YA New Releases January 30th 2024
And now if you can believe it, marks the end of January! Holy WOW! One month down for 2024…if you like our New Release posts, please support our 12th year of blogging by grabbing some new books from our Bookshop page.
The Invocations
by Krystal SutherlandPublished by: Penguin/Nancy Paulsen Books
on January 30, 2024
Genres: Paranormal, Thriller, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Bookshop
Goodreads
From the author of New York Times bestseller House of Hollow comes a darkly seductive witchy thriller where, though both men and demons lurk in shadows, girls refuse to go quietly into the night.
Zara Jones believes in magic because the alternative is too painful to bear—that her sister was murdered by a serial killer and there is precisely nothing she can do to change it. If there’s anything Zara cannot stand it's feeling powerless, so she decides she will do whatever it takes—even if that means partaking in the occult—to bring her sister back from the dead.
Jude Wolf might be the daughter of a billionaire, but she is also undeniably cursed. After a deal with a demon went horribly wrong, her soul is now slowly turning necrotic. Flowers and insects die in her wake and monstrous things come to taunt her at night. If Jude can’t find the right someone to fix her mistake, she fears she’ll die very soon.
Enter Emer Bryne: the solution to both Zara's and Jude's predicaments. The daughter of a witch, Emer sells spells to women in desperate situations willing to sacrifice a part of their soul in exchange for a bit of power, a bit of magic to change their lives. But Emer has a dark past all her own—and as her former clients are murdered one-by-one, she knows it’s followed her all the way to London.
As Zara and Jude enter Emer's orbit, they'll have to team up to stop the killer—before they each end up next on his list.
The Dark Fable
by Katherine HarbourPublished by: Bloomsbury YA
on January 30, 2024
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 382
Bookshop
Goodreads
Magical heists. Deadly secrets. Come along for the ride . . . if you dare. This heart-stopping, seductive fantasy is perfect for fans of Six of Crows.
Evie Wilder is an orphan who has gone through most of her life unnoticed . . . until she's caught up in a dramatic heist and captures the attention of the Dark Fable. They have chosen her for a reason: she can turn invisible. This skill would make Evie a treasured asset to the legendary group of thieves known for spiriting away obscure and occult artifacts.
Evie cannot resist their allure and is eager to join this newfound family. But she discovers there are more skeletons in the Dark Fable's past than she could have ever imagined. And these secrets might be the answer to her own tragic past.
No one is who they seem to be and the price of uncovering the Dark Fable's cryptic history just might be fatal . . .
Just Say Yes
by Goldy MoldavskyPublished by: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
on January 30, 2024
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Bookshop
Goodreads
Jimena Ramos had no idea she was undocumented.
Now she’s seventeen, and she needs to figure out a way to stay in New York City, the only home she can remember. There’s only one possibility that will get her a green card quickly enough: Jimena is going to find an American to marry her.
She’s got one excellent candidate: Vitaly, her next-door neighbor and friend, the only person she trusts with her secret. But Vitaly’s got his own plans for the future. He’s a definite no.
So Jimena tries online dating. She decides to approach this marriage like a business transaction. She figures out a plan that just might save her and make her a citizen at last.
But of course, she can’t stop thinking about Vitaly.
Wander in the Dark
by Jumata EmillPublished by: Delacorte Press
on January 30, 2024
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Bookshop
Goodreads
In this new pulse-pounding thriller from the author of The Black Queen, two brothers must come together to solve the murder of the most popular girl in school after one of them is caught fleeing the scene of her death.
Amir Trudeau only goes to his half brother Marcel’s birthday party because of Chloe Danvers. Chloe is rich, and hot, and fits right into the perfect life Marcel inherited when their father left Amir’s mother to start a new family with Marcel’s mom. But Chloe is hot enough for Amir to forget that for one night.
Does she want to hook up? Or is she trying to meddle in the estranged brothers’ messy family drama? Amir can’t tell. He doesn’t know what Chloe wants from him when, in the final hours of Mardi Gras, she asks him to take her home and stay—her parents are away and she doesn’t want to be alone.
Amir never gets an answer to his question, because when he wakes up, Chloe is dead—stabbed while he was passed out on the couch downstairs—and Amir becomes the only suspect. A Black teenager caught fleeing the scene of the murder of a rich white girl? All of New Orleans agrees, the case is open and shut.
Amir is innocent. He has a lawyer, but unless someone can figure out who really killed Chloe, it doesn’t look good for him. His number one ally? Marcel. Their relationship is messy, but his half brother knows that Amir isn’t a murderer—and maybe proving Amir’s innocence will repair the rift that’s always existed between them.
To find Chloe’s killer, Amir and Marcel need to dig into her secrets. And what they find is darker than either could have guessed. Parents will go to any lengths to protect their children, and in a city as old as New Orleans, the right family connections can bury even the ugliest truths.
Red
by Annie CardiPublished by: Union Square and Co
on January 30, 2024
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Pages: 254
Bookshop
Goodreads
A Christian girl is stigmatized by her peers after seeking an abortion in this modern retelling of The Scarlet Letter for the #MeToo era.
Moving to Hawthorne was something Tess and her mom never anticipated, but after Tess's mom loses her job, it's their only option. Tess's grandparents welcome them into their home, on the condition that Tess and her mom attend church, something Mom isn't too pleased about. But Tess enjoys the church community, finding a place in youth group and the church choir. Faith fills a void Tess didn't know she had.
After a very personal decision goes public, Tess faces daily harassment and rejection by her former friends, and singing in the church choir is no longer an option. When she meets some kids in the music room, her only place of solace in the school, she finds they don't judge her for what's happened, and she learns to find her voice again. Against the backdrop of the Spirit Light Festival, Tess will need to find the strength to speak out if she is to have any chance of ending a silent cycle of abuse in Hawthorne.
