New YA books for 2024

 The revision of my book What's New in Young Adult Novels? and Ideas for Classroom Use for 2024 is now available.  Just click on the book icon in the upper right corner of my blog and it will take you to Lulu.com where you can purchase this book. Over 50 new books are recommended along with ideas for using them in the classroom. I would again like to take this opportunity to thank NetGalley for providing ARCs of many of the new young adult novels that I review.  Three new YA books being released in January 2024 caught my fancy.  Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft is a Regency-inspired fantasy about a seamstress who weaves enchantments into the clothing she creates. The Getaway List by Emma Lord (Begin Again) finds a high school graduate defying her mother and heading to NYC to rekindle a relationship with her childhood best friend, who is the co-creator of the "getaway list," a list of adventures they want to experience in the city. Dungeons and Dramas by Kristy Boyce introduces Riley, who is obsessed with musicals. When she gets caught hijacking her mother's car to go to the city to see Waitress, her punishment is working in her father's gaming store, where she gets new insights into the gaming world, as well as her relationship with her father. 

Fragile Enchantment introduces Niamh, a seamstress who has magic in her blood, which allows her to stitch emotions and memories into the clothes she designs.  When she receives an invitation to serve as the tailor for the royal wedding in Avaland, she sees it as an opportunity to guarantee a better life for her working class Machlish family. She arrives in Avaland to find Machlish workers striking, the groom Prince Christopher (Kit) alienating everyone around him, and Lovelace, a gossip columnist, wreaking havoc at court.  Niamh pierces Kit's thorny defenses with patience and persistence, as she creates a calming wardrobe for the upcoming nuptials.  Neither he nor his fiancé, the Castillian Infanta Rosa, want to marry, but are being coerced by forces beyond their control.  Complicating matters are the political upheaval created by the rebellious workers, the tenuous marriage agreement between the kings of Avaland and Castille, Lovelace's column exposing the growing intimacy between Niamh and Kit, and Niamh's deteriorating health which is being depleted by her use of magic.  The narrative satisfyingly works its way toward a resolution of all the complications in this sweeping Regency romance. 

In The Getaway List, Riley Larson, who has received rejections from all ten colleges she applied to, decides to defy her controlling mother and take back the spontaneity in her life.  She heads to NYC where she reunites with her childhood friend Tom with whom she created a Getaway List.  Over their three-year separation, Tom had grown distant, and Riley discovers her mother had plotted to keep them apart.  Fueled by her anger, Riley decides to stay for the whole summer to work through the list with Tom and his quirky friends, camping, going to concerts, and exploring the city. Tom's screenwriter mother is on an extended stay in LA, so Riley and Tom are free to not only discover themselves, but also their romantic feelings for each other.  The supporting characters are well-developed, and the author's affectionate portrayal of NYC adds to the charm of the novel. 

We are introduced to another rebellious Riley in Dungeons and Dramas. When this Riley takes her mother's car, without permission nor a driver's license, to the city to see the musical Waitress, her divorced parents decide her punishment will be working at her estranged father's gaming store.  Not only is she distraught about working there, she is also upset that the school has cancelled this year's spring musical, which she was hoping to direct.  When her ex shows up at the store with his new girlfriend, Riley claims her co-worker Nathan is her boyfriend to save face.  Nathan is appalled, but agrees to the ruse so that he can make his crush jealous.  To make the relationship seem more official, she starts playing Dungeon and Dragons with him and his friends at the store.  Of course, she is the bard and finds opportunities to sing at every meeting. The more time she and Nathan spend pretending to be involved, the more lines blur.  Meanwhile, she is campaigning to revive the musical by putting on a show for the administrators to demonstrate that there is sufficient interest for them to reconsider their decision.  When things go terribly wrong, Nathan and her new friends come to her rescue. 

