New Release Tuesday: YA New Releases November 7th 2023

Young Adult New Releases November 7th 2023

Welcome November, and to the last big release day of the year, basically – with over 20 YA books hitting shelves today, there are only about 40 more releases for all of 2023…because it’s freaking November already! You can peep what’s left for November and December on our Bookshop page! Get those wishlists in order with the rest of 2023 releases!

With or Without You

by Eric Smith
Published by: Inkyard Press
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

New from Eric Smith comes a delightful YA rom-com about two teens caught in the middle of their families’ orchestrated rivalry between their Philly cheesesteak food trucks.

All’s fair in love and (food truck) war.
Everyone knows Jordan Plazas and Cindy Ortiz hate each other.
According to many viral videos of their public shouting matches, the Plazas and Ortiz families have a well-known food truck rivalry. Jordan and Cindy have spent all of high school making cheesesteaks and slinging insults at each other across their shared Philadelphia street.
But the truth? They’re in love, and it’s all just an act for the tourists.
When the fake feud lands them a reality tv show pilot, Jordan and Cindy find themselves having to lie on a much bigger scale. Trapped between pursuing their dreams or their love, can they find a way to have their cheesesteak and eat it too?

Wren Martin Ruins It All

by Amanda DeWitt
Published by: Peachtree Teen
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Contemporary, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

Now that Wren Martin is student council president (on a technicality, but hey, it counts) he’s going to fix Rapture High. His first order of business: abolish the school’s annual Valentine’s Day Dance, a drain on the school’s resources and general social nightmare—especially when you’re asexual.

His greatest opponent: Leo Reyes, vice president and all-around annoyingly perfect student, who has a solution to Wren’s budget problem. A sponsorship from Buddy, the anonymous “not a dating” app sweeping the nation. Now instead of a dance-less senior year, Wren is in charge of the biggest dance Rapture High has ever seen. He’s even secretly signed up for the app. For research, of course.

But when Wren develops capital F-Feelings for his anonymous match, things spiral out of control. Wren decided a long time ago that dating while asexual wasn’t worth the hassle. With the Dance rapidly approaching, he isn’t sure what will kill him first: the dance, his relationship drama, or the growing realization that Leo’s perfect life might not be so perfect after all.

In an unforgettably quippy and endearingly chaotic voice, narrator Wren Martin explores the complexities of falling in love while asexual.

Wish of the Wicked (Wish of the Wicked, #1)

by Danielle Paige
Published by: Bloomsbury YA
on November 14, 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Retellings, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

Bestselling author Danielle Paige puts a dark spin on fairy godmothers in a new YA series for fans of Brigid Kemmerer and Maleficent.

For centuries, the enchanted members of the Entente have worked in tandem with the Three Fates—the Present, the Past, and the Future—to maintain destiny across the Thirteen Queendoms. But when Queen Magrit learns of her untimely demise from Hecate, Fate of the Future, Magrit burns Hecate at the stake and decrees death to all Entente in order to live forever.

But some survive, including sixteen-year-old Farrow, who hatches a dangerous plan to seek revenge. Along the way, she finds herself falling for the one person who could ruin everything. With life and love hanging in the balance, she must decide who to trust and what’s most important: living in the past or forging a new future.
Bestselling author Danielle Paige launches a brand-new fairy godmother origin story full of intrigue, magic, and romance.

Emmett

by Lev A.C. Rosen
on Nov 7, 2023
Genres: Contemporary, LGBTQIA+, Retellings, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

A modern-day gay Emma, with the spikey social critique of Austen plus the lush over-the-top romance of Bridgerton.

Emmett Woodhouse, handsome, clever and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence and had lived nearly eighteen years in the world with very little to distress or vex him.

Emmett knows he's blessed. And because of that, he tries to give back: from charity work to letting the often irritating Georgia sit at his table at lunch, he knows it's important to be nice. And recently, he's found a new way of giving back: matchmaking. He set up his best friend Taylor with her new boyfriend and it's gone perfectly. So when his occasional friend-with-benefits Harrison starts saying he wants a boyfriend (something Emmett definitely does NOT want to be), he decides to try and find Harrison the perfect man at Highbury Academy, the candy-colored private school they attend just outside Los Angeles.

