gifted” reputation, but when a manic episode makes his inner turmoil impossible to hide, he’s faced with a stark choice: burn every bridge he has left or, worse — ask for help. But is the mortifying vulnerability of being loved by the people he’s hurt the most a risk he’s willing to take?
Publication Date September 16th 2025 by Page Street YA
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The magic of tabletop RPGs lives in the creativity of the players. Given the chance to explore gender, relationships, and queer existence across vast worlds with completely different sets of rules, queer players throughout the years have found acceptance, camaraderie, and joy by rolling the dice and kicking ass. This anthology celebrates that TTRPG rite of passage with a diverse lineup of queer authors who are just as mighty with their pens as with swords…and shields…and spells!
This collection of fourteen stories includes critically acclaimed authors such as New York Times bestseller Marieke Nijkamp, New York Times bestseller Andrew Joseph White, Pura Belpré Honor winner Jonny Garza Villa, LAMBDA Literary Award winner Rebecca Podos, LAMBDA Award finalist Linsey Miller, Indie Bestseller Margaret Owen, and Morris Award finalist Akemi Dawn Bowman.
Publication Date September 16th 2025 by Yellow Jacket
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Perfect for fans of One Piece, this is an epic Black queer pirate fantasy that you won’t be able to put down!
A long time ago, a witch burst into flames. A pirate and a mermaid fell in love. A map was marked with a glowing X. And a republic was born.
Levi and Vega are the children of the fearsome pirate captain of The Sea Dragon. They have been raised on tales of daring feats and seafaring adventures, but there are stories they haven’t been told – stories about witches and mermaids and magical maps. When tragedy strikes, the siblings land on the Pirate Republic, a self-governed island of freedom and adventure. Levi uncovers the secrets of his past as he works with his sister, a sea nymph, the pirates, and witches to protect the island from the conquering Empire. But he must learn to accept himself before he can even begin to help his friends.
In the present day, two girls are given a history assignment: to try and piece together the rise and fall of the famous and corrupt Pirate Republic, which once formed their island home. As Reggie and Maeve’s tentative friendship deepens into something more, they realize that a magical world could be on their very doorstep – if only they can find the map.
Published in partnership with GLAAD, this novel is an intoxicatingly rich fantasy that blends high seas, swashbuckling adventure and lyrical poetry.
Publication Date September 16th 2025 by Triangle Square
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Vampires, vampire slayers, and a bloodthirsty underground resistance converge in a campy YA fantasy about being a queer teen in a world that wishes they did not exist.
The librarian and critically acclaimed author of Out of Salem puts a pulpy spin on vampire fiction, and bites back at anti-trans moral panic.
Fawn and Silver share nearly everything: coming out together as trans in their small Maryland town, clocking a copious number of hours in detention, and spending their sleepovers secretly making out. They’re also uniquely obsessed with vampires, who are being hunted, imprisoned, and executed for the danger they allegedly pose to human life.
Meanwhile in Seattle, Rachel’s relationship to her girlfriend and her membership in her mother’s vampire-slaying vigilante group is thrown into question when she’s bitten by her mother’s nemesis and awakes with a craving for blood. When Silver disappears and Fawn goes west in search of him, her and Rachel’s fates converge, both falling into the hands of Cain, an edgelord vampire known for his proselytizing for the drinking of human blood.
But in discovering hidden tunnels and secret bars, youth shelters and punk shows and safe houses, Fawn find herself in the middle of a vampire underground in Seattle — an organized resistance keeping each other alive through a network of blood distribution and protection from slayers.
Fawn’s Blood is a timely antidote to the anti-trans moral panic of today. Playing with tropes about monstrousness, predation, and villainy, this multi-voiced vampire novel offers a paranormal YA fantasy full of complicated queer characters — human and monster alike — all of whom are simply trying to survive in a world that wants them dead.
Publication Date September 16th 2025 by PUSH
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Stephen King meets Holly Jackson by way of We Were Liars in this action-packed story of queer horror from the acclaimed author of The Honeys!
Two Days Before
Ollie Veltman is finally coming home to the quaint island of Anchor’s Mercy after a year away while his mom battled cancer. It should be a celebration – his mom is cancer free, and she’s determined to have the best summer ever – but Ollie’s (now ex) best friends think he abandoned them, and he’s returning with a lot of questions. Because for a place that’s perfect on the surface, a secret rots below the waves. A secret that could explain his mom’s illness, and the illness of so many other locals.Ollie’s desperate search for the truth turns life-or-death when a storm descends upon the island. In its wake, a long-sunken horror rises…
Three Weeks After
Ollie is being held in isolation aboard a military hospital ship in the harbor. They say he’s a survivor, but they only know half the story. The truth is more monstrous than Ollie ever believed, and he suspects his saviors aren’t here to save anyone. Only Ollie can stop what’s coming, but that means getting back to Anchor’s Mercy before it vanishes, taking with it everyone he has ever loved.
Publication Date September 23rd 2025 by HarperCollins
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From Stonewall Award–winning author Abdi Nazemian (Only This Beautiful Moment) comes the epic queer love story of a lifetime. Perfect for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Shahriar believes he was born in the wrong time. All he’s ever wanted is to love and be loved, but 1895 London doesn’t offer him the freedom to be his true self, and Oscar Wilde’s trial for gross indecency has only reaffirmed that. But one night — and one writer — will grant Shahriar what he’s always wished for: the opportunity to live in a time and place where he can love freely. Rechristened as Shams and then as Bram, he finds what feels like eternal happiness. But can anything truly be eternal?
Oliver doesn’t feel that 1920s Boston gives him a lot of options to be his full self. He knows he could only ever love another boy, but that would break his beloved mother’s heart. Oliver finds freedom and acceptance in the secret queer community at Harvard that his cousin introduces him to. When he meets a mysterious boy with eyes as warm as a flame, his life is irrevocably changed, forever.
Spanning one hundred and thirty years of love and longing, this tale of immortal beloveds searching for their perfect place and time is a vibrant hymn to the beauty of being alive, a celebration of queer love and community, and a reminder that behind every tragic thing that ever existed, there is something exquisite.
Publication Date September 23rd 2025 by Holiday House
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18-year-old Briar Winters must untangle the horrifying eldritch secrets of her picture-perfect coastal town in order to save the boy she loves after he disappears from time itself in this YA dark fantasy for fans of The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Historic Loch Creek is a witchy New England tourist trap — but it’s just a trap for Briar, who’s convinced she’ll die there among the waves that devoured her twin brother thirteen years ago. But when her best friend who she’s loved since childhood, Finn, vanishes from the seaside carnival, there’s only one person who can help Briar find him: Morgan, her biggest enemy who knows her darkest secret.
As Briar uncovers hidden truths as deep and dark as the water that haunts her, it quickly becomes clear that Finn has gone much further than anyone could have imagined. He’s lost in time, and neither of them are safe. If Briar and Finn look too hard, they might find terrifying answers — not just about what’s buried beneath the shores, but also the threads tying them to each other. As past and future collide, the seductive yet evil underwater entity that intends to claim Briar still needs its sacrifice…
And it’s too hungry to go unsated.
