10 Blockbuster Summer and Fall 2024 YA Books to Order (and Preorder) ASAP

I’m not going to go into a lot about the description of this book because of the potential for spoilers, but this is the third and final title in Tomi Adeyemi’s smash West African-inspired Legacy of Orïsha fantasy series. Yes, this book is coming. Yes, it’s coming very soon.

Generally, I don’t like to tell people how to read their books, and frankly, for this roundup, ebooks will ensure you have the title available to you ASAP if you’re buying them. But if you’re a reader who loves a physical book because of how gorgeous it is, you might want to splurge on the special hardcover edition of this title. Look at those edges!

If you loved the frothy, Chicago-set historical romance of The Davenports, then you’re going to love knowing the sequel hits this year. If you haven’t read the first book, then you’re in luck: you’ve got plenty of time to catch up. The story is fiction, but it is inspired by the real-life Patterson family, an upper-class Black family who made a name for themselves in the second city.

It’s 1910 and Ruby Tremaine is planning her dream wedding. Too bad a terrible rumor might end it before she ever says “I do.” Olivia Davenport’s still engaged in her activism and itching to be reconnected with Washington DeWight. Perhaps they’ll have something more than a cause to work toward—if her parents don’t dash her romantic dreams.

Amy-Rose Shephard is opening her dream beauty salon. But her world and work are rocked by an incident that might put her back into the path of John Davenport himself. Yes, she’s still definitely got feelings for him. Finally, Helen prepares to take her family’s carriage company into the new century as a balm to her own shattered heart. But a race car driver who loves to annoy her is someone she sees herself having to work with to make the company viable in the long term.

Aiz grew up in the Kegari slums. She’s seen terrible things, and that’s part of why an old trauma has filled her with enough stamina to seek revenge. But her temper gets the best of her and she finds herself in prison before she’s sought that revenge.

Sirsha was banished from her own community because of a crime she committed. It’s not nice being outcast, but she’s turned her luck into tracking and working with the elements of Earth. She’s desperate enough, though, to take on a job that requires hunting down a killer who has murdered children. She can do it, as she’s got the skills, but she keeps getting distracted by someone else. Someone charismatic. Cute. Deeply inconvenient.

Quil is to become prince of the empire the moment his aunt steps down. He’s not especially excited, in part because he knows power is not good and in part because he’s the son of the most hated person in the empire. But with an enemy threatening the survival of the empire, he is in the position to use his power for good.

This book weaves together the stories of these three very different teens as they navigate power, survival, and, of course, love. This will scratch the itch of readers who’ve been sucked into the world of romantasy but who want it to lean more heavily in the fantasy direction.

Deinhart Mansion has been there forever. It’s a huge part of the town’s lore, and it’s always just been abandoned. But when the final member of the Deinhart family dies and the house is on the market, Arden and her friends see not an opportunity to buy the place but an opportunity to break in and party. They’re graduating and what could be better than living it up in a haunted mansion?

But then the house shuts its doors and locks everyone inside. The walls begin to bleed. It turns quickly from celebration to nightmare, and no one is guaranteed to make it out alive.

Lily Anderson married horror with macabre humor well, so this is one that readers who love darkly funny books will drink on up.

Arden James is a hot Hollywood teen. She’s known for being a little reckless and messy. So when she loses an audition for her perfect role because of her reputation, she and her publicist are set to compose a brilliant lie to turn things around. But for the lie to work, Arden needs to go home for the holidays. It’ll be the first time she’s back home in over four years.

Caroline has been building the perfect portfolio over the last four years to get into journalism school. She’s managed to forget about Arden, her former best friend and first crush who left her and left town unceremoniously to begin her acting career. So when Arden shows up at her door, Caroline isn’t expecting to be reeled into a fake dating scheme that will land her a byline in Cosmopolitan. Write about 12 fake dates the two took in their small town? Easy peasy.

But we know how these fake dating things go. It might be more than simply “fake.” This is the holiday Sapphic rom-com of your dreams by a dynamic real-life #goals Sapphic couple.

If you want a weird story of a toxic family, look no further. Jane Vandermaker-Cook is desperate to get her mother back; mom travels the world to make ends meet for the family, but when mom is home, dad confines mom to a series of pneumatic tubes. Jane’s aunt lives with them, and the family is also joined by a rat named Brutus, a gardener, and a whole bunch of security cameras.

When Jane gets access to the footage of those cameras, what they reveal is a family that is anything but simply weird or quirky. This discovery, though, is key to helping save her mother—and as a bonus (if that’s even the right word!), there’ll be a punk opera involved, too.

It’s been several years since King’s last full-length YA novel and coming off her Printz-winning anthology The Collectors, this is surely going to be a hot read.

Without question, this book needs to be on your TBR.

Neon met Aria 24 months ago by accident. He was being chased by a dog at church and well, it was her dog. He didn’t look his best, though she did, and he’s been smitten since.

Then, 24 weeks ago, Neon and Aria are in love, and Neon’s dad is having those kind of embarrassing conversations with him about love and sex. Neon and Aria haven’t done it yet. Yet.

It was only 24 days ago when Neon’s mom found Aria’s bra in his room. Nothing happened. At least it hadn’t yet. Neon was practicing for what was going to be coming.

And now, they’re preparing to finally have sex. Except Neon is locked in Aria’s bathroom and overwhelmed with all of the information he’s got about sex. Can he even work up the nerve to just be himself with her and enjoy all there is to discover about intimacy with another person?

First, though, he needs to get out of that bathroom.

Queen of the genre blend Libba Bray is back this fall with a brand new book, and it sounds like a must-read historical mystery.

Set over three different time periods, the story centers the Bridegroom’s Oak, which legend has said if you write to, it will send you a letter back from the love of your life. In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to find that she has a message in the Oak from a mysterious suitor. At the same time, her best friend Hanna is finding that the Bridegroom’s Oak plays a crucial role in resisting Nazis.

Fast forward to 1980s West Germany, where American teen Jenny finds herself feeling cut off and suffocated in her new home. Then she meets Lena and not only is Jenny falling for her hard, but she’s learning about how to engage her punk rock spirit and desire to help tear down the Berlin wall.

Then we get to 2020 and COVID hits New York. Miles and Chloe are dealing with virtual school when a mysterious package arrives from Chloe’s grandmother. That package leads them to the legend of Bridegroom’s Oak and the disappearance of two teenagers 80 years earlier.

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.

If you love books about complicated families and generations of stories within a single family, you’ll be here for Nelson’s book about the Falls. The Fall family lost their father mysteriously. He simply disappeared and since that day, none of the siblings have been the same. Twelve-year-old Dizzy wants to her the heroine of a romance novel. She loves to bake and also sees spirits. Miles, age 17, is an athletic smartypants who also happens to be a dog whisperer. Then there’s the oldest of the Fall siblings, Wynton, who is 19 and a violin virtuoso.

The disappearance of their father isn’t the only thing that turns their world off-kilter. So does the sudden appearance of a girl with rainbow hair who deeply impacts each of the siblings in a different way. But no one knows who she is or where she came from.

So when catastrophe strikes again, the Fall siblings are forced to reckon with with the new and lingering trauma.

Nelson hasn’t published a new book in 10 years, and interestingly, this book sounds like one she may have announced many years ago but never saw publish (I recall a book prior to I’ll Give You The Sun that involved the name “Dizzy Fall”).