Young Adult New Releases August 4th 2026
Happy August! There are a lot of YA books coming out this week and this month, the fall releases are upon us! So start building your fall TBRs with these thrillers and other summerween finds.
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Wings of Reverie (Wings of Pixie Hollow, #2)
by Anna BrightPublished by: Disney Press
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Fantasy, Media Tie-In, Young Adult
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Centuries after the events of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wings of Starlight, two fairies must battle a dangerous magic—and their growing feelings for each other—in order to save their home in the Winter Woods of Pixie Hollow.
When frost fairy Periwinkle travels too close to the forbidden border where Spring meets the Winter Woods, she unknowingly discovers a thread of a lost magic. And, for the first time, she begins to dream. While Periwinkle’s dreams start sweet, they slowly morph into more disastrous visions of the Pixie Dust Tree—the life source for all of Pixie Hollow—destroyed. Soon Periwinkle is confronted by a sparrow man who knows two secrets: one, that Peri has been dreaming, and two, that the Winter Woods is in terrible danger.
The infuriatingly handsome stranger introduces himself as Weaver, claiming to be a dream-talent, the last of his kind. There's a chance he can spin Periwinkle's dreams into dream thread which could protect the Pixie Dust Tree. But to do so, they will have to embark on a quest to find a magic spindle and scissors in the legendary lost fairy workshops of dream-talents past.
Peri begins a reluctant journey with Weaver through the uncharted heart of the Winter Woods. But dreaming is dangerous, and as Peri’s dreams begin to unravel, she will start to question everything she thought she knew. For in Winter even beautiful things can hurt you… and Weaver is no exception.
Return to Pixie Hollow with this exciting new story set in the world of Wings of Starlight several hundred years in the future.
Immortal Game
by Allison SaftPublished by: Wednesday Books
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Fantasy, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult
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In #1 New York Times bestseller Allison Saft’s enthralling new romantic fantasy, a chess grandmaster will go to any length to save the person she loves the most.
Six years ago, Shea Fury’s sister was whisked away by the High King of the Otherworld, the ruler of the treacherous land of fae. Although Shea has spent the years since dreaming of rescuing her sister from captivity, the Iron Veil that separates the human world from that of the fae has made it only a wish. That is, until an invitation to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime chess tournament in the Otherworld arrives on Shea’s doorstep. The winner of the tournament may ask the High King to grant one wish, and Shea is finally within reach of hers.
But entering the tournament and winning it are two different matters. Dark magic lurks around every corner in the Otherworld, and Shea’s cutthroat opponents are willing to bend the rules to make their own wishes come true. To make it to the end—and to find her sister—she is forced to strike an alliance with her longtime rival, the sharply beautiful fae princess, Ciara of Bri Leith. One wrong move, though, and Shea could lose more than just the competition: She’d lose her sister, her dignity, and maybe even her life.
In Immortal Game, Allison Saft has written a high-stakes sapphic love story brimming with competitive tension set against a lush, Irish folklore-inspired fantasy world.
Fire to the Stars
by Morgan J. WatchornPublished by: Knopf Books for Young Readers
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
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In a kingdom cursed to turn people into dragons, two teens from opposite worlds, each with nothing left to lose, form an uneasy alliance. Told in dual perspectives, this sweeping debut follows their search for redemption and the slow-burning bond that could save them both.
Every month, the kingdom of Florent braces for the Ignition: a solar event that turns ordinary humans into vicious dragon shifters. And anyone can be a dragon's next victim.
Claire knows this all too well because the Ignition consumed her and her father, her town, and the life she thought she’d have. Now, she's scraping by on her wits as part of a sisterhood of thieves—lying, stealing, her heart locked tight—until she tracks down a disgraced dragon slayer who may be the one person who can give her back the life she once had.
Abel has been shunned by the prestigious Slayers Guild for conducting research that’s too...unorthodox to condone. But there’s no one Claire trusts more than a rulebreaker, and that research might be the one thing that could help her. So when Abel reveals he is hunting again, Claire tries to hire him under false pretenses. Abel, however, is reluctant to accept a job from a criminal, no matter how charming she is. And yet...he really needs the money.
Together, Claire and Abel will race through Florent and uncover dangerous secrets in their quests for forgiveness—and survival. But that knowledge may cost them the very thing they’ve grown desperate to protect: each other.
Killing Sadie
by Rachel PetersonPublished by: Simon Pulse
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Thriller, Young Adult
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Perfect for fans of How to Survive Your Murder and Dead Girls Can’t Tell Secrets, this young adult thriller unspools the truth behind a tragic murder through multiple unreliable narrators who all have secrets to keep.
