New Release Tuesday: YA New Releases April 14th 2020

If you are still recovering from the last massive release week, fear not today is much more manageable!

There are a lot of middle grade and young reader books releasing today, I only added the one or two I thought our readers would want to know about.

This is My Brain in Love

by I.W. Gregorio
on April 14, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary
IndieBound, Audiobook through LibroFM
Goodreads

Jocelyn Wu has just three wishes for her junior year: To make it through without dying of boredom, to direct a short film with her BFF Priya Venkatram, and to get at least two months into the year without being compared to or confused with Peggy Chang, the only other Chinese girl in her grade.
Will Domenici has two goals: to find a paying summer internship, and to prove he has what it takes to become an editor on his school paper.
Then Jocelyn's father tells her their family restaurant may be going under, and all wishes are off. Because her dad has the marketing skills of a dumpling, it's up to Jocelyn and her unlikely new employee, Will, to bring A-Plus Chinese Garden into the 21st century (or, at least, to Facebook).What starts off as a rocky partnership soon grows into something more. But family prejudices and the uncertain future of A-Plus threaten to keep Will and Jocelyn apart. It will take everything they have and more, to save the family restaurant and their budding romance.

Redemption Prep

by Samuel Miller
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
on April 14, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery
IndieBound, Audiobook through LibroFM
Goodreads

Twin Peaksmeets Riverdale in this twisty atmospheric mystery from the critically acclaimed author of A Lite Too BrightSamuel Miller, about the search for a missing girl at an elite prep school.

Everyone knows Emma. Neesha’s her best friend, Aiden’s her basketball star boyfriend, and Evan’s her shadow, following Emma’s every move.

Emma stands out, which is hard to do at Redemption Prep, a school where every student has been handpicked to attend its remote campus in the forest of Utah. So when she goes missing in plain sight during mass, everyone notices.

And everyone becomes a suspect, especially at a school with so many rules: Don’t skip mass. Don’t break curfew. Don’t go into the woods.

Emma’s disappearance ignites an investigation, and Neesha, Aiden, and Evan all want to find her—for different reasons. But they each have their own secrets to hide, and not everyone wants Emma to be found.

As the search continues, the students start to realize that they’re not the only ones trying to hide something. Redemption Prep has secrets, too—secrets bigger than any of the students could have imagined, and Emma could be the key to finding out the truth . . . if anyone can find her.

Girls Save the World in This One

by Ash Parsons
Published by: Philomel Books
on April 14, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, Horror
IndieBound, Audiobook through LibroFM
Goodreads

June’s whole life has been leading up to this: ZombieCon, the fan convention celebrating all things zombies. She and her two best friends plan on hitting all the panels, photo ops, and meeting the heartthrob lead of their favorite zombie apocalypse show Human Wasteland.

And when they arrive everything seems perfect, though June has to shrug off some weirdness from other fans—people shambling a little too much, and someone actually biting a cast member. Then all hell breaks loose and June and her friends discover the truth: real zombies are taking over the con. Now June must do whatever it takes to survive a horde of actual brain-eating zombies—and save the world.

The Lightness of Hands

by Jeff Garvin
Published by: Balzer + Bray
on April 14, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary
IndieBound, Audiobook through LibroFM
Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old Ellie Dante is desperate for something in her life to finally go right. Her father was a famous stage magician until he attempted an epic illusion on live TV—and failed. Now Ellie lives with her dad in a beat-up RV, attending high school online and performing with him at birthday parties and bars across the Midwest to make ends meet.

But when the gigs dry up, their insurance lapses, leaving Dad’s heart condition unchecked and forcing Ellie to battle her bipolar II disorder without medication.

Then Ellie receives a call from a famous magic duo, who offer fifteen thousand dollars and a shot at redemption: they want The Uncanny Dante to perform the illusion that wrecked his career—on their live TV special, which shoots in Los Angeles in ten days.

Ellie knows her dad will refuse-but she takes the deal anyway, then lies to persuade him to head west. With the help of her online-only best friend and an unusual guy she pairs up with along the way, Ellie makes a plan to stage his comeback. But when her lie is exposed, she’ll have to confront her illness and her choices head-on to save her father—and herself.

Witchlight

by Jessi Zabarsky
Published by: Random House Graphic
on April 14, 2020
Genres: Young Adult, Graphic Novel, Fantasy
IndieBound

Love -- loss -- witches -- this YA fantasy graphic novel has it all! This thoughtful, emotional story will entrance you with its moving story and organic artwork.

Lelek is a witch.

That's all Sanja knows when she meets Lelek in the marketplace. But Lelek is hiding something -- and as her life begins to intersect with Sanja's, all that she's kept to herself starts to come to light.

Secrets, friendship, and magic all come together as Lelek gets closer and closer to uncovering the truth about her past. . . .

Witchlight is a wonderful adventure filled with friendship, family, falling in love, and dealing with the hardest bits of your past all along the way.

Dancing at the Pity Party

by Tyler Feder
Published by: Dial Books
on April 14, 2020
Genres: Graphic Novel
IndieBound
Goodreads

Part poignant cancer memoir and part humorous reflection on a motherless life, this debut graphic novel is extraordinarily comforting and engaging.
From before her mother's first oncology appointment through the stages of her cancer to the funeral, sitting shiva, and afterward, when she must try to make sense of her life as a motherless daughter, Tyler Feder tells her story in this graphic novel that is full of piercing--but also often funny--details. She shares the important post-death firsts, such as celebrating holidays without her mom, the utter despair of cleaning out her mom's closet, ending old traditions and starting new ones, and the sting of having the "I've got to tell Mom about this" instinct and not being able to act on it. This memoir, bracingly candid and sweetly humorous, is for anyone struggling with loss who just wants someone to get it.

Anti/Hero

by Kate Karyus Quinn, Demitria Lunetta, Maca Gil
Published by: DC Comics
on May 5, 2020
Genres: Graphic Novel, Middle Grade, Sci-Fi
IndieBound
Goodreads

A new graphic novel for middle-grade featuring all original content and characters found here in Anti/Hero!
As if middle-school wasn't tough enough, two students who are sworn enemies run into big problems when a freaky event makes them switch places! Now they must work together if they want their old lives back, but the journey of being in someone else's shoes may bring some BIG surprises.
Don't miss out on this new original graphic novel from author Kate Karyus Quinn known for her work on Not Hungry, The Show Must Go On, Down with the Shine, Another little Piece and more

Beast: Face-To-Face with the Florida Bigfoot

by Watt Key
Goodreads

Beast is a fast-paced adventure of guts and survival, this time with a paranormal twist, from acclaimed author Watt Key...
Adam says he can't remember where he was for the two months he went missing in a Florida swamp. That's not true. He does remember. The truth: He was driving with his parents, and the car crashed when his father swerved to avoid colliding with a giant Sasquatch-like creature standing in the highway.
Haunted by his parents' disappearance and hounded for claiming to have seen Bigfoot, Adam sets off into the deadly wilderness on a hunt for answers as to what really happened that night. The answer he finds is more terrifying--and more fascinating--than he could have imagined.