New Release Tuesday: YA New Releases January 28th 2025

Young Adult New Releases January 28th 2025

Happy New Release Tuesday, now today we have some real bangers hitting the shelves! Most of today’s YA new releases are below, and if you need to catch up on what else released in January check out our Bookshop page for more! Now go read a book!

I Am Not Jessica Chen

by Ann Liang
Published by: HarperTeen
on January 28, 2025
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
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Jenna Chen has spent her life in the shadow of her flawless cousin. Jessica Chen is so smart she gets the top score on every test. Jessica Chen is so beautiful people stop in the hallway to stare at her. Jessica Chen is so perfect she got into Harvard.

And Jenna Chen will only ever be a disappointment.

So when Jenna makes a desperate wish to become her cousin, the last thing she expects is for it to come true--literally. All of a sudden she gets to live the life she's always dreamed of . . . but being the model student at cutthroat Havenwood Private Academy isn't quite what she'd imagined. Worse, people seem to be forgetting that someone named Jenna Chen ever existed. But isn't it worth trading it all away--her artistic talent, her childhood home, even the hope of golden boy Aaron Cai loving her back--to be Jessica Chen?

On the Wings of la Noche

by Vanessa L. Torres
Published by: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
on January 28, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Young Adult
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Noche is a Lechuza by night, an ethereal jet-black owl who guides the dead to the after. Except now, Noche cannot bring herself to escort her dead girlfriend, whose soul is fading the harder Noche holds on—an aching romance about first and second loves and finding the strength to let go.

Death waits for Estrella (Noche) Villanueva. In her human form, she is a lonely science girl grieving the tragic accidental drowning of her girlfriend, Dante Fuentes. At night, she is a Lechuza who visits her dead girlfriend at the lake, desperate for more time with her. The longer Dante’s soul roams the earth, the more likely it is that she will fade into the unknown, lost forever, but Noche cannot let go . . .

That’s when a new kid comes to town, Jax, another science nerd like Noche. They connect in a way she can’t ignore, seemingly pulled together by an invisible thread. For the first time, Noche begins to imagine a life without Dante. As Noche’s heart begins to beat for two people, her guilt flares. Then, she finds herself at risk of losing both Jax and Dante, and Noche is forced to question her purpose as a lechuza and everything she has ever believed in.

Carving Shadows into Gold (Forging Silver into Stars, #2)

by Brigid Kemmerer
Published by: Bloomsbury YA
on January 28, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
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Dangerous magic. Fateful choices. Broken promises.

The King's Courier Tycho has made a treacherous bargain. Now beholden to the magical scraver who saved King Gray's life, one false move could end everything.

Jax escaped his life in Briarlock and traveled with Tycho to Emberfall. But life outside his small village brings unexpected challenges--and unlikely adversaries.

After years of hating the royal family and their magic, Callyn never expected to be at the Queen's side, with magic on her fingertips. But at the royal court, she can't trust anyone--including the man she thought she loved.

Cast apart, Tycho, Jax, and Callyn must learn to wield the magic that is dividing their kingdom. As the magical scravers attack from the north and the king's rivals gain strength, time is running out.
War is looming. Love is tested. And magic could be the only answer. . .

It's a Love/Skate Relationship

by Carli J. Corson
Published by: Storytide
on January 28, 2025
Genres: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult
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Hockey star Charlie Porter has one shot to make her dreams come true -- literally. One goal is all that stands between her and the coveted Winthrop Cup, along with a life-changing hockey scholarship that could catapult her into the big leagues. But when Charlie misses her shot -- and inadvertently starts a good ol’ fashioned brawl between rival schools -- she waves goodbye to more than just the championship title. She gets kicked off her team, suspended from school, and banished to the Worst Place on Winthrop High. Things for Charlie cannot get any worse.

Until she meets Alexa Goldstein. A prickly, perfectionist ice princess with her sights set on the Olympics, Alexa is the last person Charlie would ever want to share a rink with -- no matter how good she looks in her figure skating leotard. But when Alexa’s skating partner breaks his ankle and torpedoes her chances for a gold medal career, the two unlikely allies -- along with Alexa’s terrifying, ex-Olympian mother -- strike a Charlie will practice with Alexa until her partner heals, and Alexa’s mother will use her connections to get Charlie back in her hockey uniform.

But as the ice between Charlie and Alexa begins to melt, their partnership only gets more complicated. Charlie’s falling hard -- and not just when she’s trying to land a double axel. What happens when making Alexa’s skating dreams come true means giving up her own?

