My Most Anticipated YA Books For 2024

A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft
Out January 2, 2024

At A Glance: YA fantasy meets Regency romance, court politics, magical dressmaker, royal wedding, scandal

Why It Makes The List: A romantic fantasy that blends Regency romance — (a la Bridgerton but make it whimsical and with magic) ? Yes please! I’m a big Regency romance reader so I can’t wait to dive into the familiar Regency era and this magical one the author has created!

A magical dressmaker has been commissioned to make the clothing for the royal wedding (one of a political maneuvering nature) and finds herself right in the middle of a scandal when a gossip columnist puts the chemistry between her and the groom as front page news and won’t stop until she promises to help uncover the royal family’s secret.

Stay With My Heart by Tashie Bhuiyan
Out January 2, 2024

At A Glance: YA romance, music scene, mental health, grief, community

Why It Makes The List: Tashie Bhuiyan is writing some of the best recent YA romances for teens! Plus I always love a book that is set amidst a music scene and falling for a guy in a band? Teen Jamie would have been dying for this one, too!

Liana, a young girl whose mom has recently passed away, is trying to make her music exec dad happy so she puts all her energy into being awesome at her internship with his recording company before college starts. When she accidentally sabotages an up-and-coming local band, she spends the summer secretly trying to make up for what she did and get them on the path to success — all the while accidentally falling for the band’s lead guitarist in the process.

Stay With My Heart by Tashie Bhuiyan
Out January 2, 2024

At A Glance: coming of age, complicated nature of family, friendship, East Oakland setting, first-generation Mexican American MC

Why It Makes The List: I am always looking for that next best YA coming of age story and this one looks like a STRONG contender this year. An intimate feeling book about two best friends navigating the messiness of life? Yes. Just yes.

“Belén Dolores Itzel del Toro wants the normal stuff: to experience love or maybe have a boyfriend or at least just lose her virginity. But nothing is normal in East Oakland. Her father left her family. She’s at risk of not graduating. And Leti, her super-Catholic, nerdy-ass best friend, is pregnant—by the boyfriend she hasn’t told her parents about because he’s Black and her parents are racist.

Things are hella complicated.

Weighed down by a depression she can’t seem to shake, Belén helps Leti, hangs out with an older guy, and cuts a lot of class. She soon realizes, though, that distractions are only temporary. Leti is becoming a mother. Classmates are getting ready for college. But what about Belén? What future is there for girls like her?”

So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
Out January 16, 2024

At A Glance: YA fantasy, Jamaican-inspired fantasy world, “chosen one”,dragons, gods-magic, sister story, post-war world, liberation from colonizers, sapphic

Why It Makes The List: This world sounds so unique and FULL and I love that it’s dual POVs from two sisters who are both put in impossible situations. I need this book NOW.

Faron Vincent, a gods-blessed young woman, used her magic to liberate her island from the dragon-riding, enemy empire and now her island lives in peace and Faron’s magic is used for performing tricks and a little mischief. Their peace is threatened when, at an international peace summit, Faron’s older sister ends up forming an unprecedented soul bound with one of the enemy’s dragons.

But, when she finds out the only way to break the bond is to kill her sister, she’s forced to choose between saving her sister or protecting her homeland — a fate that makes her desperate to find another way no matter the means all while her sister discovers some shocking secrets of their enemies.

The Getaway List by Emma Lord
Out January 23, 2024

At A Glance: YA romance, New York City, adventures/bucket list, summer before college, childhood friends to lovers, coming of age

Why It Makes The List: I’ve never met an Emma Lord book I didn’t enjoy thus far! Her books always make my most anticipated YA book lists!

After a jam-packed, academia filled four years of high school, Riley finds herself at a loss for her life’s direction when she’s rejected by all the colleges she applied to.

Anxious to break free from her mom who has dictated so much of her life and wanting to figure out what’s next, she impulsively decides to visit her estranged childhood best friend in NYC — a weekend visit that turns into a summer-long stay to cross off every item on their Getaway list they came up with before high school.

As they embark on their summer of adventures — with the help of Tom’s friends — they also embark on an adventure of self-discovery and just how they fit back into each other’s lives.

Wander in the Dark by Jumata Emill
Out January 30, 2024

At A Glance: YA thriller, murder, amateur sleuthing, New Orleans setting, brother relationship, family drama, secrets, systemic racism

Why It Makes The List: I enjoyed this author’s debut, The Black Queen, and can’t wait to see what else she’s got!

Two estranged brothers come together to solve the murder of a rich, popular girl from school after one of them is caught fleeing the scene of her death. All he knows is that after he woke up on the couch — at her insistence that he stay while her parents were away – he found her dead in her bed.

The media and public opinion agree he’s guilty but, with the help of his brother who believes his innocence, they set out to find the real killer by digging through her secrets which unravel something much darker than they could have imagined.

The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland
Out January 30, 2024

At A Glance: dark contemporary fantasy, witches, supernatural serial killer, feminist rage, fantasy London setting, occult, demons

Why It Makes The List: House of Hollow from this author is a must-read so I have high hopes in this witchy thriller. Plus it’s set in a world where only women have magic!

Three young women, all from different backgrounds but all facing the same evil in their city, team up to track down a serial killer who’s targeting witches: specifically witches who have come to seeking help from Emer, one of the girls, to sell a piece of their soul for some magic.

Out of Body by Nia Davenport
Out February 6, 2024

At A Glance: body swap horror thriller, speculative fiction, friendship, identity, trauma

Why It Makes The List: It’s giving Jordan Peele with some Tiffany D. Jackson (who you know i love!). Love a good body swap horror thriller.

