New Releases

New Releases

Posted onAuthorCrystal

We missed one title last week, so we wanted to make sure to highlight it this week.

Cover of book has black background and the central image is a red solo cup standing up, but that is crushed and broken.Perfect Little Monsters by Cindy X.R. He
Sourcebooks Fire

Someone has murdered the queen bee of Sierton High School. All the dead girl’s friends are suspects. And each one has a reason for wanting her dead.

Ella Moore was the most popular girl in school…and also the most hated. When she’s murdered at her own party, there are too many suspects to count–and too many people who think she deserved it. The police’s prime suspect is the new girl, Dawn Foster. She was the last to hand Ella a drink on the night Ella died. Plus, all of Ella’s friends with a motive for wanting her dead are more than willing to implicate Dawn.

But Dawn refuses to go down without a fight. She’s determined to clear her name. As she delves deeper into the past, she discovers that Ella and her friends had enemies, and someone is out for revenge. She must uncover the truth before the police arrest the wrong suspect and before the next person dies.

Now on to the many books for this week:

Illustrated cover of Blood & Fury. A purple dragon and a red phoenix are roaring at each other mid-flight. Their wings are outstretched, and the phoenix has its talons up as if it's about to attack.

Blood & Fury (Chaos & Flame #2) by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland
Razorbill

A single kiss set Chaos ablaze.

Picking up months after betrayal transformed Darling Seabreak into the long-lost Phoenix and every House regent into their empyreal form, Darling struggles to make sense of her destiny as a legendary creature. How can she, an orphan with no family, be the one to reunite the fractured houses and bring about peace, if she can’t control the magic of her new Phoenix body?

Talon Goldhoard, still in love with Darling but wounded by her betrayal, is tasked with ending the vicious war that his family instigated. With the Phoenix reborn, Talon is hopeful that the bloodshed will end swiftly. Instead, the kingdom grows more fraught, with the threat of violence ever present – especially from dark, conniving forces within the walls of his own House Dragon.

As Chaos reigns, Talon and Darling must find their way back to each other – not only to survive but to save the kingdom. Can Darling harness the power of the ancient magic that runs through her blood to bring about a new peace? Or will the fury that House Dragon fueled for a hundred-year war be too strong to break?

Illustrated cover of A Crane Among Wolves. Two Korean teenagers look at each other intently, their faces only a few inches away from each other. They're both wearing historical Joseon-era clothing. The girl has a light blue jeogori with a white collar and has her long brown hair in a thick braid as she peers upward. The boy is wearing a red jeogori with a white collar and a black gat whit green beads. His hair is in a topknot under his gat. He peers down at the girl while arrows fall around them. A pair of cranes take up the entire background, and one of them has its beak sliding under the girl's chin and against her neck. It looks as if it may have cut her a little.A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur
Feiwel & Friends

Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off—but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul’s and Daehyun’s fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.

Illustrated cover of It Waits in the Forest. A Black teenage girl strides out of a lush, tropic forest, straight at the viewer. She is wrapped in greenery, vines, and flowers, and she has flowers and other bits of greenery in her shoulder-length, tightly curled hair. Her hands are both clenched into fists, arms bent, but it doesn't look like she's struggling against the forest. It looks like she could be carrying something across her arms.It Waits in the Forest by Sarah Dass
Rick Riordan Presents

Unlike the other residents of the small Caribbean Island of St. Virgil, Selina DaSilva does not believe in magic. With a logical mind and a knack for botany, Selina used to dream of leaving the island to study Pharmacology—until a vicious, unsolved attack left her father dead and her mother in a coma.

Now her guilt over her mother’s condition keeps her tethered to the island, relegated to conning gullible tourists with useless talismans and phony protection rituals. But when one of those tourists ends up at the center of a string of strange murders, the truth that Selina has been denying can no longer be there is evil lurking in the forests that surround St. Virgil. Another thing that can’t be avoided? Selina’s ex-boyfriend Gabriel, newly employed at the local newspaper and eager to put his investigative skills to use.