Equal parts epic bisexual romance and pulse-pounding horror, This Raging Sea is a dual POV dark fantasy as sweepingly powerful as the ocean that threatens to consume everything and everyone Briar has ever loved — prepare to be devoured.
Publication Date September 23rd 2025 by Little, Brown Ink
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In this lush and romantic queer horror graphic novel, a troubled teen disappears from his small town — sending his loved ones on a paranormal journey to bring him home.
Noah is heartbroken. He returns from Bible camp to find that Alex, his secret boyfriend, has had a breakdown and disappeared. He wishes more than anything that he hadn’t left that day.
Sky is determined. She’ll stop at nothing to find her childhood friend, even if it means alienating the people she loves.
Izzy is ashamed. She knew something weird was going on with Alex, and she didn’t say anything to her boyfriend, Jamie — Alex’s twin brother. If she had, would Alex still be here?
Jamie is angry. Angry at Alex for being gone, angry at himself for not noticing something was wrong, and angry at his long-dead mother, Desdemona, who had problems of her own.
But what if there was something more to Desdemona’s demons? Why is Jamie seeing her ghost? And can he get past his hatred of her if it means finding out what happened to his brother?
Publication Date September 30th 2025 by Delacorte Press
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After accidentally cursing his ex-boyfriend, a reluctant hero must complete a dangerous quest to undo his spell…all while falling for a brooding new crewmate with dark secrets.
Kieran has never had much luck in love or magic. Other than being freed from a family curse that would have killed him and doomed his twin sister, life isn’t going his way.
So, after getting put on notice by his boyfriend and accidentally writing a poem so bad (and magically hazardous) that it makes him invisible to the guy, of course Kieran returns home to find the Witches Council sitting in his living room, demanding he complete his magical training. Panicked, he blurts out that his Calling — a kind of magical thesis — will be to find a magical cure – all that can break any curse…an enormous task that he absolutely doesn’t have the power to pull off.
Nevertheless, Kieran sets off on this dangerous journey, accompanied by his sister Briar, her girlfriend Delilah, and a swoony new crewmate, Sebastian. If he survives, he may just learn how to turn his luck around and figure out what kind of witch, person, and boyfriend he wants to be.
Publication Date September 23rd 2025 by Bloomsbury YA
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I Kissed Shara Wheeler meets The Agathas in this cozy mystery about rivals who must find out who has been framing them for crimes they didn’t commit, from Stonewall Honor-winning author Chatham Greenfield.
Sadie Katz and Cleo Chapman have been rivals since birth. Literally. They entered the world competing to be the first baby born in the new year, and ever since Cleo beat out Sadie for that title, she has been nonchalantly beating Sadie at just about everything – and making it look easy.
Now in the fall of their senior year, Sadie and Cleo are neck-and-neck for valedictorian. But then a string of increasingly serious pranks take over their high school, and all signs point to Sadie and Cleo as the perpetrators. Suddenly expulsion is on the line, and the only way to clear their names is to team up and find out who is framing them. It’s not only suspects the girls are questioning, though. Sadie’s ivy league dream isn’t feeling as appealing as it once did, and Cleo is wondering if it’s about time she start fighting for what she really wants instead of just accepting whatever comes easiest.
With their futures on the line, the two grow closer, and both begin to wonder: Could it be that Sadie and Cleo weren’t meant to be rivals at all, and were instead destined to be something more?
Publication Date September 30th 2025 by Nancy Paulsen Books
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An absorbing speculative Queer YA romance set in a town that uses technology to prevent hate speech and bullying. From the LAMBDA Award-winning author of The Grief Keeper.
When seventeen-year-old Sebastian agrees to come to New Gault to care for his absent and abusive mother after her cancer diagnosis, he is not prepared for the strange new community that awaits him or the distressing state he finds his mother in. He tries to help, but despite being ill, her tongue is as sharp as ever, finding all Sebas’s tender places. But he promised his Abuela he’d try to make this work.
Unfortunately trying also means attending TECH, New Gault’s high school. His first day, he’s assigned to enthusiastic TECH student ambassador, Lu, who introduces him to all TECH can offer — a safe space, free from bullying. But all this safety and technology comes with a catch — not only do you have to watch what you say, but you have to stay within a strict word limit. Sebas declines. To him New Gault feels more like the Stepford Wives than freedom.
For Lu, who suffers from anxiety and has a history of being bullied, TECH is a lifeline somewhere they can be safe. They can’t understand why Sebas would refuse. When Sebas rejects TECH, it feels as if he’s rejecting Lu.
But when Sebas learns if he doesn’t accept the TECH phone and abide by the rules, his mother will be denied cancer treatment, he changes his tune. Slowly, Lu and Sebas form a friendship that morphs into something more, but the closer they get, the more Sebas challenges Lu’s beliefs about TECH and what it means to be safe. Meanwhile, Sebas contemplates how to forgive his dying mother for being no mother at all.
This thought-provoking, tender love story examines what we’re willing to give up to feel safe as two broken teens navigate emotional trauma and discover what blooms may come from the ashes.
Publication Date September 30th 2025 by Dutton Books for Young Readers
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Fall in love all over again with Oliver’s story in the hotly-anticipated companion to bestselling sensation You’ve Reached Sam.
I think about you every second
But it’s time to let you goIt’s been a year since his best friend, Sam, died. Even though Oliver knows he won’t get a response, he can’t stop texting Sam’s number, especially as the anniversary of his death approaches.
Then one day he accidentally hits the call button, and someone picks up.
The voice on the other end isn’t Sam. Sam’s number was reassigned and a stranger has been receiving Oliver’s private and vulnerable messages for months. But Ben, a college student in Seattle, won’t remain a stranger for long. When they finally meet in person, their spark is undeniable. Everything seems perfect until Oliver discovers something strange might be keeping them apart.
Dustin Thao’s star-crossed return to Ellensburg, WA is a sliding-doors romance sure to break your heart wide open.
Publication Date September 30th 2025 by Abrams Fanfare
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In this YA urban fantasy graphic novel, Alex must return to the town where she was born to unravel the magical mysteries her late grandmother left behind.
Alex Wilson hasn’t been back to Indigo Harbor, the seaside village where she grew up, in years. In fact, she can barely remember anything about it. But when her grandmother dies unexpectedly, Alex will have to return to her childhood home to say goodbye.
Accompanied by her best friend, Grim, Alex travels back to her hometown and begins cleaning out her grandmother’s house, but the longer they stay, the stranger things get. Indigo Harbor isn’t your average town — there are falling stars, witches running tea shops, and a name that comes up again and again: Elizabeth. Who was this woman, and how did she know Alex’s grandmother?
As she explores the town and sorts through her grandmother’s belongings, Alex reconnects with her past and tries with increasing desperation to uncover the greatest secret of all, the identity of the mysterious Elizabeth. Tackling grief, acceptance, and how to honor a loved one’s life, Bex Glendining has crafted a beautiful and moving graphic novel perfect for readers who loved The Dark Matter of Mona Starr, Girl From The Sea, and The Magic Fish.