Megan has been struggling to figure out who she is and where she fits in — until she meets her new friend LC who she immediately hits it off with and who makes her feel like she fits somewhere.

After a night of partying, Megan wakes up without LC and tries to go home — where she comes to the realization that she is in LC’s body and LC is in hers. It’s becomes clear that LC is taking over her life — ignoring her in the process — and she must find a way to get back into her own body and her own life.

No Time Like Now by Naz Kutub
Out February 6, 2024

At A Glance: time travel, inspired by A Christmas Carol, grief, thought-provoking, Muslim MC, queer

Why It Makes The List: I love anything time travel or time loop and this has those kinds of speculative elements I love with that thought-provoking nature of Adam Silvera’s They Both Die At The End and other books in that vein. Love a good book that makes you think about life!

One year ago Hazeem’s father died and he was bestowed a special ability in which he can grant any living thing extra time: a gift he’s been granting to many friends and loved ones even if it seems eventually they don’t want to spend any of that extra time with him.

It becomes a race through and against time when he’s learned that he’s given away more years than he has left to live — putting the entire timeline into dangerous with this time debt — and he must fix it. The fix is by taking back the extra life he gave someone which forces him to travel to the past and confront failed relationships, the events of the past and realize the value of all the time he’s wasted in this life.

I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang
Out February 6, 2024

At A Glance: romantic comedy, YA rivals/enemies to lovers, academic rivals, slow burn romance, banter & snark

Why It Makes The List: When I saw “Never Have I Ever meets To All the Boys if Lara Jean wrote hate emails instead of love letters” I was sold immediately. Academic rivals and private venting emails released for all to see? It’s a good combo for a YA rom-com. Plus I really enjoyed this author’s book This Time It’s Real!

The only way academic overachiever and model student Sadie Wen keeps up that image is by rage-venting all her frustrations and grievances into email drafts — a huge chunk of the worst of them directed to her academic rival Julian whose long standing rivalry and run-ins have been the bane of both of their existences.

It’s a great system until one day these private vent session emails get sent out and suddenly EVERYBODY knows just what Sadie thinks — an absolute nightmare especially to a people-pleaser like Sadie. As she works overtime to repair the hit to her reputation and social life, Julian just may be the one person who might appreciate the real version of Sadie and help her find a way out of this mess.

Dead Things Are Closer Than They Appear by Robin Wasley
Out February 13, 2024

At A Glance: fantasy, magic, zombie apocalypse, adventure, belonging, self-discovery

Why It Makes The List: I keep seeing The Raven Boys meets Buffy meets The Walking Dead — all things that are large loom for me in pop culture and entertainment.

Sid Spencer lives the definition of painfully normal and ordinary but the town she lives in is anything but. Her hometown is built over one of the fault lines that seals magic away from the world and is quite the tourist trap.

But her ordinary life full of ordinarily teen experiences (humiliation and rejection being a big one lately) is suddenly upended someone releases the pent-up magic and births a zombie apocalypse.

When her brother goes missing in the midst of this, she joins a rag-tag group of Guardians (the magical few who were protecting the fault line) to fight the zombies, find her brother and stop those who want this magic released.

The Bad Ones by Melissa Albert
Out February 20, 2024

At A Glance: supernatural horror meets fantasy, dark magic, mystery, folklore & urban legends, complex/semi-toxic female friendships, goddesses

Why It Makes The List: This is definitely one of my most anticipated YA horror books in a long time and this is definitely a TOP must-read teen book for me in 2024! Sounds sinister, atmospheric and dark!

One winter morning a small town wakes up to four people who have vanished without a trace. One of those people who has disappeared is Nora’s estranged childhood best friend who once dabbled with her in all things magic, goddesses and sisterhood but who abandoned Nora in that as they got older.

As Nora tries to find out what happened to Becca, she finds coded clues from her that only she can unravel leading her to the local folklore about a legendary goddess part of their childhood games as well as darkness in her town’s past.

The Someday Daughter by Ellen O’ Clover
Out February 20, 2024

At A Glance: contemporary YA, coming of age, mother-daughter relationships, complicated family relationships, mental health, romance, summer set

Why It Makes The List: I am a sucker for books that really explore complicated and messy mother-daughter relationships and it feels like lately they are hard to come by in YA.

A rising college freshman is ready to break free from her identity as being the daughter of a self-help superstar mother — a mother who she’s never felt very connected to and feels more like a promotional asset than her daughter.

Instead of heading off to a summer premed program with her boyfriend and creating that new identity before her semester starts, she is forced to spend a summer on tour with her mother for the anniversary of the book that started it all.

The tour doesn’t only just upend her summer plans but upends the careful future she planned for herself as she spends time with her mother and the cute intern also on tour.

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli
Out February 20, 2024

At A Glance: fantasy romance, witches, Scarlet Pimpernel-inspired. enemies to lovers romance, cat and mouse game

Why It Makes The List: I love a good cat and mouse game (especially when you add in a romance element) and this one between a witch and a witch hunter looks GOOD and is giving me Serpent and Dove vibes.

After a disastrous revolution, causing the death of many witches, witches have gone from powerful rulers to illegal outcasts who are hunted due to their waning magic.

Rune has been in hiding pretending to be a young socialite by day and spending her nights as a vigilante witch — known as The Crimson Moth, rescuing her fellow witches from the witch hunters.

