Holy moly, this summer is packed with young adult science fiction, fantasy, and especially horror books! I hope you’ve cleared your schedule, because you’re going to be hard-pressed to not end up adding to your already unmanageable TBR.
It Came From Outer Space
A Song of Salvation by Alechia Dow
Inkyard Press; July 11, 2023
It’s rare that we get a YA space opera, but Alechia Dow is here to save the day with this story about three queer alien teens trying to take down an empire. Zaira is the reincarnation of a primordial god, Indigo. She escapes execution and ends up on the run with Wesley, an outcast who wants nothing to do with destiny, and Rubin, an outgoing podcaster who has to get to Earth. Although technically a standalone, this is also the third story set in the world Dow created for her debut novel The Sound of Stars and expanded on in The Kindred.
Stars, Hide Your Fires by Jessica Mary Best
Quirk Books; July 11, 2023
Speaking of space operas, this one is pitched as a sci-fi Knives Out and I’m so here for it. Teen thief Cass sets her heist sights on the Ascension Ball. There she meets the intriguing Amaris, a young woman attending the ball who is as attractive as she is secretive. Things get tricky when the Emperor is assassinated and Cass is framed for the crime.
Genre-benders
Under This Forgetful Sky by Lauren Yero
Atheneum Books for Young Readers; July 18, 2023
Rumi and Paz live in a dystopian future version of Chile where St. Iago is split into the privileged Upper Cities and the impoverished Lower City of Paraíso. Rumi’s father is infected with a deadly virus and he leaves the protected echelon to find a cure. Looking for a way out of poverty and oppression, Paz turns to a rebel group. When the two meet, love blooms, but secrets and lies threaten everything.
Actually Super by Adi Alsaid
Alfred A. Knopf BYR; August 22, 2023
On her 18th birthday, Isabel sets off on a journey to find superheroes. While struggling with depression, she’d found an online forum dedicated to reported sightings of humans with extraordinary abilities—superheroes, if you will—and now she wants to see one in person. Back in Dearborn, Michigan, Isabel’s friends start to worry when she fails to turn up for a planning meeting.
Forty Words for Love by Aisha Saeed
Kokila; August 22, 2023
Yasmine has lived in Moonlight Bay her whole life, with its pink and lavender sea and the surrounding magical forest. Raf lived in that forest until ten years ago when his Golub tree was destroyed, and now he and his family are barely getting by in a town that doesn’t want them there. After a tragic death, Moonlight Bay’s magic dwindles. Wealthy outsiders move in, but what do they really want? And how can Yasmine and Raf build a relationship together when their world insists on keeping them apart?
Ghost Stories
Ghosted by Amanda Quain (Northanger Abbey #1)
Wednesday Books; July 25, 2023
A genderbent retelling of Northanger Abbey, a delightful romance and gentle satire of gothic romance and also my third favorite Jane Austen novel? Give it to me! Hattie Tilney is the daughter of the headmistress of Northanger Abbey, the most haunted school in the US. Supposedly. But Hattie doesn’t care, or so she says. Until she’s paired up with Kit Morland, a transfer student obsessed with the paranormal. As the two search for spirits, Hattie finds herself falling for Kit.
The Narrow by Kate Alice Marshall
Viking BYR; August 1, 2023
Years ago, Delphine fell into The Narrow, a river running through the campus of the prestigious Atwood School. No one has ever survived the river, except Delphine. But not without cost. She cannot touch any water that isn’t pure and distilled. Now, Eden takes a work-study job as Delphine’s companion and discovers that things are darker and more frightening than she realized. A ghost haunts the halls and has set its sights on Eden.
Magic With a Twist
Zhara by S. Jae-Jones (Guardians of Dawn #1)
Wednesday Books; August 29, 2023
Zhara has magic. Not that she’d ever tell anyone. Two decades ago, monsters destroyed much of her homeland, and magicians were blamed for it. She spends her time being berated by her cruel stepmother and caring for her blind little sister. That would have been the rest of her life if monsters hadn’t returned to the Morning Realms. She meets Han, a young man with a big secret, who introduces her to the Guardians of the Dawn, magician rebels fighting a demon turning them into monsters.
A Tall Dark Trouble by Vanessa Montalban
Zando Young Readers; August 29, 2023
In Cuba in 1980, Anita is terrified she’ll be forced to join the bruja coven her mother belongs to. In present-day Miami, sisters Ofelia and Delfi struggle to balance their own magic. Ofelia can see the history and future of an object while Delfi can taste emotions, but both are stuck with a generational curse that every romance will end badly. When the bodies of young women wash ashore, the sisters decide to use their abilities to figure out who’s behind the murders.
Gods & Monsters
A Warning About Swans by R. M. Romero
Peachtree Teen; July 11, 2023
Journey back to Bavaria in 1880 with this fairytale novel-in-verse. Hilde, one of the daughters of Odin, has a cape that allows her to shapeshift into a swan and the ability to ferry souls to the afterlife. She meets the teenage Baron Maximilian von Richter and follows him home to Munich and the court of King Ludwig II. There she also meets Jewish nonbinary artist Franz Mendelsohn who paints her as a girl with swan wings. The closer Hilde and Franz get, the more worried she becomes that her secret is out.