New YA Books for 2023

 The latest revision of my book What's New in Young Adult Novels? and Ideas for Classroom Use is now available.  Just click on the book icon in the upper right corner of my blog and it will take you to Lulu.com where you can purchase this book.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank NetGalley for providing ARCs of many of the new young adult novels that I review. Four new books that are coming out at the beginning of 2023, I categorize as candy bar books.  These are books that are fun reads about fairly superficial issues such as boyfriend/girlfriend problems, strict parents, or cliques/popularity issues. Frequently, they are told in first person and the voice is very characteristic of how teenagers speak.   Begin Again by Emma Lord finds Andie Rose, an aspiring advice columnist, transferring to her dream college, only to find her boyfriend has transferred to her community college to be with her.  As she navigates the struggles of a long distance relationship, she blossoms in her new role providing anonymous advice on a pirate radio station. The Love Match by Priyanka Taslim introduces Zahra Khan, who defers college after her father dies and begins working at a Pakistani tea shop. As her mother tries to find her a suitable match, Zahra finds herself attracted to a co-worker, a recent immigrant from Bangladesh.  The Wrong Kind of Weird by James Ramos explores the conflict between geek enthusiasm and the need to conform, as Cameron, a member of Geeks and Nerds United has a secret fling with his school's popular It-Girl. French Kissing in New York by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau is a fun romp with an aspiring French chef, who is pursuing a NYC restaurant career, as well as a romance with a NYC boy she met in Paris.  After a magical night together, they agree to meet at midnight in Times Square one year later, ala An Affair to Remember.

Begin Again introduces Andie Rose, who hopes to study psychology at Blue Ridge State, where her deceased mother pioneered the college's pirate radio station. When she is rejected, she enrolls at Little Fells Community College, while Connor, her boyfriend, goes to Blue Ridge.  In a comedy of errors, she gets the opportunity to transfer, only to learn that Connor transferred to Little Fells so they could be together.  As they struggle to maintain a long-distance relationship, Andie finds herself blossoming when she gets the chance to headline the radio's anonymous advice program. As she navigates her problems, including a difficult statistics class and a demoralizing emotional mishap, she finds herself seeking out her surly RA, Milo Flynn, who always seems to appear when she needs help.  Although the romantic triangle is a familiar trope, the humor and sympathetic heroine make this a satisfying read. 

In The Love Match Zahra Khan, an aspiring author, defers her acceptance to Columbia University, when her father's death puts the family in financial straits.  She takes a job at a Pakistani tea shop Chai Ho, as her mother plots to match her with a suitable Bangladeshi boy, Harun Emon.  Though she and Harun have no interest in each other, they agree to fake-date to placate their families.  Meanwhile, Zahra begins secretly dating a co-worker, Nayim Aktar, a recent arrival from Bangladesh.  But as her romance with Nayim heats up, she begins to find herself growing closer to Harun.  The author authentically explores diverse South Asian Muslim identities, describing genuine practices that she experienced growing up in a Bangladeshi community in New Jersey.  In this delightful Bengali Natok (drama) the question looms, "Will Zahra choose obligation or herself?"

The Wrong Kind of Weird finds Cameron Carson and his best friends members of a school club known as Geeks and Nerd United (GANU). After a clandestine summer romance with coffee shop co-worker Karla Ortega, the schools' queen bee, she and Cam agree to keep their hookups secret, while working together on the school's production of Pride and Prejudice.  When he begins bonding over similar geeky interests with Mackenzie Briggs, his former nemesis and newest member of GANU, he wonders if he should end his dalliance with Karla, who continues to snub him in public.  Although Cam's romantic entanglements are the focus of the story, the diverse cast of characters (black, Latine, queer, straight) make this an exploration of identity and learning to accept people across the divide of school cliques. The author, a self-proclaimed geek, realistically portrays geek enthusiasm conflicting with the need to fit in. 

In French Kissing in New York Margot, an aspiring chef from a small French town, meets Zach, a tourist from NYC and enjoys a magical night of romance in Paris. Without exchanging contact information, they agree to meet a year later in Times Square at midnight, believing they are "meant to be."  Margot is heading there after graduation to pursue her restaurant dreams.  Her father lives in NYC and with her mother's help she lands a job at her dream restaurant. Unfortunately, her first day on the job finds her washing dishes when she is supposed to be meeting Zach.  When she arrives late at Times Square, he is nowhere to be found. Heartbroken, Margot enlists the help of Ben, a line cook at the restaurant, to find Zach.  Together, they explore NYC, seeing the sites and sampling delectable cuisine, as they follow clues from her night with Zach.  This mash-up of the films An Affair to Remember and Serendipity is an authentic look at restaurant life, as well as a fun romp with a hopeless romantic, who is clueless when it comes to love. 

