Teens

Nabik, a soldier, owes his loyalty to his elder brother Fydir, who lifted him and their sister, Drakne, from poverty. But when Fydir orders him to quell unrest among the city’s beastfolk, the magic Nabik had long buried begins to stir. A wintery voice urges Nabik to desert his post—and his brother’s watchful eye —to journey north into Kolznechia, a frozen, enchanted kingdom ruled by the mercurial Rat King. His power may hold the key to breaking an ancient curse and ending the Rat King’s terrible reign.

Drakne will do whatever it takes to break free of Fydir. As Nabik follows all of their eldest brother’s commands, her best hope of escaping is to seek the protection of the Rat King. And the tyrant king has been looking for Drakne too. She has a gift that can help him find and kill the missing nutcracker prince, rightful heir to his stolen throne.

When the nutcracker prince emerges, Nabik and Drakne take opposite sides of a centuries-old conflict—him to save a kingdom, her to save herself. Then Fydir marches into the growing war, hungry to claim power of his own, and if Nabik and Drakne can’t fix their broken bond, Kolznechia may be torn apart by tooth and claw...

Taiwanese American Catie Carlson has never fit in with her white family. As much as she loves her stepmom and stepsister, she yearns to understand more about her culture and find her biological mother. 

So Catie is shocked when an opportunity comes knocking on her door: Her summer spa coworker, Toby, says he’ll teach her Mandarin. In exchange, she needs to teach him how to date so he can finally work up the courage to ask out his crush. The only problem is that Catie doesn’t actually have any dating experience. But she can fake it.

With her late father’s copy of The Five Love Languages and all his annotated notes, Catie becomes the perfect dating coach. Or so she thinks. As she gets dangerously close to Toby and to finding out what really happened to her biological mom, she realizes that learning the language of love might be tougher than she thought.

Stefany Valentine’s debut novel is both a fresh, fun romance as well as a profound, luminous story about grief, family, transracial adoption, and what it means to truly follow your heart.

There are rules for Voynich Woods: Always carry a whistle. Never go alone. Always come home before dark. And if anyone calls your name, don't answer. Because everyone who wanders from the path is never seen again.

Except for Riley Walcott.

Riley knows better than to stray from the trail in the woods behind her uncle Toby's house. But her little sister Sam breaks the rules in pursuit of a local legend, so Riley chases after her and discovers a knife-wielding figure and a waiting grave.

Madelyn lives deep in the forest. Subject to her mother's strict rules, she's forbidden from leaving home or using her magic—but one night, she risks everything to help a stranger who's lost in the woods.

Riley is murdered in a strange ritual, Madelyn uses her magic to resurrect her, and their lives are immediately entwined in the gnarled history of Voynich Woods. Riley, who feels trapped in her small town but too afraid to leave, was never a believer, but now the evidence is taking root under her skin. Madelyn has the scars to prove how terrible magic can be, and longs for a life beyond her mother's grasp. As the legends become all too real, Riley and Madelyn must confront their deepest fears to uncover the truth about Voynich Woods.

At once tender, violent, and thrilling, Dead Girls Don't Dream is a novel of recovery, healing, and finding your power.

A teen deep-dives into her dating history to uncover her mistakes, become the perfect girlfriend, and get revenge on the wrong guy so she can ride into the sunset with the right one in this debut rom-com.

To the surprise of no one, Amelia Hernandez is once again single. It’s her family curse at work; whether it’s by heartbreak, scandal, or even accidental death, every romantic relationship that a Hernandez woman has will meet its demise eventually. And that may be fine with Amelia’s sisters, mom, and aunts, but definitely not with Amelia.

So, convinced that she is the problem, Amelia decides to embark on an “Ex Retrospective:” tracking down her exes, finding out where she went wrong, and using that information to finally become un-break-up-able for whenever her next relationship comes along. Because Amelia is determined to be free of the family curse…and her family.

However, when Amelia is unwillingly reunited with Leon, the ex to end all exes, she can’t resist having a little revenge on the side, too. After all, what better way to test out her new persona of perfect girlfriend traits than on the boy who broke her heart?

But old loves die hard, and as Amelia’s feelings grow more complicated, she suspects that she may be in for more than she bargained for.

Biology Lessons is a heartfelt and profound contemporary young adult novel about the strength and importance of female friendship in a time when bodily autonomy is outlawed, from acclaimed author Melissa Kantor.

"This is a book that Judy Blume would approve of." —BCCB

Grace Williams has her future all mapped out. A high school senior in her beloved state of Texas, Grace plans to move to New York City after graduation to study at Barnard College, and maybe, someday, win a Nobel Prize in biology. When she's asked to tutor Jack Nelson, the star baseball player who's flunking bio, she thinks it'll be just another activity to list on her college application. Studying turns to flirting, flirting becomes secret hookups, and despite her expertise in bio, Grace gets pregnant. In a state where abortion is illegal, with parents who would expect her to keep the baby, Grace’s future is over before it’s begun.

With no one else to turn to, Grace must rely on her best friends, Addie and Sebastian, but antiabortion laws put anyone who helps Grace in grave danger, and anyone they encounter might be an informant. When Grace finds a phone number and an offer of help scrawled in a bathroom stall, the three friends hatch a plan to sneak Grace across state lines. The risks to people she loves and those who have befriended her terrify Grace, but with Addie and Sebastian by her side, at least she isn't alone.

