Art as Revolution, A Backstage Romance, and More New YA Releases for March 25, 2026

I don’t know about you, but reading near-future dystopian novels is really tough right now. It’s one of those things I know goes to either extreme: either you’re seeking them out for comfort or connection or, you’re like me, and needing to appreciate them from a distance. That’s your preface for this book, which sound excellent–and a little too on the nose right now.

Jess was taken from her home, like every other girl in the country, to live in a government dormitory. Famine and war are raging, and the regime in charge has forbidden people from creating art, from reading, and from even feeling love. While in the dorm, Jess is forced to work alongside others pollenating crops by hand. But unlike others around her, Jess has a secret: she knows how to read and how to paint. The brushes the government is making them use to pollenate plants? They’re not for that purpose.

Inspired by her mother and fueled by the anger knowing how unjust the system is–its reliance on young girls to do the work while also reproducing to keep the population up–Jess plans a revolution. She’ll be using the art tools she’s smuggled into the dorm to get it going.

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Everyone in America knows Felix Song. He’s the lead singer of the most successful boy band around. Natalie knows him, too, but she doesn’t necessarily feel the swoons about him so many others do. He’s a rich annoying kid that she grew up with. That’s all.

Natalie dreams of honoring her dad’s legacy and her Deaf community. She wants to revive her family’s Deaf Center, but she lacks the money to make it happen.

Enter Felix.

Felix’s sister is experiencing a rapid loss in her hearing, and he makes Natalie an offer: join him on tour this summer to teach him ASL and he’ll put up the funds to fix the Deaf Center.

It’s all professional at first. But then Felix and Natalie start to catch some real feelings for one another, and their budding relationship catches the attention of the world. It’s not the kind of attention either wants, and it could put an end to the arrangement they’ve made–and harm both of their dreams.

For readers who seek out stories about experiences by authors with those experiences, you’ll appreciate knowing that Langford is a queer Deaf/Hard of Hearing and physically disabled author themself.

The Bureau of Mystical Affairs makes sure that the magic abounding in Fair Glen, Illinois, is kept in check. Junior agent Monroe Bennett has her first task within the Bureau and is ready to figure out where a rogue love charm came from. Monroe will have to protect her classmates from the charm, and she’s especially ready to ensure that Iris James is marked safe.

There’s a hitch in the plan, though, when Iris asks Monroe to fake date her. Iris wants to make her ex a little jealous, and while Monroe doesn’t believe in romance, the more time she spends with Iris, the more she’s feeling some real–not magical–sparks flying.

Those feelings might just be what harms Monroe’s ability to solve the case she’s been assigned, and, well, it might just be worth it.

This is a paperback original release.

The women in Nell’s family have always been gifted — err, rather cursed — with some kind of magic when they turn 15. The magic is cool, but there’s always some kind of not-great side effect. Nell’s mom is a different age every single day, which means Nell often feels like she doesn’t have the mother she needs. Nell’s sister bleeds music and wants nothing more than to get the songs inside of her outside of her.

So when Nell wakes up and sees ladybugs lighting up her piano keys, she thinks she’s okay. But then come the other bugs, each seeming to connect to an emotion she’s feeling. Moths show up when she’s disappointed. Beetles, when she’s feeling judged. And then there are the wasps that arrive at the hint of Nell’s anger.

The only way Nell seems to be able to make the unpleasant creatures disappear is to lock her darker feelings inside. But is it a life if she can’t express what she’s truly feeling?

Nell and her friends have rented a vacation house in Florida for spring break to get away from their lives for a bit. But Nell’s secrets didn’t stay at home. They came with, and they’ve decided to team up with the island’s own history of tragedy. Now, the friends are all trapped, with nowhere to go, since the water surrounding their not-so-sweet vacation rental is infested with dangerous beasts and a toxic mist.

It’ll be work to get out. Part of that work—or maybe a whole lot of that work—will involve confronting the secrets and memories that Nell, as well as her friends, wish they didn’t need to. For Nell, it’s reckoning with an assault she experienced a year ago and a shadow that’s followed her throughout her entire life. 

But Nell’s friends all brought their own secrets and together, they’ll need to not only divulge them, they’ll need to use their combined powers to get out of this mess. What results is an angry, powerful, witchy confrontation with monsters, human and otherwise.

Howard is so ready to get to college. He’s ready to escape his current life and he’s ready to see how things get better. It’s been a promise he’s heard over and over. It gets better. It gets better.

What Howard did not anticipate was meeting George. He’s smitten immediately, entranced by everything about George, including his fashion, intellect, and formality.

George is not necessarily single, though. He’s been in a relationship with James for 20 years. Except because George is a vampire and James is human, George realizes that James’s time on Earth is almost done.

But as Howard and George grow closer, they start to recognize how well they work together. How what they’re feeling is real and supportive and safe. But can Howard give up mortality in exchange for the love of his young life or will the world around them take away the opportunity before he can even make such a decision?