Archives de catégorie : Young Adult

UNDER THE SURFACE de Diana Urban

A twisty survival-thriller set in the catacombs of Paris from rising YA star, Diana Urban, perfect for fans of Natalie D. Richards, Stephanie Perkins, and Jessica Goodman.

UNDER THE SURFACE
by Diana Urban
Razorbil, August 2024
(via Dystel, Goderich & Bourret)

Ruby has always dreamed of her senior class trip to Paris and is dead set on capturing original content for her travel YouTube channel while abroad. Bonus? It means she will get to spend more time with her crush/video editor Sean.

After a calm first night, Ruby’s best friend Val convinces Ruby and two other girls—including Ruby’s ex best friend and current nemesis—to sneak out of the hotel and attend a once-in-a-lifetime party with a sexy new Parisian friend, within the catacombs, the dark uncharted maze of bones beneath the streets of the City of Light.

As the group travels the miles of twisted tunnels, the eternal resting place to countless, anonymous souls, it becomes clear: they’re hopelessly lost. The deeper they venture, the darker the secrets revealed about the catacombs become. But Ruby’s biggest problem may not be the strange noises coming from those dark narrow halls or the bones of the dead fortifying the walls but instead the people she thought she could trust the most.

Diana Urban is an author of dark, twisty thrillers, including All Your Twisted Secrets (HarperTeen) and These Deadly Games (Wednesday Books, 2022). When she’s not torturing fictional characters, she works in digital marketing for startups. She lives with her husband and cat in Boston and enjoys reading, playing video games, fawning over cute animals, and looking at the beach from a safe distance.

THE GHOSTKEEPER de Johanna Taylor

For fans of Lockwood & Co and The Haunting of Hill House.

THE GHOSTKEEPER
by Johanna Taylor
Putnam BYR, July 2024
(via KT Literary)

Dorian Leith can see ghosts. Not only that, he listens to their problems and tries to help them move on to the afterlife. It’s a gift that’s made him an outcast to everyone in town. That is except for his dearly departed grandmother, who he’s partnered with to turn this paranormal ability into an honest living, and the local bookshop owner, who seems to be the only non-deceased person willing to give him a chance. But it’s all worth it to Dorian, who feels like he’s been given a bigger purpose. A chance to save those who cannot save themselves.

Then one day, the key to Death’s Door is stolen, trapping all the ghosts in the land of the living. Since he’s only one who can see them, the spirits rely on Dorian to retrieve the key before it is too late. If they can’t move on, they’ll soon be consumed by a ghostly rot that has begun to plague them.

Johanna Taylor is an American freelance illustrator, concept artist with a BFA in Animation. THE GHOSTKEEPER is her debut.

PERFECT LITTLE MONSTERS de Cindy R.X. He

Someone has murdered the queen bee of Sierton High School. All the dead girl’s friends are suspects. And each one has a reason for wanting her to die.

PERFECT LITTLE MONSTERS
by Cindy R.X. He
Sourcebooks Fire, May 2024
(via Dystel, Goderich & Bourret)

Ella Moore was the most popular girl in school…and also the most hated. When she’s murdered at her own party, there are too many suspects to count. And too many people who think she deserved it.

The police’s prime suspect is the new girl, Dawn Foster. Dawn was the last to hand Ella a drink on the night she died. Plus, all of Ella’s friends with a motive for wanting her dead are more than willing to throw Dawn under the bus if it means keeping the heat off themselves.

But Dawn refuses to go down without a fight. She’s determined to clear her name. As she delves deeper into the past, she discovers that Ella and her friends had major enemies, and someone is out for revenge. Dawn must uncover the truth before the police arrest the wrong suspect… and before the next person dies.

« A dark, voicey, and inventive debut from an explosive new talent. Prepare to be captivated from start to pulse-pounding finish, and blown away by the many twists and turns. Perfect Little Monsters is at once a fast-paced thriller and a thoughtful, incisive look at the impact of bullying. » ― Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of The Girls Are All So Nice Here and All Eyes On Her

« This tense and twisty thriller will keep readers looking over their shoulder. » ― Natalie D. Richards, New York Times bestselling author of Five Total Strangers

Cindy R.X. He was born and raised in multicultural Singapore. She has always enjoyed losing herself in the pages of a book, and started reading Stephen King at a much earlier age than she should have. Her favorite works are by Shirley Jackson, Courtney Summers, and Catriona Ward. She currently resides in the French Alps with her husband, children, and rescue cat.

