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We are thisclose to a long weekend in the United States and in Canada. It’s the final long weekend of the traditional summer season and a reminder that fall and all that brings with it–cooler weather, football, soup, pumpkins, back-to-school, longer nights, a much busier publishing season–is coming soon, if it hasn’t already reached your door. In the shorter term, of course, the long weekend means a whole extra day for enjoying a good book or two. I know I’ll be savoring the extra time to do a little bit of TBR catch-up.
This week, we start to see the beginning of more new books hitting shelves. It’s a little dash of pumpkin spice to prepare for the whole latte coming in September. Whatever kind of book you love to settle in with, there’s something here for you in this week’s new titles.
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New Hardcover YA Releases This Week
The Devil’s in the Dancers by Catherine Yu
Mars Chang dreams of elite dancing and acceptance into the Ivy League. Getting into the summer intensive program at Allegra Academy is one step in that direction, as she knows the scholarship means she’s on the radar of the elite family who owns the institution, the Belchers. The Belchers are a family involved in big pharmaceuticals and earning their blessing is a Big Deal.
So when Mars finds out she is rooming with Alex Belcher, Mars recognizes the opportunity. She needs to impress Alex, whose great-aunt owns the academy.
But it’s Alex’s great aunt who throws a wrench in the plans. She asks Mars to swap out Alex’s supplement with a new Belcher product called APL; if Mars accepts, she’ll be able to stay at the academy year-round.
Mars has been getting to know Alex and learning just how much she hates being forced to dance at the academy and being lumped in with her family’s legacy. Swapping pills may sound easy, but Mars is struggling to do it–so she comes up with a plan to let another scholarship student try out the experimental bills.
Too bad that the side effects of the pills are not what any of the students expected. Mars’s future–as well as the futures of so many others at the school–may be more than in jeopardy.
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The Good Vampire’s Guide to Blood and Boyfriends by Jamie D’Amato
Sink your teeth into this queer vampire rom-com for older teen readers. It follows 19-year-old Brennan, who is returning for his sophomore year of college after a suicide attempt. He wants to make it a much better year than the last, but things are made complicated by, well, turning into a vampire.
When Cole, who seems to be everyone’s crush on campus, finds Brennan drinking from a blood bag one night, Cole promises to keep the secret. Oh, also? Cole may have a little crush on Brennan. Now, Brennan has to navigate a confusing and embarrassing vampire puberty, new feelings, and developing friendships with a clan of “good” vampires, all while trying to get back on the right foot at school.
Things go from tough to tougher, though, when that new clan of “good” vampires may be anything but what they seem.
Legendary Frybread Drive-In by Cynthia Leitich Smith
This intertribal, interconnected series of short stories centers around the Legendary Sandy June’s Frybread Drive-In that emerges anywhere at any time such a space and connection is needed. Don’t go in with expectations of what the Legendary Drive-In is. It’s not what you think, and that’s what makes each story especially interesting. How will it show up? What purpose or role will it serve? How will the characters get there? Those are all some of the fun surprises as readers move through each of the stories.
My Perfect Family by Khadijah VanBrakle
Leena, 16, has always been close with her single mom, but that hasn’t meant she’s not wished to have a big, loud family. So when she gets a phone call that her grandfather is in the hospital and her aunt is there with him, Leena is not only surprised to hear of their existence, she’s shocked to learn of a whole history her mother kept hidden from her.
Despite warnings from her mom that her new-found family isn’t all they seem, Leena has been building relationships with them. Leena is convinced that she may be the bridge between the fractured relationship, but will helping her mom and grandfather heal their wounds be possible?
This book explores the intersections of gender and religion, putting a Black Muslim teen at the center of the story.
A Spell to Wake the Dead by Nicole Lesperance
It’s a moonlit night when Mazzy and Nora decide to head down to the beach and cast a spell. But their night of fun is interrupted when they discover a dead body.
Though they should leave the investigation to the police, the girls feel a connection to the dead woman and want to know what happened. They’ll use their spell work and divination skills. But the further they dive into this exploration, the more they’re discovering about a history of similar crimes in their community–and the more the girls themselves are being haunted by strange visions and ghostly whispers.
Nora then finds a second body and is hearing those voices tell her where to uncover even more bodies. Mazzy is desperate to end whatever spell they’ve cast before they become the next victims.
New Hardcover Series Releases:
More Hardcover YA Releases This Week:
New Paperback YA Releases This Week
Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay
For readers who love intergenerational stories that span several lifespans, look no further.Ribay’s latest follows the four Maghabol boys through each of their adolescence, beginning with Francisco’s in Watsonville, California, in 1930.Wethen meet his son, Emil, in 1965. Emil’s son Chris tells his story from 1983 and finally, Chris’s son Enzo tells his. Through each,wesee what is happening with family dynamics, work life, and the social and political struggles with which they’re engaged.
Solis by Paola Mendoza and Abby Sher
Even writing the description for this book is brutal, as it covers a topic set in a “near future” that looks too damn much like our current reality.
In 2033, undocumented people in the New American Republic are forced into labor camps. Seventeen-year-old Rania and her mother were rounded up from their home in Chicago and forced into a labor camp mine to find the chemical aqualinium. Aqualinium is dangerous and toxic, but it holds the secret to control the weather. If the government can get their hands on it, they have the power to hold the future of the planet over the heads of every other country.
Finding it means putting people through hell not only in the mines, but in testing the chemical. Raina, her mother, and others in this labor camp know that if they don’t stand up and revolt now, they may never get the chance to do so again. Their lives and futures are at stake either way.
Thirsty by Jas Hammonds
Hammonds’s novel is a really well-done story about race, class, and the desire to fit in–as well as alcohol addiction–and the new paperback cover will get this into the hands of even more readers.
It’s the summer before college, and Blake and her girlfriend Ella are itching to be accepted by the Serena Society. It’s a sorority that helps women of color find their footing in school and in the greater world afterward. Ella’s not going to have an issue getting into the group, since she’s the daughter of an alum. Blake will have to work hard, though, to prove she belongs.
Blake doesn’t have the same privileged background as Ella does, so she knows she’s at a disadvantage. What she discovers, though, is that when she drinks, she becomes the funny, charming girl that the Serenas seem to love. But Ella’s concerned that Blake has taken to the bottle too hard. Blake brushes her off, as well as brushes off everyone who seems to show concern.
But the price of admission to one group may be at the expense of a whole lot more in Blake’s world.
New Paperback Series Releases:
More Paperback YA Releases This Week:
Need more YA talk? You’ll want to check out the YA books poised to be fall 2025 blockbusters, some new and exciting YA fantasy romance reads, and cheer on these diverse YA sports romances.