Desperate to put an end to the killings and claim justice for Selina’s family, these two former lovers race to find answers. But evil bides its time. And as long-buried feelings and long-hidden secrets about Selina’s family’s past begin to reveal themselves, only one answer remains—and it waits in the forest.

Illustrated cover for Thirsty. A Black teenage girl floats on her back in a swimming pool, both arms outstretched. She is mostly submerged, though it looks like she may be crying. There are red solo cups in the water and on the deck around the pool, on their sides and spilling their contents. The dark water she is floating in is reflecting lights and stars.Thirsty by Jas Hammonds
Roaring Brook Press

It’s the summer before college and eighteen-year-old Blake Brenner and her girlfriend, Ella, have one goal: join the mysterious and exclusive Serena Society. The sorority promises status and lifelong connections to a network of powerful, trailblazing women of color. Ella’s acceptance is a sure thing—she’s the daughter of a Serena alum. Blake, however, has a lot more to prove.

As a former loner from a working-class background, Blake lacks Ella’s pedigree and confidence. Luckily, she finds courage at the bottom of a liquor bottle. When she drinks, she’s bold, funny, and unstoppable—and the Serenas love it. But as pledging intensifies, so does Blake’s drinking, until it’s seeping into every corner of her life. Ella assures Blake that she’s fine; partying hard is what it takes to make the cut.

But success has never felt so much like drowning. With her future hanging in the balance and her past dragging her down, Blake must decide how far she’s willing to go to achieve her glittering dreams of success—and how much of herself she’s willing to lose in the process.

Illustrated cover for 10 Things I Hate About Prom. Two teenagers are staring at each other over the word "PROM", which is spelled out in rose blossoms and currently on fire. The boy is holding a huge bouquet of roses in one hand and a single rose in the other, and he looks surprised. He has medium brown skin, short, wavy brown hair, and is wearing a yellow t-shirt style jersey, black pants, and white shoes. The girl looks apologetic as she uses a fire extinguisher. She has medium brown skin and shoulder-length medium brown wavy hair. She is wearing blue jeans, green and white sneakers, and a green cardigan over a light green tank top. The cardigan is slipping down her shoulder.10 Things I Hate About Prom by Elle Gonzalez Rose
Joy Revolution

The best things in life come in pairs. Peanut butter has jelly, Taylor has Selena, and Ivelisse Santos has Joaquin Romero. They are not only next-door neighbors; they’re platonic soulmates. Ive gets Quin like no one else.

At least, she thought she did before Joaquin shocks her by revealing that he wants to ask Tessa Gordon to prom. Tessa freaking Gordon. The same Tessa Gordon who spread the rumor that Ivelisse started the infamous Second Grade Lice Outbreak. Why her?

Tessa and Joaquin are a match made in popular kid heaven. The head cheerleader and the star of the baseball team going to prom together makes more sense than Joaquin and Ivelisse—a member of tech crew—would. But just because it makes sense doesn’t mean it should happen.

To make matters worse, Joaquin wants Ivelisse’s assistance planning the grandest, most elaborate promposal Cordero High has ever seen. To win the queen bee over, he’ll have to go bigger than any of their peers have ever gone. Ivelisse would rather wrestle a bear than wingwoman Joaquin.

But with senior year coming to an end and their paths diverging, she’ll take all the quality time with Joaquin she can get. So, she swallows her pride. At first.

Cover of the book True Love and other impossible odds. Two young woman are standing outside on a porch in the evening with slight smiles as they stare at one another. There are twinkle lights on the roof of the building behind them an da light on inside. Above is a pink to purple sky with stars.True Love and Other Impossible Odds by Christina Li
Quill Tree Books

College freshman Grace Tang never meant to rewrite the rules of love. She came to college to move on from a grief-stricken senior year and to start anew. So she follows a predictable Attend class, study, go home and visit her dad every weekend. She doesn’t leave any room in her life for outliers or anomalies.

Then, Grace comes up with an algorithm for her statistics class to pair students with their perfect romantic partners. Though some people are skeptical, like Julia, Grace’s prickly coworker, Grace is confident that her program will take all the drama out of relationships. That’s why she keeps trying to make things work with her match, a guy named Jamie. But as the semester goes on and she grows closer to Julia, Grace starts to question who she’s really attracted to.

