There are so many excellent young adult books out in April, and this week is no exception. Most of the major genres are represented, so we’ve got something for every kind of reader, whether you’re looking for romance, horror, contemporary, historical, mystery, or fantasy.
First up is a sapphic YA romance about a mystery in a Black-owned movie theater, which sounds like a perfect summer read. Then there’s a contemporary novel about addiction, a horror/thriller story of spirit possession, a historical fantasy with faeries and sword-making, a bisexual fake dating romcom, a mystery in Chinatown, and a chilling thriller about friendship and betrayal.
New YA Hardcover Releases: April 22, 2025
If We Were a Movie by Zakiya N. Jamal
Rochelle is an ambitious teenager with very clear plans for her future. To get into her dream school, she is determined to become valedictorian—which means beating out her academic rival Amira. But she also needs to round out her application with a job, so she begins working at Horizon Cinemas, a Black-owned movie theater she loves. Unfortunately, it means Amira is her boss. As they spend more time together, though, Rochelle begins to see her in a whole new light. When Horizon Cinemas is threatened, they’ll have to work together to save it.
Under the Fading Sky by Cynthia Kadohata
Elijah is a mixed-race Japanese American teenager in California who loves history and stunt biking. He quickly becomes friends with classmate Lee, bonding over their similar families. When Lee breaks his leg biking, he’s helped by another classmate, Banker, who also lets the two of them use his vape pen. From there, Elijah struggles with his growing substance dependency, which spirals out of control.
The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum
This queer horror/thriller is perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Aiden Thomas. Hollis Brown would do anything to escape his dead end small town. But things get worse for him when he’s literally possessed by a spirit named Walt who has unfinished business. Now Hollis must help Walt settle the score before he is finally allowed to rest.
There’s one problem. Hollis is starting to fall for Walt, and he might not be ready to let him go. —Emily Martin
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Iron Tongue of Midnight (The Forge & Fracture Saga #3) by Brittany N. Williams
Since this is the third book in the series, the synopsis would be a spoiler for the first book! So, here’s a description for the first book in the series, That Self-Same Metal:
Joan is 16, Black, and living in London in 1605. She’s also the only other person living apart from her godfather who is blessed by Ogun, the iron Orisha. It’s with this gift that Joan is able to work as a craftswoman for William Shakespeare’s acting company, even though she could hang as a witch for it. When the Fae start acting out in the mortal realm, she saves the son of a lord and is brought into the political world of both Fae and mortal. When her godfather is arrested, it’s up to her to get the raggedy faeries together. —Erica Ezeifedi
New YA Paperback Releases: April 22, 2025
Finally Fitz by Marisa Kanter
Fitz has the perfect life: a 4.0 GPA, a girlfriend she adores, and a following as a sustainable fashion influencer. But then her girlfriend breaks up with her for spending more time on her online presence than their relationship. Fitz will do anything to get her back. When her childhood friend Levi confides in her about his own heartbreak, she sees an opportunity. They start fake dating to make their exes jealous. The plan is that they’ll both get their exes back by the end of the summer… but we all know where fake dating leads.
Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee
Gemma, May, and Peony are the three Chow sisters. Gemma and May are the older two and have continued in their father’s footsteps selling flowers after his death. When Gemma and May are at a local farm in a remote barn and stumble upon the dead body of Lulu Wong—one of the most well-known stars to come out of Chinatown and their former classmate—they know that this was no accidental death. The police disagree with their assessment and assure the girls that her death was nothing suspicious. But Gemma an May won’t let it go. They know there was foul play, especially as the rise of anti-Asian violence has escalated and the city itself wants to destroy what’s left of Chinatown.
The girls plan to take on the investigation themselves, despite the trouble it will put them in. With a single mom at home and the fear that they will lose what’s left of their community and their home with the city’s plans for a new train depot, Gemma and May have to be cautious. But as they dig deeper into Lulu’s death and uncover what happened—and who killed her—they might also do more for their Chinatown community than they could have ever imagined. —Kelly Jensen
Murder Between Friends by Liz Lawson
Grace, Henry, and Ally were childhood best friends—until Grace testified against Henry’s brother, Jake. Now, two years later, their friendship is shattered, and Jake is in prison for killing his English teacher. But when Jake gets a mistrial and Grace begins to question what she saw that night, they have a chance to make things right, if they can find a way to work together. They’ll have to prove Jake’s innocence without his knowledge, though, because he insists he doesn’t want any of them to get involved.
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
This week, we’re highlighting a post that had our Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz feeling a type of way. Now, even five years after it was published, Vanessa is still salty about American Dirt. Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
Picture it: The United States, January 2020. A book with a pretty blue and white cover is making the rounds on the bookish internet. The blue ink forms a beautiful hummingbird motif against a creamy background, a bird associated with the sun god Huitzilopochtli in Aztec mythology. Black barbed wire, at once delicate and menacing, cuts the pattern into a grid resembling an arrangement of Talavera tiles. The package is eye-catching, ostensibly Mexican in feel, and evocative of borders and the migrant experience.
The book tells the story of a bookstore owner in Acapulco, Mexico, who is forced to flee her home when a drug cartel murders everyone in her family except for her young son at a quinceañera. She and the boy are forced to become migrants and embark on a treacherous journey north to the U.S. border, evading the cartel and befriending fellow migrants along the way. The book is being lauded not just as the “it” book of the season but as the immigration story. It gets the Oprah treatment and is praised by everyone from Salma Hayek to the great Sandra Cisneros, who called it “the great novel of Las Américas.”
It’s been over five years, and this book is still the bane of my existence.
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English (US) · 