New Releases

New Releases

Posted onAuthorCrystal
Covers of the books The Red Car to Hollywood, Oathbound, and Divining the Leaves

I cannot quite believe it, but there are a dozen new books that we are watching for this week. It’s a phenomenal week for YA.

Two young dark haired women are standing in a partial embrace. The one on the left is in an overhaul dress and has her hair in a bun. She is wearing glasses and holding a phone with one hand and the other girl with the other hand. She's smiling. The other girl has a surprised expression and one hand is raised behind the other person. Her other hand is holding a tablet. She has a pencil behind her ear. There are a few images around them like a pudgy beaver holding a meat cleaver, a cup of boba tea, a heart and a few other things.Love Points to You by Alice Lin
Delacorte Romance

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 for 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.

On a blue background, a young woman with long dark wavy hair is standing next to a young man who is slightly taller with short dark brown hair. Ther are holding an open binder together. She is looking at the page, he is looking sideways at her. He is holding a stack of books in one hand that has a disposable cup on it.Solving for the Unknown by Loan Le
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

In this sweet, incredibly heartfelt companion to A Pho Love Story, Vietnamese Americans Viet and Evie juggle family expectations with their desire to forge their own path in between college classes and falling in love.

To his friends back home, Viet Ho is calm and collected and a lovable oddball who nurses an obsession with forensic science. He’s relieved to head off to UC Davis and escape from being in the middle of his bickering immigrant parents. Yet, on campus and with the school year unfolding at an overwhelming pace, Viet struggles to belong and to keep his depression hidden.

Evie Mai is a junior biology major and the eldest daughter who has never trod far off the beaten path. She has everything: good grades, a solid group of friends, and a smart, ambitious boyfriend, who’s the son of a well-connected university board member. But their busy schedules, as well as their interests, no longer align. Determined to close the distance, she and her boyfriend both apply to a student-run clinic for underserved communities. But will that save or expose the gaps in their relationship?

When a clumsy accident brings Viet and Evie together, they bond over their shared hometown and similar history—and their orbits grow smaller as their friends collide. The more time they spend with each other and support each other, mentally and emotionally, the more their friendship shifts into something else.

A sweet, emotional slice-of-life story, Solving for the Unknown is about characters questioning the paths they have taken and finding a new path that will lead them to their happiest selves.

The book cover has a gold crown with golden pearls and emeralds. There are some tips that look like arrowheads with blood dripping down. There is a full moon shining behind it. There are red roses on the right and left sides. There is blood dripping from some of the petals and some of the leaves.Encanto’s Curse (The Encanto’s Daughter, #2) by Melissa de la Cruz
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

A curse has befallen Biringan. Stalking the night sky and sinking sharp teeth in its prey, a vampire-like creature—a manananggal—is terrorizing the kingdom. Now MJ Robertson-Rodriguez must fulfill her duties as the newly crowned queen and restore peace. Except . . . when MJ wakes up in tattered clothes stained with blood, she quickly realizes the monster lives within her.

To prevent more destruction, MJ flees to Mount Makiling with select members of her court, all while keeping her curse secret. By her side is Lucas, the talented knight who broke her heart by giving his own to another. And there’s Prince Qian, the devilishly handsome monster hunter from the Jade Empire who’s visiting on a diplomatic mission.

In the mountains, MJ is charmed by Qian’s valiant spirit. Could he be the one to finally mend her broken heart, which still beats for Lucas? But as the manananggal fills MJ with bloodthirst, she must set love aside and break the curse before it consumes her forever.

When a neighboring kingdom threatens to wage war on Biringan, can the young queen regain control of herself before she loses control of the crown?

The illustrated cover shows a silhouette of a woman in the upper right corner. The background seems reminiscent of a red fan. There is a gold design that frames the illustration.The Red Car to Hollywood by Jennie Liu
Carolrhoda Lab

Los Angeles, 1924

Sixteen-year-old Ruby Chan considers herself a modern, independent American girl. But when her secret relationship with a white boy implodes―and then is revealed to her very traditional Chinese parents―she’s in a tough spot. Horrified that Ruby’s reputation is at risk, her parents hire a matchmaker to find her a Chinese husband. Ruby is determined to foil their plans. But how?

Meanwhile, Ruby meets the nineteen-year-old film star Anna May Wong, one of her neighbors in LA’s Chinatown. The girls quickly strike up a friendship. Anna May defies Chinese convention by working as an actress on the silver screen, and she scoffs at white people’s assumptions about her. If she can forge her own path, surely Ruby can too.

Not everything is as it seems, though. Danger and betrayal lurk amidst the new possibilities. To build the life she wants, Ruby will have to contend with how others see her―and decide if she’s ready to truly see herself.

Illustrated cover featuring a young Black woman. Her hair is long and seems to be standing out from her head with the breeze. Her hands are lifted like she is making magic happen. There are purple and red glowing swirls around her and there are glowing red veins on her skin. She has a knife strapped to one leg. Ther is a being above and behind her that has a cloak on and their eyes are glowing red. Their face is in the dark.Oathbound (Legendborn Cycle, #3) by Deonn
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Severed from the Legendborn. Oathbound to a monster.

Bree Matthews is alone. She exiled herself from the Legendborn Order, cut her ancestral connections, and turned away from the friends who can’t understand the impossible cost of her powers. This is the only way to keep herself—and those she loves—safe.

But Bree’s decision has come with a terrible price: an unbreakable bargain with the Shadow King himself, a shapeshifter who can move between humanity, the demon underworld, and the Legendborn secret society. In exchange for training to wield her unprecedented abilities, Bree has put her future in the Shadow King’s hands—and unwittingly bound herself to do his bidding as his new protégé.