Publication Date September 30th 2025 by Little, Brown Ink
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Opposites attract in this sweet neighbors-to-lovers romance based on a WEBTOON favorite — now with an exclusive new bonus story! Perfect for fans of Heartstopper looking for their next sweet slow-burn queer romance.
Introverted university student Kang Dae spends most of his time alone, and he prefers it this way. So he’s initially unhappy when bubbly new student Bo Seon moves into his apartment complex and sets out to befriend him. But before Kang Dae realizes it, his life has changed irrevocably.
As the two become closer, they slowly realize they have romantic feelings for each other; but neither has been in a real relationship before and both have trauma in their pasts. Will they be able to embrace the possibilities of what could be, or will they find that a new romance is a bridge too far?
A top ten slice-of-life WEBTOON with over one million subscribers, this beloved webcomic is now available in a beautiful new format, where you can see episodes 1-101 of Kang Dae and Bo Seon’s relationship unfold — in all its beautiful, awkward, and heartwarming glory — with this can’t-miss collectible edition.
Publication Date September 30th 2025 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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Getting the girl was easy, but can Alex and Molly keep each other when they’re both keeping secrets? Find out in this cozy holiday novella companion to She Gets The Girl.
For Alex and Molly, the last three years have felt like Christmas every day. So what better way to celebrate winter break of their senior year than a romantic getaway in a town right out of a Christmas card?
Aside from sampling all the holiday cheer Barnwich has to offer, Alex and Molly have an important mission this weekend: to help their friend Cora get her crush to fall for her. But in between ice skating, snowball fights, and matchmaking schemes, it becomes obvious that Alex and Molly have another mission this weekend: to not reveal the huge secrets they’re keeping from the other. Secrets about their post-college plans that threaten to tear them apart.
Will these two be able to help Cora get the girl and keep theirs — or will this be the last Christmas of Alex and Molly’s love story?
Publication Date September 30th 2025 by Peachtree Teen
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Don’t Let The Forest In meets The Whispering Dark in a queer YA cult horror following a recently diagnosed autistic teen who becomes enmeshed in a community of outcasts harboring sinister secrets.
After a meltdown in her school cafeteria prompts an unwanted autism diagnosis, Cassie Davis moves back to her hometown in upstate New York, where her mom hopes the familiarity will allow Cassie to feel normal again. Cassie’s never truly felt normal anywhere, but she does crave the ease she used to have with her old friends.
Problem is that her friends aren’t so eager to welcome her back into the fold. They extend an olive branch by inviting her on their backpacking trip to Hollow Ridge, in the upper reaches of the Adirondacks. But when a fight breaks out their first night, Cassie wakes to a barren campsite — her friends all gone.
With severe weather approaching and nearing sensory overload, Cassie is saved by a boy named Kaleb, who whisks her away to a compound of artists and outcasts he calls the Roost. As Kaleb tends to her injuries, Cassie begins to feel — for the first time in her life — that she can truly be herself. But as the days pass, strange happenings around the Roost make Cassie question her instincts. Noises in the trees grow louder, begging the question: Are the dangers in the forest, on the trail, or in the Roost itself?
In a world where autistic characters rarely get to be the hero of their own stories, Cassie Davis’s one-step-back, two-steps-forward journey to unmasking makes Hollow as much a love letter to neurodiversity as it is a haunting tale you’ll want to read with the lights on.
Publication Date September 30th 2025 by Delacorte Press
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A transgender teen’s post-op recovery is derailed when he is bitten by a werewolf and his body begins to change. A thought-provoking page-turner that will haunt you for days!
Hunter’s life is at a turning point: After years of fighting his father for it, he’s gotten top surgery. He’s finally starting to feel comfortable in his own skin…only to be attacked by a strange creature in his backyard.
The encounter should kill him, but his best friend Gabe intervenes, and Hunter is able to walk away from the incident with his life — and new body — mostly intact. Still, something isn’t right. First, his wounds are healing quickly — too quickly. Then there are the feverish nightmares, the sudden return of his period, and his teeth… they’re falling out of his head.
Enter Mars, Hunter’s other best friend. A horror movie devotee, Mars points out the obvious: That mysterious creature was a werewolf, and Hunter is becoming one too — unless they can figure out a cure, which basically means they have to kill the creature that bit him.
Now, Hunter, Gabe, and Mars are in a race against time. A voice that could only belong to the creature itself is worming its way into Hunter’s head, and as the days pass, it’s only getting louder. It promises revenge on Hunter’s transphobic peers if he succumbs to his lycanthropic transformation. Or he can reject the monster and fight alongside his friends before the body — and life — he’s fought so hard for slips away for good. The choice is Hunter’s.
Publication Date September 30th 2025 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
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Take your final bow.
The Ghostlight Youth Theater Camp isn’t the best program in the world, but to Faye, it’s home. Every summer since junior high, Faye and her friends have come together for a monthlong musical-theater intensive. For her last year before graduation, Faye’s finally ready to take center stage as her true Afro-Latina self and break out of her white-passing roles.
But as Faye steps into her spotlight, complications arise. Suddenly, she’s competing with her BFF for lead roles and distracted by the attentions of the new camp hottie. Even when the drama turns deadly, Faye remains determined to make this the best production the Ghostlight has ever seen. It must be a coincidence that the stagehands keep disappearing and having gruesome accidents, right? But dark secrets are hiding behind the scenes, and opening night might turn out to be a bloodbath.
Publication Date October 7th 2025 by Random House Graphic
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Being a teenager is no fairy tale…but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a little magic. A high schooler’s journey to recover from burnout leads to a surprising romance with a twist from the bestselling author of The Magic Fish.
Angelica was the girl who could do it all — until suddenly, she couldn’t. Burnout hit hard. Now, after some very low moments, she’s ready to get her life back together, thanks to her friends, and one very surprising source of comfort.
A bear.
Peri is the mascot of the local theater. He’s been sending Angelica supportive messages from his social. They’ve become friends, and Angelica might even have…a crush?
Determined to find the human behind the bear costume, Angelica gets a summer job interning at the theater. She might never go back to being the girl who can do everything, but perhaps she is becoming the girl who can magically have it all.
Publication Date October 7th 2025 by Holiday House
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May the best witch win in this sapphic enemies-to-lovers romcom, where rival witches hex for the affections of the new boy in school…but are vexed by their interest in each other.
Welcome to Thornhaven, a quaint coastal town where witches hide in plain sight.
Lily Allerton is descended from Thornhaven’s most illustrious magical family. When her tarot cards tell her that acquiring a boyfriend is essential for a successful senior year, she decides to do whatever it takes to bag the cute new boy at school — including overcoming her total lack of interest in him. Determined to make her parents proud, appear “normal” (the fact that she’s never liked a boy is a closely guarded secret), and stay on top of the popular-kid food chain, future valedictorian Lily makes sure that nothing stands in the way of her goals.