When a rescue goes wrong and her cover is almost revealed, she decides to court a notorious witch hunter to find out important intel. Meanwhile, he agrees to courting her for his own gain to hunt the infamous Crimson Moth when he finds out that the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle witches out of the republic.

When real feelings are shared and secrets are revealed, things get complicated.

Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek
Out February 27, 2024

At A Glance: fantasy, Polish folklore inspired, magical woods, demon creature, enemies to lovers, morally grey love interest, crumbling manor, dangerous bargain

Why It Makes The List: I am a sucker for any YA fantasy book that gets a Margaret Rogerson comparison and this Polish folklore-inspired fantasy sounds atmospheric and dark. One of most anticipated new teen books in the fantasy genre for sure!

A girl with dangerous magic makes a risky bargain with a demon creature to be free of her monstrous power after failed attempts at suppressing it on her own. When she’s whisked away to his crumbling manor to fulfill her end of the bargain, she realizes she’s not the first person to agree to this bargain and all of those before her have mysteriously vanished. While she spends a year at his home before she can return home, their relationship starts to change and she learns of things that even terrify a demon.

The Hedge Witch of Foxhall by Anna Bright
Out March 12, 2024

At A Glance: YA historical fantasy romance, mythical medieval Wales, standalone fantasy, witches, enemies to lovers romance, political intrigue, competition, magic, love triangle

Why It Makes The List: I’ve been really into more cozy fantasy books lately and this one looks on the cozier side. Plus set in a medieval mythical Wales with magic??

A spitfire hedgewitch gets pulled into a competition between two brothers/princes who are vying for the throne by being the one to succeed in a quest to restore magic that has been waning — magic that one of them would love to just die. As the brothers vie for the throne by completing the quest, they also find themselves vying for the heart of the hedgewitch.

Meet Me in the Fourth Dimension by Rita Feinstein
Out March 12, 2024

At A Glance: YA novel in verse, conspiracy theories & misinformation, social issues, friendship

Why It Makes The List: I love YA novels in verse so much and this one sounds so unique and TIMELY. Woo boy very timely.

A teen girl is trying to prepare herself and her loved ones for the apocalypse — even though NASA has told everyone that the passage of the rogue planet Malachite will be safe. But she knows the truth, thanks to a fortune teller and the message boards she spends time on, that the end is going to come with the planet killing everyone who doesn’t ascend to the fourth dimension.

As she tries to get her loved ones on the same page by recommending them ways to raise their frequency to be ready for the apocalypse, the more she is forced to face the cracks in what she whole-hardheartedly believes to be true.

Under This Red Rock by Mindy McGinnis
Out March 19, 2024

At A Glance: YA psychological thriller meets horror, murder mystery, mental health, trauma

Why It Makes The List: I will read anything Mindy McGinnis writes!!

A young girl, with a history of mental illness and enduring traumas, has a hard time telling what’s real and what’s not — especially when it comes to the three monsters following her.

When she takes a job as a tour guide in a local cavern, she finds peace from them as it seems to be somewhere her hallucinations can’t follow her. Finally feeling like she has found friends and normalcy (especially in her new and maybe something more Mila), she experiments at a party for the first time and the hallucinations escalate.

But when Mila is found murdered in the caverns, Neely can’t remember that night very well and tries to figure out who killed her — even though the killer could be here.

The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le
Out March 19, 2024

At A Glance: YA dark fantasy, Vietnamese inspired world, blood magic, science meets magic, murder investigation, diaspora

Why It Makes The List: The world sounds so cool plus I love anything that is science meets magic and I’m very interested in the way the main character can alter human biology with just a touch (bloodcarving).

Nhika, a bloodcarver, can alter human biology with just a touch: an ability that gets her viewed as a monster and makes her a target for being captured and sold off for profit through the criminal underbelly of her city.

And that’s exactly what happens — she is captured and sold to an aristocratic family who surprisingly wants to use her abilities to heal the last witness to their father’s murder.

As she gets drawn into the murder investigation, she also finds herself immersed in their wealthy world full of hidden agendas, intrigue and people who aren’t what they seem.

Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Out March 19, 2024

At A Glance: YA mystery, boarding school, disappearance, murder, rape culture, grief, privilege

Why It Makes The List: I recommend Ace of Spades ALL THE TIME and I have been DYING for another book from Faridah.

Sadie, recently orphaned and trying to leave her past full of secrets, becomes a new student at an elite boarding school. When her new roommate disappears, she finds herself digging into her disappearance (and other incidents that follow) to uncover dark secrets and coverups at the school.

Cancelled by Farrah Penn
Out March 19, 2024

At A Glance: YA contemporary with romance, high school drama, feminism, misogyny, bullying, slut-shaming, cancel culture

Why It Makes The List: I’ve known Farrah Penn for a long time thanks to the book world and I LOVE books tackling double standards, girls fighting the patriarchy and just really exploring things that aren’t seen in a lot of YA these days.

A high school senior finds herself at the center of a huge scandal when a viral video of a hookup at a party — with the boyfriend of her ex bff — and everyone believes it to be her resulting in her being “cancelled” and an outcast who is harassed and shamed. Ready to clear her name, she decides to figure out who the actual culprit was in the video but soon figures out there might be something even more important to address as she watches the double standards around her unfold.

The Revenant Games by Margie Fuston
Out March 19, 2024

At A Glance: YA fantasy, deadly competition, vampires, witches, rival kingdoms, romance

Why It Makes The List: It looks like The Hunger Games but there’s warring vampire and witch kingdoms.

