On The Booked Shelf we’re highlighting some of the fantastic book deals for new and upcoming Young Adult books that we’re announced during the month of March!
Being released by Wattpad Books, Dawkins debut follows “Naomi Morgan, the only Black ballerina at her prestigious dance school, who while injured and reeling from the death of her best friend, meets a street artist named Saint, whose social justice messages spark something in her, changing them both forever.” Dawkins is also a poet and the novel is releasing in 2022.
Reject Squad by Alyssa Cole and ONeill Jones (Illustrator)
Set to be released in 2024, this Sleeping Beauty-inspired fantasy romance graphic novel will follow a perfectionist princess whose found herself hexed, which places both her life and kingdom in jeopardy, unless “her newfound friends (the magical hot messes of the Reject Squad)—and the irritating boy she’s betrothed to—can help her save herself.”
Week Of March 8
Highly Suspicious, Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
In Hibbert’s YA debut “a snarky e-girl battles her clean-cut academic rival (and former best friend) over the course of a three-week enrichment program in the Scottish wilderness to see who’s really top of their class, sparking old and possibly romantic feelings.” The novel will be published in Fall 2022 through Joy Revolution, the Random House Children’s Books imprint launched by Nicola and David Yoon.
hello everyone! I am writing a YA romance about a sarcasm queen and an earnest soft boy. there will be rivalry, competitive hiking, competitive studying, probably competitive kissing, etcetera.
You’re Breaking My Heart by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Rhuday-Perkovich’s debut novel will follow a “teenager grieving her brother’s death and her last words to him before he died—who then discovers a portal to another dimension underneath New York City, one that just might offer an opportunity for a do-over as a better version of herself.” Rhuday-Perkovich’s novel is being released by independent publisher Levine Querido in Fall 2022.
The Charmed List by Julie Abe
Abe’s upcoming contemporary romance debut is pitched as Sabrina the Teenage Witch x Jenny Han where “after spending most of high school as the quiet girl, Ellie Kobata is ready to take some risks and potentially have a life-changing summer, starting with her Anti-Wallflower list—13 items she is going to check off one by one. But when number four on the list—revenge on Jack Yasuda—goes terribly wrong, she’s certain her summer has gone from charmed to cursed.” This novel is set to be released with Wednesday Books in Summer 2022.
Cool. Awkward. Black edited by Karen Strong
An upcoming YA fiction anthology that “explores the joys of and multitudes within Black geekhood from a number of Black authors.” It’s set to feature stories by Amerie, Kalynn Bayron, Terry Benton, Roseanne A. Brown, Elise Bryant, Tracy Deonn, Desiree S. Evans, Isaac Fitzsimons, Lamar R. Giles, Jordan Ifueko, Leah Johnson, Amanda Joy, Danny Lore, Kwame Mbalia, Tochi Onyebuchi, K. Arsenault Rivera, Ciannon Smart, Julian Winters, Ibi Zoboi, and one winner from a contest run by Strong. Its set to be released by Philomel (Penguin Teen) in Spring 2023.
The Gravity Of Missing Things by Marisa Urgo
This #OwnVoices YA contemporary will follow a bisexual juggling “first love and a family secret when her pilot mother’s plane mysteriously vanishes, leaving her mother as the prime suspect.” Set to be released by Entangled Urgo’s debut is slated for a Summer 2022 release.
Week Of March 15
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes
Reyes’s upcoming YA contemporary debut is pitched as perfect for readers of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter following “16-year-old Yamilet Flores, who has just started at a new Catholic school after being outed by her ex-best friend and crush at her old school. Her new goals: make her mom proud, keep her brother out of trouble, and most importantly, don’t fall in love. But that’s not easy when Bo, the only openly queer girl at school, is funny, cute, and seems like she might be interested in Yami.” The novel will be published by Harper Collins/ Balzer + Bray in Spring 2022.
A Million To One by Adiba Jaigirdar
Jaigirdar’s upcoming YA “high-stakes, romantic” heist novel will follow four girls on the Titanic who “team up to steal a priceless jewel-encrusted book on board the infamous ship.” Set to be released in Spring 2022, this novel is being published with Harper Collins.
I'm so excited for everyone to board the Titanic with these four amazing girls, on the adventure of a lifetime filled with a high-stakes heist, a sapphic romance, and so much more!
Set for a Summer 2022 release with Little Brown, this YA fantasy is pitched as “part dark fairy tale and part heist novel about the last living water diviner, 18-year-old Mererid, who has spent years running from the prince who bound her into his service when she was a child. When her old handler returns and asks Mer to destroy the magical well that keeps the prince’s lands safe, she can’t refuse.”
Every Variable Of Us by Charles A. Bush
Bush’s YA contemporary debut has been pitched as The Hate U Give x Moonlight. “After Philly teenager Alexis Duncan is injured in a gang shooting, her basketball career comes to a halt. At the urging of new Indian student (and crush?) Aamani, Alexis shifts her focus to the school’s STEM team in hopes of earning a college scholarship, but gains more than she could have imagined.” This novel is set to be released with Flux Books in Spring 2022.
Week Of March 22
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh
Planned for a Fall 2022 release with Little Brown, Katouh’s speculative YA novel is pitched for fans of The Book Thief and Salt To The Sea. “Set amid the Syrian Revolution follows Salama Kassab, a teenager who must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.”
Dead End Girls by Wendy Heard
Heard’s queer YA psychological thriller is about ” two desperate teens who fake their own deaths, to murderous consequences.” It’s planned for a Spring 2022 release with Little Brown.
Week Of March 29
Golden State by Isabel Quintero
Set for a Summer 2023 release at Kokila (Penguin Young Readers imprint), Quintero’s YA contemporary novel will follow “18-year-old Maricela, who, after finding out her father has another family he’s been keeping secret from her, embarks on a road trip through California to meet her half-brother for the first time. “
Lesperance’s YA literary gothic horror novel will follow 17-year-old Addie, who after suffering a near-fatal freediving accident “tags along on her mother’s honeymoon to a private island where she unearths dark secrets—wandering ghosts, bloodthirsty flowers, and a deep pool where no one feels pain—before realizing the island might not be willing to let her go.” This novel will be released with Razorbill and has a Fall 2022 release.