But Chrysanthemum Quinn might.
When Chrys moved to town three years ago, she had high hopes that she’d no longer be the outcast with weird powers — hopes that Lily quickly dashed by ostracizing her from the other witches at school. She was too poor, too grunge, and too sarcastic for Lily’s tastes, with a major resting witch face. Nothing like a proper Thornhaven witch. Since then, she and Lily have despised each other and competed relentlessly. Chrys is going to beat Lily for valedictorian — and if Lily wants the new boy, then Chrys is going to win him first.
But when Lily’s and Chrys’s attempts to hex each other create a curse that threatens the town, they’ll have to put aside their animosity to stop it…and reckon with some deeply buried emotions. Because breaking the curse will take more than magic — it’ll take acknowledging that it’s not the boy either of them wants.
This fresh, playful, witchy romcom from USA Today bestselling author Tori Anne Martin (This Spells Disaster) is sure to appeal to fans of sapphic charmers like I Kissed Shara Wheeler and She Gets The Girl.
Publication Date October 7th 2025 by Peachtree Teen
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Sawkill Girls meets Twin Peaks in a page-turning queer supernatural thriller, where four teens must track down a local cryptid that’s feeding off secrets, before their own hidden truths are exposed.
On the dreary Oregon coast, an all-seeing beast — known as the Watcher — lies in wait. When Shay and her girlfriend, Lauren, get into a fight over whether to go public with their clandestine relationship, they awaken the creature. Although Lauren is badly injured, the girls escape with their lives but can’t shake the feeling of the creature’s eyes tracking them.
Meanwhile, aspiring photographer Zoe is desperate to put together a portfolio worthy of earning a scholarship to attend art college. Her photography teacher praises her skill but urges her to select more daring subjects for her submissions — a tall task when Zoe’s camera acts as a barrier between herself and the rest of the world.
As rumors swirl about Lauren’s injuries, Shay remains steadfast in that the Watcher is to blame, not her. She asks for Zoe’s help in snapping a photo of the local legend. Proof would help Shay clear her name and certainly be daring enough for Zoe’s scholarship. Together with their friends Jack and Parker, they set out to expose the Watcher before its ever-creeping eyes cast the secrets they’re all keeping from the town — and one another — into the light.
Eerily atmospheric and as piercing as a pair of eyes on the back of your head, Alex Crespo’s LGBTQ+ supernatural thriller is a poignant story about the prices we pay to keep our secrets hidden — sometimes for good reason. Through creeping tension and mounting horror, readers will furiously turn the pages with their breaths held.
Publication Date October 7th 2025 by Annick Press
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An aspiring young actor must find her place at a cutthroat arts boarding school in this gothic YA debut for fans of Ace of Spades and If We Were Villains.
Violet Costantino knows she is already on thin ice this school year: her scholarship has taken a significant hit due to her panic attack during her final performance in acting class last semester — which simultaneously shattered her dreams of becoming a leading lady. This year, she is determined to keep her head down and just get through unscathed. But the school seems to have other plans for Violet: to her extreme foreboding, she is cast as one of the leads in the annual Halloween play. What’s worse, the beautiful, infuriatingly talented Frankie Lin and Violet’s ex-crush, Hunter Kinsey, are both cast as her love interests. Despite her initial reluctance, Violet is drawn in by the glamor of the Dark Cove Theatre Society, and she cautiously starts believing that maybe she is cut out for this after all. But lurking in the shadows of Violet’s fragile self-confidence is the rumor of the Society curse, which is said to cause one cast member to drop out before opening night every year, mysteriously and without reason.
In this captivating YA debut, The Dark Cove Theatre Society illustrates both the intoxicating and insidious nature of success and the price we are often forced to pay for it. Passages of found text — glimpses of the school’s handbook, secret letters, and other peeks into life at the Academy — seamlessly woven into the plot will immerse readers even further into the lush, magnetic world of Dark Cove.
Publication Date October 7th 2025 by Scholastic Press
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Gretel had no choice.
Her brother Hansel was in danger, and she had to kill the witch. Five months later, she is still ripped from her dreams and awoken by the noise of her sword tearing into the witch’s flesh. Her waking hours are no better. Hansel has grown more and more like their monstrous father by the day. The society she now inhabits has trapped her in an endless cycle of balls with nobles who sneer at her family’s new money. And worst of all, her greedy father has issued his newest ploy to increase his wealth. Gretel must marry, and soon.
Devastated at the prospect of a lifetime with an old, decrepit husband, she flees a ball…and runs right into Prince Wilfried. When Gretel divulges the reality of her situation, Wilfried comes up with a solution. He is also being pressured to find a suitable future queen – they can both delay the inevitable by faking an engagement. Gretel agrees, and what starts as a ruse quickly deepens as she finds herself falling for the handsome prince.
But in the quiet of night, still trapped in her castle with her memories, Gretel feels the walls closing in and ventures into the neighboring woods. There, she meets Katharina, a beautiful witch who introduces her to the witch community. But these women aren’t evil – they’re healers, and Gretel is drawn to them.
When information comes to light implicating her family’s involvement in a traitorous plot and endangering the lives of herself and those she’s grown to care about, Gretel must ask herself – did the wrong person die in that cottage? And can the Witchkiller become a witch?
Publication Date October 14th 2025 by Peachtree Teen
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A heretical storyteller partners with an ancient spirit to undo the magic that subjugates her to the crown, in this chilling debut fantasy filled with monsters, forbidden rituals, and corrupt deities.
The Emperor of Wyrecia is dying, and 17-year-old Lena has just gained the power to control fate itself, binding her to the young prince Dimas as the empire’s next Fateweaver. Hunted by the empire’s most ruthless soldiers, Lena escapes with a handsome smuggler toward enemy territory. But a former lover betrays Lena, and her magic becomes agony — compelling Lena to submit to a gilded cage.
Still, an ancient spirit offers hope: to sever her bond to the throne, Lena must unroot a ritual hidden beneath the palace. As Prince Dimas struggles to forge friendship with Lena and bring his empire under peaceful rule, sinister cultists unveil a twisted plan to unleash an ancient evil that could tear the realm asunder. With every step Lena takes on her quest to freedom, she uncovers a troubling imperial past that tarnishes the nation’s matron goddess. Perhaps the oral histories passed down to Lena are not foolish heresy, after all.
Written with captivating mystery, queer romance, and a dual point of view narrative, this dark fantasy features a gorgeously detailed map and roots its magic system in mythological lore. An enchanting selection for young adult readers who don’t mind a little terror with their adventure!
Publication Date October 14th 2025 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
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When snow falls, sparks fly in this irresistible queer romance from Schneider Family Book Award and Stonewall Honor winner Mariama J. Lockington ― for fans of She Gets the Girl and Jennifer Dugan.
High school senior Lyric has always found Christmas to be the hardest season. While other kids got presents and family time by the fire, she was in and out of foster care. An up-and-coming make-up influencer and aspiring cosmetology student who loves a bold lip, Lyric definitely isn’t looking for romance ― not when opening up to someone feels a lot like asking to get hurt.
