Young Adult New Releases August 15th 2023

We are back on track with new releases, and continuing spooky season new reads – all the YA horror is hitting shelves this month! Check out most of August’s releases on our Bookshop page, or visit our page to find Where to Buy Signed Books…enjoy some fall spooooky season prep!

Holly Horror (Holly Horror, #1)

by Michelle Jabès Corpora
Published by: Penguin Teen
on August 15, 2023
Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Young Adult
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"Playmate, come and play with me..."

A beloved classic reimagined with a dark twist.

After her parents' painful divorce, Evie Archer hopes that moving to Ravenglass, Massachusetts, is the fresh start that her family needs. But Evie quickly realizes that her new home—known by locals as the Horror House—carries its own dark past after learning about Holly Hobbie, who mysteriously vanished in her bedroom one night.
But traces of Holly linger in the Horror House and slowly begin to take over Evie's life. A strange shadow follows her everywhere she goes, and Evie starts to lose sight of what's real and what isn't the more she learns about The Lost Girl.

Can Evie find out what happened the night of Holly's disappearance? Or is history doomed to repeat itself in the Horror House?

The Last Girls Standing

by Jennifer Dugan
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
on August 15, 2023
Genres: Horror, LGBTQIA+, Thriller, Young Adult
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In this queer YA psychological thriller from the author of Some Girls Do and Hot Dog Girl, the sole surviving counselors of a summer camp massacre search to uncover the truth of what happened that fateful night, but what they find out might just get them killed.

You don’t usually meet the love of your life while running from masked men with machetes, but that’s exactly what happens to Sloan after surviving a ritual killing that left so many of her fellow summer camp counselors dead. Cherry, the only other survivor, becomes a lifeline for Sloan, their traumatic experience bonding them in ways no one else can understand.

As the girls get closer, and Sloan learns more about the motives behind the attack that brought them together, she begins to suspect that Cherry may be more than just a survivor—she may actually have been a part of it. Cherry tries to reassure her, but Sloan only becomes more distraught. Is this gaslighting or reality? Is Cherry a victim or a perpetrator? Is Sloan losing her mind, or seeing things clearly for the first time?

Against all odds, Sloan survived that hot summer night. But will she survive what comes next?

Tilly in Technicolor

by Mazey Eddings
Published by: Wednesday Books
on August 15, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult
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Tilly Twomley is desperate for change. White-knuckling her way through high school with flawed executive functioning has left her burnt out and ready to start fresh. Working as an intern for her perfect older sister’s start up isn’t exactly how Tilly wants to spend her summer, but the required travel around Europe promises a much-needed change of scenery as she plans for her future. The problem is, Tilly has no idea what she wants.

Oliver Clark knows exactly what he wants. His autism has often made it hard for him to form relationships with others, but his love of color theory and design allows him to feel deeply connected to the world around him. Plus, he has everything he needs: a best friend that gets him, placement into a prestigious design program, and a summer internship to build his resume. Everything is going as planned. That is, of course, until he suffers through the most disastrous international flight of his life, all turmoil stemming from lively and exasperating Tilly. Oliver is forced to spend the summer with a girl that couldn’t be more his opposite—feeling things for her he can’t quite name—and starts to wonder if maybe he doesn’t have everything figured out after all.

As the duo’s neurodiverse connection grows, they learn that some of the best parts of life can’t be planned, and are forced to figure out what that means as their disastrously wonderful summer comes to an end.

Tilly in Technicolor is Mazey Eddings's sparkling YA debut about two neurodivergent teens who form a connection over the course of a summer.

The Girls from Hush Cabin

by Marie Hoy-Kenny
Published by: Blackstone Publishing
on August 15, 2023
Genres: Horror, LGBTQIA+, Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult
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In this suspenseful YA thriller from debut author Marie Hoy-Kenny, four former friends--each with their own dark secret--must team up to solve a murder.

Calista, Zoe, Holly, and Denise were inseparable best friends when they spent their summers together at sleepaway camp. But after an unexplained tragedy forced the camp to close, the girls drifted apart.

Years later, reunited at their beloved camp counselor Violet's funeral, the four former best friends quickly realize how much they've changed over the years. But despite their differences, they agree on one thing--Violet's so-called accidental death was actually murder.

Unwilling to leave the case unsolved, they set off to uncover the truth--even if it means revealing the dark secrets of their pasts.

But someone wants them to stop investigating, and the anonymous threats keep coming, leaving them suspicious of everyone.

No one can be trusted, not even the girls from Hush Cabin.

Forgive Me Not

by Jennifer Baker
Published by: Nancy Paulsen Books
on August 15, 2023
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
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In this searing indictment of the juvenile justice system, one incarcerated teen weighs what she is willing to endure for forgiveness.

All it took was one night and one bad decision for fifteen-year-old Violetta Chen-Samuels’ life to go off the rails. After driving drunk and causing the accident that kills her little sister, Violetta is incarcerated. As a juvenile offender, her fate is in the hands of those she’s wronged—her family. With their forgiveness, she could go home. But without it? Well…

Denied their forgiveness, Violetta is now left with two options, neither good—remain in juvenile detention for an uncertain sentence or participate in the Trials, potentially regaining her freedom and what she wants most of all, her family’s love. But the Trials are no easy feat and in the quest to prove her remorse, Violetta is forced to confront not only her family’s pain, but her own—and the question of whether their forgiveness is more important than forgiving herself.