A seventeen year old girl, living in poverty in the human lands between the rivaling vampire and witch kingdoms, decides to take a life-changing chance to save her friend and get her sister back by entering The Revenant Games: a two week period where the shaky ceasefire is off the table between the two kingdoms and bringing in the highest-ranking vampire and witch for the rival kingdom leads to riches and more.

But the thing she cares most about is the bigger prize for her: immortality from the vampires for capturing the highest-ranking witch and raising someone from the dead from the witches for bringing in the highest-ranking vampire.

Needing both immortality to save her friend and the ability to bring back her sister, she and her friend hatch a dangerous plan to play both sides.

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste
Out March 26, 2024

At A Glance: urban fantasy (D.C. setting), witches, love potions, revenge, social & political issues, crooked politicians

Why It Makes The List: Urban fantasy is one genre I love but haven’t been reading enough of lately. I’ve been reading contemporary fantasies a lot but typically not those set in an urban setting. Give me magic and fantasy things in a bustling city! Plus I love a good fantasy novel that weaves in social issues/topics through the witches.

Venus Stoneheart is a Witcher, a group discriminated against by humans, and supports her family as a brewer who makes illegal love potions. The risk is high in doing this — brewing has awful side effects and getting caught means death or prison.

When her mother is killed by an enemy and she must keep her little sister safe, she finds herself caught up in a larger plot — she gets revenge on her mother’s killer but she must use her potion-making skills to make up poisonous potions to enslave D.C.’s most influential politicians. This opportunity lands herself right in the underbelly of D.C. and the world of crooked politics.

Icarus by K. Ancrum
Out March 26, 2024

At A Glance: part star-crossed love story & part heist thriller, art heist, re-imagining of Icarus myth, father-son relationships, queer, found family, abuse

Why It Makes The List: I love a good heist novel but a re-imagining of Icarus also? It sounds so unique and I’ve heard the writing is lyrical and just magic.

A young art thief, in business with his father, has been working the same revenge-driven job stealing art from the same wealthy man (Mr. Black) and replacing them with his dad’s impressive forgeries. He’s gone undetected until one night, assuming the house was empty, he is caught by the man’s teen son who has been basically held captive by his father in the dark.

The lonely teen and the young art thief strike a deal: he won’t rat him out if he comes back and keeps him company. As the two start spending time together, the two open up to each other about their pasts and secrets and the friendship blossoms into more culminating in a plan to get both of them out from underneath their father’s rule.

The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist by Sophie Gonzales
Out March 26, 2024

At A Glance: YA romance, fanfic, fandom, friends-to-enemies-to-lovers, sapphic

Why It Makes The List: I love Sophie Gonzales’ YA romances so much and who among us hasn’t wished one of our favorite characters could leap off the pages of a book into our lives? Anyone, anyone else?

A young fanfic writer accidentally brings her favorite (and very gorgeous) tv character to life with the fanfiction she wrote. She suddenly realizes the “perfect guy” she’s written (and who has declared he’s her soulmate) isn’t so perfect in reality especially as he’s causing real real world problems for her.

She decides to team up with her best friend as well as her former best-friend-turned-enemy to figure out why he’s there and what to do with him; all while trying to figure out if there’s someone who has been actually perfect for her all along.

Most Anticipated YA Books Coming Out In April 2024

Darker By Four by June CL Tan
Out April 2, 2024

At A Glance: contemporary urban fantasy, romance, Chinese folklore, dark fantasy anime vibes, revenge, death gods, dangerous bargain

Why It Makes The List: Shadowhunters meets the Chinese underworld sounds super cool.

A girl, training to avenge her mother’s death with her magic, makes a dangerous bargain with a death god to regain the magic that left her — with a spell gone wrong — and transferred to a magic-less boy from a magic family.

Their lives intersect with a Reaper whose master has disappeared and chaos has descended in his absence. They must work together to save both the Underworld, which is already starting to fall apart, as well as the human world.

The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
Out April 2, 2024

At A Glance: YA mystery thriller, true crime, missing person reappearing

Why It Makes The List: I haven’t met a Holly Jackson thriller/mystery yet that I haven’t loved! This one sounds like it could be her best yet — because seriously WHAT HAPPENED TO HER MOM? WHERE WAS SHE? I haven’t even read it yet and I’m dying to know answers.

A teen’s life has always had the cloud of her mother’s disappearance that happened when she was a baby and left in the back seat of their car late at night after her mother vanished into thin air.

Her family has agreed to speaking with a true crime documentary about her mother’s case when the most unbelievable thing happens: her mother returns after sixteen years and has quite the story about where she’s been.

Not knowing whether or not to believe her mother as the story is quite unbelievable, she decides to uncover the truth of her mother’s disappearance and why she came back all these years later — to FINALLY be able to put it all behind her.

Every Time You Hear That Song by Jenna Voris
Out April 2, 2024

At A Glance: YA realistic fiction, romance, country music legend, queer coming of age story, scavenger hunt, road trip, ambitions, small town x big dreams

Why It Makes The List: Taylor Swift vibes aside and the fact there is Dolly Parton inspiration (okay both of those things alone could make me read this), I LOVE a book set in the music world. Whether it’s books like Daisy Jones or contemporary YA romances like Open Road Summer, I’m always into it no matter the genre. Add in a scavenger hunt and road trip? 100% yes — most anticipated teen books for 2024 material for sure.

In dual POVs, we follow the rise of a country music legend clawing her way to fame in the 1960’s and — in present day — a young small town aspiring journalist and fan of the country music legend trying to solve the scavenger hunt style riddle the legend left behind at her funeral to find the story there but also win the cash prize promised to whoever solves it.