Christmas is Juniper’s favorite time of year. At least, it was, until her moms’ separation. They’re back together now, and Juniper hopes they’ll stay that way. Because if they’re happy, that means Juniper can leave for her gap-year trip after graduation (the one she has yet to tell her parents about, and can’t really afford without their help).
When a chance meeting brings these two opposite personalities together, they should clash…only they don’t. Instead Lyric strikes a deal with Juniper: pose as her fake girlfriend in a series of holiday-themed social media posts and they can split the money from her beauty sponsorships. But soon the lines between what’s real and what’s not start to blur. Could it be that sparks are flying both in front of the camera and behind it?
Told from dual perspectives, one in prose and one in verse, I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm is a cozy and modern love story from acclaimed author Mariama J. Lockington that’s perfect for the winter holidays or all year round.
Publication Date October 14th 2025 by Feiwel & Friends
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For fans of You’ve Reached Sam and If I Stay, a hauntingly beautiful, ultimately hopeful novel-in-verse about a girl in between life and death, by National Book Award Finalist Amber McBride.
Gospel is the Keeper of the Leaving Room―a place all young people must phase through when they die. The young are never ready to leave; they need a moment to remember and a Keeper to help their wispy souls along.
When a random door opens and a Keeper named Melody arrives, their souls become entangled. Gospel’s seriousness melts and Melody’s fear of connection fades, but still ― are Keepers allowed to fall in love? Now they must find a way out of the Leaving Room and be unafraid of their love. In a novel that takes place over four minutes, National Book Award finalist Amber McBride explores connection, memory, and hope in ways that are unforgettable and poignant.
Publication Date October 14th 2025 by Keylight Books
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Fair is foul and foul is fair in a country ravaged by the lies of its monarchy. To claim the crown, Adelina, Seba, and Jasibin must learn to be a little wicked…even if it means betraying each other.
All hail Malves, who shall wear crowns.
On the night of her brother’s murder, Adelina Malves holds him as he dies, inheriting both his title and the prophecy that spelled out his doom. If she’s to avenge him and avoid a similar death, she must claim the crown of Jumaral by ruthlessly cutting down every family member ahead of her in the line of succession and uncover the secret that got her brother killed.Hail! Thou shalt get kings, though thou be none.
Ghost-whispering Jasibin holds the key to Adelina’s plan to contact her dead brother — if only his strange magic wasn’t killing him slowly. To fulfill his own prophecy and protect his brother Seba, he must discover the source of his magic before he’s lost to the land of the dead.All hail, Sebastião, that shall be king hereafter.
Seba is desperate for a way out of Jumaral and the substantial financial debt his dead mother left him. When a witch sees the riches of a king in his future, Adelina’s offer of coin in exchange for help feels like fate, pulling Seba into a fake dating plot with Adelina that hides their sinister plans.In this stunning, innovative retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth set in a Portugal-inspired country, three teenagers will stop at nothing to fulfill their destinies.
Publication Date October 14th 2025 by Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
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Two teenage runaways. One vintage Mustang. A life-changing race across America. So strap in, because this is going to be one hell of a ride.
Jessie ‘Mouse’ Swift needs to get out of Seattle and fast. A few days ago she admitted to wanting her abusive stepfather dead, only to come home and find his murdered body. So when a girl from school offers Jessie a ride in her vintage red Mustang, they embark on an unexpected road trip across America.
Brooke Summer is everything Jessie isn’t: popular, confident, wealthy and heart-stoppingly beautiful, and Jessie has been in love with her from afar for years. But Brooke is hiding her own secrets…
With the cops and other sinister figures on their tail, how long can Jessie and Brooke stay on the run before they’re caught? And as their friendship blossoms into something more, can they find a future worth running to together?
A coming-of-age thriller-romance, perfect for fans of Holly Jackson and Casey McQuiston.
Publication Date October 14th 2025 by Wednesday Books
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Holly Black meets Lex Croucher in this contemporary fantasy about a love story to raise the dead.
At Demdike College of Witchcraft, Orlando is an outcast. Not just for being the only shapeshifter in a college of witches. Not just for being a really bad shapeshifter, with no control over their magic or when their body switches between male and female forms. But because their girlfriend Elizabeth died ― and it was Lando’s fault.
Then charming new boy Bastian arrives with a proposition: he knows a spell that can raise Elizabeth from the dead. It’s dangerous but Lando will try anything. But as Lando’s attraction to Bastian grows, questions start to arise. Who is Bastian? What does he really want? And who will survive the resurrection spell?
For fans of V.E. Schwab and Rainbow Rowell, Emma Hinds’ Witchlore is a spellbinding contemporary fantasy where the passion is as real as the magic.
Publication Date October 14th 2025 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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Jennifer’s Body meets Heartstopper in this terrifying, tender, and bitingly hilarious supernatural horror about a boy who must save his best friend from a demon that wants to steal his heart — literally.
Ren says he’s in love, but Colin knows better.
Sure, he can’t remember much about how it all began. But he remembers dancing at a club he and Ren were too young to dance in. He remembers the boys who harassed them on their way home. He remembers a ghost emerging from the trees, and a white hand reaching for Ren through a thick fog. What Colin can’t remember is what happened next. Only two things are clear to him: Ren is different now, and the new guy vying for his heart is not who he claims to be.
With the help of two unlikely allies and a cranky old medium, Colin must learn to conquer his self-doubt and save his best friend from a love that could cost him his life.
Equal parts campy and bewitching, Corey Liu’s debut YA novel explores predation, isolation, and what happens when a childhood dream of fairytale romance turns into a deadly nightmare.
Publication Date October 21st 2025 by Viking Books for Young Readers
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Sometimes it takes a few fumbles to score the right guy…
A sports romance with humor and heart from the author of They Hate Each Other.
Cameron Morelli is hot sh*t. Worse, he knows it. With a godlike physique and a position as his varsity football team’s star quarterback, there’s nobody he can’t charm. So one might imagine his mortification when he’s rejected by Mason Gray, the team’s snarky water boy. To make matters worse, this disgrace is followed by Cam’s coach benching him until he can get his grades up. Luckily, a reliable tutor steps forward to help Cam reclaim his dignity — the boy who just humiliated him.
For Mason, tutoring an airheaded jock is nothing but a distraction from a past he can’t escape. What he doesn’t expect is to find something worthwhile in their conversations — something softening in the ice between them. Nor does Cam expect that Mason’s calm smile hides a harrowing story. As they slowly nudge through each other’s steel gates, the dangerous realities beyond high school threaten their deepening bond.
But really, it’s about football.
Publication Date October 21st 2025 by Sourcebooks Fire
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In this stunning conclusion to the bestselling Ravenous Fate duology, Elise Saint and Layla Quinn must discover the truths behind an alluring poison and the monstrous new presence ravaging New York City.
