Archives de catégorie : Young Adult

THE MIDNIGHT CLUB de Margot Harrison

Four friends solve the decades-old murder of their best friend with the help of a drug that can not only bring them back to the past, but change it.

THE MIDNIGHT CLUB
by Margot Harrison
Graydon House/HarperCollins, September 2024
(via Context Literary Agency)

How could you leave the past undisturbed when it was hiding parts of you from yourself?”

It’s been twenty-five years since The Midnight Club last convened. A tight-knit group of college friends bonded by late nights at the campus literary magazine, they’re also bonded by something darker: the death of their brilliant friend Jennet junior year. But now, decades later, a mysterious invitation has pulled them back to the pine-shrouded Vermont town where it all began.

As the estranged friends gather for a weeklong campus reunion, they soon learn that their host has an ulterior motive: she wants them to uncover the truth about the night Jennet died, and she’s provided them with an extraordinary method—a secret substance that helps them not only remember but relive the past.

But each one of the friends has something to hide. And the more they question each other, the deeper they dive into their own memories, the more they understand that nothing they thought they knew about their college years, and that fateful night, is true.

The Midnight Club explores that innate desire to revisit our first loves, our biggest mistakes, and the gulf between who we are and who we hoped we’d be.

A strange, riveting, brilliant fable. Like a fever-dream of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.” —Lev Grossman, New York Times bestselling author of The Magicians

I devoured THE MIDNIGHT CLUB. It’s a smart, surprising, and gripping mystery about the reality that we can’t change who we were back in college, but we’d all be a lot better off if we could. And, for the characters in this fine novel, one of them might even still be alive.” —Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant

Margot Harrison is the author of four young adult novels, including an Indies Introduce Pick, Junior Library Guild Selections, and Vermont Book Award Finalists. She grew up in New York and now lives in Vermont. THE MIDNIGHT CLUB is her debut adult novel.

VERY DANGEROUS THINGS de Lauren Muñoz

From the author of Suddenly a Murder comes a smart, twisty whodunnit—set on one very unique school campus, and filled with love, betrayal, and deadly secrets. Perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Maureen Johnson.

VERY DANGEROUS THINGS
by Lauren Muñoz
Penguin Random House, May 2025
(via Writers House)

The dead body should have been fake. It wasn’t.

Dulce Castillo is determined to win the murder mystery game her crime and criminology magnet school stages every fall. Last year’s loss to her ex-best friend’s team wasn’t only humiliating; it kept her from winning the $60,000 prize money she and her dad need to keep living in the town she loves. But Dulce is sure this year will be different because she and her friend Emi have a secret weapon: Zane, the new transfer student, who somehow knows everything about forensics.

It doesn’t hurt that he’s as cute as ten puppies wearing bunny ears.

The school’s golden boy, Xavier Torres, is chosen to play the victim. Unfortunately, someone wants Xavier dead for real. When he’s found murdered in the school greenhouse, the primary suspect is his girlfriend, Sierra. She swears she’s being railroaded by the sheriff, but the evidence against her is overwhelming: It shows that she stabbed Xavier with a poison-tipped knitting needle because he dumped her when he found out she was having a fling with his brother.

Sierra begs Dulce for help clearing her name, but Dulce refuses. After all, this is the same ex-bff who lied about why Dulce’s mom died in a car wreck three years ago. But when the prize committee decides to offer up the $60,000 to whoever solves Xavier’s real murder, Dulce has no choice but to throw her monocle in the ring. When she finds evidence that Sierra might be innocent and that someone she cares about might be guilty, Dulce has to determine whether justice is more important than love.

Lauren Muñoz is a writer, lawyer, and former teacher living in Southern California. She received her J.D. from Northwestern University in Chicago, where she frequently skipped class to commune with her sun lamp. When she’s not reading, she can be found knitting, crocheting, and collecting recipes for things she’ll never bake.

BEHIND THE CRIMSON CURTAIN d’E.B. Golden

Firin and Bregan never should have met, let alone started a relationship that would haunt them their whole lives.

BEHIND THE CRIMSON CURTAIN
by E.B. Golden
47 North/(Amazon, September 2024
(via Laura Dail Literary Agency)

Firin is a face-changing con artist trained by her domineering father. Bregan is an actor turned heroic leader in the Reform movement that’s overthrowing the coal-choked island of Luisonn.