In award-winning author Christina Li’s YA debut, Grace will have to make a choice between the tidy equations she knows will protect her from heartbreak or the possibility that true love doesn’t follow any formula.

Illustrated cover of Road Home. The cover is done entirely in black, green, and white silhouettes. A teenage boy sits with his knees drawn up under a streetlight. The sky and title are in green, and the light that illuminates him is white.Road Home by Rex Ogle
Norton Young Readers

This final, essential chapter in Rex Ogle’s memoir trilogy recounts being forced from his home and living on the streets after his conservative father discovered he was gay.

When Rex was outed the summer after he graduated high school, his father gave him a choice: he could stay at home, find a girlfriend, and attend church twice a week, or he could be gay―and leave. Rex left, driving toward the only other gay man he knew and a toxic relationship that would ultimately leave him homeless and desperate on the streets of New Orleans. Here, Rex tells the story of his coming out and his father’s rejection of his identity, navigating abuse and survival on the streets.

Road Home is a devastating and incandescent reflection on Rex’s hunger―for food, for love, and for a place to call home―completing the trilogy of memoirs that began with the award-winning Free Lunch.

Illustrated cover of The Dangerous Ones. The image is styled so that you can only see a Black teenage girl's hand as she thrusts a silver spear-like weapon overhead. The spear is decorated in what looks like gold gilt and red stones, and there is blood along one edge of it. Falling all around the spear are pink and faded orange flower petals, mixed with occasional black feathers. The background is indistinct, but it looks like a moonlight night sky.The Dangerous Ones by Lauren Blackwood
Wednesday Books

1863, Pennsylvania

War doesn’t scare Jerusalem—she’s a Saint. Thanks to powerful demigod-style reflexes, endurance, and strength, she’s fearless. And ever since the Confederates declared civil war, partnering with the vampires who benefitted off slavery, she and her battalion of Saints are essential to the Union army.

Jerusalem herself had been enslaved by a vampire, escaping North only after her family was murdered. She knows the enemy better, hates the enemy more than anyone in her battalion, and has been using it to her advantage since she joined the war a year ago. More than anything she wants revenge, but if she can help Black people gain freedom and equality without having to steal it for themselves like she had to, then all the better.

But she never expects to have to team up with a vampire to do it. Alexei is one of those handsome, arrogant Ancient Vampires. But he’s on the Union’s side, and in the year they’ve known each other, has never done anything but prove he’s on hers.

Together, they set out to change the course of the war and take down the vampire who destroyed everyone Jerusalem loved. But for her, it’s about more than justice.

It’s about killing a god.

Illustrated cover of The Night Is Ours. A pair of teenagers look at each other fondly from their seat together in a Ferris wheel. The boy appears white, and he has short dark brown hair and is wearing a blue shirt, dark blue pants, and white shoes. The girl is Black and has wavy mid-back-length black hair, and she is wearing a sleeveless, knee-length pink dress. You can see a carnival spread out beneath and behind them, with tents and flags and maybe a dunk tank. The whole scene is a wash in blues, pinks, and purples, and you can see the stars in the pink sky.This Night Is Ours by Ronni Davis
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

It’s the longest day of the year, and eighteen-year-old Brandy Bailey has just received the worst news of her She’s been accepted to a top nursing school, making her mother overwhelmingly proud.

The thing is, Brandy wants to be an artist. She knows all the risks of chasing her dream. She’s heard them from her mother over and over.

On top of that, Brandy’s annoying classmate from high school, the startlingly handsome Ben Nolan, is catching his far-fetched dream of being an actor. Why does he get to be fearless while she has to be practical? Ben is the last thing Brandy wants on her mind, so of course today is the day he decides to glue himself to her hip. Now his perfect face is right there in the cacophony crashing through her head.

Spinning in too many directions, Brandy’s emotions clash with the flashing lights at the town’s summer carnival. Can she have one extraordinary night before everything changes?