In 1927, shocking upheavals have rocked Harlem’s most powerful factions and left Elise Saint estranged from the reaper she loves, Layla Quinn. The Saint family empire is in decline, gangster-run blood houses peddle debauchery, and a dangerous reaper-venom drug has become all the rage with wealthy thrill-seekers. Elise is desperate to find her beloved little sister, Josi, who has gone missing in the chaos. Meanwhile, Layla contends with shifting alliances in the New York underworld, including Karine, an ancient reaper, and the gangster Nicoletta ― both with scores to settle.
And then a terrifying new threat emerges: a beast making swift, murderous rampages through the city, keeping to darkness while hunting reapers and humans alike. Layla and Elise are joined in purpose when they suspect the monster’s origins are related to a far deeper mystery that involves Josi, Karine, and a disquieting new future for reapers. Soon, they will risk everything to unearth these secrets, where the shadowy boundaries between the dead and the living are even more treacherous than they imagined.
Publication Date October 21st 2025 by HarperCollins
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Zoe’s always had a plan. Ballet has been her past, present, and future for so long that she’s never even considered otherwise. It’s been the escape she’s always needed. Yet when senior year arrives, it arrives with a feeling of uncertainty she never expected — and a paralyzing fear about choosing the wrong future.
Hanna’s rarely stayed in a place longer than a year. The greatest consistency she has is her piano playing, and her dad diving back into his Jewish faith every time her mom leaves on assignment. So when her senior year begins with yet another move to a new school, she’s not planning on putting down roots — she’s learned that hard way how that ends.
But when the girls’ paths collide, everything they thought they knew is turned upside down. Their relationship could change them each forever — if they have the courage to let their worlds fall apart.
An honest, messy, and very real approach to first love that focuses keenly on the queer and neurodiverse experience, Don’t Forget To Breathe proves the power of overcoming fear to be wildly, truly yourself.
Publication Date October 28th 2025 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
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From the bestselling author of Threads That Bind comes a timeline-crossing romantic fantasy about a girl in love with a world of darkness — and with the mysterious heir to its throne—who must fight to prevent the destruction of all she loves.
Sascia has always loved the Dark. Six years ago, when the world she knew collided with the world of the Dark, she found it thrilling rather than terrifying. Now, she spends her days studying Darkcreatures or seeking them out in the shadows where they thrive.
Then, one day, she — impossibly — pulls a person from the Dark. A person who shouldn’t exist. And they’re here to kill her. Nugau, the heir to the Darkworld, claims to be delivering a sentence for Sascia’s betrayal in a battle she’s never heard of, in a war that hasn’t happened.
Sascia escapes with her life — barely. But tensions are brewing between her world and the Dark, and it’s not long before she discovers that she and Nugau are bound together by forces they don’t understand. As they grow closer, crossing worlds and timelines, they must find a way to fight for peace—and for each other.
Publication Date October 28th 2025 by Astra Young Readers
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In this spellbinding romantasy, an agender teen stumbles into the fae world and finds love and belonging — but at what cost?
Eighteen-year-old Cam bounces between houses in Texas and Scotland and has always thought that’s why they don’t feel at home in either place. A recent Autism diagnosis followed by a fight with their Mothers add an extra layer of real-life stress, only amplifying their struggle to belong. However, things take an unexpected turn when they cross paths with members of the fae deep in a Scottish forest. With the Gaelic wisdom from their Granaidh (Grandma), Cam understands that they have been noticed by the fae, and that this means that their life is suddenly in grave danger.
Cam must make a choice: face the danger or join the fae and never see their family again. With their human ties fraying even further, the allure of the fae’s acceptance tugs at Cam’s heart, but are they ready to say goodbye to their family forever? From the acclaimed author of The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester, this is a lush, lyrical romantasy novel set at the crossroads of belonging and the magical realm of the unknown.
Publication Date October 28th 2025 by Delacorte Press
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When her sister returns from finishing school a total stranger, a teen seeks out the cause and discovers that the cost of becoming a perfect lady is much higher — and sinister — than ever expected. A lush, gothic tale that will haunt readers long after they turn the last page.
Gwen Donovan adores her beautiful and rebellious older sister, Izzy. But the Izzy who returns from the Delphi School for Girls is not the sister who left for the finishing school. Now she is Isolde: dull and complacent and — most shocking — eager to marry.
Gwen is determined to discover what happened to Izzy at Delphi, and the only solution she can conceive of is to cheat her way into the mysterious school. If she can see for herself what they did, maybe she can get her Izzy back.
But Delphi is far from the finishing school Gwen expects. Several days’ travel away, the estate is the only building on an icy, remote island. Sinister shadows lurk in the hallways, her classmates are strange and secretive, and she is told to never leave her room after dark. More curious, though are the thousands of books, each with the name of a girl on its spine. They line the walls from floor to ceiling, and the students at Delphi are prohibited to read them.
Delphi says they’re reforming the students, but when Gwen discovers a note left for her by her sister, she realizes that what is happening at the school is much more terrifying than she could have ever imagined. There’s something dark at the center of Delphi, and somehow it’s tied to those books — and to the girls who are sent there. And if Gwen doesn’t confront what hides in the shadows, it won’t be just Izzy who’s lost forever.
Publication Date October 28th 2025 by Feiwel & Friends
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CG Drews, instant New York Times-bestselling author of Don’t Let The Forest In, returns with another deeply unsettling and yet hauntingly beautiful tale of murder and botanical body horror, perfect for fans of Andrew Joseph White, Annihilation, and We Have Always Lived In The Castle.
Evander has lived like a ghost in the forgotten corners of the Hazelthorn estate ever since he was taken in by his reclusive billionaire guardian, Byron Lennox-Hall, when he was a child. For his safety, Evander has been given three ironclad rules to follow:
He can never leave the estate. He can never go into the gardens. And most importantly, he can never again be left alone with Byron’s charming, underachieving grandson, Laurie.
That last rule has been in place ever since Laurie tried to kill Evander seven years ago, and yet somehow Evander is still obsessed with him.
When Byron suddenly dies, Evander inherits Hazelthorn’s immense gothic mansion and acres of sprawling grounds, along with the entirety of the Lennox-Hall family’s vast wealth. But Evander’s sure his guardian was murdered, and Laurie may be the only one who can help him find the killer before they come for Evander next.
Perhaps even more concerning is how the overgrown garden is refusing to stay behind its walls, slipping its vines and spores deeper into the house with each passing day. As the family’s dark secrets unravel alongside the growing horror of their terribly alive, bloodthirsty garden, Evander needs to find out what he’s really inheriting before the garden demands to be fed once more.
Publication Date November 4th 2025 by Union Square & Co.
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As fiercely feminist as it is hopeful, this speculative, sapphic YA romance is simultaneously a modern-day war cry and a PSA that there is a wolf who slumbers inside us all — we only have to wake her.
Rue’s life is over. After she’s caught kissing a girl behind the Sunday School classrooms, she gets exiled to Sacred Heart so she can be transformed into her mother’s idea of a respectable lady. The irony of being sent to — of all places — an all-girls Catholic boarding school is not lost on Rue, especially when she falls immediately and irreversibly under the spell of its ethereal, ferocious outcast, Charlotte Savage.