Emmett's childhood friend, Miles, thinks finding a boyfriend for a guy you sleep with is a bad idea. But Miles is straight, and Emmett says this is gay life - your friends, your lovers, your boyfriends - they all come from the same very small pool. That's why Emmett doesn't date - to keep things clean. He knows the human brain isn't done developing until twenty-five, so any relationship he enters into before then would inevitably end in a breakup, in loss. And he's seen what loss can do. His mother died four years ago and his Dad hasn't been the same since.

But the lines Emmett tries to draw are more porous than he thinks, and as he tries to find Harrison the perfect match, he learns that gifted as he may be, maybe he has no idea what he's doing when it comes to love.

Modern and very gay, with a charmingly conceited lead who is convinced he knows it all, and the occasional reference to the classic movie Clueless, Emmett brings you lush romance all while exploring the complexities of queer culture--where your lovers and friends are sometimes the same person, but the person you fall in love with might be a total surprise.

Check & Mate

by Ali Hazelwood
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

In this clever and swoonworthy YA debut from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, life's moving pieces bring rival chess players together in a match for the heart.

Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory's focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious "Kingkiller" Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.

Nolan's loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. What's even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory's victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can't help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist....

As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory quickly realizes that the games aren't only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligent...and infuriating...)

The Hunting Moon (The Luminaries, #2)

by Susan Dennard
Published by: Tor Teen
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

The Hunting Moon is the highly anticipated sequel to The Luminaries by New York Time s bestselling author Susan Dennard.

Winnie Wednesday has gotten everything she thought she wanted. She passed the deadly hunter trials, her family has been welcomed back into the Luminaries, and overnight, she has become a local celebrity.

The Girl Who Jumped. The Girl Who Got Bitten.

Unfortunately, it all feels wrong. For one, nobody will believe her about the new nightmare called the Whisperer that's killing hunters each night. Everyone blames the werewolf, even though Winnie is certain the wolf is innocent.

On top of that, following her dad's convoluted clues about the Dianas, their magic, and what happened in Hemlock Falls four years ago is leaving her with more questions than answers.

Then to complicate it all, there is still only one person who can help Jay Friday, the boy with plenty of problems all his own.

As bodies and secrets pile up around town, Winnie finds herself questioning what it means to be a true Wednesday and a true Luminary―and also where her fierce-hearted loyalties might ultimately have to lie.

Nightbane (The Lightlark Saga, #2)

by Alex Aster
Published by: Amulet Books
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Thriller, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

The seductive and action-packed follow-up to Alex Aster’s instant #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and internationally bestselling novel, Lightlark

Isla Crown has secured the love of two powerful rulers and broken the curses that plagued the six realms for centuries, but few know the true origins of her powers. Now, in the wake of a crushing betrayal, Isla finds herself hungry for distraction, preferring to frequent Lightlark’s seductive haunts instead of embracing her duties as the newly crowned leader of two separate realms. Worse, her fellow rulers haven’t ceded victory quietly, and there are others in Isla’s midst who don’t believe her ascent to power was earned. As certain death races toward Lightlark and secrets from the past begin to unravel, Isla must weigh her responsibility to her people against the whims of the most dangerous traitor of all: her heart.

Alex Aster’s intricate world expands after the riveting culmination of the Centennial games, delving more deeply into Isla’s memories of her past, as her future hurtles toward two possible fates.

Where He Can't Find You

by Darcy Coates
Published by: SourcebooksFire
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Thriller, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

From USA Today bestselling horror/thriller author Darcy Coates comes the chilling legend of a monster no one can escape.

DON'T WALK ALONE, OR THE STITCHER WILL FIND YOU.
Abby Ward lives in a town haunted by disappearances. People vanish, and when they're found, their bodies have been dismembered and sewn back together in unnatural ways. But is it the work of a human killer…or something far darker?

DON'T STAY OUT LATE, OR THE STITCHER WILL TAKE YOU.
She and her younger sister live by a strict set of rules designed to keep them safe―which is why it's such a shock when Hope is taken. Desperate to get her back, Abby tells the police everything she knows, but they claim their hands are tied.

DON'T CLOSE YOUR EYES, OR THE STITCHER WILL REMAKE YOU.
With every hour precious, Abby and her friends are caught in a desperate game of cat and mouse. They have to get Hope back. Quickly. Before too much of her is cut away. And before everything they care about is swallowed up by the darkness waiting in the tunnels beneath the home they thought they knew.