Damned If You Do by Alex Brown
Page Street Kids; August 1, 2023
You had me at “Queer Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Filipino folklore.” Cordelia has a lot going on. It’s coming up on the centennial for Deal Day, the anniversary of when her Massachusetts town was founded by a demon. She’s in a frantic tech week rush for a school play about that event. Her crush on her best friend is getting out of control. Oh, and her guidance counselor has also just revealed that he’s a demon who owns a piece of her soul in exchange for getting rid of her abusive father and now he wants her to help him with his own demon problem.
Sibling Rivalry
The Third Daughter by Adrienne Tooley (Untitled #1)
Christy Ottaviano Books; July 18, 2023
For Elodie’s entire life, she’s resigned herself to being the Queen’s Regent. Although she’s the eldest, her younger sister Brianne, as the third daughter of a third daughter, is prophesied to be the New Maiden. When the church takes away her regency, Elodie tries to poison Brianne with a sleeping potion purchased from a local apothecary, Sabine. But the spell goes wrong and the future of the queendom of Velle is at risk.
Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim
Alfred A. Knopf BYR; August 29, 2023
Once upon a time there were two sisters. The Demon Witch wanted the beautiful Vanna, but her father sacrificed his other daughter Channi instead. Channi was cursed with a serpent’s face and ordered to deliver Vanna before her 17th birthday or the Demon Witch would come for both of them. With that birthday looming, a cruel king kidnaps Vanna to force her hand in marriage, and Channi sets off in hot pursuit.
Outcasts, Outlaws, & Rebels
Bonesmith by Nicki Pau Preto (House of the Dead #1)
Margaret K. McElderry Books; July 25, 2023
Wren is a bonesmith, someone who does magic with bones, training to join the elite valkyrs. One big mistake costs her the promotion and lands her in a remote outpost near the wall separating the Breach, a wild land where danger lurks. In a desperate attempt to prove herself worthy, she heads over the wall with another exile, ironsmith Julian, to find a kidnapped prince.
House of Marionne by J. Elle
Razorbill; August 29, 2023
After accidentally revealing her secret, powerful magic, Quell seeks refuge in the debutante society the House Marionne of the Order of Highest Mysteries, run by her grandmother. Draguns hunt people with the special kind of magic Quell carries, which makes her growing attraction with the handsome Dragun Jordan potentially deadly. Quell must learn to control her powers and impress as a debutant if she has even a hope of surviving.
Thrills & Chills
A Guide to the Dark by Meriam Metoui
Henry Holt & Company; July 18, 2023
Two Muslim young women wind up in a haunted motel room during a road trip. Mira immediately knows something is wrong with Room 9. Unsettling feelings, strange nightmares, and the ghost of her dead brother flicker in and out with increasing intensity. Layla, however, thinks everything is fine. She’s more concerned with getting into art school and what to do about her attraction to Mira. Will the teens be the next victims on the room’s roster?
Infested: An MTV Fear Novel by Angel Luis Colón (From the Fear #1)
MTV Books; July 25, 2023
Manny is making the best of his move from Texas to the Bronx. He meets a cool activist his age, Sasha, who is protesting the new luxury condo complex Manny’s dad is managing, and Mr. Mueller, the building’s exterminator…or is he??? Manny figures out Mueller is not only a ghost but a very pissed off one who has Manny in his crosshairs. Cockroaches and specters threaten the gentrifying neighborhood.
The Dark Place by Britney S. Lewis
Disney Hyperion; August 8, 2023
Hylee has the ability to disappear, but she can’t control it. Each time she vanishes, she enters a world like our own but sinister and twisted. And each time she’s forced to witness the night her brother Bubba vanished. Sent away by her parents to live with relatives in Missouri, Hylee starts a new romance with Eilam, a boy who sees her disappear one day. The pair try to use her ability to find her missing brother, but they discover a growing darkness.
I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea
Henry Holt & Company; August 29, 2023
Wow, what a title! Laure is a dancer in the Paris Ballet. To get to the top, she makes a deal with a river of blood that runs beneath the catacombs. With monstrous pride and supernatural talent, she climbs over the bodies, literally and metaphorically, of her competition. But her transformation is more visceral than she anticipated, and soon she falls down a path she may not be able to return from.
Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror Delight edited by Shelly Page & Alex Brown
Wednesday Books; August 29, 2023
I’ve been eagerly awaiting this anthology for ages, and now it’s almost here! Each story centers on the same theme—Halloween night during a blue moon—but the tone and styles vary widely. A solid introduction to queer YA horror. Authors include: Kalynn Bayron, Alex Brown, Ryan Douglass, Sara Farizan, Maya Gittelman, Kosoko Jackson, Em Liu, Vanessa Montalban, Shelly Page, Ayida Shonibar, Tara Sim, Trang Thanh Tran, and Rebecca Kim Wells.
Alex Brown is a Hugo-nominated and Ignyte award-winning critic who writes about speculative fiction, librarianship, and Black history. Find them on twitter (@QueenOfRats), instagram (@bookjockeyalex), and their blog (bookjockeyalex.com).