Your Blood, My Bones by Kelly Andrew
Out April 2, 2024

At A Glance: teen supernatural horror, romance, immortality, dark magic, gothic, New England, cult things, body horror

Why It Makes The List: This sounds like one of the most interesting and eerie YA horror premises I’ve read in a while.

“Wyatt Westlock has one plan for the farmhouse she’s just inherited — to burn it to the ground. But during her final walkthrough of her childhood home, she makes a shocking discovery in the basement — Peter, the boy she once considered her best friend, strung up in chains and left for dead.

Unbeknownst to Wyatt, Peter has suffered hundreds of ritualistic deaths on her family’s property. Semi-immortal, Peter never remains dead for long, but he can’t really live, either. Not while he’s bound to the farm, locked in a cycle of grisly deaths and painful rebirths. There’s only one way for him to break free. He needs to end the Westlock line.

He needs to kill Wyatt.

With Wyatt’s parents gone, the spells protecting the property have begun to unravel, and dark, ancient forces gather in the nearby forest. The only way for Wyatt to repair the wards is to work with Peter — the one person who knows how to harness her volatile magic. But how can she trust a boy who’s sworn an oath to destroy her? When the past turns up to haunt them in the most unexpected way, they are forced to rely on one another to survive, or else tear each other apart.”

Hearts Still Beating by Brooke Archer
Out April 2, 2024

At A Glance: YA post-apocalyptic romance, zombies, sapphic romance, grief

Why It Makes The List: Listen, I’m still deep in the Walking Dead universe with all these new spin-offs coming out and then getting a good dose of zombies thanks to The Last Of Us — zombie apocalypses have always been IN for me and I love the idea of a post-apocalyptic world in which a treatment has been found and zombies can be turned back to themselves and all the reckoning that would happen after being truly POST zombie apocalypse.

Two teenage girls fell in love with one another before the world ended and one of them was infected with the virus that turned her into a zombie monster who has done horrific things when she wasn’t herself.

Now a treatment has been found and the two girls are reunited when a recovery settlement program places the once infected girl in the home of her best friend (who is not so happy because she doesn’t think they should be allowed to come back).

Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier
Out April 9, 2024

At A Glance: YA fantasy, Pacific Island mythology, sea dragons, slow burn friends-to-lover romance, exile, matriarchal society

Why It Makes The List: I’m always on the lookout for diverse YA fantasy and I’m excited for this world inspired by Pacific Island mythology. Plus SEA DRAGONS? Dragons are having a moment again for obvious reasons but sea dragons sound even better.

Haliendi has been living in exile ever since her dad stole a seadragon egg meant for the ailing princess (their eggs can grant you a wish) to save her as a child. When an encounter with a dragon gives her a chance to return home and redeem her name, she teams up on a dangerous quest with her childhood friend (the last remaining prince of Tamarind) to find the much coveted dragonfruit and save their island.

King of Dead Things by Nevin Holness
Out April 16, 2024

At A Glance: YA urban fantasy, Afro-Caribbean folklore, magical London setting

Why It Makes The List: I told you I’m really back in my urban fantasy bag which is fun because I’ve been such a high fantasy girlie for so long!

Two Black teens — both possessing magic — paths collide when they find themselves in a search throughout the underbelly of a magical London to retrieve a powerful artifact that can eat magic before a dangerous & ancient power comes back to life.

The One That Got Away With Murder by Trish Lundy
Out April 16, 2024

At A Glance: YA thriller, murder mystery, dark pasts, rumors, Happy Valley setting

Why It Makes The List: It looks like the YA thriller everyone will be talking about in 2024!

Lauren, new girl in town with a dark past she’d like to hide, finds out that the guy she has been hooking up with – from a wealthy family in town — is suspected by the town of murdering his ex and whose brother is also suspected of murdering HIS ex. After spending more time with him, she really starts to believe the rumors are true — but could there be someone else responsible for the murder of young teen girls in town?

Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee
Out April 23, 2024

At A Glance: YA historical mystery, 1930’s, Old Hollywood noir, murder mystery, LA Chinatown setting

Why It Makes The List: Stacey Lee is writing some of the best YA historical books out there and I’m a huge fan.

When the body of a silver screen star and pride of Chinatown is discovered, the police aren’t motivated to investigate her murder so three sisters — childhood friends of the starlet — set out to solve the murder themselves putting them in the crosshairs of a murderer.

I’ll Be Waiting For You by Mariko Turk
Out April 30, 2024

At A Glance: YA contemporary with romance, grief, friendship, summer internship, rivals to lovers, emotional, ghost hunting

Why It Makes The List: I love a good emotional YA book about grief and this one really stuck out to me this year. Grief & loss, metaphorical ghosts while hunting real ghosts — I have a good feeling about this one.

Natalie, a teen grieving the sudden death of her best friend the year before, throws herself into her senior project over the summer which includes staying at the allegedly haunted hotel (to get fake footage) where she made some amazing memories with Imogen every summer. Their love for all things horror and supernatural bonded them but Natalie always was just having fun never truly believing like Imogen.

But things get complicated, especially facing these memories without her best friend, when her arch nemesis is spending his summer there working on his senior project and strange things start to happen making her wonder if ghosts really are real.

The Ballad of Darcy & Russell by Morgan Matson
Out May 7, 2024

At A Glance: YA romance, takes place in one day, love at first sight, family

Why It Makes The List: Morgan Matson is one of my ALL time favorite YA authors ever since 2010 when I read her YA debut — Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour. I always look forward to a new book from Morgan Matson!