The Q by Amy Tintera
Tintera, a YA SFF author, is set to release her near-future YA novel following “a girl raised in a walled quarantine zone and the son of a Presidential candidate abducted and dropped into the zone by parachute must go on the run toward the only exit before they are hunted down by mercenaries.” Being published with Crown, this novel is slated for a Fall 2022 release.
Those were some of the Book Deal highlights from March! Which novels are you looking forward to?
The novel follows Julia who doesn’t want to take up the “perfect daughter” role that her older sister Olga has occupied. But after a tragic accident, Olga is left dead and instead of acknowledging her grief, Julia’s mother begins criticizing and explaining how Julia has failed. When Julia then discovers her sister may not have been entirely perfect, she embarks on many firsts.
America Ferrera is set to direct the project through production companies Anonymous Content and MACRO. Linda Yvette Chávez is writing the screenplay, Doreen Wilcox Little (Anonymous Content) will be producing alongside Charles D. King and Poppy Hanks (MACRO), including David Kuhn (Aevitas Creative Management). Executive producers include Michelle Brower and Greta Fuentes.
“Years ago, I fell in love with Erika L. Sánchez’ stunning novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter,” said Ferrera. She continued to say that Sánchez’s writing “struck” her to the core. “I am truly honored and humbled to direct Linda Yvette Chávez’s beautifully adapted screenplay. The opportunity to direct the work of these two incredibly talented Latina writers is a dream come true. I can’t wait to share this film with the many fans of the novel, and to introduce this funny, profound, and resonant story to the world.” [Quoted in articles such as Deadline]
“The depth, wit and searing intelligence of her writing, and her young Latina heroine, struck me to my core and left me wanting so much more. I am truly honored and humbled to direct Linda Yvette Chávez’s beautifully adapted screenplay. The opportunity to direct the work of these two incredibly talented Latina writers is a dream come true. I can’t wait to share this film with the many fans of the novel, and to introduce this funny, profound, and resonant story to the world.”
MACRO is known for projects such as Gentefied and Raising Dion. Ferrera is known for her role in the 2006 television series Ugly Betty as well as NBC’s Superstore.
Sánchez will be a co-producer on the project. However, no information as to release date, casting, etc. has been mentioned yet.
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.
But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role.
Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.
But it’s not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first kiss, first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister’s story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez is out now!
Today on The Booked Shelf we’re wrapping up covers revealed throughout the month of December for YA Books releasing this year in 2021!
1. Bloody Spade by Brittany M. Willows
On December 1, Willows revealed the cover to her upcoming urban fantasy through Twitter. Following a pansexual cat-eared thief Iori and recent graduate Ellen Amelia Jane, the two try to navigate magic, a sinister plot, and their feelings for each other.
Cover artist is the author, Brittany M. Willows. Bloody Spade is set to be released September 15, 2021!
A girl full of heart A thief touched by darkness A boy with a fiery temper An unwitting servant of evil
The era of magic was once thought to be a myth, but after the Reemergence ushered forces both dark and light into the mundane world, it has since become a harsh reality. Now those affected by this strange power—a specialized group of Empowered called Jokers, known collectively as Cardplay—must protect their world from the darkness that threatens to consume it, all the while fighting for equality in a society clinging to normalcy.
But the Reemergence was only the beginning.
When another influx occurs on the seventh anniversary of that fateful event, an unfortunate encounter at ground zero lands Iori Ryone, a teenage boy in possession of a corrupt and legendary magic, in the care of recent Joker graduate Ellen Amelia Jane. From him, she learns the Reemergence may not have been the inevitable natural disaster it first seemed.
Someone is trying to tear down the barrier that separates the magical realms from the mundane. The question is, can Cardplay stop them before it’s too late?
2. The Oracle Stone by Talli L. Morgan
Revealed through Twitter on December 1, was the cover to an upcoming fantasy adventure about three mages trying not to kill each other as they look for a magical artifact. According to the author: “If you like: Spectacular magic & tricky gods / Gils with knives / Found Family / Endgame queer romance / High-stakes adventure….then you will definitely vibe with this book.”
The Oracle Stone by Talli L. Morgan is set to be released February 1, 2021!
Some legends never die.
JEKKU AJ’ERE can see everything from the start of time to the end, and it’s an agonizing curse. His only chance to bargain for freedom is to find the Oracle Stone, a magic artifact that was split into four pieces and hidden centuries ago.
LILYA NOOR wants to forget her past and be immortal, so she agrees to a blood oath that will grant her eternal life if she delivers the Oracle Stone to her Master of Magic. Failure is not an option, but what if the stone offers a better deal than simple immortality?
VAELTAJA IEVISIN has one chance for redemption: the Second Savior. Presenting the Savior and the lost Oracle Stone to his gods will end his banishment, but the Savior isn’t at all what Taja expected, and neither is the stone. And how much is forgiveness worth, anyway, when the gods are never satisfied?
There are higher powers at play, and Jekku, Lilya, and Taja must pull themselves together or risk losing everything to the vengeful spirits trapped in the stone. But it’s hard to save the world when you can’t trust anyone, including yourself, and certainly not the gods.
3. Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis
On December 4 through Twitter, Lewis revealed the cover to her upcoming witchy debut full of Black Girl Magic. Katrell can raise the dead and it’s the only way she can make money to support herself and her mother.
Cover designer is Casey Moses. Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis is set to be released on August 24, 2021!
Katrell doesn’t mind talking to the dead; she just wishes it made more money. Clients pay her to talk to their deceased loved ones, but it isn’t enough to support her unemployed mother and Mom’s deadbeat boyfriend-of-the-week. Things get worse, when a ghost warns her to stop the summonings or she’ll “burn everything down.” Katrell is willing to call them on their bluff, though. She has no choice. What do ghosts know about eating peanut butter for dinner?
However, when her next summoning accidentally raises someone from the dead, Katrell realizes that a live body is worth a lot more than a dead apparition. And, warning or not, she has no intention of letting this lucrative new business go.
But magic doesn’t come for free, and soon dark forces are closing in on Katrell. The further she goes, the more she risks the lives of not only herself, but those she loves. Katrell faces a choice: resign herself to poverty, or confront the darkness before it’s too late.
4. Misfit In Love by S.K. Ali
Through Entertainment Weekly on December 8, the sequel cover to Saints And Misfits titled Misfit In Love was revealed. Janna Yusuf, an Arab-Indian (and American) teen whose tasked with helping her brother’s wedding, but problems arise when the the bride and groom can’t agree. Janna is ready to start her own summer of love, but is more confused than ever.
