Seventeen-year-old August Black doesn’t believe that her older brother Jules would abandon her. Yet all she has of her mysteriously vanished sibling is the cryptic note he left behind in his university dorm room in Kingston, Canada, warning her of dangerous monsters. August’s investigation into his disappearance leads her to shape-shifter Virgil Hawthorne, one of the monsters Jules cautioned her against. As part of a magical underground organization called the Learners’ Society, Virgil must bond with a human “Master” so that he may retain his humanity while in his monstrous form, or risk imprisonment by the institution’s elites. Though August agrees to bond with Virgil in exchange for his help in finding Jules, their tenuous alliance sees August navigating the group’s complex rules and enigmatic followers as well as a brutal competition for permanent membership. August’s acerbic, quick-witted narration tackles the society’s sinister ideals head-on, while confident prose by Sambury (Tender Beasts) skillfully explores nuanced examinations of parental pressure and neglect, prejudice, systemic violence, and unjust power dynamics. Propulsive pacing, layered lore, and high emotional stakes further distinguish this dark academia series opener. August and Virgil are Black. Ages 14–up. Agent: Kristy Hunter, Knight Agency. (July)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

Artistic high schooler Eden Randall is considered a weirdo among her classmates in Fenix, Colo. But that doesn’t matter to Eden; soon, she and her girlfriend, Payton Davis, will skip town, leaving their abusive home lives behind. The night the girls plan to leave, however, their high school burns down with Eden trapped inside. Convinced it wasn’t an accident, Payton enlists Eden’s best friend, Theo Robinson, a student reporter, to investigate. Their classmates aren’t thrilled by the sleuthing, and dark secrets and unexpected connections emerge as the duo dive deeper into their inquiry. Utilizing expert pacing and shocking reveals, Nijkamp (This Is Where It Ends) keeps readers on the edges of their seats, stringing them along as the narrative alternates between events leading up to the fire, the night itself, and its aftermath. Topics relating to physical and sexual abuse, bullying, and the ways powerful people leverage their influence combine in this dark, gritty story about coming together and empowering one another. Main characters read as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Suzie Townsend, New Leaf Literary. (July)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

Because her witch mother married a human, Houston teenager Cayden Maya Jackson lives on the outskirts of witch society. She busies herself by helping at Cayden’s Confections, her father’s financially struggling bakery, and Lucky Paws, an animal rescue. After Cayden is tasked with grooming Hades, a temperamental poodle she believes detests her for being a witch, she meets Hades’s owner, Mekhi. The teens form an instant connection and agree to go on a date. But when their romantic outing ends in humiliation for Cayden, she learns that Khy is also a witch. Worse, he’s royalty, and part of her mother’s former coven, which turned its back on her for marrying a nonmagical man. As Cayden and her human cousin Mercedes plot revenge against Khy, they decide to kill two birds with one stone: while they organize an event to drive traffic to the bakery, Cayden pretends to forgive Khy and agrees to date him, hoping their publicized relationship and Khy’s royal status will put Cayden’s Confections on the map. The magnetic Black characters’ affectionate dynamics—despite her attempts to remain aloof, Cayden warms to Khy as a fellow “sneakerhead”—lighten thought-provoking examinations of class differences and intracommunal conflict in this upbeat romance by Davenport (Out of Body). Ages 13–up. Agent: Emily Forney, BookEnds Literary. (July)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

In 1868 London, Black 18-year-old Stella has been orphaned since her mother’s death four years prior. She lives with her biracial cousin Olivia and aunt Eleanor, who pressures both girls to marry into wealthy families. But Stella doesn’t want to be a wife; she wants to write, like her mother. Things get complicated when Stella is named heir to Kendall Manor, where her mother also worked as a nursemaid prior to her death, and learns that she must marry in order to inherit the property. Soon, Stella, accompanied by Olivia, becomes embroiled in the complex machinations of high-society affairs with elite, affluent families, including Stella’s childhood friend, Nathaniel. As Stella courts various suitors, she buries her feelings for Nathaniel, who is already betrothed. Then Stella is hired to take over her mother’s anonymous advice column in the newspaper, State of London. But when her writing begins causing issues for her family and her prospects—both professional and romantic—she must consider the cost of her passion. Isabelle (Shadow Coven) crafts a compelling lead in Stella; her dissatisfaction with her society’s gender norms chafes against her secret desire to experience true love in this sweeping period romance. Ages 13–up. Agent: Laura Rennert, Andrea Brown Literary. (July)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

After Penny Dexter overhears her two mothers discussing the family’s mounting medical debt, the high school junior gets a job at Delicious Donuts in her small hometown of Verity, Ore. She hopes that earning her own money and saving up for college tuition will help alleviate financial stress. The only problem is that her coworker is genderqueer classmate Mateo della Penna, who Penny is certain hates her. When Penny snoops and finds paperwork offering the owner of Delicious Donuts a buyout from a chain of doughnut shops, she determines to save the store. She conscripts Mateo into using their art to raise awareness about the shop and continues hatching elaborate schemes, despite the owner’s reluctance to participate. Then, while spending time together on an impulsive hiking venture, Mateo reveals that they have been trying to express their romantic interest in Penny. Meanwhile, Mateo struggles to navigate their strained relationship with their unsupportive father, who insists that Mateo be a “real man.” Though Penny’s go-getter, never-take-no-for-an-answer attitude occasionally grates, the characters’ natural-feeling missteps add charm to this gentle romance from Kelly (How You Get the Girl, for adults). Penny is white; Mateo is of Italian and Mexican heritage. Ages 13–up. (July)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

