New Releases

Collage of WILDBLOOD, DAUGHTERS OF ODUMA, and NERDCRUSH, which are described in greater detail in the post.

We’ve got a packed week with seven new releases on our calendar! Which ones are on your TBR list?

The HarperCollins Union has been striking since 10 November 2022. Please consider supporting the strike by purchasing books through the union’s Bookshop account or by donating to the strike fund.

 

A young Black woman is lying down. She is wearing a red blouse and a plaid skirt along with glasses and earrings. She is looking to the right. A young man who appears to be white is lying with his head turned toward her and the rest of his body is not in the picture since he is lying in the opposite direction. He has a hand on her arm and they are both smiling at each other. NerdCrush by Alisha Emrich
Running Press Kids

Ramona Lambert is a typical shy, artistic sixteen-year-old. She has a best friend whom she’s known since they were in diapers; parents who love her; a love for cosplay; and a crush on the cute boy in her class.

The only problem? Her best friend moved away; her parents don’t quite understand her love of cosplay; and she is pretty sure her crush has no idea she exists.

To escape her troubles, Ramona turns to cosplay and her original character, Rel, who gives her the confidence and freedom that she lacks in real life. Embracing this confidence, she decides to strike up an email conversation with her crush, Caleb Wolfe, from her cosplay account in the hopes getting to know him . . . and maybe win his heart. Then as Caleb and Ramona are swept up in their emails back and forth to each other, and Ramona falls even harder as he opens up about his hopes, insecurities, and his own geeky loves. However, as Caleb starts to grow closer and closer to Rel, he also strikes up a friendship with Ramona, who knows she can’t keep the truth about Rel from Caleb but isn’t sure she is ready to risk losing him. With an important cosplay convention coming up and the anxiety of her double-life weighing on her, Ramona has to decide if she’ll hide behind her cosplay character forever or take the chance and let Caleb see the real her–because he might actually like her for who she is. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

The cover has a yellow background. There is a young woman with her dark brown and curly hair up. Several pieces are blowing about. She is wearing green and has leaves and vines around her. There are a few red butterflies fluttering around. Wildblood by Lauren Blackwood
Wednesday Books

Eighteen-year-old Victoria is a Wildblood. Kidnapped at the age of six and manipulated by the Exotic Lands Touring Company, she’s worked as a tour guide ever since with a team of fellow Wildbloods who take turns using their magic to protect travelers in a Jamaican jungle teeming with ghostly monsters.

When the boss denies Victoria an earned promotion to team leader in favor of Dean, her backstabbing ex, she’s determined to prove herself. Her magic may be the most powerful on the team, but she’s not the image the boss wants to send their new client, Thorn, a renowned goldminer determined to reach an untouched gold supply deep in the jungle.

Thorn is everything Victoria isn’t – confident, impossibly kind, and so handsome he leaves her speechless. And when he entrusts the mission to her, kindness turns to mutual respect, turns to affection, turns to love. But the jungle is treacherous, and between hypnotic river spirits, soul-devouring women that shed their skin like snakes, and her ex out for revenge, Victoria has to decide – is promotion at a corrupt company really what she wants? — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

This book cover has a black background with the silhouette of a young woman on it. Her hair is pink and she has a gold hoop earring. She holds a phone in front of her, and through the shape of the phone, you can see about half of her face: eyebrow, eye, some hair, and partial nose and mouth.Going Dark by Melissa de la Cruz
Union Square Co.

#WhereisAmeliaAshley

The Influencer
Amelia Ashley shares everything with her followers – her favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants, her best fashion tips, and her European trip-of-a-lifetime with her hot boyfriend.

The Boyfriend
Josh has no choice but to return home without Amelia after she abandons him in Rome. He has no clue where she went or how her blood got in his suitcase. Why won’t anyone believe him?

The Hacker
To Harper Delgado, Amelia Ashley is just another missing white girl whipping up a media frenzy. But with each digital knot she untangles about the influencer, Harper wonders: who is Amelia Ashley?

The Other Girl
Two years ago, another girl went missing, one who never made headlines or had a trending hashtag.

The Truth
Amelia’s disappearance has captured the world’s attention. What comes next? Watch this space…

Told through a mixture of social media posts, diary entries, and firsthand accounts, Going Dark is a gripping, suspenseful thriller about all the missing girls who fall off the radar, perfect for true crime fans and readers of One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus.