Cover artist is Mary Kate McDevitt. Misfit In Love by S.K. Ali is set to be released May 25!
Janna Yusuf is so excited for the weekend: her brother Muhammad’s getting married, and she’s reuniting with her mom, whom she’s missed the whole summer.
And Nuah’s arriving for the weekend too.
Sweet, constant Nuah.
The last time she saw him, Janna wasn’t ready to reciprocate his feelings for her. But things are different now. She’s finished high school, ready for college…and ready for Nuah.
It’s time for Janna’s (carefully planned) summer of love to begin—starting right at the wedding.
But it wouldn’t be a wedding if everything went according to plan. Muhammad’s party choices aren’t in line with his fiancée’s taste at all, Janna’s dad is acting strange, and her mom is spending more time with an old friend (and maybe love interest?) than Janna.
And Nuah’s treating her differently.
Just when things couldn’t get more complicated, two newcomers—the dreamy Haytham and brooding Layth—have Janna more confused than ever about what her misfit heart really wants.
Janna’s summer of love is turning out to be super crowded and painfully unpredictable.
5. This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron
As of December 16, Tor.com revealed the cover and an excerpt to Bayron’s newest contemporary fantasy that reimagines The Secret Garden. Briseis has the power to grow seeds with a single touch. When she and her parents move from Brooklyn to an estate left behind by her aunt, they inherit a home more sinister than they imagined. There’s a garden filled with deadly botanicals and a witch after a dangerous elixir.
According to the article there’s “deadly plants, long-held family secrets, systemic oppression, and the occult.”
Cover artist is Raymond Sebastien. This Poison Heart is set to be released July 6!
When Briseis’s aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. Hopefully there, surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift. But their new home is sinister in ways they could never have imagined–it comes with a specific set of instructions, an old-school apothecary, and a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world that can only be entered by those who share Bri’s unique family lineage.
When strangers begin to arrive on their doorstep, asking for tinctures and elixirs, Bri learns she has a surprising talent for creating them. One of the visitors is Marie, a mysterious young woman who Bri befriends, only to find that Marie is keeping dark secrets about the history of the estate and its surrounding community. There is more to Bri’s sudden inheritance than she could have imagined, and she is determined to uncover it . . . until a nefarious group comes after her in search of a rare and dangerous immortality elixir. Up against a centuries-old curse and the deadliest plant on earth, Bri must harness her gift to protect herself and her family.
6. The Wild Ones by Nafiza Azad
As of December 17, Culturess revealed the cover to Azad’s feminist fantasy called The Wild Ones, following a group of girls with special powers who travel the world helping others. Then, they must band together to help a boy whose magic saved them all.
Alongside the cover reveal also an excerpt.
Cover artist is Alex Cabal and Jacket designer is Sonia Chaghatzbanian. The Wild Ones by Nafiza Azad is set to be released August 3!
Meet the Wild Ones: girls who have been hurt, abandoned, and betrayed all their lives. It all began with Paheli, who was once betrayed by her mother and sold to a man in exchange for a favor. When Paheli escapes, she runs headlong into a boy with stars in his eyes. This boy, as battered as she is, tosses Paheli a box of stars before disappearing.
With the stars, Paheli gains access to the Between, a place of pure magic and mystery. Now, Paheli collects girls like herself and these Wild Ones use their magic to travel the world, helping the hopeless and saving others from the fates they suffered.
Then Paheli and the Wild Ones learn that the boy who gave them the stars, Taraana, is in danger. He’s on the run from powerful forces within the world of magic. But if Taraana is no longer safe and free, neither are the Wild Ones. And that…is a fate the Wild Ones refuse to accept. Ever again.
7. Switch by A.S. King
On the Penguin Teen blog as of December 17, the cover to King’s upcoming novel Switch was revealed. In this surreal novel, time has stopped, but Tru’s father continues to protect a switch that exists only in her house, but she’s eager to learn what happens when it’s flipped.
Cover artist is Nicki Crock and designer Samira Iravani. Switch by A.S. King is set to be released May 11!
Tru Beck is a teenage girl from Pennsylvania who lives in a world that has become trapped in a fold in time and space, where “real” time has stopped but humanity continues to mark artificial time based on a website called N3WCLOCK.com.
Tru lives in a house that has a switch at its center. No one knows what the switch controls, but her father continually builds larger and larger boxes around the switch (Tru lives in Box #7). Tru leaves the box through a Tru-shaped hole to go to school, where she pays no attention to the new “Solution Time” curriculum. In fact, the only interesting thing that’s ever happened to Tru at school is when she discovers (on her first try) that she can throw a javelin farther than any human has ever thrown anything before in human history.
8. The World Between Us by Sarah Ann Juckes
Revealed through Twitter on December 17, Juckes revealed the cover to her upcoming contemporary featuring disabled rep. Alice is bed-bound, but logs into Stream Cast to experience the outside world. She discovers Rowan who encourages her little by little.
Artwork is from Studio Helen. The World Between Us by Sarah Ann Juckes is set to be released March 4!
With shades of ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES and FIVE FEET APART, THE WORLD BETWEEN US is a powerful and thought-provoking story about falling in love with someone a whole world apart.
Alice may be bed-bound, but that doesn’t stop her from going outside. Every day, she logs into Stream Cast and experiences the outside world by watching other people live wonderful and exciting lives.
But when one of the streamers is killed in a cycle accident, Alice is introduced to a new streamer.
Rowan sees beauty in the everyday and encourages her to stop watching, and start taking control. But Rowan too has a secret he’s trying to hide from Alice – and from himself.
As Alice and Rowan build a bigger and more beautiful world together, outside forces threaten to bring this new world to an end.
9. A Dark And Starless Forest by Sarah Hollowell
Through Twitter on December 18, Hollowell revealed the cover to her contemporary fantasy debut, pitched for fans of Wilder Girls.
Nine magical siblings live in a secluded house, cut off from the rest of the world by a sinister forest. But when one of the girl notices her siblings have gone missing, she’ll have to confront not only the forest, but herself.
Cover artist is Kim Ekdahl and designer is Marie Claire Cruz. A Dark And Starless Forest is set to be released September 14.
When her siblings start to go missing, a girl must confront the dark thing that lives in the forest—and the growing darkness in herself.