The Way I Am Now (The Way I Used to Be #2)

by Amber Smith
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

Eden and Josh decide to give their relationship another chance in this much anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestseller The Way I Used to Be that explores how to move forward after trauma—in life and in love.

Eden and Josh never had a fair shot at a healthy relationship. When they dated in high school, they each had their own problems getting in the way of the deep connection they felt toward one another. Unbeknownst to Josh, Eden was carrying the burden of a devastating sexual assault, while Josh was dealing with his own private struggle of having an alcoholic father.

Months after Eden and two other girls publicly accuse their rapist, Eden is starting college while her case goes to trial. Now when she and Josh reconnect, it seems like it might finally be in the right place at the right time for them to make it work. But is their love strong enough to withstand the challenges and chaos of college and the crushing realities of a trial that will determine whether Eden gets the justice she deserves?

Vengeance of the Pirate Queen

by Tricia Levenseller
Published by: Feiwel and Friends
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

Pirates of the Caribbean meets The Mummy in Vengeance of the Pirate Queen , Tricia Levenseller's triumphant return to the Daughter of the Pirate King universe, which has sold nearly a million copies. This beautifully packaged adventure follows fan-favorite Sorinda and is a must read for anyone who loves fierce heroines and swoon-worthy romance.

You can’t be afraid of the dark when you’re the monster lurking in the shadows.

As an assassin working for the pirate queen, Sorinda is surprised when Alosa’s next task for her is not to kill a new target, but to captain a handpicked crew on a rescue mission. Unfortunately, her sailing master is Kearan. He may be the best helmsman the pirate queen has, but Sorinda finds him a real pain in the arse. Sadly, there are few places on a ship to hide from an attentive man.

As the crew of the Vengeance faces dangerous waters and deadly sea creatures, they accidentally awaken the King of the Undersea, a being who can control the dead. Their rescue mission quickly turns into a fight to save the world, but first, Sorinda must save herself from becoming an undead queen.

This edition features metallic foil designs on the jacket and case, sprayed edges, endpaper maps, and a ribbon.

Powerless (The Powerless Trilogy, #1)

by Lauren Roberts
Published by: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
on January 31, 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

She is the very thing he’s spent his whole life hunting.
He is the very thing she’s spent her whole life pretending to be.

Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya—the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites.
The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that—ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished in order to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime—making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.

Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be overly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can in order to stay alive and out of trouble. Easier said than done.

When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilyas princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites’ powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is—completely Ordinary.

Gorgeous Gruesome Faces (Gorgeous Gruesome Faces, #1)

by Linda Cheng
Published by: Roaring Brook Press
on November 7, 2023
Genres: LGBTQIA+, Thriller, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

Yellowjackets meets She Is a Haunting in this debut speculative thriller that follows a disgraced teen idol who comes face-to-face with the demons of her past in a glittering, cutthroat K-pop competition.

After a shocking scandal that abruptly ended her teen popstar career, eighteen-year-old Sunny Lee spends her days longing for her former life and cyberstalking her ex-BFF and groupmate, Candie. The two were once inseparable, but that was then—before the tragedy and heartache they left in their wake.

In the here and now, Sunny is surprised to discover that Candie is attending a new K-pop workshop in her hometown. Candie might be there chasing stardom, but Sunny can’t resist the chance to join her and finally confront their traumatic history. Because she still can’t figure out what happened that horrible night when Mina, the third in their tight-knit trio, jumped to her death. Or if the dark and otherworldly secrets she and Candie were keeping had something to do with it . . .

But the workshop doesn’t bring the answers Sunny had hoped for, nor a happy reunion with Candie. Instead, Sunny finds herself haunted by ghostly visions while strange injuries start happening to her competitors—followed by even stranger mutilations to their bodies. In her race to survive, Sunny will have to expose just who is behind the carnage—and if Candie is out for blood once more—in Linda Cheng’s spellbinding sapphic thriller that will have readers screaming and swooning for more.

Dawnbreaker (Salvation Cycle, #2)

by Jodi Meadows
Published by: Holiday House
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

The king is dead. The world is lost. Long live the queen.

The thin membrane of magic separating the human and demonic planes has been destroyed. Nightrender, the immortal warrior of the gods, must find a way to rebuild it, but Hanne—the serpent girl, always too cunning to be trusted, too hungry for power—has become High Queen, and is too consumed with ambition to cooperate.

