New YA Book Releases This Week, January 22, 2025
It’s another new week, which means there’s another batch of new YA releases to get excited about. As mentioned in previous roundups this month, the offerings do start to get a little more sparse as January goes on, but you will see a surge of releases in the coming months as publishing moves into one of its busier seasons.
This week, we’ve got a little of every genre, but we are in a moment where the releases don’t reflect the broader diversity in YA. There are more white authors than usual, but that will shift and change as we hit that spring release season.
Let’s check out what’s hitting shelves without further ado.
New YA Hardcover Releases
Love on Paper by Danielle Parker
A nepo baby writing-themed romance with flavors of Romeo and Juliet? You bet.
Macy’s a writer and her mom pulled some strings to ensure she got into a fancypants writing retreat. The theme for the retreat is romance and even though it’s not her usual jam, Macy’s going to excel. She knows it.
Then she’s paired up with her critique partner. Caleb Bernard is also from a family of writers and no matter how swoony he might be, he’s not the kind of guy that Macy can ever fall for. Their families do not get along.
But Macy and Caleb want to succeed and potentially publish at the end of this retreat. Can they do it…and avoid falling for one another in the process?
The Rival by Emma Lord
Releasing simultaneously in paperback and in hardcover, Lord’s latest novel follows Sadie, who has finally achieved her dream of besting long-time rival Seb. Sadie’s gotten word that she has earned the only spot available at her dream college.
But then she hears that Seb’s been pulled off the school’s waitlist and thus, their rivalry heats up once again. This time, it’s over the school’s famous zine.
It’s not necessarily resentment bubbling up between the two long-time academic rivals, though. There might be something drawing them closer to one another than ever before.
The Wilde Trials by Mackenzie Reed
Every year at the end of the school year, Wilde Academy invites 12 seniors to compete in a series of mental and physical tests. The winner takes home a huge sum of half a million dollars. Chloe is stoked for this year–she knows her family could use that money to help her sick sister.
But someone is out to get Chloe as she competes, and the only person who can help her figure out the culprit is her ex-boyfriend Hayes. Hayes lost his own brother in the competition a few years ago.
As they work together, they use some of the clues that they picked up from Hayes’s brother. But it seems something is off about the Wilde Trials, and as Hayes’s brother started to uncover the truth, that’s when things “went wrong” and he died. Chloe has to decide how much the money is worth to her, especially as she becomes closer and closer to Hayes…and closer and closer to the fate his brother experienced.
Where The Heart Should Be by Sarah Crossan
This historical novel in verse is set in Ireland during the potato famine. It follows 16-year-old Nell, a scullery maid, as she finds herself falling in love with a British heir to the land.
It’s not a great time for such a romance, and the two have to hide their love. But things will be tough to hide as the times get harder and harder and Nell must do everything she can to keep her family alive.
New YA Paperback Releases
Here’s your semi-regular reminder that you might need to toggle your view when you click the link to see the paperback edition.
A Place for Vanishing by Ann Fraistat
If you’re a fan of creepy house stories, look no further.
After Libby’s been diagnosed with bipolar III and a family tragedy, her mom decides it’s time to get a fresh start. They move to a new home to make that happen.
Libby immediately begins to feel this place is anything but new, fresh, or, well, safe. There are bugs everywhere. The neighbor confirms her beliefs and notes that strange disappearances have been tied to that house for a long time. That neighbor mentions he heard it was all related to the first owners of the place who used to hold seances there.
Libby’s mom will not listen to her, so Libby has to take matters into her own hands. She’s convinced the answer lies in the bug-shaped masks around the property.
All You Have to Do by Autumn Allen
Told in two timelines, Allen’s novel follows Kevin in 1968 as he takes part in a protest at his Ivy League school following the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It then fast-forwards to 1995, when Gibran begins to protest his fancy prep school’s philosophy of not seeing color in the wake of the Million Man March.
The two stories overlap, and both share what it is to live the life you’re told to live vs. the one you believe is the one you’re truly meant to live.
The Diablo’s Curse by Gabe Cole Novoa
Dami wants to become human again and get away from their existence as a demon. To do that, they’ll need to end every deal they’ve ever made. The problem? Silas. Silas is a cute boy who is cursed to die young; the only reason he’s still alive is the deal made with Silas. Getting to be human again means that Silas will die, but perhaps there is a way Dami and Silas can work together to free them both.