10. Like A Love Song by Gabriela Martins
Through Twitter on December 19, Martins revealed the cover to her debut contemporary Like A Love Song. Following a Latina popstar whose image takes a dive after a messy breakup, can being set up with a fake boyfriend help her find her way back to the top?
Cover illustrator is Erick Dávila and designer is Casey Moses. Like A Love Song is set to be released August 3!
Fake boyfriend. Real heartbreak?
Natalie is living her dream: topping the charts and setting records as a Brazilian pop star…until she’s dumped spectacularly on live television. Not only is it humiliating—it could end her career.
Her PR team’s desperate plan? A gorgeous yet oh-so-fake boyfriend. Nati reluctantly agrees, but William is not what she expected. She was hoping for a fierce bad boy—not a soft-hearted British indie film star. While she fights her way back to the top with a sweet and surprisingly swoon-worthy boy on her arm, she starts to fall for William—and realizes that maybe she’s the biggest fake of them all. Can she reclaim her voice and her heart?
11. The Taking Of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
On December 23 the Penguin Teen blog revealed the cover to Douglass’s thriller following Jake, whose struggling to fit in at St. Claire Prep and can also see the dead. When he learns of a vengeful spirit who begins haunting him, he becomes worried whether his survival is a guarantee.
Cover artist is Corey Brickley and designer is Jessica Jenkins. The Taking Of Jake Livingston is set to be released July 13!
Jake Livingston is one of the only black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It’s hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead.
In fact he sees the dead around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don’t interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed sixteen kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about ghosts and the rules to life itself go out the window as Sawyer begins haunting him and bodies turn up in his neighborhood.
High school soon becomes a survival game–one Jake is not sure he’s going to win.
12. The Nature Of Witches by Rachel Griffin
As of December 29, Griffin revealed the cover to her debut through Twitter. Witches have maintained the climate, but they’re starting to lose their control. A witch whose rare power is tied to every season must make a choice when the seasons become more volatile.
Cover art is from the Sourcebooks Fire team. The Nature Of Witches is set to be released June 1!
For centuries, witches have maintained the climate, their power from the sun peaking in the season of their birth. But now their control is faltering as the atmosphere becomes more erratic. All hope lies with Clara, an Everwitch whose rare magic is tied to every season.
In Autumn, Clara wants nothing to do with her power. It’s wild and volatile, and the price of her magic―losing the ones she loves―is too high, despite the need to control the increasingly dangerous weather.
In Winter, the world is on the precipice of disaster. Fires burn, storms rage, and Clara accepts that she’s the only one who can make a difference.
In Spring, she falls for Sang, the witch training her. As her magic grows, so do her feelings, until she’s terrified Sang will be the next one she loses.
In Summer, Clara must choose between her power and her happiness, her duty and the people she loves…before she loses Sang, her magic, and thrusts the world into chaos.
Additional Cover Reveals ↷
➣ Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard revealed through Entertainment Weekly (December 1, 2020)
On November 18, Victoria Lee revealed the cover to A Lesson In Vengeance via Tor. Her upcoming sapphic, dark academia horror novel has a Summer 2021 release!
The novel has been pitched as a “dark, twisty, atmospheric thriller about a boarding school haunted by its history of witchcraft and two girls dangerously close to digging up the past.”
Felicity Morrow returns to the Dalloway school, however she finds herself drawn to a new student by the name of Ellis Haley, a prodigy novelist. So, when Ellis asks for Felicity’s help in researching the history behind an intriguing group of students, Felicity will soon find herself digging up and facing a mysterious past.
Alongside the cover reveal was a Q&A where Lee discussed what she was bringing to dark academia as someone who has a Ph.D in dark academic literature, the importance of navigating Queer sexuality, and even writing her main female characters who are “selfish and shortsighted and obsessive and sometimes callous.”
Cover artist is Maggie Enterrios and designer is Regina Flath.
Felicity Morrow is back at Dalloway School.
Perched in the Catskill mountains, the centuries-old, ivy-covered campus was home until the tragic death of her girlfriend. Now, after a year away, she’s returned to graduate. She even has her old room in Godwin House, the exclusive dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirits of five Dalloway students—girls some say were witches. The Dalloway Five all died mysteriously, one after another, right on Godwin grounds.
Witchcraft is woven into Dalloway’s history. The school doesn’t talk about it, but the students do. In secret rooms and shadowy corners, girls convene. And before her girlfriend died, Felicity was drawn to the dark. She’s determined to leave that behind her now; all Felicity wants is to focus on her senior thesis and graduate. But it’s hard when Dalloway’s occult history is everywhere. And when the new girl won’t let her forget.
It’s Ellis Haley’s first year at Dalloway, and she’s already amassed a loyal following. A prodigy novelist at seventeen, Ellis is a so-called “method writer.” She’s eccentric and brilliant, and Felicity can’t shake the pull she feels to her. So when Ellis asks Felicity for help researching the Dalloway Five for her second book, Felicity can’t say no. Given her history with the arcane, Felicity is the perfect resource.
And when history begins to repeat itself, Felicity will have to face the darkness in Dalloway–and in herself.
A Lesson In Vengeance by Victoria Lee is set to be released on August 3, 2021!
Today on The Booked Shelf we’re wrapping up some of the phenomenal covers revealed throughout October, featuring 20+ YA books releasing in 2021!
1.Love And Other Natural Disasters by Misa Sugiura
On October 2, We Need Diverse Books blog revealed the cover to Misa Sugiura’s upcoming Queer rom-com following a fake relationship between two girls over the course of the summer! Willow asks Nozomi to pose as her girlfriend to make her ex jealous, but when Nozomi wants to prove she’s not just a stand-in, their relationship turns into something real.
Cover artist is Hannah Good and designer is Alison Klapthor. Love & Other Natural Disasters is set to be released June 8, 2021!
When Nozomi Nagai pictured the ideal summer romance, a fake one wasn’t what she had in mind.
That was before she met the perfect girl. Willow is gorgeous, glamorous, and…heartbroken? And when she enlists Nozomi to pose as her new girlfriend to make her ex jealous, Nozomi is a willing volunteer.
Because Nozomi has a master plan of her own: one to show Willow she’s better than a stand-in, and turn their fauxmance into something real. But as the lies pile up, it’s not long before Nozomi’s schemes take a turn toward disaster…and maybe a chance at love she didn’t plan for.