Here’s what we do know: there was another infamous barn party at the McClain family farm last night, and things went horribly wrong. By the end of the night, there were two dead bodies in the old barn: seventeen-year-old Sadie Cooper and her killer, Mason Vreeland. The murder was heartbreakingly witnessed by Sadie’s twin sister, Jayne, and Sadie died in her arms. Mason was killed by Sadie’s boyfriend, Ben, in an attempt to save Sadie.
Aside from figuring out Mason’s motive, it should be an open and shut case.
But it’s not.
The story unfolds just after the murders, and Jayne, Ben, and Sadie’s best friend, Liz, are telling the cops what transpired at the party and the events leading up to it. But little details don’t match. And those little details start to add up to big discrepancies. But who’s lying, and why?
The shocking truth is revealed in the third act, when the POV shifts to victim Sadie herself, in the days leading up to the party. Witness exactly what happened—and see if you can piece it all together. Because poor Sadie totally missed what was right in front of her.
Find My Way Down to You
by Julian WintersPublished by: Viking Books for Young Readers
on August 4, 2026
Genres: LGBTQIA+, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult
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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 Killing Rules
by Bree DespainPublished by: Entangled: Mayhem Books
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Horror, Thriller, Young Adult
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Seventeen-year-old Harper Westbrook isn’t afraid of monsters…she is one.
For the past three years, she’s been one of the Blood Bound―girls and women cursed with a bloodlust only satisfied by killing terrible men. Once every three months, she trades in her pom-poms for a lethal throwing axe. Her life is led by a strict set of rules to keep her dark secret as hidden as the bodies she buries.
And her number one rule? Stay away from Grayson Jones.
The boy she was totally falling for until the night her curse manifested, everything went horribly wrong, and she killed his father. It was self-defense. Or at least that’s what she keeps telling herself.
Grayson is an investigative reporter for their school paper, and he’ll stop at nothing to find the truth behind his father’s gruesome death.
As he follows new clues down darker and darker paths―to an unbelievable world of mythical beasts and the men who hunt them―Grayson doesn’t realize he’s on a collision course with Harper’s biggest secrets. Now, she must stop him before he exposes her family to the Hunters, even if it means risking her life and heart.Because who could ever love a monster like her?
Gingerbread Bones
by Lindsay LovisePublished by: Entangled: Mayhem Books
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult
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They're being hunted…
When sixteen-year-old Georgie and her troublemaking brother are shipped off to the wilderness for their stepmother’s newest reality show, Georgie is convinced it’ll be the worst experience of her life. Two weeks. No phones. Hiking. Camping. Cameras catching every humiliating second.
Then she meets Mack Gray. Tattooed, unreadable, and―among a cast of kids already branded as trouble―he’s the one she’s sure is dangerous.
One night, the counselors are chanting affirmations around the fire. By morning, they’re gone.But the kids are not alone.
Georgie can feel it, stalking them from the shadows―watching, waiting, picking them off one by one. Whatever it is, it isn’t just hunting.
It’s playing.
And in this game, there seems to be only one ending: no one gets out alive.
Survival Show (Survival Show, #1)
by Juno DawsonPublished by: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Dystopian, Thriller, Young Adult
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American Idol meets The Hunger Games in this campy, dystopian satire about a teen betting her life that her singing talent can make her a star from the celebrated author of This Book Is Gay, Juno Dawson.
The world just seems to take and take from Taryn Beck, but there’s one thing it’ll never have: her voice. Only when she’s singing does Taryn feel like she can escape her reality—free from the aftermath of the War, free from the Scottish refugee camps where she and her family now live, and free from the responsibility of making ends meet for the sake of her sick brother.
Taryn’s voice is her one ticket out, and that’s why she enters to be a contestant on the world’s most watched television program: Starmaker, where kids from the New Peace Global Alliance compete for the chance to join an all-singing, all-dancing pop group. Rise to the top, and a life of luxury, stardom, and money awaits.
There’s only one small catch. The lowest ranking face a televised public execution. Starmaker thanks their participants for their noble sacrifice to Project Population.
Taryn’s about to sing for her life.
Just Another Summer
by Susan Bridges, Tilly Bridges, Giulia Rinaldo, Gaia Fredella, Valentina Briški, Chas PangburnPublished by: Maverick
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Graphic Novel, Young Adult
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When scandal sidelines two LA teen celebrities, a punishment summer on a Montana farm forces them to trade red carpets for rubber boots—and to choose between the futures they were raised for and the loves they never saw coming.
Eager for a break from their brutal schedules as A-list actors, teen sisters Hayley and Becky Huxley sneak out to experience LA on their own terms. After a big mistake gets them fired from their gig on a hit TV show, they’re sent to a dairy farm in Montana to learn a little humility!
