New YA Book Releases, September 5, 2024

We’re kicking this off with a book that is a queer Appalachian thriller and not for readers who can’t stomach brutal reads. White’s latest novel follows Miles Abernathy, a 16-year-old West Virginian socialist, who comes out to his parents as trans. The night he does, Miles heads to a party, eager to prove that he knows how to solve a blood feud in town that’s been running for generations. He has photos proving that it was the county sheriff who caused an “accident” that hurt Miles’s dad and not only killed several people but also helped disrupt the plans to unseat the sheriff.

The feud goes back to Miles’s 100 years ago. His great-great-grandfather incited a miner’s rebellion that led to the police holding a public execution. But Miles’s plans to prove what the sheriff did has now made him the victim of the feud, thanks to the sheriff’s son and friends. They’ve found Miles and beaten him so hard he’s now in the hospital.

He’s not going to give up on his question to prove the sheriff is up to no good, and when Miles accidentally kills one of the boys who hurt him, he discovers how many people in his small town want to join him in taking the authority down.

I love a foodie romance — a topic worth covering in and of itself! — and this one sounds delicious. Ana Maria Ybarra wants to be a pastry chef, and while she’s honed some great skills at her family’s bakery, she’s frustrated her father will not update the menu with some of her creations. This is made worse when Morales Bakery opens up across the street, and they’re taking off on social media.

Ana Maria’s plan is to enter a scholarship contest that has a social media element. If she wins, it’ll help her get to school and help her convince her dad to take some new chances.

What Ana Marie didn’t bank on was that a boy she had a fling with, Miguel, is in town. And worse, he’s behind the popular bakery that’s rivaling her family’s. Can she both pursue her goals and hold off on falling in love? Or does she pursue her goals *and* let herself feel those feels?

What happens when you believe in dreams and want to pursue them, but that pursuit might not always be in your best interests?

Nico believes in what he dreams, and it’s why he’s so set on becoming a writer. It’s a path he knows will be satisfying. But then he has a dream about his own funeral, and in that dream, his former neighbor Rosario — who died a year prior and the girl Nico had a big crush on — tries to tell him something. Nico knows it has to be important, and now, awake, he’s determined to figure out why she died and what she wanted him to know so badly.

The thing is, Nico’s balancing a lot of other challenges. He’s got a sick mom, and his brother is finding himself engaged in a gang. Nico needs to be the man of the house, but he also knows that he needs to know what that message Rosario had for him.

Duran and Ariminthian have been warring nations for as long as anyone remembers. So when a ship carrying delegates from both countries and their about-to-be-signed peace treaty wrecks, the only two survivors are teen girls, one from each of the nations.

Cora and Vivienne must now learn how to trust one another in order to survive on the island where they’re stranded. That sounds easier than it is, given the girls have grown up in two very different worlds with very different perspectives. Can they transcend their histories and political upbringings to survive? If they can, will they be able to also prove the war was on its way to a resolution before the shipwreck?

It’s been a while since novelizations have been popular in YA. Certainly, we’ve had plenty of tie-in novels, but an actual novelization? This one is going to be exciting.

This is Wednesday’s story of her time at Nevermore Academy, where she navigates how to grow her psychic abilities and attempts to solve a mystery that’s over 25 years old.

Thao’s debut was an instant success, so there’s little surprise that his second is highly anticipated. It’s pitched as Wandavision meets We Are Okay.

Eric Ly’s best friend is dead. So he does what he needs to in order to survive, and that includes creating an imaginary world in his head. But one of those imaginary scenarios becomes all too real when a boy he met the previous summer in Japan is suddenly and really back in his life. Haru meets Eric at a coffee shop, sits down, and they’re together IRL again.

But no one else can see Haru. Only Eric can. So, is Haru real? Or is Haru a figure only there to help Eric through the grief? The more time they spend together, the more Eric realizes knowing the truth could shatter his world further — and send Haru away forever.