2. Rising Like A Storm by Tanaz Bhathena
Revealed through Penguin Teen Canada’s Twitter on October 2, was the sequel cover to Hunted By The Sky titled, Rising Like A Storm. Inspired by medieval India, the duology follows Gul, a girl with a star-shaped mark whose capable of wielding a powerful magic and is on a mission to get revenge on the king, who killed her parents. But along the way, she meets stable boy Cavas, whose eager to save his ill father.
The cover designer is Elizabeth Clark. Rising Like A Storm is set to be released June 22, 2021!
In the concluding installment to the Wrath of Ambar duology from masterful author Tanaz Bhathena, Gul and Cavas must unite their magical forces―and hold onto their growing romance―to save their kingdom from tyranny.
With King Lohar dead and a usurper queen in power, Gul and Cavas face a new tyrannical government that is bent on killing them both. Their roles in King Lohar’s death have not gone unnoticed, and the new queen is out for blood. What she doesn’t know is that Gul and Cavas have a connection that runs deeper than romance, and together, they just might have the strength and magic to end her for good.
Then a grave mistake ends with Cavas taken prisoner by the government. Gul must train an army of warriors alone. With alliances shifting and the thirst for vengeance growing, the fate of Ambar seems ever more uncertain. It will take every ounce of strength, love, and sacrifice for Gul and Cavas to reach their final goal―and build a more just world than they’ve ever known.
3. Last Chance Books by Kelsey Rodkey
On October 2, Rodkey revealed the cover to her debut contemporary romance through Twitter. Following Madeline Moore and her family-owned bookstore that’s remained open for generations, she learns of a competing chain bookstore, but one of the employees is determined to take her customers.
Cover artist is Sarah Long and designer is Jessie Gang. Last Chance Books by Kelsey Rodkey is set to be released May 18, 2021!
Don’t you just love the smell of old books in the morning?
Madeline Moore does. Books & Moore, the musty bookstore her family has owned for generations, is where she feels most herself. Nothing is going to stop her from coming back after college to take over the store from her beloved aunt.
Nothing, that is—until a chain bookstore called Prologue opens across the street and threatens to shut them down.
Madeline sets out to demolish the competition, but Jasper, the guy who works over at Prologue, seems intent on ruining her life. Not only is he taking her customers, he has the unbelievable audacity to be… extremely cute.
But that doesn’t matter. Jasper is the enemy and he will be destroyed. After all—all’s fair in love and (book) wars.
4. Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado
We Need Diverse Books blog unveiled the cover to Maldonado’s contemporary debut Fat Chance, Charlie Vega on October 5. Alongside the reveal was a Q&A delving more into Maldonado’s writing process, publishing journey, etc. The novel follows Charlie who is a smart, funny, ambitious girl, and fat. When a cute classmate notices her, she learns she’s the second choice. Everyone seems to have ideas of how she should be and wonders whether she’s actually being seen or heard.
Cover artist is Ericka Lugo. Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado is set to be released February 2, 2021!
Charlie Vega is a lot of things. Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat.
People sometimes have a problem with that last one. Especially her mom. Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it’s hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn’t help. The world and everyone in it have ideas about what she should look like: thinner, lighter, slimmer-faced, straighter-haired. Be smaller. Be whiter. Be quieter.
But there’s one person who’s always in Charlie’s corner: her best friend Amelia. Slim. Popular. Athletic. Totally dope. So when Charlie starts a tentative relationship with cute classmate Brian, the first worthwhile guy to notice her, everything is perfect until she learns one thing–he asked Amelia out first. So is she his second choice or what? Does he even really see her? UGHHH. Everything is now officially a MESS.
5. Victories Greater Than Death by Charlie Jane Anders
As of October 2, Anders revealed the cover to her Young Adult debut titled Victories Greater Than Death through Twitter. Pitched as ‘Star Wars‘ meets ‘Doctor Who‘ this novel follows a human clone named Tina and her crew that try and save the world. The author mentioned that this book will feature LGBTQ+ heroes who save worlds, even enemies to friends to lovers.
Cover artist is Razaras and designer is Lesley Worrell. Victories Greater Than Death is set to be released April 13, 2021!
Tina has always known her destiny is outside the norm—after all, she is the human clone of the most brilliant alien commander in all the galaxies (even if the rest of the world is still deciding whether aliens exist).
But she is tired of waiting for her life to begin.
And then it does—and maybe Tina should have been more prepared. At least she has a crew around her that she can trust—and her best friend at her side. Now, they just have to save the world.
From internationally bestselling author Charlie Jane Anders (All the Birds in the Sky) comes a thrilling adventure set against an intergalactic war—Anders’s long-awaited YA debut.
6. Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney
Through Goffney’s Twitter on October 5, she revealed the cover to her Black contemporary debut Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry which features an overly enthusiastic list maker who is blackmailed into completing a to-do list of all her worst fears.
Cover artist is Mlle Belamour and designer is Molly Fehr. Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry is set to be released May 4, 2021!
Quinn keeps lists of everything—from the days she’s ugly cried, to “Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud” and all the boys she’d like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing…
Then an anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public. Quinn doesn’t know who to trust. Desperate, she teams up with Carter Bennett—the last known person to have her journal—in a race against time to track down the blackmailer.
Together, they journey through everything Quinn’s been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love.
7. Darling by K. Ancrum
On October 6, Ancrum revealed the cover to her Peter Pan retelling through Twitter called Darling. Its Wendy Darling’s first time in Chicago and a boy named Peter invites her for a night on the town, where they head the city’s underground. Ancrum mentioned her novel will include “Other things it has: secondary F/F, Ojibwe major character, Biromantic Ace LI, ACAB,” and more.
On Wendy Darling’s first night in Chicago, a boy called Peter appears at her window. He’s dizzying, captivating, beautiful—so she agrees to join him for a night on the town.
Wendy thinks they’re heading to a party, but instead they’re soon running in the city’s underground. She makes friends—a punk girl named Tinkerbelle and the lost boys Peter watches over. And she makes enemies—the terrifying Detective Hook, and maybe Peter himself, as his sinister secrets start coming to light.
Can Wendy find the courage to survive this night—and make sure everyone else does, too?
Cover artists are Steve Freeman and Eve Steben from There.Is.Studio. Darling by K. Ancrum is set to be released June 22, 2021!