Romantic Escapes

As most of us are sheltering in place, we are finding lots of time for reading. Each day we read sobering news about new COVID19 deaths and I, for one, am looking for some romantic escapes in my reading.  The enemies to lovers trope,  common in romantic literature, is cleverly employed in the four novels I am recommending this month.  Tweet Cute by Emma Lord pits Jack and Pepper, the children of restaurant owners, against each other, when they enter into a battle on social media over a grilled cheese recipe Jack's family accuses Pepper's mom of stealing. In Lucky Caller by Emma Mills, Nina and Jamie, best friends who had a misunderstanding that left them at odds, reunite when they collaborate on a radio broadcasting project.  Meet Me at Midnight by Jessica Pennington introduces Sidney and Asher, frenemies whose parents force them to spend summers together. They spend their time pranking each other until a prank gone wrong gives them a common enemy.  4 Days of You and Me by Miranda Kinneally follows the relationship of rivals Lulu and Alex, over four years of ups and downs in this opposites attract story. 

In Tweet Cute high achieving Pepper Evans, daughter of the owner of Big League Burger, gets into a Twitter war with Jack Campbell, whose family owns a deli named Girl Cheesing.  The deli claims Big League has stolen the recipe for the Campbell family grilled cheese classic.  Jack, an aspiring programmer, whose father expects him to take over the deli, tweets a snarky comment about the theft and Pepper's mother instructs her to respond. They get into a public battle that goes viral. Meanwhile, they are confiding in each other anonymously on a messaging app that Jack created.  This reimagining of You've Got Mail, focuses on two teens, whose personal aspirations conflict with their family loyalties, unwittingly finding solace in one another.

Lucky Caller introduces Nina, an Indiana teen, whose absentee dad is a semi-famous radio host in California.  She signs up for a radio broadcasting class during her senior year, hoping to connect with him.  She is grouped with Sasha, Joydeep and Jamie, a random group with whom she is at odds, for the class project. Complicating matters, Nina and Jamie live in the same building and used to be friends until a misunderstanding makes things awkward between them. The group decides on a 90s music theme, but have a hard time finding listeners until they capture the attention of fans of a 90s band known as the Existential Dead.  To attract more listeners, they advertise a mystery guest interview, whom Nina promises will be her father.  However, the hints they have been tweeting have people convinced the guest is either the reclusive frontman of Existential Dead or a member of a hit boy band. As Nina works through issues with her dad, her mom's new fiance, her growing attraction to Jamie, and the radio broadcasting class project disaster, she learns important life lessons through her mistakes.  Transcripts from her father's radio show and various class recordings add spice to this fun rom/com.

Meet Me at Midnight focuses on Sidney and Asher, competitive swimmers who have spent summers together with their families since they were 13. They should be friends, but instead they are enemies who spend their summers pranking each other.  When a prank gone wrong gets both families evicted from their rental homes, their parents rent a house together for the remainder of the summer. The close proximity forces Sid and Ash to communicate, and they decide to join forces to get revenge against their former landlord. As their cooperation leads to undeniable attraction, they struggle to put their feud behind them and give in to love. Many of the pranks are recounted in hilarious detail and alternating voices give the reader insight into their evolving feelings for each other.  

Four Days of You and Me refers to four class trips high schoolers Lulu Wells and Alex Rouvelis go on each May with their classmates.  Lulu, an aspiring graphic artist, and Alex, a baseball player and class heartthrob, start off freshman year as enemies. When they both run for student council president, Lulu's campaign speech is about things she will do to make the school greener, whereas he tells jokes and says, "Vote for me, I already told my mom I won."  Of course, he is the victor. On the first class trip to a science museum, they end up locked in an escape room and by the time they solve the puzzle, they are kissing instead of bickering. Sophomore year their romance is deep, but Alex's packed schedule leaves little time for Lulu and she breaks up with him.  As the school years unfold, they go through the ups and downs of teenage romance. They reunite on the junior year trip to Manhattan and then senior year they focus on what life will be like when they head off to separate colleges.  Things come to a conclusion on the senior trip to London.  The narrative alternates between the trips and flashback chapters that fill in the gaps chronicling the relationship of these two engaging characters.This book comes out May 5th.