THE SUMMER LOVE STRATEGY de Ray Stoeve

A sweet and swoony YA rom-com about two friends making a pact to find summer romance like they’ve seen in the movies—and finding love where they least expect it along the way!

THE SUMMER LOVE STRATEGY
by Ray Stoeve
Abrams, May 2024
(via Dystel, Goderich & Bourret)

Hayley always has a crush. The problem is, her crushes never like her back. After her latest unrequited love—a girl from her basketball team—gets a boyfriend, she decides she’s done falling for girls who are unavailable. Her best friend, Talia, wants romance too, but rarely gets crushes on anyone, and she’s tired of watching Hayley get her heart stomped on over and over. So the two girls make a pact: they’ll help each other find summer love by putting themselves in situations that always lead to romance in movies.

To help carry out their summer love strategy, they make a list of all the places they could find their real-life rom-com: the beach, the Pride parade, the pool, a MUNA concert, and a party. But as they go to each place and try to find the one, it seems like they just can’t catch a break—they don’t know how to talk to cute strangers, someone mistakes Hayley as straight, and Hayley does a truly unfortunate DIY haircut (that she cannot be held responsible for––it was a crisis!). But when Talia and Hayley finally manage to score dates, will they be able to get out of their own way and really dive into the romances they deserve? Or is summer love not as far off as Hayley thought?

“This excellent addition to the slew of YA friends-to-lovers romance  novels offers a nuanced portrayal of an autistic sapphic trans girl in Talia and a lesbian with ADHD and anxiety in Hayley…[The novel] genuinely shines when it zeroes in on Hayley and Talia’s friendship and blossoming romance. Readers will feel like they’re in a teen summer romance themselves.” –Booklist

« Hayley and Talia’s story has all the butterfly-worthy moments of first love…Readers will appreciate that neurodivergence is normalized and represented positively in the novel: In addition to Talia, two other members of their friend group are autistic. A charming friends-to-lovers summer romance.” –Kirkus

« THE SUMMER LOVE STRATEGY is a bear hug in book form; it’s a love story within a love story. Intimacy takes so many beautifully complicated forms here. These are friends who care enough to carve out space for each other’s differences, even as they feel their way through shifting relationship dynamics. Stoeve explores what it means to find new ways to love a person you know by heart—and they tackle it with such specificity and care. This one’s going to make so many people feel seen. » –Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author of Simon Vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Ray Stoeve is the author of the young adult novel Between Perfect and Real, which received a starred review and was a 2021 Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, and Arden Grey. They also contributed to the young adult anthology Take the Mic: Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance. They received a 2016–2017 Made at Hugo House Fellowship and created the YA/MG Trans and Nonbinary Voices Masterlist, a database that tracks all books in those age categories written by trans authors about trans characters. When they’re not writing, they can be found gardening, making art in other mediums, or hiking their beloved Pacific Northwest.

LET’S NEVER SPEAK OF THIS AGAIN de Megan Williams

Ella and I have been best friends since grade one. We can spend hours talking about everything and nothing. We know each other’s greatest fears, things that irrationally annoy us, and ideal career if money and skill weren’t an issue. If there was only one Hartford Bakery brownie left in the whole world and it was somehow in my possession, Ella is the only person I’d consider sharing it with.

LET’S NEVER SPEAK OF THIS AGAIN
by Megan Williams
Text Publishing, September 2023

Life is pretty good for sixteen-year-old Abby. Okay, her grandma doesn’t remember things anymore, her relationship with her mum is increasingly strained and she accidently kissed her cousin’s cousin on the weekend, so things aren’t exactly perfect. But everything is manageable with her best friend, Ella, by her side.

And with Ella’s brother, Will—interesting and attentive—on the sidelines.

When new girl Chloe arrives, Abby is pleased to be the one to show her around, to welcome her to the group. But Abby doesn’t imagine Chloe fitting in so well or quite so quickly. And before long Abby is feeling just a little left out, a little unsure of Ella’s friendship. In a moment of anger and confusion she wishes something bad would happen.

When it does—with tragic consequences—everything shifts again. And Abby has to face her own feelings and work out what friendship really means.

Megan Williams’ brilliant debut novel is a tender, moving, often funny celebration of female friendship, about the things that test it, and about what matters most.

Megan Williams won the 2022 Text Prize for her debut YA novel, LET’S NEVER SPEAK OF THIS AGAIN. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and their three children.