Meanwhile, the other Scions must face war with their Round Table fractured, leaderless, and missing its Kingsmage, as Selwyn has also disappeared. When Nick is detained by the Order’s Merlins, he invokes an ancient law that requires the High Council of Regents to convene at the Northern Keep and grant him an audience. No one knows what he will demand of them…or what secrets he has kept hidden from the Table.

As a string of mysterious kidnappings escalates and Merlins are found dead, it becomes clear that no matter how hard Bree runs from who she is, the past will always find her.

Illustrated cover with a young man and woman in fancy dress. The woman has flowers on her long dark curly hair. There are also pink flowers on her seafoam green dress. The young man has wavy dark brown hair that is down to his jaw line. he seems to be hold purple grapes in the hand in front of his chest. His clothes match hers. There is a tree behind them and purple and pink glowing bits are floating in the air around them.Divining the Leaves by Shveta Thakrar
HarperTeen

Plant-loving Ridhi Kapadia and popular Nilesh Batra were friends once.

Now, seventeen and alone, Ridhi blends natural perfumes, wears flower crowns, and wanders her local woods, listening for the leafy whispers of her beloved trees. Pleading for the yakshas to admit her into their enchanted forest kingdom, where she knows she truly belongs.

After learning his parents’ perfect marriage is a sham and getting suspended from school, a heartsick Nilesh lands at Ridhi’s doorstep—the last thing either of them wants. So when a pretty yakshini offers him the distraction of magic, the same magic he mocked Ridhi for believing in, he jumps at it.

Furious, Ridhi strikes a bargain with a noblewoman named Sulochana. In return for helping restore her reputation, Sulochana will turn Ridhi into the yakshini she yearns to be—and teach her to divine the trees’ murmurs.

But when Nilesh ends up trapped in the yakshas’ realm, Ridhi realizes the leaves might be telling a disturbing story about the forest her heart is rooted in—one that, even if the two of them band together, threatens to shred the future like so many thorns.

Illustrated cover that's a mostly red and purple background with a almost circular metal item that has lots of spikey pointy bits and looks a little like a weapon. There are pink flowers adorning it and a gold coinlike object that has a hole in the center. There are chinese characters in red written below the title that is in white letters.The Scorpion and the Night Blossom (The Three Realms, #1) by Amélie Wen Zhao
Penguin Random House

Nine years ago, the war between the Kingdom of Night and the Kingdom of Rivers tore Àn’yīng’s family apart, leaving her mother barely alive and a baby sister to fend for. Now the mortal realm is falling into eternal night, and mó—beautiful, ravenous demons—roam the land, feasting on the flesh of humans and drinking their souls.

Àn’yīng is no longer a helpless child, though. Armed with her crescent blades and trained in the ancient art of practitioning, she has decided to enter the Immortality Trials, which are open to any mortal who can survive the journey to the immortal realm. Those who complete the Trials are granted a pill of eternal life—the one thing Àn’yīng knows can heal her dying mother. But to attain the prize, she must survive the competition.

Death is common in the Trials. Yet oddly, Àn’yīng finds that someone is helping her stay alive. A rival contestant. Powerful and handsome, Yù’chén is as secretive about his past as he is about his motives for protecting Àn’yīng.

The longer she survives the Trials, the clearer it becomes that all is not right in the immortal realm. To save her mother and herself, Àn’yīng will need to figure out whether she can truly trust the stranger she’s falling for or if he’s the most dangerous player of all . . . for herself and for all the realms.

Illustrated cover features a young woman with long dark hair. She is under water with eyes wide open. Her hair is flowing around her. There are small bubbles floating around her. There are bits of red threadlike things floating near her hair and in front of her white shirt.They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran
Bloomsbury YA

A red algae bloom has taken over Mercy, Louisiana. Ever since a devastating hurricane, mutated wildlife lurks in the water that rises by the day. But Mercy has always been a place where monsters walk in plain sight. Especially at its heart: The Cove, where Noon’s life was upended long before the storm at a party her older boyfriend insisted on.

Now, Noon is stuck navigating the submerged town with her mom, who believes their dead family has reincarnated as sea creatures. Alone with the pain of what happened that night at the cove, Noon buries the truth: she is not the right shape.

When Mercy’s predatory leader demands Noon and her mom capture the creature drowning residents, she reluctantly finds an ally in his deadly hunter of a daughter and friends old and new. As the next storm approaches, Noon must confront the past and decide if it’s time to answer the monster itching at her skin.

Illustrated cover for Strange Bedfellows. Two teenagers boys float nearly horizontal a chaotic room, their heads close together, and they look like they may be pinky-promising. One looks like he is dressed for sleep while the other is dressed for a casual day out. The room is filled with other floating objects, like frogs, mushrooms, stuffed animals, a tentacle, a metal hand, and more.Strange Bedfellows by Ariel Slamet Ries
HarperAlley

In the not-too-distant future, most of humanity resides on its last-ditch effort at 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?

Book cover featuring a young man looking over his shoulder. He is a cropped outline that seems like it's from a black and white photo. His clothing looks like collage that is partly the United States flag. The back ground is completely black with the title written in a bright yellow font.Dear Manny by Nic Stone
Crown Books for Young Readers

Jared Peter Christensen is running for junior class president at his university.

Based on early polls, Jared’s pretty sure he’s got a good shot at beating the right-wing business major he’s running against. After all, his platform built on increased equity and inclusion on campus makes him the popular choice.

A new candidate enters the Dylan, transfer student from a HBCU and the most beautiful girl Jared has ever seen. She calls him out for his Woke White Boy mentality.

Jared starts writing letters to his deceased best friend Manny to make sense of his confusion.

What’s a white boy to do when love and privilege collide?