Sparks fly when they meet farm hand Jake, who can’t believe he has to babysit some pampered rich girls all summer! But Becky's very into the cute girl at the local diner, and Hayley and Jake start to realize that they have more in common than they think. Even though she's a cis city girl and he's a trans country boy — they might just be falling for each other. But they're from entirely different worlds, it could never work! ...or could it?
The Dream Thieves: The Graphic Novel (The Raven Cycle: The Graphic Novels #2)
by Sas Milledge, Maggie StiefvaterPublished by: Viking Books for Young Readers
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Graphic Novel, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult
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A stunning graphic novel adaptation of the second book in Maggie Stiefvater’s #1 New York Times bestselling series The Raven Cycle!
Ronan Lynch is made of secrets. His longest kept one? He can pull impossible things out of dreams. It's a secret that's nearly killed him more than once.
Waking the ley line should have led Blue and the Raven Boys straight to Glendower, the Whelsh king rumored to be sleeping beneath the mountains of Henrietta.
But instead, the forest of Cabeswater has disappeared, energy hums and sputters beneath the town, and the Raven Boys' search is at a dead end. Ronan's dreams may be the key to finding Glendower, but none of the Raven Boys are prepared for what will be unleashed in Ronan's desperate attempt to finally control his power.
Reimagined as a stunning full-color graphic novel adapted and illustrated by Sas Milledge, The Dream Thieves blurs the line between reality and nightmare until they are one and the same.
Bite Me
by Alicia WallacePublished by: Wattpad Books
on August 4, 2026
Genres: LGBTQIA+, Paranormal, Young Adult
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Perfect for readers of YA romantasy featuring enemies-to-lovers, vampires, and werewolves as well as readers looking for LGBTQ+ stories.
High school is hard enough—and for Kieran, being a seventeen-year-old vampire certainly doesn’t help. What starts as a typical day in art class takes a turn for the worst when he meets his new classmate Mason, and all Kieran can feel is overwhelming hatred. But at the same time, a different kind of tension keeps pulling the pair mysteriously closer together . . .
When Kieran finds Mason injured in his home woods, he stays at the werewolf’s side despite himself, and the night ends in a steamy kiss that surprises them both. Suddenly disdain turns to attraction. There’s just one problem: Mason is a werewolf, and vampires and werewolves are meant to be sworn enemies, but it’s hard to keep up appearances when every part of them aches to be together. With watchful eyes around every corner, each kiss becomes more dangerous—each bite more unpredictable. With the threat of being exposed hanging over them, these star-crossed lovers must make the fateful choice between head and heart, or risk losing what matters most.
Alchemy of Souls
by Adriana MatherPublished by: Feiwel and Friends
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult
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"The keenly romantic enemies-to-lovers, fake-dating, magic-school romance you've been looking for!" –Marissa Meyer, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Lunar Chronicles
From New York Times-bestselling author Adriana Mather, comes the next big YA fantasy romance Alchemy of Souls, following two magically bound teens as they race to solve the mystery of an ancient mystical key before it’s too late.
Grayson Stone is no stranger to deception. Under the watchful eye of his uncle, the High Chancellor, he has been well-trained in all four types of magic, all while secretly working against his uncle’s corrupt rule. Years of plans depend on him being marked Gifted during his University entrance exam, proving that he is the perfect heir and gaining his uncle’s trust. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned, and he has only one person to blame: Eloise Belrose.
Raised by a family of Laborers, Eloise is the most unlikely student to become a Mage, but through her hard work and long hours spent practicing she is finally admitted to the prestigious University of Magical Arts, guaranteeing safety and security for her whole family. Until things go very wrong, and she somehow becomes magically linked to Grayson Stone, the school’s arrogant, annoyingly attractive, golden boy, putting not only her University acceptance, but also her and her family’s lives at risk.
Eloise and Grayson are given less than two weeks to solve an impossible mystery—one that will give the High Chancellor even more power and control—or face the consequences. Forced to room together, with all the same classes, while pretending to date to hide their secret quest, sparks definitely fly. As their feelings grow more real it becomes harder to live the lies they’ve had to tell to survive. With time running out, will they be able to trust the bond between them or will their lies tear them apart forever?
A Clash of Carnivores (Mastery of Monsters Trilogy, #2)
by Liselle SamburyPublished by: Margaret K. McElderry Books
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
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The thrilling sequel to A Mastery of Monsters, following the fiercely determined eighteen-year-old August Black as she infiltrates a secret society hiding the frightening reality that monsters are real, while unraveling the mystery behind her brother’s disappearance.
August 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 form 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.
Everything Comes Back to You
by Jackie KhaliliehPublished by: Tundra Books (NY)
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
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Lennon has always tried to live up to her Palestinian Canadian father's exacting standards, even if her older sister hasn't, but when a crush on an older white boy develops into something more, she must find the strength to balance her own desires against her father’s expectations.