8. Sisters Of The Snake by Sasha and Sarena Nanua
As of October 6 through Twitter, the Nanua sisters revealed the cover to their newest Fantasy novel called Sisters Of The Snake which follows a pair of twins separated at birth who meet and swap places. Ria and Rani learn that danger lurks in both worlds, and only working together can prevent ruin.
Cover illustrator is Fatima Baig and designer is Chris Kwon. Sisters Of The Snake by Sasha and Sarena Nanua is set to be released June 15, 2021!
A lost princess. A dark puppet master. And a race against time—before all is lost.
Princess Rani longs for a chance to escape her gilded cage and prove herself. Ria is a street urchin, stealing just to keep herself alive.
When these two lives collide, everything turns on its head: because Ria and Rani, orphan and royal, are unmistakably identical.
A deal is struck to switch places—but danger lurks in both worlds, and to save their home, thief and princess must work together. Or watch it all fall into ruin.
9. Where The Rhythm Takes You by Sarah Dass
As of October 7 via Twitter, Dass revealed the cover to her Persuasion retelling set in Trinidad and Tobago called Where The Rhythm Takes You. Reyna lives in her parent’s seaside resort. It’s been two years have passed since her mother passed away and Aiden, her first love, left to pursue music. Now, he’s back as a VIP guest and Reyna’s noticing everyone around her seems to be moving on.
Cover illustrator is Kingsley Nebechi, with designers Jessie Gang and Alison Donalty. Where The Rhythm Takes You is set to be released May 11, 2021!
Seventeen-year-old Reyna has spent most of her life at her family’s gorgeous seaside resort in Tobago, the Plumeria. But what once seemed like paradise is starting to feel more like purgatory. It’s been two years since Reyna’s mother passed away, two years since Aiden – her childhood best friend, first kiss, first love, first everything – left the island to pursue his music dreams. Reyna’s friends are all planning their futures and heading abroad. Even Daddy seems to want to move on, leaving her to try to keep the Plumeria running.
And that’s when Aiden comes roaring back into her life – as a VIP guest at the resort.
Aiden is now one-third of DJ Bacchanal – the latest, hottest music group on the scene. While Reyna has stayed exactly where he left her, Aiden has returned to Tobago with his Grammy-nominated band and two gorgeous LA socialites. And he may (or may not be) dating one of them…
10. XOXO by Axie Oh
Revealed through Twitter on October 7, was the cover to Oh’s Rom-Com. Jenny is a cello prodigy and eager to attend a prestigious music academy. She meets Jaewoo, who pulls her out of her comfort zone, but then he disappears. They reunite in South Korea months later at the same elite arts academy and Jaewoo, is one of the biggest K-Pop stars.
Cover illustrator is Zipcy and desinger is Jessie Gang. XOXO is set to be released July 13, 2021!
Cello prodigy Jenny has one goal: to get into a prestigious music conservatory. When she meets mysterious, handsome Jaewoo in her uncle’s Los Angeles karaoke bar, it’s clear he’s the kind of boy who would uproot her careful plans. But in a moment of spontaneity, she allows him to pull her out of her comfort zone for one unforgettable night of adventure…before he disappears without a word.
Three months later, when Jenny and her mother arrive in South Korea to take care of her ailing grandmother, she’s shocked to discover that Jaewoo is a student at the same elite arts academy where she’s enrolled for the semester. And he’s not just any student. He’s a member of one of the biggest K-pop bands in the world—and he’s strictly forbidden from dating.
When a relationship means throwing Jenny’s life off the path she’s spent years mapping out, she’ll have to decide once and for all just how much she’s willing to risk for love.
11. The Chariot At Dusk by Swati Teerdhala
On October 8, Teerdhala revealed through her Twitter the cover to her third Tiger At Midnight novel, which wraps us the trilogy. Following a skilled assassin named Esha and soldier named Kunal, they become part of this cat-and-mouse game as they try to outwit each other.
Cover illustrator is Michael Marsicano and David Curtis. The Chariot At Dusk is set to be released on June 29, 2021!
A queen at last. An empty palace. A kingdom to save.
Esha is reeling from Kunal’s betrayal, but she has a kingdom to rule from behind a thin smokescreen—pretending to be Princess Reha while she sends her most trusted soldiers to collect Reha and Kunal by any means necessary. Traitors, after all, must be punished.
But the Yavar are attacking from every front—tracking down Kunal and Reha in the remote mountains, kidnapping Harun—in search of legendary artifacts that will give them the power to break the precarious janma bond and release the destructive magic back into the lands.
Now that the race is on to find the missing artifacts, Esha must put aside her rage and work with Kunal again—but can she find the strength to forgive him, or will the Viper have her revenge at any cost?
12. An Emotion Of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi
Revealed exclusively through Entertainment Weekly on October 13, was the cover to Mafi’s newest Contemporary which follows “a Muslim teen’s struggle in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.”
Cover illustrator is Rick Lee and designer is Rodrigo Corral Studio. An Emotion Of Great Delight is set to be released June 1, 2021!
It’s 2003, several months since the US officially declared war on Iraq, and the American political world has evolved. Tensions are high, hate crimes are on the rise, FBI agents are infiltrating local mosques, and the Muslim community is harassed and targeted more than ever. Shadi, who wears hijab, keeps her head down.
She’s too busy drowning in her own troubles to find the time to deal with bigots.
Shadi is named for joy, but she’s haunted by sorrow. Her brother is dead, her father is dying, her mother is falling apart, and her best friend has mysteriously dropped out of her life. And then, of course, there’s the small matter of her hear—
It’s broken.
Shadi tries to navigate her crumbling world by soldiering through, saying nothing. She devours her own pain, each day retreating farther and farther inside herself until finally, one day, everything changes.
She explodes.
13. Rise To The Sun by Leah Johnson
Over at Hello Sunshine was the exclusive cover reveal to Johnson’s newest Queer Contemporary, following two girls and a life-changing music festival. In a story alongside the cover written by Johnson herself, she mentioned her novel is about “losing yourself in music, but turning to the person next to you in the crowd at a show, sweaty and screaming, and finding yourselves in each other. It’s about being undeniably messy and hopelessly hopeful.”
Cover artist is Alexis Franklin and designer is Steph Yang. Rise To The Sun is set to be released July 6, 2021!
Three days. Two girls. One life-changing music festival.
