#ya lit

OUT TODAY

Death Card by Jasmine Smith G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers

On an ordinary Monday morning, eighteen-year-old Mikaela Broussard receives the shock of her life. During a customer’s tarot reading at her family’s occult shop, she turns over the Death card and envisions the beautiful stranger stabbing her in the heart.

In order to determine why the girl, Joelle, wants to kill her, she’ll have to keep her close. But the more time Mikaela spends with her soon-to-be murderer, the more irresistible she finds her.

As if imminent death isn’t worrisome enough, witches are turning up with their magic stolen. And it’s clear some very dark magic is at work. Mikaela, as the next Witch Queen of her coven, is tasked with figuring out who’s behind the horrific acts—a mystery that will put her and her power to the test.

Death Card is a dark, pacy, and romantic fantasy about one witch’s journey to find the strength to fight for herself, her future, and her beloved community.

Heavensent & Hellbent by Sara Jafari Delacourte Press

Roxana wants to relax for the rest of summer. Moving from England to Colorado was exhausting. Especially when she’s been avoiding her dad, grieving her mom, and failing to conquer sleep paralysis. Life couldn’t possibly get any more complicated.

Then Roxy bumps into a beautiful and familiar boy. Zain. In her nightmares, they’re being burned together at the stake. And in the real world, she watches him kill a man, altering life as she knows it. She quickly learns that not only do jinn—demons—exist, but angels too.

Roxy can’t ignore the undeniable attraction she feels toward Zain, even as he triggers new nightmares for her. Ones that come with a warning: Their relationship could lead to their ruin. But isn’t love worth fighting both heaven and hell for?

My Killer Family Reunion by Dinesh Thiru Atheneum Books for Young Reader

Nothings brings family together like attempted murder.

There are three things Jayshree Devi can count on happening at her annual family reunion: 1) her cousins will forget she exists, 2) her aunts will try to set her up, and 3) her uncles will get into a fight. What she doesn’t expect? An accident that lands her grandmother in a coma, throwing the family—and their matriarch’s sizeable fortune—into chaos.

When Jay discovers Grand Mom’s “accident” might not have been so accidental after all, she’ll have to dig through decades of secrets to find the truth. With the help of her (annoyingly perky) cousins and one of their (annoyingly hot) friends, Jay finds herself knee-deep in a mystery that’s even more tangled than her family tree.

But the closer Jay gets to answers, the closer she gets to finding her place amongst the relatives who once felt so distant. With Grand Mom’s life and fortune hanging in the balance, can Jay save her family and maybe hook up with a hottie while she’s at it?

Nest of Tongues by Randy Ribay Random House Books for Young Readers

As Filipino vampires known as manananggal, Lily and her brother Caleb understand the value of a secret. After all, to hide is to survive. To lie is to live. They’d never harm another person—but people only believe their worst fears around creatures of myth. So the siblings stay quiet. They follow their community’s rules.

Until a monster hunter turns up and kills a fellow manananggal, anyway.

Until Caleb is marked as the hunter’s next prey.

Suddenly, he and Lily realize there’s always been more at stake than the lives of their people. Because when doing everything “right” is still a death sentence, what can they take as truth? As the hunter nears, the siblings must decide if they’ll be driven from the only home they’ve ever known . . . or fight to protect a community that may already be lost.

Such Great Heights by Rajani LaRocca Quill Tree Books

Siya Kumar is done with liars.

Part of the reason Siya joins her school’s mock trial team is to honor the memory of her mother, a lawyer who was killed in a car accident when Siya was just ten years old. Her mom always told her that the truth is like a flame that burns away lies.

When Raj Raghavan, varsity soccer star and mock trial co-captain, seems interested in Siya, it feels too good to be true. Everything is golden until an overnight team bonding session, when Siya accidentally gets locked in a room with another guy until dawn. Even though Siya swears nothing happened, she doesn’t feel like Raj believes her.

At the same time, the details of the mock trial case are suspiciously similar to the circumstances of her mom’s death—which leads Siya to wonder if it was really just a car accident that took her mother’s life.

From award-winning author Rajani LaRocca comes a contemporary retelling of the Ramayana that asks whether seeking the truth is always the right thing to do. Sometimes, is the past better left behind?

OUT LAST WEEK

Stepping Up by Kiara Valdez with Diana Tsai Santos (Illustrator) HarperAlley

Kiara is a long way from Washington Heights. She’s at Phillips Academy Andover—the prestigious school of her dreams. But her bulky financial aid laptop in a room full of brand-new Macs, her classmates’ endless chatter about overseas vacations, and everyone’s pristine North Face jackets have her feeling like she’ll never fit in.

Then she discovers the all-star step team, SLAM. Kiara will gladly endure long practices, sore muscles, and chafed palms to finally find her place on campus. That is, until tragedy strikes and those closest to her are hurt, and she realizes exactly what it means to be an Andover student.