The book cover is dusty rose. The title is laid over a very sharp knife. There is a vine of green and white roses wrapped around the blade and up the hilt. There are flowers and leaves painted onto the hilt.These Infinite Threads (This Woven Kingdom, #2) by Tahereh Mafi
HarperCollins

(The HarperCollins Union has been striking since 10 November 2022. Please consider supporting the strike by purchasing books through the union’s Bookshop account or by donating to the strike fund.)

Alizeh is the heir to the Jinn throne and fulfills a long-foretold prophecy of a Jinn sovereign destined to free her people from the half-lives they’ve been forced to live under the rule of humans.

Kamran is the heir to the human throne, and he’s being pressured to marry before he becomes king. When he falls in love with Alizeh and subsequently learns her true identity, he must question everything he’s been taught about Jinn and their future in his kingdom.

These Infinite Threads picks up at the explosive cliff-hanger ending of the New York Times bestselling novel This Woven Kingdom, and is perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Tomi Adeyemi, and Sabaa Tahir. — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Two young men are sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck. They seem to be in a forest. One seems to be white and has a big smile with ultra white teeth showing. The other has darker skin and short curly dark hair and has his mouth closed, but is smiling slightly.The Long Run by James Acker
Inkyard Press

(The HarperCollins Union has been striking since 10 November 2022. Please consider supporting the strike by purchasing books through the union’s Bookshop account or by donating to the strike fund.)

Sebastian Villeda is over it. Over his rep. Over his bros. Over being “Bash the Flash,” fastest sprinter in South Jersey. His dad is gone, his mom is dead, and his stepfather is clueless. Bash has no idea what he wants out of life. Until he meets Sandro.

Sandro Miceli is too nice for his own good. The middle child in an always-growing, always-screaming Italian family, Sandro walks around on a broken foot to not bother his busy parents. All he wants is to get out and never look back.

When fate—in the form of a party that gets busted—brings these two very different boys together, neither of them could’ve predicted finding a love that they’d risk everything for… — Cover image and summary via Goodreads

Illustrated cover of two teenagers sharing a pink umbrella. It is raining while they walk through the city. The girl is wearing a white dress and looking slightly up at the boy, and the boy is looking down at her and wearing a blue jacket, white shirt, and yellow pants. They look happy together.This Time It’s Real by Ann Liang
Scholastic

When seventeen-year-old Eliza Lin’s essay about meeting the love of her life unexpectedly goes viral, her entire life changes overnight. Now she has the approval of her classmates at her new international school in Beijing, a career-launching internship opportunity at her favorite magazine…and a massive secret to keep.

Eliza made her essay up. She’s never been in a relationship before, let alone in love. All good writing is lying, right?

Desperate to hide the truth, Eliza strikes a deal with the famous actor in her class, the charming but aloof Caz Song. She’ll help him write his college applications if he poses as her boyfriend. Caz is a dream boyfriend — he passes handwritten notes to her in class, makes her little sister laugh, and takes her out on motorcycle rides to the best snack stalls around the city.

But when her relationship with Caz starts feeling a little too convincing, all of Eliza’s carefully laid plans are threatened. Can she still follow her dreams if it means breaking her own heart?

A Black teenage girl stands sideways on this illustrated cover, but her head is turned to look at the viewer. She has short, tightly curled hair and is wearing what looks like a crown of branches and leaves and a white tank top. She has a larger frame and looks strong, with one hand clenched into a fist. Behind her is a gold sky and dark brown silhouettes of people.Daughters of Oduma by Moses Ose Utomi
Atheneum Books for Young Readers

Eat. Dance. Fight.

This is the life of the girls who compete in the Isle’s elite, all-female fighting sport of Bowing. But it isn’t really Dirt’s life anymore. At sixteen, she is old and has retired from competition. Instead, she spends her days coaching the younger sisters of the Mud Fam and dreading her fast-approaching birthday, when she’ll have to leave her sisters to fulfill whatever destiny the Gods choose for her.

Dirt’s young sisters are coming along nicely, and the Mud Fam is sure to win the upcoming South God Bow tournament, which is crucial: the tiny Fam needs the new recruits that come with victory. Then an attack from a powerful rival leaves the Mud without their top Bower, and Dirt is the only one who can compete in the tournament. But Dirt is old, out of shape, and afraid. She has never wanted to be a leader. Victory seems impossible—yet defeat would mean the end of her beloved Fam. And no way is Dirt going to let that happen.