Everything I Promised You

by Katy Upperman
Published by: Sourcebooks Fire
on January 28, 2025
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult
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An emotionally raw and romantic YA novel perfect for fans of Laura Nowlin's If He Had Been with Me.

Their love was written in the stars, but how is Lia to move on when death trumps fate? 
When Lia's mom was 17, she had her fortune told and learned her only daughter was fated to fall in love with her best friend's son. Life unfolded exactly as predicted, and despite the army-brat lifestyle bringing them in and out of each other's orbit, Lia and Beckett were meant to be. Or so they thought.

When a freak heart attack steals Beck's life, Lia is devastated and unmoored. She lived her life by her mom's old fortune; if she was fated to be with Beck, and Beck is gone, who is she supposed to be? And is there room in her broken heart for life, let alone another love?

The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King

by Harry Trevaldwyn
Published by: Wednesday Books
on January 28, 2025
Genres: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult
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Heartstopper meets Derry Girls in this wonderfully hilarious rom-com about finding your first love when your personality might be too big for the world around you.

Patch Simmons has decided that this is the year he will get a boyfriend, so it's goodbye to his French pen-pal Jean-Pierre and hello to the world!

Unfortunately, the only other "out" boys in his school year are dating each other, so finding a boyfriend isn't going to be easy... Until fate finally intervenes and two new mysterious boys join drama club: Peter, who’s just moved from New York (very chic) and his best friend, Sam.

Patch is confident that one of them (although either of them will do!) will be his first boyfriend. So armed with his single mum’s outdated self-help books, his over-supportive best friend Jean and an alarming level of self-confidence, Patch is confident that this mission will be a complete success. Whether or not they actually like boys or him is a problem for later.

The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King is a heartfelt, laugh-out-loud comedy from rising star Harry Trevaldwyn, a story about boldly being yourself, going for what you want, but never losing sight of who truly has your back.

Recommended Reading

by Paul Coccia
Published by: Zando Young Readers
Genres: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA+, Retellings, Young Adult
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In this opposites-attract YA rom-com inspired by Emma, a failed romantic gesture puts a damper on a queer teen bookseller’s summer of book matching and matchmaking until a handsome lifeguard and romance skeptic waltzes into his bookstore. Sometimes you get a second chance at happily ever after when you least expect it...

Curvaceous, clever, and an avid reader, seventeen-year-old Bobby Ashton never misses a main character moment. So when it comes to asking out his crush, he plans a romantic gesture grand enough to go down in local history. Unfortunately, though, his extensive knowledge of every rom-com trope ever doesn’t prepare him for how tragically he misreads the situation. Suddenly Bobby’s very public romantic gesture turns into an ordeal so embarrassing it could be a villain origin story.

Having masterfully shattered every plan for his perfect summer before college, Bobby’s last resort is working at his uncle’s sleepy bookstore. Soon, Bobby is expertly recommending books for customers to perfectly cure what ails them. Attempting to rebound after a breakup? There’s a book for that. Trying to tame your crochety coworker? There’s a book for that too. Then a plot twist Bobby never saw coming walks through the door in the form of Luke, an unfairly attractive and staunchly anti-romantic lifeguard.

Bobby’s blossoming connection with Luke reminds him of some of his favorite tropes: grumpy-sunshine, quippy banter, and even forced proximity. But after his last romantic disaster, should Bobby use all the tricks in his arsenal to turn Luke’s head? Or is he misreading all the signs again? Do grand gestures really need to be so…grand?

Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli, Kacen Callender, and Jason June, Recommended Reading is a big-hearted rom-com about discovering love beyond what’s in the books . . . but hey, the perfect recommendation can get you pretty far!

West Hollywood Monster Squad: A Graphic Novel

by Sina Grace, Bradley Clayton
Published by: Abrams ComicArts - Surely
on January 28, 2025
Genres: Graphic Novel, LGBTQIA+, Paranormal, Young Adult
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A group of high schoolers get more than they bargained for when the drag show they’re attending is attacked by monsters in this funny YA graphic novel from acclaimed queer comics creator Sina Grace

Marvin Matocho just wanted to have a simple night out with his friends at the local drag show. But when a mysterious pink snow starts to fall, Marvin finds himself the hero of his own story when Los Angeles suddenly becomes overrun by monsters. Now, he, along with his group of friends consisting of several queer teens, a drag queen, and a 50-something bar manager, are the only folks who can prevent the complete annihilation of the city—that is, if they can sort through their personal issues before they become dead meat.

As they fight for their lives through a thrilling night, the gang must work together to find out who’s behind the sinister pink snow. With the city of angels overrun with demons, these misfits will have to solve the mystery—or die trying.