“Darcy believes in love at first sight.

Even though it’s never happened to her, she’s spent her whole life waiting for that perfect, magical moment. But right now, her life is anything but perfect. In the aftermath of a music festival, she’s stranded at a bus station until morning—the day before she leaves for college. Her phone is dead, she has no cash, and she’s convinced nothing good can come of this night — but then she meets Russell.

Russell. Cute and nice, funny, and kind. She knows this is the moment—and the guy—she’s been waiting for. And they have until sunrise to walk and talk and connect.

Over the course of this one fateful night—filled with football field picnics, night swimming, and escape-artist dogs—Darcy and Russell’s lives will change forever. They’ll discover things they never imagined about each other and about themselves.

But can you really know someone after only a handful of hours? Is it possible to fall in love in just one day?

And is it worth saying hello when you know you’re destined for a goodbye?”

Perfect Little Monsters by Cindy R.X. He
Out May 7, 2024

At A Glance: YA thriller, high school drama, murder, queen bees, revenge

Why It Makes The List: I love mean girls-esque high school thrillers!

When the most popular girl and head cheerleader — but also the most hated — turns up dead at her own pool party, it seems like almost everyone is a suspect: fellow cheerleaders, football players, and other people in her crowd who were at the party.

New girl in town, Dawn, gets named as the prime suspect and everyone is all too willing to let her take the heat knowing they all have their own motives. But Dawn refuses to take the fall for something she didn’t do and decides to figure out who actually did it to clear her name.

It Waits in the Forest by Sarah Dass
Out May 14, 2024

At A Glance: YA supernatural thriller, Caribbean mythology, family mystery, second chance romance, murder

Why It Makes The List: I LOVE Sarah Dass’s YA romances and I’m so excited to see what she can do in a new genre.

Selina always wanted to leave the island she lives on — a place where she never felt like she fit in especially when it comes to believing in magic — but now she’s had to stay put after an attack that killed her dad and put her mom in a coma.

Normally she spends her days making money off gullible tourists but, after a string of strange murders a tourist has been accused of, she is pulled into the murder investigation — with her ex boyfriend — in hopes to put an end to the killings and claim justice for her family.

Even if it means digging up long-hidden secrets and exploring a forest surrounding that island where evil just might lurk.

True Love And Other Impossible Odds by Christina Li
Out May 14, 2024

At A Glance: YA romance, college campus setting, coming of age/coming out story, grief, STEM

Why It Makes The List: I love a good coming of age but especially of those set in that first year in college where it’s easy to explore so much about yourself with space from your past. This one looks like one that really tackles sexuality as well as things like drifting friendships, identity, and grief.

A first year college student invents a class algorithm, for a school project, that pairs people on campus with their perfect match but her own match (and who she really finds herself frustratingly thinking about) makes her question everything.

Thirsty by Jas Hammonds
Out May 14, 2024

At A Glance: YA contemporary, coming of age, addiction, identity, elite society/sorority, fitting in, resilience & growth, friendship

Why It Makes The List: I’ve been reading YA a long time and I really never ever read books dealing with addiction anymore, aside from a few incredible works and authors over the years, because so many I kept reading felt like an after-school special. BUT I TRUST JAS HAMMONDS. This is going to be a masterpiece – I know it.

It’s the summer before college and Blake, with her girlfriend and another friend, are trying to join the elite Serena Society — a sorority that could open up so many doors and put her in the room with many influential women of color.

While her girlfriend seems like a shoo-in thanks to her background and family connected, Blake’s working-class background makes her feel like she’s got a lot more to prove to be accepted.

What starts as a little partying and liquid courage to be the girl the Serena’s want begins to spin out of control and hold court over every aspect of her life and threatens to ruin her future.

The Worst Perfect Moment by Shivaun Plozza
Out May 14, 2024

At A Glance: YA romance, afterlife element, “undead coming of age” , queer rivals to lovers, happiness

Why It Makes The List: 1) I love a good high-concept afterlife story but 2) you should know how much I love Aussie YA!!! ALSO I saw it pitched as “The Good Place meets A Christmas Carol” and I feel like only good things can come from that.

When sixteen year old Tegan Masters dies, she doesn’t expect her afterlife to include the depressing Jersey Shore motel where she experienced one of the worst weekends of her life.

However, she’s told by an angel named Zelda at the front office, that in fact she’s in heaven and in heaven every person inhabits an exact replica of their happiest memory.

Tegan knows a mistake MUST have been made so she and the angel must embark on a tour through her memories to find her true happiest moment. The stakes are high if they can’t agree on what that moment is as both girls could face eternal consequences if they fail.

The Dangerous Ones by Lauren Blackwood
Out May 14, 2024

At A Glance: YA historical fantasy romance, American Civil War, vampires, revenge, slavery

Why It Makes The List: I have been loving the resurgence of teen vampire books!! As much as I have my OG faves, I’ve been loving the new offerings — so much uniqueness and so much more diversity.

Set against the backdrop of The Civil War, an 18 year old with demi-god like powers seeks revenge against the vampire who enslaved her family and, to accomplish that revenge, she must work alongside a handsome Union vampire she can’t stand (but also can’t help falling for).

I Wish You Would by Eva Des Lauriers
Out May 21, 2024

At A Glance: YA romance, second chance friends-to-lovers romance, camping trip, secret confessions

Why It Makes The List: Everything about this YA romance screams something I’d like — I can’t explain it. I just know it on a gut level.