But there’s more to Charlotte than her sharp gaze and even sharper tongue: Charlotte Savage is, against all logic, a werewolf. And Rue can become one, too — any woman can, if she’s brave enough to heed the wild that howls inside of her.
She and Charlotte aren’t alone in answering the call, and upon forming a wolf pack of fearless girls who refuse to remain docile, Rue realizes she couldn’t have been more wrong. Her life isn’t over. It’s just beginning.
This world is not kind to women, much less wild women…but God help the man who tries to cage the girls of Sacred Heart.
Publication Date November 4th 2025 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
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When Jessa and Bird join forces to break up their best friends’ toxic relationship, they start to fall for each other in this swoony ’90s romance from bestselling author Amber Smith and Sam Gellar, perfect for fans of She Gets The Girl.
Bird and Jessa don’t have much in common. Bird is an aspiring poet, still finding herself after a transformative summer away at writing camp. Jessa lives for the discovery of new music, using it to block out the dysfunction waiting for her at home. They would never have crossed paths if it weren’t for one shared problem: Their two best friends have started dating, and the relationship is threatening to ruin their senior year.
Tired of coming second to their friends’ romance, the girls come to the only logical conclusion: they have to break their friends up. But the more time Bird and Jessa spend scheming, the more they start to realize they might have more in common than they thought.
Set in the late ’90s in a world full of change as much as possibility, Jessa and Bird relearn what it means to love themselves and receive love in return, and to dream for a future they never imagined.
Publication Date November 4th 2025 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
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Two siblings investigate the murder of a friend only to unearth even more deadly mysteries in their small town in this page-turning young adult thriller from the acclaimed author of Their Vicious Games.
When Mikky Graves left his small, stifling hometown of Prophets Lake to live with his estranged mother, he thought nothing could ever make him return for good.
Until his sister Kyla’s best friend, Erin, is murdered.
Mikky never worried about leaving Kyla behind at their family-owned funeral home so long as she had Erin. But when Mikky heads home, determined to help Kyla grieve, the sister he encounters barely resembles the one he remembers. Mikky decides, then and there, to do the one thing that seems even more impossible than returning: stay.
As Kyla spirals further into her rage and secrets, Mikky realizes the only thing that can help his sister is finding the truth about who killed Erin. But the more he investigates, the further he’s pulled into other ugly mysteries of Prophets Lake and the beauty brand that is its lifeblood. The town’s rot runs deep, and everyone has something to hide. Perhaps no one more than Kyla herself.
Publication Date November 4th 2025 by Wednesday Books
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In Where There’s Room For Us, #1 New York Times bestselling author Hayley Kiyoko brings us a young adult novel set in a reimagined 1880s Victorian England where everyone is free to love whoever they choose.
When her brother unexpectedly inherits an English estate, the outspoken and infamously daring poet, Ivy, swaps her lively New York life for the prim and proper world of high society, and quickly faces the challenges of its revered traditions–especially once she meets the most sought-after socialite of the courting season: Freya Tallon.
Freya’s life has always been mapped out for her: marry a wealthy lord, produce heirs, and protect the family’s noble status. But when she unexpectedly takes her sister’s place on a date with Ivy, everything changes. For the first time, she feels the kind of spark she’s always dreamed of.
As Ivy and Freya’s connection deepens, both are caught between desire and duty. How much are they willing to risk to be true to themselves ― and to each other?
Inspired by Hayley Kiyoko’s own experiences and classic favorites like Little Women and Pride and Prejudice, Where There’s Room For Us is a romance set in a world where society’s expectations are everything ― but love is so much more.
Publication Date November 4th 2025 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
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Two dead princesses must find true love’s kiss to be brought back to life in this heart-stopping romantic fantasy debut.
Amala has spent her whole life trying to be the perfect princess: delicate, quiet, obedient. But when she’s murdered on the night of her wedding, her story is cut short before it begins.
Kha’dasia has been told her whole life that she is too rough, too loud, too much. She’s no ordinary princess but a ruthless warrior on a quest to fulfill her late brother’s dying wish. Except she dies before reaching her destination.
When both girls wake up in a cursed forest, the gods offer them a second chance at life — if they can find true love’s kiss. But there’s a catch, the gods warn. While the right kiss will save you, the wrong kiss will kill you.
On their journey, the princesses must overcome challenges that force them to face the truth of their lives…and their deaths. And as Amala and Kha’dasia grow closer, they can’t help but wonder if true love has been standing right in front of them all along.
Publication Date November 4th 2025 by Roaring Brook Press
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Full of skin-crawling folk horror and sapphic romance, this feral fairytale and standalone follow-up to Gorgeous Gruesome Faces follows a reclusive songstress and her bodyguard who must unravel the occult mysteries of their past to escape from a cursed island.
Tian is a singer-songwriter with a massive online following, known for her hypnotic vocals and ethereal looks. But behind the glamorous façade is a disturbing reality: raised in an isolated mansion, Tian is a prisoner in her own life.
Liya is Tian’s childhood friend and her only close companion, tasked with protecting Tian at all costs. But hidden beneath Liya’s beautiful human exterior is a beastly secret: her teeth are far too sharp, and her appetite much too ferocious.
When several fans mysteriously suffer fatal injuries while watching her livestream, Tian, along with Liya, are sent to a spiritual healing retreat on a remote island in the South China Seas. They are joined by Tian’s musical collaborator Shenyu, a troubled idol whose recent brush with the law and string of bad boyfriends has him seeking his own new start. But the trio soon discovers that the island is no peaceful getaway. There is constant surveillance, bizzare rituals, and something terrifying lurking in the forest. Something not quite human.
In order to escape with her loved ones, Tian must uncover her connection to the island’s blood-drenched legend – and the truth behind Liya’s monstrous identity – before the island claims them all as its final sacrifice.
Publication Date November 4th 2025 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Chloe Gong comes the start of a daring new dystopian series where humanity has moved to virtual reality to flee their deteriorating world, following two young soldiers who must depend on unlikely allies in their fight for survival.
The future is loading…
To escape rising seas and rampant epidemics, most of society lives “upcountry” in glistening virtual reality, while those who can’t afford the subscription are forced to remain in crumbling “downcountry.”
But upcountry isn’t perfect. A cold war rages between two powerful nations, Medaluo and Atahua — and no one suffers for it more than the Medan orphans in Atahua. Their enrollment at Nile Military Academy is mandatory. Either serve as a soldier, or risk being labelled a spy.
Eirale graduated the academy and joined NileCorp’s private forces downcountry, exactly as she was supposed to. Then Atahua’s most wanted anarchist frames her for assassinating a government official, and she’s given a choice: cooperate with him to search for a dangerous program in Medaluo or go down for treason.
