Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She's the editor/author of (DON'T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen.
It’s been cold and dreary in my neck of the woods, despite there not being much in the way of snow. As I write this, though, I know there are parts of the US completely snowed in, thanks to the strange power of the Great Lakes.
I know, I know: many of you are also enjoying some warmth and sun.
Whatever the season is bringing you right now, one thing is for sure: you can get through it (or enjoy it!) with a good book. Let’s take a look at the short list of new YA releases hitting shelves this week. Recall that as we come into the last few weeks of 2024, these lists will be smaller and smaller, and they will also lack the diversity of YA as a whole.
New YA Hardcover Releases
The Rules of Royalty by Cale Dietrich
Dietrich’s latest novel is being released both in hardcover and paperback simultaneously. Grab the format you prefer this week if you’re itching for a royally romantic read that is a spin on (wait for it!) The Princess Diaries.
Jamie Johnson has never really known his father, and he’s been fine with the quiet life that he’s lived. But when he discovers that he is the heir to the throne of Mitanor, the media is ready to pounce. Jamie is invited to spend the summer in the southern European country in order to check out his future home—though he’s not only not prepared for what his future will look like, he’s not ready to deal with his story being told.
Erik Lindstrom is the spare prince in a northern European country, and he’s kind of become both forgotten and tightly controlled because of his brother—the heir—getting married. He’s invited to help the new American prince in Mitanor settle in this summer and he jumps at the opportunity.
What neither will anticipate, though, is that their time together is going to become much more than tutoring. It’s a love story that will disrupt and change the trajectory of both their futures.
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We Are The Beasts by Gigi Griffis
Set in the French countryside in a small town called Mende, this book is inspired by the true unsolved historical mystery of the Beast of Gévaudan.
Mende has seen a series of brutal murders taking place, and many in the community whisper that a beast from the mountains has arrived—it’s a curse and punishment for the sins of everyone living there.
Joséphine and Clara, though, know it’s no curse. It’s an opportunity for them to escape the oppressive town and escape the fathers, brothers, and townspeople who have been abused and kept prisoner. The girls begin to use the beast’s attacks as cover.
One by one, Joséphine and Clara begin to fake the death of their friends, claiming it was the beast who got them. What’s really happening, though, is the friends are being hidden until it is safe for them to run.
Things aren’t going to plan, though, and now, Joséphine, Clara, and all of the girls they’re trying to save are facing a dwindling food supply, the fear of being caught by Mende residents, and the reality that they may become victims of the beast themselves.
What The Woods Took by Courtney Gould
Devin wakes up in the middle of the night to find two strange men in her bedroom. She learns quickly, thanks to a lack of response from her foster parents, this is a planned abduction. She was tossed in a van and driven to the Idaho woods, where she meets many other young people as confused as she is.
Along with the other teens, Devin has been enrolled in an experimental therapy program that means to change their self-destructive ways.
Devin wants out. Immediately. But it won’t be easy.
Making things worse is that there is very clearly something in the woods that wants to hurt them. It begins with weird visions in the woods and continues when both counselors go missing. Now the teens are left to fend for themselves…and whatever is in the woods doesn’t want any of them to survive.
Except it might not be the woods that take them down. It might be the secrets that each of the campers holds.
New YA Paperback Releases
Pritty by Keith F. Miller, Jr.
It’s the summer before senior year. Jay is the exact opposite of his brother: Jay is soft, gentle, while his brother is the definition of all one thinks of as a man. Then he catches the attention of Leroy, and while Jay is shocked, he is getting the attention of a guy who could have his pick of anyone; he’s feeling it.
But their relationship is challenged because of Leroy’s family obligations to protect the neighborhood and to learn who attacked his own brother.
This book is being pitched as Concrete Rose meets Things We Couldn’t Say and looks fantastic.
The Revenge Game by Jordyn Taylor
Alyson loves love, and she has a habit of falling for boys who simply aren’t in to her at her elite prep school. So when things look and feel different with Brenton Riggs Jr., a star athlete at her school, she’s shocked (but excited) to be in her first real romantic relationship.
Then Alyson hears rumors that the boys at her school are in a competition to see who can get with the most girls adn she begins to wonder if her relationship with Brenton is the real deal. In response to the rumors, girls at the school begin their own game of revenge, and, now caught up in it, Alyson beings to see how many lies and secrets are flooding the school.
This mystery is pitched as one that’s got a lot of humor.
You’re Dead To Me by Amy Christine Parker
Is there anything better than a prom-themed horror read? The answer is no.
Ruby attends the prestigious Oleander High School as a scholarship student. It’s her senior year, and one of the things she does to deal with the feelings she has not being among the elite in the school is moonlight as the anonymous gossip blogger ReputationKiller.
The town turns against Ruby when word gets out that she’s the voice behind the blog. Then Ruby sees a vision of a blood-covered prom dress worn by her own ghost and she realizes that the feelings some have about her blog aren’t just anger. They’re murderous revenge.
With a week before prom, Ruby’s bound and determined to find out who wants her dead. But that won’t be easy in a town where everyone seems to have a secret to hide.
This is a paperback original.
English (US) · 