New YA Book Releases This Week, January 29, 2025
Somehow, some way, we’ve reached the final week of January. It’s been a long month in these parts, and I know for folks in many areas of the country, it’s been an especially challenging month. In the midst of whatever January has thrown your way, I hope you’ve been able to enjoy a good book or two. If you haven’t, may you find something good in this week’s releases to carry you into February.
We’ve got a mix of genres and styles going on this week. If you like fantasy, we’ve got new YA fantasy. Like romance? Got you covered. Poetry? Yes indeed. A strong sports book from a long-time YA sports writer? Yep!
Let’s dive in.
New Hardcover YA Releases
I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang
Jenna Chen lives in the shadow of her extremely perfect cousin, Jessica Chen. Jessica’s got the grades. She’s got the social life. She’s got the perfect looks. Jessica’s even got an acceptance to Harvard.
Jenna Chen could never.
At least, she couldn’t until one day she wishes to be her cousin and wakes up to find that wish has come true. Now everything is perfect…or is it? Perhaps the idea of perfect Jessica Chen is something entirely different than actually being Jessica Chen. It doesn’t help people don’t even seem to remember that Jenna Chen was a real person, too.
Can Jenna ever go back to being herself or is she stuck as Jessica Chen forever?
It’s a Love/Skate Relationship by Carli J. Corson
If you’re looking for a sapphic enemies-to-lovers read set on the ice, look no further.
Charlie is a force on the hockey rink as much as she’s also a force off the ice. The brawl she begins on accident after a game, though, has cost her more than she could have ever imagined. She’s been suspended from school and can’t play hockey this season. It’s not just any season, either: it’s the season she should be seen by D1 scouts for her college gaming future.
Alexa’s skating partner was harmed in the brawl and now she’s out of commission. Alexa’s panicking; there are only four months until their next competition and she’s got no partner. Alexa’s got a plan. She’s going to convince Charlie to be her partner and then use her mom’s powerful connections to get Charlie in front of scouts.
Charlie’s never figure skated before, but that’s hardly the worst of it. The two are as different as can be. Can they make their new configurations work? Maybe the better question is whether or not their new pairing is a little too good.
On The Wings of La Noche by Vanessa L. Torres
Estrella (Noche) Villanueva is grieving the loss of her girlfriend Dante, who accidentally drowned. During the day, Noche is that girl, plus the nerdiest science kid ever. But at night, Noche is a Lechuza, an owl who guides the dead into the afterlife. Noche can’t do that, though, with Dante. Instead, she visits Dante every night to spend just a little more time together with her spirit. That puts both of them in danger.
When Jax moves to town, Noche is almost immediately smitten. He loves science, too, and now she’s beginning to wonder if she can move on from the tragic end of her relationship with Dante.
But there might be other things in the cards for Noche, as well as both Jax and Dante. Noche may have gone too far off the course of being a Lechuza in her pain.
Rhino’s Run by Robert Lipsyte
Ronnie Rhinehart, aka Rhino, is a legend on the football field. Only a junior and already named captain, he’s got a lot of pressure on him in a small town obsessed with football. All Rhino wants, though, is to get through these next two years and get into a Division One school far, far away from home.
Then he punches Josh Kremens in the face and Rhino is sent to Group. It’s group counseling and he’s surrounded with people who sit around and talk about their feelings. Rhino feels a lot of pressure on the football team and from home, and even with a place to process those feelings, he feels lost.
Everything changes, though, the day one of the other members of Group shows up to school with a gun.
The Scorpion Queen by Mina Fears
This read is described as Uprooted meets Children of Blood and Bone and is based on a Malian fairy tale.
Amie lives in the imperial palace at Timbuktu, but everything about the life she’s known is out the window in a matter of months. She’s now being accused of a crime, she’s been disinherited, and her new role is to serve Princess Mariama of Mali.
Mariama’s father has set up a whole slew of tests for his daughter’s future suitors. None of them can live up to the tests, and in response to their failures, her father boils the potential suitors alive. Now there are 99 corpses of those not deemed good enough to marry Mariama.
Amie is initially bored by her new role as Mariama’s servant. But soon, the girls grow closer, especially as Amie sees it’s not necessarily amazing to be in Mariama’s position. Amie still keeps a little distance though, as the plan is for her and her intended Kader to escape Timbuktu. It offers them nothing but pain, suffering, and a future full of death.
Except, Amie continues to be drawn to Mariama, and the feeling is mutual. Amie’s made a discovery that could change all of their futures and now, she must test the limits of her own strength and resolve to travel the desert in search of an exiled god who may be the only one able to help them all.
New Paperback YA Releases
Bless The Blood by Walela Nehanda
At 23, Walela was diagnosed with blood cancer. Not only was this traumatic from the medical perspective, but it became even more difficult as medical professionals refused to acknowledge Walela by their pronouns and accept their identity.
In essays and poetry, Walela shares their experience with reconnecting to ancestors and inner wisdom through the process. As someone living at the intersections of being Black, fat, queer, nonbinary, and disabled, they offer insight and perspective too rarely given space to be fully seen.
Everything I Promised You by Katy Upperman
This paperback original follows the story of Lia and Beck. The two have always been in each other’s lives, and according to a fortune Lia’s mother received, Lia and Beck are destined to be together forever.
So when Beck is taken away by tragedy, Lia is left reeling. Can she move forward? What happens to the future without Beck in it? There was nothing in the fortune about what happens when what was foretold is impossible.
Poemhood: Our Black Revival by Amber McBride, Erica Martin, and Taylor Byas
Beginning with the knockout cover, this book promises to be nothing short of the kind of collection of Black poetry—both contemporary and historical—that YA readers deserve. Among some of the contributors are Kwame Alexander, James Baldwin, Ibi Zoboi, Audre Lorde, Nikki Giovanni, and Gwendolyn Brooks, and the poems dive into the Black experience.
Venom and Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore, Elliott McLemore
Transgender prince Cade is doubling for his brother while also vowing to protect Gael, an infamous boy assassin. Prince Gael plans to destroy Patrick, who is not interested in being heir to a kingdom. Add to the mix Valencia, a dama who attends to the future Eliana queen.
Gael and Valencia are the same person. Valencia, in her battles against Patrick, is actually battling Cade. So when Valencia and Cade are blaming each other for what’s happening with their families, they’re unaware just what is at stake for themselves and the kingdom itself.
Enemy kingdoms + curse breaking + being forced to work together? It sounds like a queerly good/devastating time.
With a Little Luck by Marissa Meyer
Jude’s plan is to just get by. He just wants to draw his comics, host his D&D game nights, and work at the vinyl store his parents own. He can slide by and finish up high school without making any waves.
But then he finds himself with the inexplicable gift of luck. He can achieve anything he wants without any effort. His art? Published. His best friend’s song? A finalist in a competition. Coveted concert tickets he’s been wanting? They’re his—and with those, he can finally ask the girl he’s had feelings for to join him on a date.
Jude is, of course, worried his luck will run out without any warning. He’s also worried that the girl he’s been crushing on might not be the one he’s meant to be with. It might instead be Ari, his best friend. Has he been wrong about his feelings the entire time?