Young Adult New Releases August 1st 2023

Happy August & happy start of spooky season! If you don’t believe me, just walk into a craft store or home store, and/or also just look at the list of YA titles releasing today! So many spooky reads coming at you! Most of today’s YA releases are below, but if you want to see what else is releasing in August, check out our Bookshop page or the Where to Buy Signed Books page!

Bring Me Your Midnight

by Rachel Griffin
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
on August 1, 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult
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From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches and Wild is the Witch comes a lush romantic fantasy about forbidden love, the choices we make, and the pull between duty and desire.

Tana Fairchild’s fate has never been in question. Her life has been planned out since the moment she was born: she is to marry the governor’s son, Landon, and secure an unprecedented alliance between the witches of her island home and the mainlanders who see her very existence as a threat.

Tana’s coven has appeased those who fear their power for years by releasing most of their magic into the ocean during the full moon. But when Tana misses the midnight ritual—a fatal mistake—there is no one she can turn to for help…until she meets Wolfe.

Wolfe claims he is from a coven that practices dark magic, making him one of the only people who can help her. But he refuses to let Tana’s power rush into the sea, and instead teaches her his forbidden magic. A magic that makes her feel powerful. Alive.

As the sea grows more violent, her coven loses control of the currents, a danger that could destroy the alliance as well as her island. Tana will have to choose between love and duty, between loyalty to her people and loyalty to her heart. Marrying Landon would secure peace for her coven but losing Wolfe and his wild magic could cost her everything else.

Zhara (Guardians of Dawn, #1)

by S. Jae-Jones
Published by: Wednesday Books
on August 1, 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Mythology, Young Adult
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Sailor Moon meets Cinder in Guardians of Dawn: Zhara, the start of a new, richly imagined fantasy series from S. Jae-Jones, the New York Times bestselling author of Wintersong.

Magic flickers.Love flames.Chaos reigns.

Magic is forbidden throughout the Morning Realms. Magicians are called abomination, and blamed for the plague of monsters that razed the land twenty years before.
Jin Zhara already had enough to worry about—appease her stepmother’s cruel whims, looking after her blind younger sister, and keeping her own magical gifts under control—without having to deal with rumors of monsters re-emerging in the marsh. But when a chance encounter with an easily flustered young man named Han brings her into contact with a secret magical liberation organization called the Guardians of Dawn, Zhara realizes there may be more to these rumors than she thought. A mysterious plague is corrupting the magicians of Zanhei and transforming them into monsters, and the Guardians of Dawn believe a demon is responsible.

In order to restore harmony and bring peace to the world, Zhara must discover the elemental warrior within, lest the balance between order and chaos is lost forever.

A Little Like Waking

by Adam Rex
Published by: Roaring Brook Press
on August 1 2023
Genres: Romance, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult
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You’ve Reached Sam meets The Good Place in this deeply-felt, unconventional love story about a girl, a boy, a dreamer, and a dream from best-selling and award-winning author Adam Rex.

Zelda is stuck in a dream. A very strange dream, where people can fly, bears sneeze money, and her childhood cat, Patches, is somehow alive - despite being run over years ago. Things only get stranger when Zelda meets Langston, a sweet if overly timid guy who feels more real to her than anyone she’s ever met.

As Zelda and Langston explore the far reaches of the dreamscape together, they find themselves growing closer and closer. But what they uncover along the way pushes them towards a truth neither of them wants to face. Will it turn out that he's the guy of her dreams, or is she the girl of his?

A tender, insightful read that defies time, space, and expectation, Adam Rex's A Little Like Waking is perfect for fans of Every Day and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

The Bewitching Hour (A Tara Prequel) (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Prequels)

by Ashley Poston
Published by: Disney-Hyperion
on August 1, 2023
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
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In this Buffy the Vampire Slayer prequel, fan-favorite and LGBTQIA+ icon Tara Maclay gets the main character treatment . . . whether she wants it or not.

Tara Maclay isn’t thrilled to be in a new town for her senior year of high school. She misses her mom, her garden, her magic—and the way her dad treated her before her mom passed. But if Tara can just keep her head down, then maybe she can make it through this year in Hellborne, Vermont without the town living up to its name.

Of course, her plan falls apart immediately, as dead students start turning up around her, and she’s suddenly voted Most Likely To Have Murdered Them by the rest of the senior class. Oh, and the fellow new girl Tara’s crushing on? Turns out to be a witch-hunter. . . . So maybe it’s not the worst thing that Tara’s magic is majorly malfunctioning.