Meanwhile, Lia is finishing her last year upcountry at Nile Military Academy. Paired with her academic nemesis for their final assignment, Lia is determined to beat him for valedictorian and prove her worth. But there may be far more at stake when their task to infiltrate Medaluo and track down an Atahuan traitor goes wrong…
Though Eirale and Lia tear through Medaluo on different planes of reality, the two start to suspect they are puzzle pieces in a larger conspiracy — and the closer they get to the truth, the closer their worlds come to a shattering collision.
Publication Date November 11th 2025 by First Second
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The stand alone adaptation of the popular webcomic by the same name about the down-to-earth courtship between two gay teenagers as they fumble with high school, parental expectations, their dreams, and each other.
Carter is an impulsive, fun-loving, extremely gay teen on a mission to finally hook up with any cute, single guy who will have him. Unfortunately, his options are slim. Enter recently-single Adrian, Carter’s very cute, hardworking, and stressed-out target who rebuffs all of his clumsy seduction techniques. Adrian initially plays along but slams on the brakes when he realizes he is still in love with his ex.
After a messy, uninhibited night at a house party that results in Carter helping both Adrian and his best friend Maria ― the two boys form a tentative friendship. As their friendship progresses through countless hangouts and a few too many pizza slices, the two become integral to one another. But can their vague relationship survive their first official hookup, Adrian’s self-destructiveness, and a big fight that threatens any chance of either confessing?
Publication Date November 11th 2025 by Wednesday Books
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A swoon-worthy YA rom com about an ambitious college student whose plans get derailed when he discovers his roommate is the prince of hell.
Owen is not going to college to have fun. Nothing is going to stop him from achieving his goals: study hard, get a good job, and set himself up for the rest of his life. The last thing he needs is to have a loud, obnoxious, and infuriatingly hot roommate. Especially since said roommate just so happens to be the prince of hell.
Prince Zarmenus has come to Point University for the first-ever Earth/hell exchange program, and he’s determined to make the most of it. Which may or may not include wild parties, bringing in random boys to his and Owen’s room, and accidentally setting Owen’s furniture on fire. Sparks fly (literally) as Owen and Zar clash, but Zar’s actions threaten to not only ruin Owen’s peaceful college life, but demon-human relations as well. To clean up his image, he asks Owen to be his fake boyfriend and teach him how to be a better human in exchange for an internship that will secure Owen’s future. That, and Zar will consider being a better roommate.
A deal is struck, and the two start pretending to be in a relationship where they each have agendas of their own. Only Owen has a secret ― dating his mortal enemy, even if it’s fake, is the most fun he’s ever had.
Charming and fun, My Roommate From Hell is a rom com with a magical twist. Think just one bed, but that bed is in hell, surrounded by fire and brimstone.
Publication Date November 18th 2025 by Dutton Books for Young Readers
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From Reese’s Book Club LitUp Fellow Margot Fisher, a moving debut about healing, self-acceptance, and queer first love, set on a roller derby team.
Morgan “Moose” Shaker barely survived the fire that killed her fathers in their beloved roller rink in small-town Utah. Now she has to move to Portland, Oregon to live with her much older half sister, Eden. Eden’s doing her best, but she’s hardly ready to be a parent to a sixteen-year-old she hasn’t seen in years. Plus, barely-out-of-the-closet Moose worries that she’s not ready for super-affirming, rainbow-flags-everywhere Portland. Her anxiety and frustration are at peak levels.
Fortunately, Moose finds an outlet for her emotions and a surprising group of friends in roller derby. Her teammates help her grieve her dads and confront her queer imposter syndrome. And even though it’s against league rules, she might be falling for a teammate.
Heartfelt, funny, and romantic, this debut will make you want to lace up your skates, pull on your pads, and hit the track.
Publication Date November 18th 2025 by HarperCollins
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Sex Education meets Euphoria in this dark contemporary novel that tackles perfectionism, emotional abuse, and the dark side of social media.
Fallon is a fixer. From planning prom to organizing her college applications, she’s got it all figured out…except for when her younger sister comes to her with very basic questions about sex. Shocked that she knows so little — and her fellow classmates even less — Fallon decides some practical education is in order. And Fallon isn’t above practicing a little civil disobedience by creating a secret underground off-campus group.
Shelby is a fighter. Having her nose broken is nothing new in her semiprofessional career…but this time it’s her boyfriend who threw the punch. Now her phone is blowing up with texts from a new guy who tells her she’s perfect, she’s special, she’s everything he’s ever wanted…except for a few small details. Shelby’s happy to adjust for him, because isn’t that what a healthy relationship is about?
Jobie is a failure. She doesn’t have enough followers and her posts never go viral, no matter how hard she crushes challenges and applies exactly the right filter. But a friendly DM from a good girl just like her points her in the direction of a whole new audience of admirers. Guys who just want to talk. Guys who give her the attention she’s always wanted.
The lives of all three girls intersect in Fallon’s secret class, rumors of which have parents up in arms. Fallon needs to keep herself anonymous, Shelby needs to keep her new boyfriend happy, and Jobie needs to keep her followers…who keep asking for more. Each girl finds herself trapped in an inescapable situation — that will leave one of them dead.
Publication Date December 2nd 2025 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
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From New York Times-bestselling author George M. Johnson and USA Today-bestselling author Leah Johnson comes a revolutionary new holiday romcom for fans of Lynn Painter, Alice Oseman, and Nicola Yoon.
Andy was supposed to shed her too-serious student journalist persona and reinvent herself on New Year’s Eve. Instead, she puked on her crush, dropped her phone in a fish tank, and managed to get her car stolen. Now, she only has the first day of the year to stop the gentrification that’s threatening her family’s business, right her wrongs from the night before, and figure out why she feels so drawn to the electric new-girl-next-door. How can Andy find her voice when everything’s being turned upside down?
Dominique is an influencer on the verge of securing a major brand deal that will ensure his future and family legacy. But when he runs into his former best friend, unresolved feelings emerge – and in a small town, there’s nowhere to hide. Not from his cousin, Andy, who has always seen him for his true self, not from his busybody manager, Kim, whose favorite color is money green, and certainly not from himself. When all the world’s a stage, can Dominique rise to superstardom without leaving behind the ones he loves?
There’s Always Next Year is a dual POV, double love story about what it means to nearly blow your life up, and race to put it back together before your time runs out. And if Andy and Dominique fail? Well, there’s always next year.
Publication Date December 2nd 2025 by Wednesday Books
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The Hazel Wood meets Laini Taylor in this gorgeous urban fantasy of sisterhood, ghosts, and old family curses.
Are the four Farthing sisters really descended from Persephone? This is what their aunt has always told them: that the women in their family can trace their lineage right back to the Goddess of the Dead. And maybe she’s right, because the Farthing girls do have a ghost in the attic of their New York City brownstone ― a kind and gentle ghost named Henry, who only they can see.
When one of the sisters falls in love with the ghost, and another banishes him to the Underworld, the sisters are faced with even bigger questions about who they are. If they really are related to Persephone, and they really are a bit magic, then perhaps it’s up to them to save Henry, to save the world, and to save each other.
One Response
This is a great list! So many titles on here that I’m excited for!