Meanwhile, Rune—married to Hanne, but in love with Nightrender—is lost in the realm of demons after a disastrous battle, wandering alone in a twisted landscape of mercury seas, black-glass spires, and winds blowing ash … In this second and final installment of the Nightrender duology, the circle will close, and the world will be saved—or burnt to a cinder.

Artifice

by Sharon Cameron
Published by: Scholastic Press
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

A dramatic story of duplicity and resistance, betrayal and loyalty, set against the backdrop of World War II, by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Light in Hidden Places.

Isa de Smit was raised in the vibrant, glittering world of her parents' small art gallery in Amsterdam, a hub of beauty, creativity, and expression, until the Nazi occupation wiped the color from her city's palette. The "degenerate" art of the Gallery de Smit is confiscated, the artists in hiding or deported, her best friend, Truus, fled to join the shadowy Dutch resistance. And masterpiece by masterpiece, the Nazis are buying and stealing her country’s heritage, feeding the Third Reich's ravenous appetite for culture and art.

So when the unpaid taxes threaten her beloved but empty gallery, Isa decides to make the Nazis pay. She sells them a fake--a Rembrandt copy drawn by her talented father--a sale that sets Isa perilously close to the second-most hated class of people in the city: the collaborators.

Isa sells her beautiful forgery to none other than Hitler himself, and on the way to the auction, discovers that Truus is part of a resistance ring to smuggle Jewish babies out of Amsterdam. But Truus cannot save more children without money. A lot of money. And Isa thinks she knows how to get it.
One more forgery, a copy of an exquisite Vermeer, and the Nazis will pay for the rescue of the very children they are trying annihilate. To make the sale, though, Isa will need to learn the art of a master forger, before the children can be deported, and before she can be outed as a collaborator. And she finds an unlikely source to help her - the young Nazi soldier, a blackmailer and thief of Dutch art, who now says he wants to desert the German army. Yet, worth is not always seen from the surface, and a fake can be difficult to spot. Both in art, and in people.

Based on the true stories of Han Van Meegeren, a master art forger who sold fakes to Hermann Goering, and Johann van Hulst, credited with saving 600 Jewish children from death in Amsterdam, Sharon Cameron weaves a gorgeously evocative thriller, simmering with twists, that looks for the forgotten color of beauty, even in an ugly world.

"War, resistance, and art are Cameron's canvas; her palette is a balance of trust and perfidy, beauty and defiance, new life and old. Artifice is a vibrantly-hued and many-layered story, exploring our very human inability to spot a fake when we long to believe that the object of all our desire is the real thing." -- Elizabeth Wein, New York Times bestselling author of Code Name Verity

"Painterly prose...filled with rich intrigue depicts constantly shifting issues of trust in this complex, absorbing tale." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

Last Girl Breathing

by Court Stevens
Published by: Thomas Nelson
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

When the answers to a present-day murder lie in the past, one teen girl must examine a tragic event to prevent more lives from being lost. No one expected it to rain that much. But the rain kept coming, the dam broke, and lives were lost. One was Lucy Michaels’s little brother. She was there and while she saved the lives of many young boy scouts, despite being a child herself, she couldn’t save him.

Now eight years later, Lucy is preparing to graduate from high school and compete in the air rifle competition at the Olympics when her stepbrother goes missing right before his most important football game. The search is focused on the same plot of land where her younger brother died, and she can’t help but draw parallels.
When the search for a missing person becomes a murder investigation, Lucy knows the secrets she holds about what her stepbrother was up to that day could help find the murderer. The clues quickly connect Lucy’s ex-boyfriend to the murders, but he couldn’t be guilty... could he?

Everyone involved has their own secrets and revealing hers to the wrong person could put her life—and her whole town—at risk. Last Girl Breathing is a page-turning hunt for the truth as Court Stevens once again creates nonstop suspense with characters who will break your heart.

The Revenge Game

by Jordyn Taylor
Published by: Delacorte Press
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Mystery, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

A wickedly comic feminist mystery about the dark side of a hopeless romantic's seemingly perfect love story—for readers of Jessica Goodman and Kara Thomas.

Alyson is a romantic, and sometimes it gets her into trouble. Like last summer, she thought her co-worker was into her, when in reality he found her flirting pathetic.
Then she meets Brenton Riggs Jr., and right away she knows that their connection isn’t just in her head. When he swoops in to save her one night from a less than savory party encounter, she falls head-over-heels. Finally, someone Alyson likes who likes her back!