Toni is grieving the loss of her roadie father and needing to figure out where her life will go from here — and she’s desperate to get back to loving music. Olivia is a hopeless romantic whose heart has just taken a beating (again) and is beginning to feel like she’ll always be a square peg in a round hole — but the Farmland Music and Arts Festival is a chance to find a place where she fits.
The two collide and it feels like something like kismet when a bond begins to form. But when something goes wrong and the festival is sent into a panic, Olivia and Toni will find that they need each other (and music) more than they ever imagined.
14. Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury
On October 19 Sambury revealed through Twitter, the cover to her contemporary fantasy debut about Black witches in near future Toronto. Voya is given a horrifying task, killing her first love to save her family’s magic. But, she’s never been in love, so she’ll have to find the perfect guy.
Cover artist is Thea Harvey and designer is Rebecca Syracuse. Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury is set to be released June 15, 2021!
After years of waiting for her Calling—a trial every witch must pass in order to come into their powers—the one thing Voya Thomas didn’t expect was to fail. When Voya’s ancestor gives her an unprecedented second chance to complete her Calling, she agrees—and then is horrified when her task is to kill her first love. And this time, failure means every Thomas witch will be stripped of their magic.
Voya is determined to save her family’s magic no matter the cost. The problem is, Voya has never been in love, so for her to succeed, she’ll first have to find the perfect guy—and fast. Fortunately, a genetic matchmaking program has just hit the market. Her plan is to join the program, fall in love, and complete her task before the deadline. What she doesn’t count on is being paired with the infuriating Luc—how can she fall in love with a guy who seemingly wants nothing to do with her?
With mounting pressure from her family, Voya is caught between her morality and her duty to her bloodline. If she wants to save their heritage and Luc, she’ll have to find something her ancestor wants more than blood. And in witchcraft, blood is everything.
15. The Ivies by Alexa Donne
On October 26 Donne revealed through Twitter, the cover to her Thriller debut about a group of girls with the same mission, to get into the Ivy League. But the competition is serious and deadly.
The cover photographer Christine Blackburne, and cover designer Casey Moses. The Ivies is set to be released May 25, 2021!
Everyone knows the Ivies: the most coveted universities in the United States. Far more important are the Ivies. The Ivies at Claflin Academy, that is.
Five girls with the same mission: to get into the Ivy League by any means necessary. I would know. I’m one of them. We disrupt class ranks, club leaderships, and academic competitions…among other things. We improve our own odds by decreasing the fortunes of others. Because hyper-elite competitive college admissions is serious business.
And in some cases, it’s deadly.
16. Radha and Jai’s Recipe For Romance by Nisha Sharma
On October 27 Sharma revealed through her Twitter, the cover to her next Contemporary Romance about two dancers, looking face their fears.
Radha is on the verge of becoming one of the greatest Kathak dancers in the world . . .until she discovers a family betrayal and pulls out of the biggest competition of her lifetime. Now, she has left her Chicago home to follow her stage mom to New Jersey. At the Princeton Academy of the Arts, Radha is determined to leave performing in her past, and reinvent herself from scratch.
Jai is captain of the Bollywood Beats dance team, ranked first in his class, and an overachiever with no college plans. Tight family funds means medical school is a pipe dream, which is why he wants to make the most out of high school. When Radha enters his life, he realizes she’s the exact ingredient he needs for a show-stopping senior year.
With careful choreography, both Radha and Jai will need to face their fears (and their families) if they want a taste of a happily ever after.
On August 12, it was announced through Deadline that One Of Us Is Lying was ordered as a eight-episode television series, with the pilot already having been picked up last year through NBC’s Peacock.
McManus’s Mystery novel is pitched as The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars which follows the story of five teens who walk into detention and only four come out alive. Everyone is a suspect and all of them have something to hide.
Main characters of the series include Brownyn, Addy, Nate, Cooper and Simon, who will be played by Marianly Tejeda, Annalisa Cochrane, Cooper Van Grootel, Chibuikem Uche and Mark McKenna.
The cast was already confirmed last year in October. Darío Madrona will serve as showrunner and Erica Saleh wrote the pilot and will be executive producer. Additional executive producers include John Sacchi and Matt Groesch.
Madrona is well known in Spanish television and also co-created and executively produced Netflix’s Elite.
Additional cast members were confirmed through McManus’s Instagram post. She stated, “Since we are living in such uncertain times, I can’t yet tell you when the show will air, or how/where international viewers will be able to watch…” No additional details were announced.
Pay close attention and you might solve this.
On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. AndSimon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.
Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose? Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.
One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus is out now!
Today on The Booked Shelf we’ll be wrapping up some of the wonderful Young Adult covers revealed during the month of July!
1. Afterlove by Tanya Byrne
Revealed through the author’s Twitter on July 1, this UKYA contemporary is pitched as “the lesbian love story you’ve been dying to read.” The story follows Ash Persaud who is about to become a reaper in the afterlife. But, she’s determined to see her first love Poppy Morgan again, with only death separating them.
Cover designer is Sarah Maxwell. Afterlove is set to be released June 10, 2021!
Car headlights.
The last thing Ash hears is the snap of breaking glass as the windscreen hits her and breaks into a million pieces like stars.
But she made it, she’s still here. Or is she?
This New Year’s Eve, Ash is gets an RSVP from the afterlife she can’t decline: to join a clan of fierce girl reapers who take the souls of the city’s dead to await their fate.
But Ash can’t forget her first love, Poppy, and she will do anything to see her again … even if it means they only get a few more days together. Dead or alive …
NOT EVEN DEATH CAN TEAR THEM APART.
2. Roaring by Lindsey Duga
On July 7, Duga revealed the cover to her upcoming Paranormal/Historical Fantasy set during the 1920s on Twitter. The story focuses on monster hunter and a siren who cross paths.
Colt Clemmons is an agent in a specialized division within the Bureau of Investigation—one that hunts down not just mobsters, but also monsters.
For reasons that are kept top secret, Colt is the only person who can resist a siren’s voice. But he’s never had a chance to test this ability. The last siren left in the world mysteriously disappeared years ago.
Then one night, with a single word, she reveals herself. It seems too good to be true.
And it is. Because nothing about this siren—her past, her powers, or her purpose—is what it seems…
3. Lore by Alexandra Bracken
As of July 8, Entertainment Weekly revealed the cover (and excerpt) to Alexendra Bracken’s upcoming fantasy-mythology standalone pitched as “a sweepingly ambitious, high-octane tale of power, destiny, love and redemption.” Inspired by Greek mythology, Bracken’s new novel will follow gods who are forced to walk the earth as mortals.