As the body count rises, Tara has to get past her fears, reconnect with her magic, and cast herself in a more central role to save the town—even if it means putting her new relationship at risk.

The Bewitching Hour is a full of '90s nostalgia, mysterious murders, and a star-crossed sapphic romance, blended perfectly together by New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Ashley Poston.

The Narrow

by Kate Alice Marshall
Published by: Viking Books for Young Readers
on August 1, 2023
Genres: Horror, LGBTQIA+, Paranormal, Young Adult
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A ghost haunting her boarding school uncovers a teen girl's best kept secrets in the Queen of Scream's deliciously terrifying new novel.

Everyone has heard the story of the Narrow. The river that runs behind the Atwood School is only a few feet across and seemingly placid, but beneath the surface, the waters are deep and vicious. It's said that no one who has fallen in has ever survived.

Eden White knows that isn't true. Six years ago, she saw Delphine Fournier fall into the Narrow--and live.

Delphine now lives in careful isolation, sealed off from the world. Even a single drop of unpurified water could be deadly to her, and no one but Eden has any idea why. Eden has never told anyone what she saw or spoken to Delphine since, but now, unable to cover her tuition, she has to make a deal: her expenses will be paid in return for serving as a live-in companion to Delphine.

Eden finds herself drawn to the strange and mysterious girl, and the two of them begin to unravel each other's secrets. Then Eden discovers what happened to the last girl who lived with Delphine: she was found half-drowned on dry land. Suddenly Eden is waking up to wet footprints tracking to the end of her bed, the sound of rain on the windows when the skies are clear, and a ghostly silhouette in her doorway. Something is haunting Delphine--and now it's coming for Eden, too.

Damned If You Do

by Alex Brown
Published by: Page Street Kids
on August 1, 2023
Genres: Contemporary, Humor, LGBTQIA+, Paranormal, Young Adult
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Queer Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Filipino folklore in this horror comedy about a high school stage manager who accidentally sells her soul to a demon.

Seven years ago, Cordelia Scott’s abusive father left without a word, and life has been normal ever since. The seventeen-year-old spends her days stage managing the school play (which is going great, if anyone asks), pining over her best friend, Veronica, and failing one too many pop quizzes.

She’s never been sad that her father left, but she knows something is...missing. When her school guidance counselor, Fred, reveals during a session that he’s actually a demon, she learns that something is indeed a piece of her actual soul. Why? She unwittingly made a deal with him to make her father disappear – then bargained to have the memory erased. To make matters worse, Fred is here to make another Help him with a “little” demonic problem, or she’s doomed to spend eternity in Hell with her father.

The deal? Help Fred neutralize a rival demon, who means to do more harm in her hometown than your average demon deal.

The Boy You Always Wanted

by Michelle Quach
Published by: HarperTeen
on August 1, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult
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Francine always has a plan. Ollie wants no part of it.

Francine loves her grandfather, but their time together is running out. He has one final wish: to see a male heir carry on the family traditions. Francine knows his ideas are outdated, but she would do anything for him. Her solution? Ask Ollie Tran, a family friend (and former crush, not that it matters), to pretend to be ceremonially adopted and act like the grandson A Gūng never had.

Ollie generally avoids the odd, too blunt (and fine, sort of cute) Francine, whose intensity makes him uncomfortable. So when she asks him to help deceive her dying grandpa, Ollie’s not down. He doesn’t get why anyone would go to such lengths, even for family. Especially with a backwards (and sexist, Ollie keeps stressing) scheme like this.

Francine, however, is determined to make it happen, and soon Ollie finds himself more invested in her plan—and in her—than he ever thought possible. But as the tangled lies and feelings pile up, Francine must discover what exactly she needs for herself—and from Ollie. Because sometimes the boy you always wanted isn’t what you expected.

I'll Tell You No Lies

by Amanda McCrina
on August 1, 2023
Genres: Historical Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult
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From Amanda McCrina, the acclaimed author of Traitor and The Silent Unseen, I'll Tell You No Lies is a riveting YA novel of the Cold War era about a girl in post-World War II America who becomes entangled with an escaped Soviet pilot and must learn to decipher truth from lies.

New York, 1955. Eighteen-year-old Shelby Blaine and her father, an Air Force intelligence officer, have just been wrenched away from their old life in West Germany to New York's Griffiss Air Force Base, where he has been summoned to lead the interrogation of an escaped Soviet pilot. Still in shock from the car accident that killed her mother barely a month earlier, Shelby struggles with her grief, an emotionally distant father, and having to start over in a new home.