But when she finds out about the King’s Cup—a competition the guy’s at their boarding school started to see who has the most sexual prowress—she’s put on edge.

Does Brenton really want to be with her, or is he just trying to win? Then Alyson and the other girls at the school start a competition of their own: The Queen’s Cup. It’s all about reclaiming their power. But as the compeition heats up, Alyson’s relationship begins to fall apart—and it isn’t long before the cracks in her perfect love story start to show through.

Loveboat Forever (Loveboat, Taipei, #3)

by Abigail Hing Wen
Published by: Harper Teen
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

Pearl was ready for a worldwide stage. Instead, she needs to stage a comeback.

Seventeen-year-old music prodigy Pearl Wong had the summer of her dreams planned: she’d been accepted into the ultra-exclusive New York Summer Symphony, where she was going to prove once and for all that she belonged in the rigid, unforgiving classical music world.

Then a fall from grace put her in need of new plans—and a new image. Where better to rebuild her shattered reputation than at Chien Tan, the Taipei summer program for elite students that rocketed her older sister, Ever, on a path to romance and self fulfilment years ago?

Pearl’s agent agrees. It’s the perfect plan. But as the alumni know, Chien Tan is actually Loveboat: a well-kept secret extravaganza, where prodigies party till dawn. There’s more awaiting Pearl at Loveboat than she could have ever imagined, like a scandalous party in the dark, a romantic entanglement with a mysterious suitor . . . and a summer that will change her forever.

Set six years after the events of Loveboat, Taipei, Loveboat Forever brings the whole gang back to campus for another reunion.

Static Up All Night (1)

by Lamar Giles, Paris Alleyne
Published by: DC Comics
on November 7, 2023
Genres: Graphic Novel, Sci-Fi, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

VIRGIL (aka STATIC) can do amazing things with his vast array of electrical abilities, but instantly mending a broken heart isn't in his skill set.

Virgil Hawkins has just gone through a bad break up. He can't get over his ex, so his best friend Richie has an idea for how to distract him: attend a music festival in their city of Dakota. But wouldn't you know it--his ex is in attendance. And that's just the beginning of his troubles.

A series of encounters and events leads to an all-night adventure involving super villains, a diner, a reluctant rapper, and a size-changing kleptomaniac, as well as Virgil's frequent bad decision making. But in the end, with the help of his friends, Virgil will find he can move on from a broken heart.

Finding My Elf

by David Valdes
Published by: Harper Teen
Genres: LGBTQIA+, Romance, Young Adult
Bookshop
Goodreads

Single All the Way meets Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda in this festive romcom about Cam, who’s trying to find the “the one” and also trying to find himself—while spending winter break working at a hectic Santa’s Village.

Escaping to NYU for college didn’t turn out the way Cameron planned—he’s flunking his theater classes, about to lose his scholarship, and he still hasn’t found anyone he can call his “people.” When he gets home for winter break, he’s so desperate to avoid a Conversation with his dad that he takes the first acting job he can get—as a mall elf. Despite how Scroogey he feels, the plus side is that there’s a cash prize for the most festive of Santa’s helpers.

But the competition is fierce—especially from fellow elf Marco. Christmas spirit oozes out of his veins. At first Cam is determined to see him as nothing but a rival, but as they spend more time together, Cam starts to second-guess himself. What if he’s finally found his people here—in the fakest consumerist nightmare place on Earth, where he least expected it?

The Books of Clash Volume 2: Legendary Legends of Legendarious Achievery (Books of Clash, 2)

by Gene Luen Yang, Alison Acton, Les McClaine
Published by: First Second
Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Humor
Bookshop
Goodreads

Based on the global hit Clash of Clans and penned by superstar graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang, this second volume of a new action-packed series brings the characters from everyone's favorite mobile gaming sensation to life!

Once upon a time, archers Jane and Angie were best friends who did everything together. That is, until, one day during battle Jane found herself stranded and alone in an otherworldly cave where she stumbled upon a mysterious scroll...with an even more mysterious message.

Continuing the epic graphic novel series set in the world of Clash of Clans and Clash Royale, Gene Luen Yang pens an offbeat and action-packed tale that turns the fantasy-adventure genre on its head!