Because at a school where her wealthy white classmates can get away with almost anything and students like her are made to feel lucky to even be at the academy to begin with, is belonging really what Kiara wants? And is she brave enough to step up—for herself and her friends?

Everything Comes Back To You by Jackie Khalilieh Tundra Books

Lennon is excited and apprehensive about starting high school, where her older sister is going to be a senior. Then her sister drops a bombshell: she is pregnant. Her Palestinian Canadian parents are devastated, and Lennon finds herself under even more pressure to be a “good girl” – a role autistic Lennon has always played well. But after a chance encounter with John, a white boy in the grade above, Lennon finds herself nursing a crush on someone her parents would definitely not approve of—which only seems to intrigue her more.

The Fast Track by Angelica Cheng Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

An ambitious racer who dreams of becoming the first female F1 champion finds her plans going off track when she catches feelings for her biggest competition in this dishy, delicious contemporary romance for fans of love, Lynn Painter, and Lewis Hamilton.

Justine Kwong has always dreamed of becoming a Formula 1 champion. There’s just one problem: no female driver has ever done it before. So when she’s offered a coveted chance to race in Formula 3, she leaps at the opportunity. Sure, half the fans think she’s just there to fill a diversity quota, and her teammate—the infuriatingly cute Cameron Evans—mistakes her for an intern, but Justine knows her talent will leave them all in the dust.

But driving well isn’t the only prerequisite to getting noticed, and Justine’s forced to fend for herself in a sea of prejudice, paparazzi, and petty backstabbing. There’s a lot riding on her ability to navigate the complicated trackside hierarchy—like the open F2 seat that could be her ticket to the big leagues.

Except…when Justine and Cameron’s bickering gives way to unexpected chemistry, the boy she’s falling for may be the one person standing in the way of her dreams—because while they may be teammates, they are also each other’s biggest competitor. And with her only shot at glory on the line, this race could break more than just hearts.

A Clash of Carnivores (Book #2 of Mastery of Monsters Trilogy) by Liselle Sambury Margaret K. McElderry Books

August and her bonded Monster face a cutthroat competition to advance within their secret society as part of August’s mission to avenge her brother in this “thrilling, high-stakes” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) sequel to A Mastery of Monsters.

August Black risked everything to find her brother, joining a deadly secret society protecting the chilling truth that monsters are very, very real. She thought when she found him that she would leave the society behind.

Instead, she fought and bled to bond herself to a Monster for life.

Now, despite her efforts to stay unattached, her connection to her Monster partner, Virgil, continues to grow. She can’t stop replaying the memory of their forbidden kiss that Virgil wants to pretend never happened.

Their strained bond is put to the test as they prepare for the Monster’s Ball, a brutal tournament where pairs battle for the coveted title of Master. But despite the danger of the contest, August is consumed with finding her mom’s killer and getting revenge. Her vendetta leads to her accidentally forming a rare second bond with Nolan, a Wild Monster who wants nothing to do with her. And if the three of them can’t work together, they’ll be kicked out of the tournament before it even begins.

But August can’t pull her focus away from revenge—even if it means becoming the worst sort of monster herself. She believes that vengeance will cure her grief, but it may just be the thing that breaks her bonds for good.

Find My Way Down to You by Julian Winters Viking Books for Young Readers

You’ve Reached Sam meets Hadestown in this enchanting, intoxicating romance across the mortal world and the underworld.

Eighteen-year-old August is trying to navigate life after the sudden death of his boyfriend left him devastated, aimless, and feeling guilty. Years after the tragic accident, August mistakenly stumbles into a world beyond his own—the Underworld. Unlike his own gray existence, the underworld is a lavish extravagant place, full of mystery and a flurry of charismatic gods, all curious about August’s arrival in their world. Realizing right away the opportunity in front of him, August goes searching for his lost love, guided by Cary, the smoldering, broody ferrier of souls. But the more time August spends down below, the more his intentions begin to blur. Is he visiting this realm to reunite with his soulmate? Or is he desperately, inexplicably, intoxicatingly drawn to Cary? With his own world in pieces and a dangerously seductive realm promising him a new existence at a heavy cost, August must choose: a life with grief or a love that might destroy him.

The Hardest Ones to Fool by Christina Li Penguin Workshop

Amelia Wu is great at relationships. So great, in fact, that she’s in three of them. Why choose between the suave debate team captain, the charming indie filmmaker, and the tennis star when she can be with them all?

The catch? None of them know about each other. It works perfectly. They’re in love with her—or the versions of her that they get. Amy. Ellie. Mia. And she’s in love with the lavish dinners, fancy yacht trips, and expensive gifts. Times three.

But schemes always get complicated, don’t they? When Amelia’s best friend ends up dead, her alleged murder shocks their placid beachside city. And soon, Amelia’s carefully planned relationships start to dangerously unravel.

In a fit of desperation, Amelia teams up with her academic nemesis Jackie, the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and a self-proclaimed true crime junkie, to get to the bottom of this.