Face the Night

by Lani Forbes
Published by: Blackstone Publishing
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
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On a harsh frontier where good and evil contend for people's minds, a young woman must fight for her true identity in this scintillating YA fantasy from the author of the award-winning Age of the Seventh Sun trilogy.

Once, Catriona Macgregor led a charmed life. Daughter of a wealthy rancher, pretty and educated, she looked forward to all the world had to offer--until fate took a turn. Now family, home, and even her name have been stripped away. As "Black Cat Whitfield," adopted daughter of an outlaw, she's wanted by the authorities. It certainly wasn't the destiny she imagined--especially as one of the Blessed.

The Blessed, rare people like Cat, are supposed to use their gifts to carry out missions for the Patron Saints, but she can only imagine that Saint Prudentia made a terrible mistake in choosing her. Still, her gift has never deserted her. Whenever danger threatens, Cat receives a vision--just in time to save her life. And when she meets a renegade priest, Father Ignatius, he helps her understand how her ability may be part of a much bigger picture. A picture that involves facing up to the monstrous Baron Caldwell - the one who ordered her parents killed - and his son, Adrian, who betrayed them all.

Cat is torn between guilt over her parents' death, a longing for vengeance against their killers, and a dismaying new interest in Adrian. It would be easiest to flee the whole situation and never look back. But as someone once told her, you can't outrun the darkness on your heels. There's only one way to break through to sunrise - by turning to face the night.

Disappearing Act: A True Story

by Jiordan Castle
on August 15, 2023
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
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Moving and evocative, Disappearing Act is YA memoir-in-verse following author Jiordan Castle's coming-of-age as her family reckons with the aftershocks of her father's imprisonment.

It was the summer before high school,the beginning of everything.But also an end.

Jiordan’s family was never quite like everyone else’s, with her father’s mood swings, her mother’s attempts at normalcy, and her two older sisters with a different last name. But on the surface, they fit in.

Until the day the FBI came knocking on the door.

After that, her father’s mood plunged to a dangerous new low. After that, there was an investigation into his business and a sentencing in court. Soon Jiordan’s father would have to leave home, and her family would change forever.

Reckoning with the aftershocks of her father’s incarceration, Jiordan had to navigate friends who couldn't quite understand what she was going through, along with the highs and lows of first love. Under it all was the question: If Jiordan’s father was gone, why did she feel like the one who was disappearing?

Recounting her own experiences as a teenager, poet Jiordan Castle has created a searing and evocative young adult true-story-in-verse about the challenge to be free when a parent is behind bars.

Cloak of Scarlet (The Dericott Tales, #5)

by Melanie Dickerson
Published by: Thomas Nelson
on August 15, 2023
Genres: Historical Fiction, Retellings, Young Adult
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She was an orphan of no importance.

Violet Lambton never imagined herself as anything but average. Adopted as a young child, she’s content with her comfortable life in her small medieval town with her faith, her books, and her baking and the vivid red cloak her grandmother gifted her. Her one dream: to find a love that is pure and true. Then, her beloved grandmother is robbed by the villainous Baron Dunham. Outraged, Violet finds herself in the midst of the action and determines to put an end to the evil baron’s mistreatment of the hardworking people.

He was an ordinary knight serving the baron.

Sir Merek, a knight in the service of Baron Dunham, has pledged his life to fighting injustice and defending the weak. But when he encounters the spirited and beautiful Violet and discovers the depths of the baron’s treachery, he realizes that serving his employer is not serving the kingdom—and so he sets out on a daring journey to go behind the baron’s back to expose his deceitfulness to the king.

Suddenly the kingdom depends on both of them.

But before Merek and Violet can act to bring the corruption to light, Violet is captured and brought directly to Dunham—where she shockingly discovers a secret that shakes her entire world and the future she dreams of. Thrown together in the baron’s quarters in a race against time to save the lives of their loved ones and themselves, Violet and Merek must learn to trust each other to expose Dunham’s treachery to the king—all while succumbing to their growing feelings for each other. Can the two find their happily ever after against all odds, or will the wolves amongst them drive them apart?

From New York Times bestselling author Melanie Dickerson comes a thrilling retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood," where two hearts must learn to trust themselves and each other in order to save a kingdom.

A medieval retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood” Part of the Dericott Tale series of stand-alone fairy tales
Includes discussion questions for book clubs

Look No Further

by Rioghnach Robinson, Siofra Robinson
Published by: Amulet Books
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
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The Parent Trap meets The Vanishing Half in this gripping YA novel about estranged siblings who meet for the first time at art camp and confront their differing experiences of race and identity

When seventeen-year-old Niko and fifteen-year-old Aili meet at Ogilvy Summer Art Institute, a selective camp for art students in New York City, they seem like complete opposites. Aili comes across as standoffish to Niko, while usually laid-back Niko feels like a fish out of water surrounded by so many highly driven peers. But when a teacher assigns them to work together on a personal history project, Aili and Niko find much more than they bargained for in one another.

The pair embark on a quest to uncover their shared history, while Aili also finds herself falling for her roommate—who may have already fallen for another girl at Ogilvy—and Niko navigates how to find his voice and place in the world. As Aili and Niko get to know each other over secret excursions off-campus, class trips, and their research projects, they both grapple with their personal identities and preconceptions. Soon they stumble on the most startling revelations of all: the fact that in their unlikely friendship, they have found a sibling—and themselves.