Cover designer is Marci Senders and artist is Bill Elis. Lore is set to be released January 5, 2021!
Every seven years, the Agon begins. As punishment for a past rebellion, nine Greek gods are forced to walk the earth as mortals, hunted by the descendants of ancient bloodlines, all eager to kill a god and seize their divine power and immortality. Long ago, Lore Perseous fled that brutal world in the wake of her family’s sadistic murder by a rival line, turning her back on the hunt’s promises of eternal glory. For years she’s pushed away any thought of revenge against the man–now a god–responsible for their deaths.
Yet as the next hunt dawns over New York City, two participants seek out her help: Castor, a childhood friend of Lore believed long dead, and a gravely wounded Athena, among the last of the original gods.
The goddess offers an alliance against their mutual enemy and, at last, a way for Lore to leave the Agon behind forever. But Lore’s decision to bind her fate to Athena’s and rejoin the hunt will come at a deadly cost–and still may not be enough to stop the rise of a new god with the power to bring humanity to its knees.
4. The Cost Of Knowing by Brittney Morris
Revealed through Entertainment Weekly on July 20, was the cover to Morris’s upcoming sophomore novel pitched as Dear Martin x They Both Die At The End where 16-year-old Rufus struggles to keep up with the demands of his part-time job, girlfriend, and little brother. And he can see into the future. After seeing a vision of his brother’s death, he now has to grapple with what it means.
Cover designers are Laura Eckes and Sarah Creech. The Cost Of Knowing is set to be released March 16, 2021!
A gripping, evocative novel about a Black teen who has the power to see into the future, whose life turns upside down when he foresees his younger brother’s imminent death, from the acclaimed author of SLAY.
Sixteen-year-old Alex Rufus is trying his best. He tries to be the best employee he can be at the local ice cream shop; the best boyfriend he can be to his amazing girlfriend, Talia; the best protector he can be over his little brother, Isaiah. But as much as Alex tries, he often comes up short.
It’s hard to for him to be present when every time he touches an object or person, Alex sees into its future. When he touches a scoop, he has a vision of him using it to scoop ice cream. When he touches his car, he sees it years from now, totaled and underwater. When he touches Talia, he sees them at the precipice of breaking up, and that terrifies him. Alex feels these visions are a curse, distracting him, making him anxious and unable to live an ordinary life.
And when Alex touches a photo that gives him a vision of his brother’s imminent death, everything changes.
With Alex now in a race against time, death, and circumstances, he and Isaiah must grapple with their past, their future, and what it means to be a young Black man in America in the present.
5. House Of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
Penguin Teen revealed the cover to Sutherland’s upcoming dark, twisty, modern fairytale about three sisters and the disappearance that left some of them “unquestionably strange.” Alongside the cover was a Q&A with the author.
Cover artist is Aykut Aydoğdu. House Of Hollow is set to be released April 6, 2021!
Seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow has always been strange. Something happened to her and her two older sisters when they were children, something they can’t quite remember but that left each of them with an identical half-moon scar at the base of their throats.
Iris has spent most of her teenage years trying to avoid the weirdness that sticks to her like tar. But when her eldest sister, Grey, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Iris learns just how weird her life can get: horned men start shadowing her, a corpse falls out of her sister’s ceiling, and ugly, impossible memories start to twist their way to the forefront of her mind.
As Iris retraces Grey’s last known footsteps and follows the increasingly bizarre trail of breadcrumbs she left behind, it becomes apparent that the only way to save her sister is to decipher the mystery of what happened to them as children.
The closer Iris gets to the truth, the closer she comes to understanding that the answer is dark and dangerous – and that Grey has been keeping a terrible secret from her for years.
6. A Universe Of Wishes edited by Dhonielle Clayton
As of July 23, Teen Vogue revealed the cover to Clayton’s upcoming fantasy anthology with a wonderful line-up featuring authors like: Nic Stone, VE Schwab, Anna-Marie McLemore, Libba Bray, Mark Oshiro, Tara Sim, and more! Alongside the cover reveal was also an excerpt.
Cover artist is Katt Phatt. A Universe Of Wishes is set to be released January 5, 2021!
In the fourth collaboration with We Need Diverse Books, fifteen award-winning and celebrated diverse authors deliver stories about a princess without need of a prince, a monster long misunderstood, memories that vanish with a spell, and voices that refuse to stay silent in the face of injustice.
This powerful and inclusive collection contains a universe of wishes for a braver and more beautiful world.
AUTHORS INCLUDE: Samira Ahmed, Libba Bray, Dhonielle Clayton, Zoraida Córdova, Tessa Gratton, Justina Ireland, Kwame Mbalia, Anna-Marie McLemore, Tochi Onyebuchi, Mark Oshiro, Natalie C. Parker, Rebecca Roanhorse, Victoria Schwab, Tara Sim, Nic Stone, and a to-be-announced debut author/short-story contest winner.
7. Together Apart: Anthology about finding love during lockdown
On July 31, it was announced through Twitter that authors: Erin A. Craig, Auriane Desombre, Erin Hahn, Bill Konigsberg, Rachael Lippincott, Brittney Morris, Sajni Patel, Natasha Preston, and Jennifer Yun will be part of a a YA Contemporary anthology releasing this fall! Authors revealed some hints to their stories via Twitter.
The publisher will be donating to Active Minds, an organization dedicated to mental health awareness.
A collection of original contemporary love stories set during life in lockdown by some of today’s most popular YA authors.
Erin Craig “delivers” on a story about a new girl in town and the cute pizza delivery boy, Auriane Desombre captures our hearts with teens communicating through window signs, and Bill Konigsberg takes us along on daily walks with every step bringing us closer to love. There’s flirting and romance from Rachael Lippincott, a tale of a determined girl with a mask-making business from Erin Hahn, and a music-inspired love connection from Sajni Patel. Brittney Morris turns enemies to lovers with the help of a balcony herb garden, Jennifer Yen writes an unconventional romance that starts outside a hospital, and Natasha Preston’s teens discover each other–and their love story–in a storybook oak tree.
Romantic, realistic, sweet and uplifting, TOGETHER, APART is a collection of finding love in unexpected places during an unprecedented time . . . each with the one thing we all want: a guaranteed happy ending.
The Booked Shelf 