A senior class tradition, an overnight beach camping trip before senior year starts, is the first time ex-best friends Natalie and Ethan are reunited after junior prom where their friendship imploded after they almost crossed the line from friends to something more.

As per tradition, the rising senior class writes private letters to themselves about what they’d do this year if they were braver.

But when Natalia panics about the confession she’s written, seven more notes scatter across the beach — releasing secrets and confessions — forcing Ethan and Natalia to work together to retrieve the lost letters before her mistake (and people’s secrets) are exposed.

One Killer Problem by Justine Pucella Winans
Out June 4, 2024

At A Glance: YA murder mystery, dark humor, queer, amateur sleuth, campy

Why It Makes The List: I LOVE murder mysteries with humor, a bit of camp and a memorable cast — this looks so fantastic!

“When Gianna “Gigi” Ricci lands in detention again, she doesn’t expect the glorified study hall to be her alibi.

But when she and her friends receive a mysterious email directing them to her favorite teacher, Mr. Ford’s room, they find him lying in a pool of blood. But calling the math teacher’s death an accident doesn’t add up, and Gigi needs all the help she can get to find the truth. Luckily, she’s friends with her high school’s “mystery club,” and so with her best friend, Sean, and longtime crush, Mari, Gigi sets out to solve a murder.

But it turns out, murderers are extremely unwilling to be caught, and the deeper Gigi gets in this mystery, the more dangerous things become. Between fending off a murderer, continual flare-ups of her IBS, and her archnemesis turning flirtatious . . . making it out of junior year is going to be one killer problem.“

Sunrise Nights by Jeff Zentner & Brittany Cavallaro
Out June 4, 2024

At A Glance: YA novel in verse, summer camp setting, romance, art

Why It Makes The List: Jeff Zentner is one of my favorite authors ever and I’m excited for this collaboration! Especially because it’s a novel in verse and it’s like a YA Before Sunrise (oh how I love that movie trilogy).

“Jude loves photography, and he’s good at it, too. Between his parents’ divorce and his anxiety, being behind a camera is the only time his mind is quiet.

Florence is confronting the premature end of her dance career as a degenerative eye disease begins to steal her balance. She’s having a hard time letting go.

The two meet at Sunrise Night, their sleepaway art camp’s dusk-to-dawn closing celebration, and decide to take a chance on each other. Their one rule: No contact for a year after the sun has risen. Over the course of three Sunrise Nights, will Florence and Jude find a deeper connection and learn who they are—and who they could be together?“

Wish You Weren’t Here by Erin Baldwin
Out June 4, 2024

At A Glance: YA romcom, summer camp setting, YA summer romance, sapphic, rivals to lovers, self-discovery

Why It Makes The List: A YA summer romance with a summer camp setting AND a rivals to lovers element? It’s Jamie cat-nip.

Juliette looks forward to her summer at Fogridge Sleepaway Camp every year and she’s ready to enjoy her last summer there in the place she feels so at home — until she sees that her childhood rival has crashed her last year of camp and is her cabinmate.

Past Present Future by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Out June 4, 2024

At A Glance: YA romance, sequel, long distance relationship, college

Why It Makes The List: I LOVED Today Tonight Tomorrow so much — I’m so excited to see what happens after that 24 hour whirlwind of them falling for one another on the last day of high school after being academic rivals.

“They fell for each other in just twenty-four hours. Now Rowan and Neil embark on a long-distance relationship during their first year of college in this romantic, dual points of view sequel to Today Tonight Tomorrow .“

Bad Graces by Kyrie McCauley
Out June 4, 2024

At A Glance: magical YA thriller, shipwreck, survival horror story, monster, feminist, friendships, loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest

Why It Makes The List: I have been a fiend for anything Yellowjackets-esque while I wait for a new season. This has been pitched as Yellowjackets meets House of Hollow.

After reinventing her life by stealing her sister’s identity, Liv finds herself on a luxury yacht alongside a group of famous companions. When a violent storm wrecks their yacht on an island, they face surviving harsh elements but also a mysterious monster lurking in the forest.

Six More Months of June by Daisy Garrison
Out June 11, 2024

At A Glance: YA romantic comedy, senior year, childhood friends to lovers, opposites in social standing, friendship

Why It Makes The List: Honestly this sounded really good when I read the synopsis but it was a friend’s review saying “If Katie Cotugno, Carley Fortune, and Jandy Nelson had a book child, THIS WOULD BE IT” that really shot it up to most anticipated status.

“Golden boy Caplan and bookish Mina have been unlikely soulmates since third grade. Bound by growing up in single-mother households on the same cul-de-sac in Two Docks, Michigan, their friendship exists miraculously outside their high school’s social order. Mina is class valedictorian, expected by her late father’s parents to attend his Ivy alma mater; Caplan is laughing off prom-king predictions and the fear that he’s peaking too soon.

When Cap’s skateboard-toting, detention-dodging best friend confesses his feelings for Mina, she is whisked into a social life she never imagined, bumping shoulders with the likes of Caplan’s queen-bee girlfriend. Caplan is determined that things stay just as they’ve always been, while Mina faces the perils and privileges of opening her heart just in time to say goodbye.

As the sun sets on senior year, everything glows. What will Cap and Mina discover in the last-chance light?“

The Color of A Lie by Kim Johnson
Out June 11, 2024

At A Glance: YA historical fiction, 1950’s setting, social justice thriller, race

Why It Makes The List: Kim Johnson’s This Is My America was incredible and this historical YA thriller definitely caught my eye!