Secrets are a magical casino’s house currency in this vibrant duology opener from Olson (A Forgery of Roses). Nobody in the city of Aethera knows that crime boss Magnus St. James has a daughter, Magnolia—until he stakes the information in an enchanted dice tournament at the Liar’s Den Casino and loses. With the truth aired, Magnus’s rivals kidnap Magnolia, a 15-year-old dancer who’s described as having a lazy eye. But Magnus won’t negotiate for her return, so Magnolia brokers her own freedom by teaming up with the eponymous Liar’s infamous brother, the Thief. The Thief needs to break a curse—cast upon him by the Liar—which forces him to “pilfer physical form from someone else’s existence” in order to be corporeal. In exchange for his help escaping her captors, Magnolia will share her heart until he can find a fix. Four years of dead ends later, Magnolia—now using the name Lola—enters the Liar’s latest tournament so she can search his casino for clues. Attraction sparks between Lola and the Liar, leaving her conflicted about deceiving him, but she isn’t the only one with a hidden agenda. Though murky worldbuilding and florid prose pepper Olson’s kaleidoscopic narrative, clever plotting, witty banter, and emotionally complex, intersectionally diverse characters earns readers’ investment. Ages 13–up. Agent: Christa Heschke, McIntosh & Otis. (July)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

Dulce Castillo, a Lord Peter Wimsey–obsessed teen attending the Dr. James Everett School of Criminology, is determined to win this year’s annual murder mystery competition. It’s a game of deduction during which one Everett High student pretends to be a murder victim while the rest of the school investigates their orchestrated “death.” Things take a dark turn, however, when this year’s victim, Xavier Torres, is found dead in the school’s greenhouse. Worse, evidence suggests Sierra Fox, Xavier’s ex-girlfriend and Dulce’s former best friend, as the prime suspect. Now Dulce must put aside her personal grudges and use her investigative know-how to uncover the truth. Was Sierra framed, or is there a more sinister conspiracy at play? Dulce simultaneously grapples with the local sheriff’s hand in covering up the facts behind her mother’s death two years ago. Tight pacing, smart banter, and Clue-esque vibes round out this thrilling offering by Muñoz (Suddenly a Murder), who demonstrates adept genre savvy across a snappy murder mystery reminiscent of Nancy Springer. Characters are as racially diverse. Ages 12–up. (July)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

Sibling debut authors Brad and Julia Riew weave Korean folklore and history with intimate familial recollections in this magic-infused tale of star-crossed teens fighting for their forbidden love. Both Lee Seung and Choi Eunji yearn for freedom: Seung from his duties serving the noble Chois, and Eunji from her family’s grandiose yet restrictive lifestyle in the Dragon Empire. Following the teens’ chance encounter, they strike a deal: Eunji will tutor Seung, who harbors a desire to master ancient ki magic, in preparation for the Adachi Training Academy entrance exam, while Seung will keep Eunji’s unchaperoned outings a secret (and help her improve her escape techniques). Their rendezvous foster a budding romance until a tiger—a symbol of the Tiger Colonies thought extinct by the colonizing Dragon Empire—suddenly appears. Soon, Seung and Eunji find themselves on opposite sides of a cultural divide, their love further complicated by the arrival of a charming princeling suitor vying for Eunji’s affection. This grounded fantasy, inspired by the authors’ grandparents’ love story, incorporates excerpts of correspondence from their grandmother and grandfather. Expansive worldbuilding draws on historical tensions during Japan’s occupation of Korea; authors’ notes provide additional context. Ages 12–up. (July)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

Wolf (The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep) blends swashbuckling mystery with ecological disaster in an epic novel about one family’s 100-year-old connection with Lake Peigneur, in the Louisiana wetlands. A first-person prologue is narrated by the lake itself; subsequent chapters recount the history of the lake, including the arrival of pirates in 1820, the treasure they buried, and the riddles they left behind. Alternating sections follow 12-year-old Junius Leak in 1980. Spending the summer away from his arguing parents back in Atlanta with his uncle Spot, whom he hadn’t previously met, on Spot’s houseboat in Delcambre, La., Junius—a highly sensitive person—struggles to manage his fear of water. It becomes more pronounced throughout his stay, aggravating his anxiety and increasing the frequency of his spontaneous vocalizations. Nevertheless, he finds solace in bonding with Uncle Spot and the townsfolk. As Junius wonders why his mother kept him away from Delcambre, he learns of the centuries-old history of drilling and mining in Lake Peigneur, which resurfaces to catastrophic results. Weighty topics such as grief and mental health are empathetically tackled by Wolf, who deploys captivating prose to spin a clever and engrossing adventure. Characters’ tender interactions and riveting backstories—enriched with Cajun cultural detail—add texture. Ages 10–14. (July)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink

A practical joke device gone rogue proves fatal in this twisty whodunit by Grant (A Green Velvet Secret). Middle schooler Manya, whose parents own a joke shop, and her best friend Isaac, who lives next door in the apartment above his mother’s lingerie store, are aspiring scientists. Though they persuade their parents to let them participate in Serious Science for Serious Kids, an after-school program located at the Museum of Natural History, the course has a steep enrollment fee. Manya’s father—who’s been conducting experiments with new pranking devices, such as artisanal whoopee cushions, to increase joke shop profits—believes he can offset the cost. But after an incident in which a whoopee cushion explodes and kills the school janitor during her family’s joke shop presentation at her middle school lands Manya’s parents in jail, accused of murder, Manya and Isaac must employ their science acumen and stealth to prove her parents were framed. Despite an elongated setup, steady tension, high personal stakes, and uniquely rendered relationships drive the story forward as Grant explores one preteen’s complex feelings about her “embarrassing” parents and their lives before her across bouncy first-person narration. Characters are described as having varying skin tones. Ages 10–14. Agent: Fiona Kenshole, Transatlantic Literary. (July)

Reviewed on 05/09/2025 | Details & Permalink