New YA Books Hitting Shelves This Week, August 5, 2024

This one is pitched as the myth of Hades and Persephone meets The Phantom of the Opera.

Lila Rose Li was meant to be the perfect ballerina of her parents’ dreams, but an accident on stage causes her to snap. Now she’s been banished to her aunt’s home on Luna Island.

Luna Island’s tradition is the Angel of the Sea, but Lila won’t be taking part. Angel of the Sea is part of the island’s lore, honoring the tiny fishing island being blessed with abundance from an angel. The event crowns a High Priestess who earns a status symbol as beloved by the island people, and the winner reigns for seven years.

The last High Priestess only reigned for one year, though. That’s when Lila becomes not only suspicious of the lore but begins to hear voices telling her to go to the ocean. Is this voice one that haunted the last High Priestess? That has turned the pageant sideways this year?

The only way Lila can find out is to do what she desperately does not want to do: try to win the event.

Princess Ying Yue dreamed of a fairytale wedding but the moment she’s selected to marry the crown prince, the fairytale falls apart. She’s been confined to the palace and her future husband is cruel and cold. Then she begins to hear rumors. Rumors that seven other brides who disappeared under mysterious circumstances after their weddings.

Then she begins to see things in the mirror. Lights. Colors. And on the day of her wedding, she’s sucked into that mirror world, where she immediately meets a Mirror Prince absolutely unlike the prince she’s to marry. Ying begins to fall for him because he’s everything she’d hoped for.

But the mirror world has its own secrets and a bloody history with the other world. Ying might be the future for both worlds, and those rumored missing brides might also play a key role in the story.

Readers who love thrillers and stories of “unlikable” female characters will eat this one up. Annie’s got an unstable home, a bad reputation, and just dropped her cheating (now ex-) boyfriend. Now she’s been left for dead. The mountain where her body was dumped has been rumored to raise the dead and she’s going to use that to her advantage. Whoever killed Annie is going to pay, and she’s going to be the one to get that revenge.

An anthology that explores a haunted house room-by-room with a stellar roster of contributors? You can count me all of the way in.

This collection is full of monsters from across cultural traditions, including a tricker, rusalka, and a tiyanak. Contributors include Gena Chen, Nova Ren Suma, Traci Chee, and so many more.

It’s Florence 1517 and 17-year-old Rosa, a conwoman, has arrived in the city the same time that Medici Pope, Leo X, takes power. This is on purpose. The Pope is stealing money from the people, and Rosa’s been sent in to put an end to it.

Rosa has assembled her ragtag crew to pull off the heist, including the help of Michelangelo (yes, that one). But as the team gets closer to the Pope, old secrets and tensions among the team might splinter them before they successfully accomplish their mission.

Historical heist? Yes, please!

Sisters Grace and Maddy went missing on a class trip. Grace, the outgoing athlete, was found. She has no memory of what happened and people suspect she is responsible for Maddy’s disappearance. Maddy was always the quiet one, and though that alone wouldn’t be suspicious, Maddy’s blood on Grace’s clothing is.

Now Grace is determined to find out what happened to her sister and prove her innocence. Without her memory, though, she’ll need to rely on her sister’s notebooks and her classmates’ stories.

What she finds might unearth secrets meant to stay buried.

Jay lives in Karloff County, a premier resort town. He loves his job and his friends, and he’s close with his family. It’s perfect for him, even if the world outside of Karloff is far from okay. People come to Karloff to get away from that.

But as the outside world begins to get worse, so, too, do things inside Karloff. Families are disappearing. Rich and powerful families are arriving and demanding the best in class service and amenities from employees. It turns out that the owners of the resort have been selling the resort as a place where the richest can safely live out the end of the world.

But Jay won’t be standing for it. He and his friends are prepared to fight back and save the community they love, as they love it—and they’ll also be fighting for the outside, too.

There are no magicians in the land of Morning Realms, as they were blamed for monsters who tore apart the land 20 years ago.

Jin Zhara is struggling under the weight of so much responsibility put on her by her family. The last thing she wants is to humor rumors of monsters coming back to Morning Realms. Especially because she’s had to keep her magic hidden for fear of being banished herself. When Zhara accidentally encounters Han, she is brought into a secret organization called Guardians of Dawn. Their work? Magical liberation.

The rumors of the monsters seem more and more true, and the Guardians of Dawn believe it to be the work of a demon. It might be up to Zhara to tap into her forbidden magic and help restore the balance of the universe.

Lush fantasy? Check. A little Sailor Moon vibe? Check. The second book in the series, Guardians of Dawn: Ami, is out today, too.

Can you smell the pumpkin spice in the air? You will with this paperback original perfect for readers who love fall and cozy contemporary reads.

Briar Glen is a northeast tourist destination in the fall, but for Lucy, the idea of all things pumpkin spice is stomach-turning. This is especially challenging given she works at her mom’s local coffee shop, serving up the drinks by the gallon.

When a multinational coffee chain opens up right at the start of busy season across the street from her mom’s shop, Lucy finds herself in a position to help save the small shop. The challenge, besides the fact a multinational just has more strength? The son of the owner of the new shop is Jack, Lucy’s secret crush.

This one sounds like it’s a little bit The Fall of Whit Rivera meets You Can Go Your Own Way.