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter meets The Sun Is Also a Star in this new YA novel.
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.
As Lennon and John are drawn together and pulled apart throughout her four years of high school, Lennon wrestles with feelings of shame and yearning, obedience and rebellion through the lens of her autism, trying to both please her parents and herself. When a relationship with a different boy challenges her notions of family and happiness, her way forward becomes clear, even if it might mean losing everything and everyone she loves.
The Fast Track
by Angelica ChengPublished by: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult
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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.
The Season of Light and Darkness
by Jillian CantorPublished by: Simon Pulse
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Dystopian, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Young Adult
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A girl is woken early from her cryogenic slumber to find the authoritarian rule her family had hoped to escape is still very much in effect in this unforgettable young adult dystopian thriller.
In the months since a dictator was elected president, the United States has been turned upside down. Dissenters are deemed terrorists, including sixteen-year-old Ellie Jacobs’s family.
To escape persecution, the four of them—Ellie, her younger brother Scott, and their parents—decide to freeze themselves cryogenically for ten years in her father’s lab. In ten years, things will be better. They have to be.
But the government discovers the lab after only three years and thaws Ellie early. She awakens, completely alone, to a nightmare of a strange new world and is told the rest of her family didn’t survive. Suddenly, she must abandon everything she knows to go to through “ReAdmittance” and become “Initiated.” Ellie is terrified…until her boyfriend, Ryan, now a nineteen-year-old Initiated soldier, shows up and tells her everything will be fine, that she should trust the good people around her.
But Ellie isn’t sure if she can still trust Ryan.
What Ellie doesn’t know is that Scott never went through with the freeze. He ran away and has joined a band of teenage resistance fighters living in the mountains. No longer her “younger” brother, he’s now sixteen just like her. When Scott learns Ellie has been thawed early, he decides he must risk everything to save her before the brainwashing begins.
Together with other brave rebel teens, Ellie and Scott must navigate this terrible new world to find their way back to each other, before they lose everything—including who they are.
The first printing of this hardcover is a limited-run special edition featuring sprayed stenciled edges.
Stepping Up: A Graphic Memoir
by Kiara Valdez, Diana Tsai SantosPublished by: Harper Alley
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Young Adult
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"A balm to my soul.”—Jen Wang, New York Times bestselling author of The Prince and the Dressmaker
A timely and vibrant teen graphic novel memoir about community, friendship, and self-discovery told through the eyes of a high school freshman Kiara, one of the few Black students at her predominantly white boarding school—perfect for fans of Almost American Girl and Brownstone!
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?
Queen of the Gods (House of Shadows)
by Katharine Corr, Elizabeth CorrPublished by: Candlewick Press
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Fantasy, Mythology/Folklore, Young Adult
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After defying Hades, Deina must choose: become a goddess, or fight for her humanity. The epic mythological fantasy that started with Daughter of the Underworld reaches its heart-pounding conclusion.
Betrayed, Deina is now bound to the Underworld—and Hades wants her to stay. Hades promises immortality, power, and even the chance to be with her friends forever, including Theron, for whom Deina’s heart aches. But Deina refuses. In giving up her humanity to become a goddess, she would be beholden to Hades, and her friends would become mere playthings—dead playthings. After defying the wrathful deity, Deina needs an ingenious plan and plenty of allies if she’s going to escape her fate. The answer may lie in a storied artifact—a powerful torc made by Hephaestus himself, which was broken into pieces and hidden by Tyche, the goddess of luck. Unfortunately, monstrous Aristaeus is searching for the torc as well, with visions of harnessing its power to turn the Theodesmioi into his unstoppable army. Deina and her friends must stop him at any cost—and the cost may be high, indeed. Thrilling clashes, sumptuous settings, and heartrending sacrifices are woven throughout this unforgettable tale of mortals and gods, love and ambition.
Frostbite: A Graphic Novel
by Ian Boothby, Pia GuerraPublished by: Graphix
on August 4, 2026
Genres: Graphic Novel, Horror, Young Adult
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Beware the dead of winter in this suspenseful YA graphic novel thriller!
When it's so cold, it bites!
Teen influencers Jen and Dante post wild videos of themselves doing extreme sports. But when they jump out of a helicopter to ski down a mountain, the stunt goes way wrong. Dante's ankle gets slashed, and the helicopter crew -- who were supposed to be waiting at the bottom of the mountain -- are nowhere to be found. As the confused teens seek answers from some locals, they all find themselves flesh-to-fang, trapped in an isolated cabin surrounded by frost vampires!
Their only hope for survival is to make it to sunrise...
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