New YA Books Out This Week, September 16, 2024
In an absolute blink of an eye, we are somehow halfway through September. I hope that you’ve been reading everything your heart desires and that your fall TBRs are shaping up to be even better than expected. I know that mine is.
We’ve got another big batch of new YA releases this week. Whatever your preferred genre, there’s something here for you.
New YA Hardcover
Night Owls by A. R. Vishny
Estries are owl-shifting female vampires from Jewish tradition. You’ll get to spend time with two of them in this debut romantic fantasy.
Clara is a rule follower. After all, it’s what has kept her and her sister Molly alive as long as they’ve been alive. The girls work at a historic theater during the day and shift into their owl selves at night. They can never fall in love or they’ll have broken the rules.
The problem is Molly is in love. Deeply. She wishes Clara would bend the rules, even a little, so she could stop having her relationship with Anat secret. But Clara’s not a budger, so Molly may need to go forth herself.
Then there’s Boaz, who works with the sisters at the local theater. He’s a cursed boy, and his feelings for Clara are big. He wants her attention badly.
So when Anat disappears, Boaz looks like a prime suspect. Oh, and it’s not just that Anat has disappeared. The entire underworld of New York appears to have been summoned. To find Anat, Clara will need to break some of her rules to ensure that her sister’s girlfriend is found and that they can survive the demons swirling around them all.
Ruin Road by Lamar Giles
Cade is a standout football player. So much so that he not only gets to attend a fancy school in a nice neighborhood–something the complete opposite of his poor, more rundown part of the city–but he has dreams of making it to college on a scholarship, and then, the NFL. He’s good enough for it. The money he makes will help not just his family but his neighborhood, too.
The problem? Everyone seems to be afraid of Cade. He’s a big guy, but he’s a very nice guy. People at school are scared of him because he is a big Black boy, and so, too, are people who aren’t from his hood. So when the police start to follow him one afternoon, Cade knows he needs to save himself. He ducks into a pawn shop in a neighborhood between his own and his school’s, where he picks up a ring that forever changes his life.
That ring comes with a wish, to which Cade asks for people not to be afraid of him anymore. What unfolds are a series of events that put his life and the wellbeing of those he loves most in trouble. He might find he has more courage as people are less afraid of him, but that comes at the cost of other people not having fear, meaning that violence is only escalating around him.
This book packs a LOT into it, but it all ties together seamlessly. (And psst: you can hear Lamar Giles and I talk all things horror, genre-hopping, writing authentic teens, and more on the September 25 Hey YA podcast!)
Spells to Forget Us by Aislinn Brophy
Luna is a powerful, talented witch, set to take over as as head of the Boston Witch Council. Except she does not want that role.
Aoife is not at all magical or powerful. She’s also extremely well known, as her influencer family used her for content since she was born. She wants nothing but a quiet, private life.
When the two girls’ paths cross, they fall for each other hard. Magic law decrees that when Luna dates, she must cast a spell that will erase the memories of that relationship from the person she dated in the event they break up. But when the romance between Aoife and Luna ends, it’s not just Aoife who loses the memory of the relationship. Luna does, too.
The girls meet again. Date again. Then they both recover the memories from that prior relationship.
And so it goes, again and again.
A time loop story with a witch and non-witch? This sounds so fun.
We Are Hunted by Tomi Oyemakinde
“Horrifying survival story” in the pitch for this book got my ears perked up.
Femi, who is 17, is forced to join his older brother and father on an island resort. You’d think he’d be cool with it, but his relationship with both brother and dad are Not Great. The resort promises luxury, but that luxury is shrouded in secrets.
Despite fears and frustration, Femi loves seeing the plant and animal life on the island. But he quickly realizes that those might be hiding some terrible secrets. It’s not long before the flora and fauna have gone feral and Femi has to work with his family and other guests to ensure they all survive.
Oh…and Femi may have played a part in why everything went feral.
Want more? Check out the full slate of YA hardcover releases this week.
New YA Paperback
The Lake House by Sarah Beth Durst
Claire is the person who is always prepared, always on top of things, always ready for the worst. But she couldn’t even be prepared for what happens when she makes her way to an off-the-grid summer camp, where she’s greeted with a burned-down lodge and no survivors except for her, Reyva, and Mariana — the former two being late arrivals to the camp.
Imagine their surprise then when they also discover a dead body in the woods.
This is not what they signed up for, and now, they’re going to have to not only figure out what is going on but also ensure they make it out alive.
The Next New Syrian Girl by Ream Shukairy
One part I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and one part Furia, Shukairy’s debut follows Khadija and Leene, two teens at a suburban Detroit high school. Khadija is determined, and she sets her sights on traveling the world to leave behind her sheltered life. So when she collides with Leene, a girl who is a Syrian refugee and struggling with anxiety and nonstop pressure from her family, things are rocky, fast. Both girls see each other as the opposite of who they should be as Syrians in America.
Khadija, though, finds a secret in Leene’s past and it brings the girls together in a way neither expect…but in a way that will ultimately help them understand themselves, each other, and their realities as Syrian immigrants.
When Ghosts Call Us Home by Katya de Becerra
If you love found footage horror and haunted houses, look no further.
When she was 12, Sophia agreed to star in her older sister Layla’s amateur horror movie called Vermillion. The film recorded Sophia’s reactions to a series of scenes that Layle created in the home they lived in at the time that they called Cashore House (it was on the California shore).
The girls and family moved from the home, but the nightmares about the home haven’t left Sophia. Her relationship with Layla has gotten worse, too, especially as fans of Vermillion have begun to speculate that there are all kinds of secret messages in it. Sophia mostly ignored them, especially the one about her sister making a pact with the devil. But when Layla goes missing, Sophia begins to wonder if those rumors and that pact are true.
There’s only one way she can find out. She’s going back to Cashore House. But Cashore House is going to force Sophia to revisit her biggest fears and fight hard for answers about her sister, the film, and the house itself.
If that’s not enough, dive into the entire list of this week’s YA paperback releases.
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Thanks as always for hanging out, and we’ll see you again on Monday next week with your new books for next week. It’s likely Thursday will bring you a big batch of YA book news.
Until then, happy reading!