Perfect for fans of YA books like Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, or Exit, Pursued by a Bear, by E. K. Johnston, Red is a timely and relevant young adult novel about finding your voice and rising above shame. Anyone looking for teen girl books that explore the complex themes of reproductive rights, religious hypocrisy, and overcoming adversity will appreciate this story of judgment and redemption.
Poemhood: Our Black Revival: History, Folklore & the Black Experience: A Young Adult Poetry Anthology
by Amber McBride, LLC Ashwin Writing, Erica Martin, Taylor ByasPublished by: HarperTeen
Genres: Anthology, Poetry, Young Adult
Pages: 160
Bookshop
Goodreads
Starring thirty-seven poets, with contributions from acclaimed authors, including Kwame Alexander, Ibi Zoboi, and Nikki Giovanni, this breathtaking Black YA poetry anthology edited by National Book Award finalist Amber McBride, Taylor Byas, and Erica Martin celebrates Black poetry, folklore, and culture.
Come, claim your wings.
Lift your life above the earth,
return to the land of your father's birth.
What exactly is it to be Black in America?
Well, for some, it's learning how to morph the hatred placed by others into love for oneself; for others, it's unearthing the strength it takes to continue to hold one's swagger when multitudinous factors work to make Black lives crumble. For some, it's gathering around the kitchen table as Grandma tells the story of Anansi the spider, while for others it's grinning from ear to ear while eating auntie's spectacular 7Up cake.
Black experiences and traditions are complex, striking, and vast--they stretch longer than the Nile and are four times as deep--and carry more than just unimaginable pain--there is also joy.
Featuring an all-star group of thirty-seven powerful poetic voices, including such luminaries as Kwame Alexander, James Baldwin, Ibi Zoboi, Audre Lorde, Nikki Giovanni, and Gwendolyn Brooks, this riveting anthology depicts the diversity of the Black experience by fostering a conversation about race, faith, heritage, and resilience between fresh poets and the literary ancestors that came before them.
Edited by Taylor Byas, Erica Martin, and Coretta Scott King New Talent Award winner Amber McBride, Poemhood will simultaneously highlight the duality and nuance at the crux of so many Black experiences with poetry being the psalm constantly playing.
A Reckless Oath (Heartless Fates, #2)
by Kaylie SmithPublished by: Disney-Hyperion
on January 30, 2024
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 528
Bookshop
Goodreads
In this sequel to the spellbinding A Ruinous Fate, more action, romance, and magic abound as Calla and friends must deal with their losses and come to grips with their own part to play in the Fates’ War ahead.
After the heart-wrenching death at the end of book 1, Calla and the other witches are sent reeling. Still stuck in the deadly Neverending Forest, the group must decide their next steps as the Fates’ War looms near. Calla, torn between past allegiances and new circumstances, finds herself pushing away the one person who can unlock her future.
With the still-beating heart in her hand, Amina is finally able to return to her home in the Land of the Valkyries. But when she finds that everything she left behind has irrevocably changed in the six years she’s been gone, she turns her sights to revenge on the one who banished her all those years the Valkyrie Queen.
Meanwhile, everyone’s favorite siren, Delphine, has been dragged down into the depths of the sea, and is imprisoned by the ruthless Siren leader. As past lovers turn into enemies and former foes into allies, Delphine must navigate the dangerous court and her play her part until she’s able to escape and return to the surface.
From deep within Siren’s Sea to the skies above the Land of the Valkyries, A Reckless Oath takes readers on a new journey where stunning revelations will have them questioning everything.
A Quantum Love Story
by Mike ChenPublished by: MIRA
on January 30, 2024
Genres: Adult, Sci-Fi
Pages: 368
Bookshop
Goodreads
From the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Brotherhood
The only thing harder than finding someone in a time loop is losing them.
Grieving her best friend's recent death, neuroscientist Mariana Pineda's ready to give up everything to start anew. Even her career--after one last week consulting at a top secret particle accelerator.
Except the strangest thing happens: a man stops her...and claims they've met before. Carter Cho knows who she is, why she's mourning, why she's there. And he needs Mariana to remember everything he's saying.
Because time is about to loop.
In a flash of energy, it's Monday morning. Again. Together, Mariana and Carter enter an inevitable life, four days at a time, over and over, without permanence except for what they share.
But just as they figure out this new life, everything changes. Because Carter's memories of the time loop are slowly disappearing. And their only chance at happiness is breaking out of the loop--forever.
"This unusual and satisfying near-future time-travel adventure fires on all cylinders." --Publishers Weekly
These Deadly Prophecies
by Andrea TangPublished by: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
on January 30, 2024
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult
Pages: 256
Bookshop
Goodreads
A teenage sorcerer’s apprentice must solve her boss’s murder in order to prove her innocence in this twisty, magic-infused murder mystery perfect for fans of Knives Out and The Inheritance Games .
Being an apprentice for one of the world's most famous sorcerers has its challenges; Tabatha Zeng just didn’t think they would include solving crime. But when her boss, the infamous fortuneteller Sorcerer Solomon, predicts his own brutal death—and worse, it comes true—Tabatha finds herself caught in the crosshairs.
The police have their sights set on her and Callum Solomon, her murdered boss’s youngest son. With suspicion swirling around them, the two decide to team up to find the real killer and clear their own names once and for all.But solving a murder isn’t as easy as it seems, especially when the suspect list is mostly the rich, connected, and magical members of Sorcerer Solomon’s family. And Tabatha can’t quite escape the nagging voice in her head just how much can she really trust Callum Solomon?
Nothing is as it seems in this quick-witted and fantastical murder mystery.