As the flames of revolt settle, Firin joins Bregan on the stage. She’s determined to create a life with the honorable man she never forgot. But love and truth are hard to hide—especially when one of Firin’s victims, now President, chooses Bregan as his right-hand man. In a web of war and false identities, Firin must choose a side. Will the price of freedom be her heart?

« A steamy, epic romance with two backdrops — a revolution and the theater — that somehow work together perfectly.” – Ali Hazelwood, author of The Love Hypothesis and other TikTok sensations/New York Times bestsellers

A lyrically haunting love story masterfully woven into a world that is a poignant mirror to our own. Genre fans will be enraptured by the morally gray cast, shocking plot twists, and imaginative foray into the world of theater. Fans of Erin Morgenstern, Shannon Chakraborty, and R.F. Kuang will be undone. Perfect for readers who love their fantasy razor sharp. » – J. Elle, New York Times bestselling author of House of Marionne and Wings of Ebony

Though born and raised on the coast of Maine, E.B. Golden spends most of her free time exploring the mountains of southwest Colorado with her husband and daughter. Since she could hold a pen, she’s used speculative fiction to make sense of a nonsensical world, and when she’s not writing, she’s usually traveling or coaching other writers, because the world always needs more stories.

THE RULES OF ROYALTY de Cale Dietrich

The Princess Diaries meets Red, White & Royal Blue in this delightful queer romance about two princes of neighboring nations who fall in love.

THE RULES OF ROYALTY
by Cale Dietrich
Wednesday Books/St. Martin’s Press, December 2024

American-raised Jamie has just found out that he’s the prince of a small country, and now he’s being thrown head first into the world of royalty with no idea how to navigate it. Erik, the reluctant “spare” prince of the country next door, who’s dealing with family drama of his own, agrees to show him the royal ropes after they meet at an event. In the following months, between archery lessons, balls, a ski trip, and even a royal wedding, they must find out what they each want from their future as royals, and if that future can include the two of them together.

Cale Dietrich is a YA devotee, lifelong gamer, and tragic pop punk enthusiast. He was born in Perth, grew up on the Gold Coast, and now lives in Brisbane, Australia. His debut novel, The Love Interest, is his first novel.

SUCH LOVELY SKIN de Tatiana Schlote-Bonne

For fans of The Ring, this debut is a techno-horror about a streamer finding supernatural evil in her video game.

SUCH LOVELY SKIN
by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
Page Street YA/St. Martin’s Press, September 2024

After spending the summer wracked with guilt about causing the accident that killed her little sister, ambitious gamer and chronic liar Viv returns to Twitch streaming. She never told her parents the truth about the accident, but she hopes that maybe making it big in streaming and giving the money to them is penance enough for her mistakes. The weekend before school starts, Viv finds the perfect horror game to make her Twitch comeback, and during an offline practice run, an NPC asks Viv for a secret. She decides to tell them the truth about her sister’s death since a game could never share her secret—in doing so, she accidentally welcomes a demonic mimic into her life. No one believes Viv when she tells them about her evil doppelganger. Viv has lied to get her best friend’s sympathy and has spread rumors for attention, so why should anyone trust her now? The only person who believes her is Ash, a cute social outcast whom Viv once bullied. In trying to clear her name and kill the mimic, Viv discovers that her lies have hurt people who never deserved it, herself included.

Evil is lurking behind every corner in this impeccably paced and immersive supernatural horror debut. Surveillance, guilt and a need to belong collide with blood-curling demonic terror. Utterly compelling!”—Katya de Becerrra, author of When Ghosts Call Us Home

Perfectly creepy and utterly transfixing, I devoured SUCH LOVELY SKIN in a single sitting. Schlote-Bonne has masterfully crafted a story of a flawed and sympathetic teen enduring a demon’s torments while battling her inner ones, delivering spine-tingling tension, terrifying jump scares, and heart-wrenching moments alike. I can’t wait to read whatever she writes next.”—Diana Urban, award-winning author of Under the Surface

SUCH LOVELY SKIN is a gripping and layered coming-of-age story about guilt—and features one of the scariest demons I’ve read in YA. Fans of J-horror and video games will absolutely devour this one. Visceral, twisty, and terrifyingly real. This book sinks its claws into you and doesn’t let go.”—Catherine Yu, author of Direwood and Helga

Tatiana Schlote-Bonne is a writer, weightlifter, and gamer. She has an MFA in creative writing from The Nonfiction Writing Program at University of Iowa.