A love letter to hometowns, New York City, and infinite possibilities, Biology Lessons showcases the transformative power of friendship in a world where choice is something you have to fight for.

Twelve short stories in verse by bestselling and award-winning authors that explore the highs and lows of love – romantic, platonic, familial, and self-love.

Love can be many things – all-consuming, fleeting, vengeful, selfless, toxic, uplifting, and always, a core part of the teen experience that leaves an indelible mark. This enchanting, genre-crossing anthology delivers something for every reader with unique characters, global settings, and a dazzling mixture of myth, historical, speculative, and contemporary fiction.

With the turn of a page, get swept away by unexpected love blooming between two princes from enemy Mesoamerican nations in the 15th century, who'd rather make music rather than war; cheer for a timid bearded lady who was shunned by her family and runs away to find belonging and safety at the circus during the 1800s experience the heartbreak of saying goodbye to a beloved pet; breathlessly watch a myth unfold as a siren bound to the water falls in love with a winged forest spirit, their love seemingly impossible from the start. Root for a girl who emerges from grief and battles with chronic pain to discover how to love herself and life again. 

Love is complicated, and this anthology embraces the messiness and the joy of all kinds of love. Contributors include:

 

• Alexandra Alessandri
• David Bowles
• Melanie Crowder
• Margarita Engle
• Eric Gansworth
• Robin Gow
• Mariama J. Lockington
• Laura Ruby
• Padma Venkatraman
• Jasmine Warga
• Charles Waters
• Kip Wilson

The Illinir may be over, but the race for Enderlain’s future has just begun. The hunt for the old king’s lost heir is on, and the first to find them will win the throne.

Mikira has allied herself with the rebels in pursuit of the heir, but the deeper her search takes her, the closer she gets to the royal family's wicked past.

Ari is struggling to control her own growing power as she grapples with a dark secret that may be her undoing ― and the truth behind Damien's greatest foe.

Damien, the new head of House Adair, joins the race to find the royal successor and secure the crown. But as his influence at court grows, so do his paranoia and hunger for power.

Reid is trying his best to stay true to the friend who's always had his loyalty ― and the flame who has his heart ― while trapped in a web of chaos and lies.

All the while, a darker force is festering in Enderlain’s underbelly. Mikira, Ari, Damien, and Reid will need to find a way back to one another ― and themselves ― before the kingdom is torn apart. Hearts will be broken and new bonds will be forged in this explosive finale to This Dark Descent, where spellbinding fantasy meets Jewish mythology in a cut-throat race for the throne ― and humanity's survival.

Perfect for fans of Ace of Spades and The Taking of Jake Livingston, this young adult horror debut follows a group of teens as they visit an abandoned reform school--and then return two years later to confront the supernatural evil they awoke there.

Two years ago, four friends went into the abandoned religious reform school Dominic House.

Only three came out.

Riley still bears horrific scars from that night. He doesn't speak to his friends anymore. And he's haunted by the truth: Riley's boyfriend, Ethan, didn't disappear...Something in that house took him.

Now, alongside TV's most famous ghost hunter, Jordan Jones, Riley is returning, determined to find out what happened to Ethan.

But as the night wears on, Riley realizes he isn't just revisiting the most terrifying night of his life--he's reliving it. And this time, whatever lives in Dominic House will make sure they all stay.

With an eerily elegant voice, dual timelines that slowly unravel a chilling ghost story, themes of religious trauma, and secrets in every corner, Trespass Against Us is the kind of horror story that will keep you up long into the night.

“Four thousand six hundred forty-two steps in,” Grannylou interrupted. “You remember that now, Baby. Four-thousand six hundred forty-two steps to paradise.”

On a damp night in 1722, Babylou Mac and her three siblings witness the murder of their mother at the hands of the local preacher’s son—so Babylou kills him in retaliation. With plantation dogs now on their heels, the four siblings breach the treacherous confines of the Great Dismal Swamp. Deeper and deeper into Dismal they delve, amid the biting moccasins and pitch-black waters, toward a refuge where they can live freely within the swamp’s natural—and supernatural—protection.

Three-hundred years later, college student Atlas comes home to North Carolina for the annual Bornday cookout and hog roast: a celebration of the fact that she and her three cousins were all born on the same day nineteen years ago, sharing a birthday with their Grannylou. But this Bornday, Grannylou’s usual riddles and folktales about a marvelous paradise deep in the Great Dismal Swamp start to take on a tangible quality. Change coming.

When Dismal calls, sucking Grannylou in, it’s up to Atlas and her cousins to uncover the history that the black waters hold. Centuries of family tension, with roots all over Virginia and North Carolina, are about to be dug up. Because Babylou and Grannylou are one and the same, and the power she helped cultivate hundreds of years ago—steeped in Black resistance, familial love, and the otherworldly mysteries of the Great Dismal Swamp—is bubbling back up. But so is a bitterness that runs deep as the swamp’s waters. And some are ready to take what they feel they’re owed.

Marco should be at university, studying biomedicine. Instead, he’s been sent to live on a cruise ship in the Mediterranean with his estranged uncle, all because of a “blip” everyone else is convinced was a panic attack. (Which it most definitely was not.)

And even though Marco’s trip is supposed to provide answers—about himself, about his family—all he finds on board the Ocean Melody are more and more questions.

But then his best friend CeCe proposes a new plan: for someone who has always done the right thing, in every possible way, it’s time for Marco to get a few things wrong. And hooking up with a hot dancer from the ship is only the beginning . . .