Then a chance meeting with Maksym, the would-be defector, spirals into a deadly entanglement, as the pilot's cover story is picked apart and he attempts to escape his military and intelligence handlers--with Shelby caught in the middle. The more she learns of Maksym's secrets, including his detention at Auschwitz during the war, the more she becomes willing to help him. But as the stakes become more dangerous, Shelby begins to question everything she has been told, even by her fugitive friend. Allies turn into enemies, and the truth is muddled by lies. Can she trust a traitor with her life, or will it be the last mistake she ever makes?

Sixteen Souls

by Rosie Talbot
Published by: Scholastic Press
on August 1, 2023
Genres: LGBTQIA+, Paranormal, Thriller, Young Adult
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Sixteen-year-old Charlie Frith has problems. His crush is dating someone else, his sisters have glitter-bombed his prosthesis (again), and he's a seer-of-spirits in York, the most haunted city in England, and all his friends are ghosts.

To make matters worse, it seems that famous spirits are mysteriously vanishing from York's haunted streets and alleys. Charlie is determined to stay out of it, but Sam, the irritating new seer in town, expects him to track down who -- or what -- is responsible and uncover the dark purpose behind these disappearances.

But when one of Charlie's ghostly friends vanishes, he has no choice but to face the shadows -- and his growing feelings for Sam. The boys must be willing to risk it all to save York’s spirits, because this adversary will stop at nothing to complete their devastating plan. Afterlives are at stake, and Charlie is running out of time...

Omen of Ice (Omen of Ice, 1)

by Jus Accardo
Published by: Entangled Publishing LLC (Teen)
on August 1, 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Thriller, Young Adult
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Keltania Tunne has spent her whole life training to become a bodyguard for a Winter Fae. It's the highest of honors for a druid...only when Tania arrives at the Winter Court for the first time, nothing is what she expected.

Her assignment is the heir to the throne, Valen, and he doesn't want her protection. In fact, he wants her gone. Yesterday. But Tania will not compromise, even if he is the most arrogant jackass she's ever met--because something isn't right in the Winter Court.

Everyone has secrets. From the Winter Lord to the kitchen maids to the rising faction that wants the prince dead--no one is who they seem. And now it's up to Tania to keep her sacred oath and protect Valen, even when his smart mouth makes her skate the razor-thin edge between love and hate.

But the more she gets to know him, the more she realizes his secret is the biggest of all--and might just get them both killed.

The Revelry

by Katherine Webber
Published by: Scholastic Press
on January 6, 2022
Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Paranormal, Young Adult
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For fans of Laini Taylor, E. Lockhart, and Holly Black, the chilling story of a girl who goes to a once-a-year-party in the woods... and then must piece together the fantastical things that happened to her after she wakes up with no memory of the night before.

Once a year in the woods outside Ember Grove, the Revelry occurs. Everyone knows what it is -- an exclusive, mysterious party in the woods at the school year's end. But nobody really knows what happens there. Because once you attend the Revelry, you are sworn to secrecy... forever.

Bitsy Clark knows better than to break the rules around the Revelry. But her best friend, Amy, isn't waiting for an invitation. As the night comes closer, her plan is clear -- she and Bitsy are going to sneak their way in.

Bitsy can remember being nervous about this. She can remember going to the woods. But after that: Nothing. She doesn't know what happened to her. All she knows is that her life starts to unravel, while Amy's good fortune grows stronger.

Has Bitsy been cursed?

And if so, will she be able to discover enough secrets of the Revelry in order to free herself?

Stars in Their Eyes: A Graphic Novel

by Jessica Walton, Aśka
Published by: Graphix
on August 1, 2023
Genres: Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Young Adult
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In this lighthearted YA romance, Maisie and Ollie discover that nothing beats the feeling of falling in love for the first time.

Maisie is on her way to Fancon! She's looking forward to meeting her idol, Kara Bufano, the action hero from her favorite TV show, who has a lower-leg amputation, just like Maisie. But when Maisie and her mom arrive at the convention center, she is stopped in her tracks by Ollie, a cute volunteer working the show. They are kind, charming, and geek out about nerd culture just as much as Maisie does. And as the day wears on, Maisie notices feelings for Ollie that she's never had before. Is this what it feels like to fall in love?

Perfect for fans of Heartstopper and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, this graphic novel debut is a fresh, one-of-a-kind story that celebrates the excitement of meeting someone special for the first time.