New YA Books Hitting Shelves This Week: July 8, 2024

Marina Chan has created a fake identity ever since running away from her old life. All of this might catch up with her, though, as she accepts an offer from her favorite online gaming company. She and her online team from the game are getting the opportunity to visit the company on a tour.

You know this isn’t going to go well because this is a thriller. The creator of the game is killed while the team is there, and the murderer plans to pit the death on Marina and her friends unless they win four rounds of a game.

But it’s not any game. It’s one that requires them to lie, cheat, and steal—and it’s a game which might reveal Marina’s true identity.

If you like stories set over a short period of time and/or with limits placed on them that raise the stakes, this’ll be your jam. Set at Sunrise Night, a sleep-away art camp, the book follows photography-loving Jude and dancer Florence as they spend three magic nights together with one rule: no contact for a year after these nights.

Each is struggling with their place in the world and their lives—Jude and his anxiety and parents’ divorce and Florence and the degenerative eye disease that will end her dancing life before she’s ready—but perhaps these three nights will let them become their truest selves..and experience true love, too.

This book is comped to Unpregnant, which, despite being adapted, I think is deeply underrated. Rarely are abortion-themed books humorous, but it is. That makes me especially eager to pick up Yasmin’s book.

It’s a not-too-distant America where abortion is illegal. Laylah and Noor, high schoolers, have their sights on becoming an OBGYN and journalists; for right now, though, the two besties are creating an illegal guide to abortion in Texas.

Getting this guide together isn’t easy and more, it’s dangerous. While both girls are passionate about helping others access reproductive healthcare, it’s work further complicated by their mosque and a local politician. But together they’ll stand and work toward helping do what’s right.

(How great is that cover? Both Laylah and Noor look like the badasses they are).

Despite publishing in November 2021, the first book in the “Guilded” duology has yet to hit paperback. This week, that changes.

Inspired by Rumpelstiltskin, this story follows Serilda, who was cursed by the god of lies. She spins beautiful stories but none of them are true. When one of her fantastical tales reaches the sinister Erlking, she is ordered to spin straw into gold or be killed for her lies. Unsure what to do, Serilda accidentally summons a mysterious boy to help her out and he’s happy to do so for a price.

Now, Serilda is realizing there are terrible things within the castle walls and she might have to step up and end an ancient curse to save herself and take down the king.

The second book in the duology, Cursed, also comes out in paperback today so you can snap them up and read ’em in one shot.

Do you want a royal-themed romantic comedy? Here you go.

Wren is a college freshman at Northwestern and maybe accidentally married the King of England. It’s now summer and she and her friends need to move on from that mess of things, except it’s hard because Theo took her dog. Wren wants to rescue the dog and when she attempts to do just that, her reunion with Theo is caught by the paparazzi. Now the two of them have to fly back to London together. But the plane goes down, and now, Theo, Wren, Theo’s siblings (including Henry, who he is always compared to!), and several of Wren’s friends are stuck on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere.

The rag-tag group will need to survive on their own for who knows how long. As much as it’ll be difficult to navigate a completely unknown land with countless dangers around every corner—injuries, sibling rivalry, wild animals, volcanoes, etc.—it’ll be Wren and Theo sorting out their feelings for each other that might be most challenging.

Note that this book is releasing in paperback and hardcover simultaneously, so you can grab it in your preferred format.

James is the first Black heir to the British throne. Despite knowing this, he’s not prepared for the role following his dad’s death. He’s too busy with his secret boyfriend.

But the tabloids are ready and now, every one of James’s secrets threatens to become public knowledge. But who is feeding the media James’s life story? He’s beginning to feel unsafe and has no idea who to trust.

James is bound and determined to figure out who has been deceiving him and restore order to the throne before it’s too late.