In 1955, a Black family passes for white and moves to a “Whites Only” town in the suburbs. Caught between two worlds, a teen boy puts his family at risk as he uncovers racist secrets about his suburb.”

There is A Door In This Darkness by Kristin Cashore
Out June 11, 2024

At A Glance: YA contemporary with a hint of magic, grief, chronic pain, 2020 setting

Why It Makes The List: THE QUEEN OF HIGH FANTASY KRISTIN CASHORE WRITING A CONTEMPORARY YA WITH A DASH OF MAGIC? Do you know how much I squealed when I saw this book was happening?

“Wilhelmina Hart is part of the infamous class of 2020. Her high school years began with the election of Donald Trump and they ended with COVID. Now Wilhelmina, like so many of her peers, is in limbo, having deferred college because of the pandemic.

Compounding the national trauma of 2016 to 2020, Wilhelmina has wrestled with the devastating loss of one of her three beloved aunts shortly after the 2016 election. This is a loss she felt so keenly that she’s spent the last years deep in her personal depression, only obscured by the seemingly endless waves of national trauma.

Now on the cusp on the most consequential election in living memory, Wilhelmina may have found a door in her darkness and perhaps the courage to pass through it, if she can decipher the bizarre messages that keep appearing in her life.

Love, Off The Record by Samantha Markum
Out June 11, 2024

At A Glance: YA romance, enemies to lovers, university setting, journalism

Why It Makes The List: I have REALLY been enjoying this author’s YA romances thus far and a rom-com featuring young journalists competing for the same spot and sabotaging one another to get it until they fall for each other sounds like such a fun summer read!

Wyn is going to beat Three even if it kills her—or, preferably, him. Being freshmen staffers on the university newspaper puts them at the bottom of the pecking order—until a rare reporter spot opens up. Wyn and Three are both determined to get the position, starting a game of sabotage that pushes them to do their worst, from stealing each other’s ideas to playing twisted mind games. No road is too low when it comes to winning.

As Wyn’s search for the perfect story leads her to an anonymous, campus-wide dating app, she hits it off with a mystery man she thinks might be the cute RA from her dorm. But Wyn is all too familiar with being rejected because of her weight, and she’s hesitant to reveal her identity, even as she grows closer with someone who might be the guy of her dreams.

When Three breaks a story that’s closer to home than he or Wyn expects, the two must put aside their differences to expose the truth—and face their real feelings for each other, which threaten everything Wyn has built with her anonymous match.”

With Love, Miss Americanah by Jane Igharo
Out June 18, 2024

At A Glance: YA contemporary, romcom, Nigerian teen moves to America, high school, classic teen movies, grief

Why It Makes The List: This premise is amazing and feels like it should already been a hit teen movie or tv show. A Nigerian teen moving to America and prepares herself for being an American teen by watching classic teen movies? I LOVE IT.

17 year old Enore, following the death of her father, moves from Nigeria to America with her mother and sister. In order to prepare for her new life as an American teen, she gets a crash course by way of classic teen movies. With the help of those movies, she navigates all senior year brings in America — including a new crush, working through her grief and figuring out just where she fits in the landscape of American teenagers that she discovers outside of her movies.

We Shall Be Monsters by Tara Sim
Out June 25, 2024

At A Glance: YA fantasy, Frankenstein retelling meets Indian mythology

Why It Makes The List: Frankenstein is one of those books I had to read for school but I actually loved and I always go nuts for any retelling or twist on it!

“Kajal knows she is not a good person. If she were, she wouldn’t selfishly be risking her sister’s soul in a dangerous bid to bring her back to life. She would let Lasya rest in peace—but Kajal cannot stand the horror of living without her.

As Kajal prepares for the resurrection, the worst happens: Her sister’s soul warps into a bhuta—a murderous, wraith-like spirit—and Kajal gets sentenced to death for her sister’s rampage. There seems little hope of escape until two strangers offer to free her. The catch: She must resurrect the kingdom’s fallen crown prince to aid a growing rebellion against a tyrannical usurper. Desperate, Kajal rushes to complete her end of the deal . . . only to discover that the boy she’s resurrected, Tav, is not the crown prince.

Now Kajal—prickly, proud, admirer of the scientific method—must team up with Tav—stubborn, reticent, and fonder of swords than of books—to find the real crown prince. With only a scalpel and her undead dog, Kutaa, at her side, Kajal must work fast before her mistake is exposed or Lasya’s bhuta turns its murderous fury on the person truly responsible for her death: Kajal herself.“

Sleep Like Death by Kaylnn Bayron
Out June 25, 2024

At A Glance: YA fairytale retelling, Snow White retelling

Why It Makes The List: Did you read Cinderella is Dead?? I thought I was kinda bored of fairytale retellings until Kaylnn Bayron swooped on to the scene. Excited for her twist on Snow White set in the same incredible world as Cinderella is Dead.

“Princess Eve was raised with one purpose: to destroy the Knight, an evil sorcerer who terrorizes Queens Bridge with his wicked magic. Her own unique magic—the ability to conjure weapons from nature—makes her a worthy adversary. Far too many of subjects of Queens Bridge have been devastated by the Knight’s trickery.

As she approaches her seventeenth birthday, Eve is ready to battle. But her mother Queen Regina has been acting bizarrely, talking to a strange mirror alone every night. Then a young man claiming to be the Knight’s messenger appears and shares a shocking truth about Eve’s past. Unsure of who to trust or what to do next, Eve must find the courage to do what she’s always done: fight. But will it be enough to save her family and her queendom?“