Books on Our Radar: Breakout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon

Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon gave us a New York City blackout and then a Atlanta snowstorm, and both times they delivered. Breakout, out June 2nd, is their third collaboration and it is a sharp left turn from the previous romance stories. The romance is still there but this time it is wrapped inside a thriller (which…look at those authors again!). Five friends at a luxurious Florida resort for spring break, trying to forget a tragedy from the year before, a new kid who fits a little too perfectly into their group, and the slow realization that not everyone is making it home. Six of the best voices in YA writing a locked room thriller together is exactly as good as it sounds!

Breakout

by Dhonielle Clayton, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon
Published by: Quill Tree Books
on June 2, 2026
Genres: Anthology, Contemporary, Mystery, Romance, Thriller, Young Adult
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Trapped at a luxurious resort off the coast of Florida, a group of elite teens are about to have a spring break they will never forget . . . but not all of them are coming home. The star-studded team of authors behind New York Times bestsellers Blackout and Whiteout returns with a thriller full of intrigue, betrayal, and heart-stopping romance.

For Thurgood Marshall Academy's best and brightest--five friends who've been thick as thieves since kindergarten--this spring break is all about forgetting: they want nothing more than to wash away last year's tragedy, and the human-shaped hole it left in their friend group.

It's a hole the new kid, Anthony Brooks, seems to fit right into. So when he invites the Five to join him on a private island for a week at his dad's luxury resort, they agree with zero hesitation. No one's counting on a freak tropical storm swooping in and killing the vibe. And speaking of killing, they're also ill-prepared for the mounting collection of dead bodies... including (another) one of their own.

As their dream trip unravels, everything they tried to leave behind--secrets, lies, betrayals, dead best friends--seems to be washing up on the shore of their lives for everyone to see.

Will any of them make it out alive?