Intrigued? Well read on to discover the synopsis and an excerpt from Ashley Schumacher’s In the Orbit of You, which releases on March 19th 2024.

It’s been years since Nova Evans last saw Sam. She was too young then to understand why he had to move away―and what it had to do with the cuts and bruises he got from home and never wanted to talk about. All she knew is that they promised to find each other when they were older, something she thought was impossible thanks to her and her mom moving around constantly. Until she bumps into Sam in her new school, and realizes he has clearly forgotten their childhood promise.

Sam Jordan has a plan for his life: accept his college football scholarship, date his girlfriend Abigail, and―most importantly―hide how much he wants to do something, anything other than The Plan his parents and coaches have set before him. It doesn’t matter if sometimes he finds himself thinking about the new girl he met in the cafeteria, a girl who reminds him of a past that hurts to remember.

When a school-wide personality test reveals Nova and Sam to be each others’ top matches―not only that, but a match of 99%, the highest in the school―they begin to remember why they were such close friends, all those years ago. As well as the myriad of reasons this new-yet-familiar, magnetic, sparkling thing between them will never, ever work out.

In the Orbit of You is a story about the enduring and changing nature of friendship, of the strange struggle between who you are and who you want to be, and finding your voice after trauma.

I know that everybody staring at me as I walk into the lunchroom—the most high-stakes entrance for a new kid—is sizing me up, but for once I’m not formulating who I want them to see, how I want them to react.

I don’t want them to react. I don’t want to be perceived at all.

Because this is going to be my shortest stint yet, just under two months, and I’m not going to try out any new personas. Partly because of he-who-shan’t-be-thought-of from my last school, near Seattle. Because I’ve been too busy pushing the pieces of my broken heart around in my chest to figure out which Nova Evans I want to try on next.

And also—most importantly—because I’m tired. I’ve never tried coasting at school before, just getting through, not making waves, simply … being me, whoever she is.

God, that sounds cheesy.

But college is knocking, and if I can’t figure out who I want to be, where I want to go, I’m going to continue to be a pattern breaker, but not the good kind.

Mom was a first-generation college student. My grandparents didn’t even finish high school, dropping out their senior year. Education has always been super big to my mom.

“I don’t care where you go,” she’s always said. “So long as you go, get in, get out with a degree that means something, something that will earn you a secure income.”

It’s the secure-income thing that is really tripping me up. Because so far, from what I can tell, my only strengths are chameleoning from school to school and knowing how to pack my boxes exactly the same way every time (if I bother unpacking them at all).

How am I supposed to know what will (a) make me happy and (b) make me money when I’m not even sure how to tell the difference between what I actually like to do and what I “tried on” or did just to fit in at all my previous schools?

I went to a career day last year where the principal made this speech over the feedback of the cheap microphone. It was hard to make out with the chatter and the mic acting up, but I heard her last line loud and clear: “You might not be able to turn your hobby into a career, but if you can figure out what part of your hobby calls to you most, what part of it makes you tick, you’ll have a clearer avenue for what you want to do with the rest of your life.”

I’m pulled out of the chaotic jumble of my brain when I feel too many lunchroom eyes burning into the back of my chosen first-day-of-new-school outfit: jeans, a T-shirt from a bookstore I visited once in Michigan, and my super-comfy-but-not-actually-great-for-sports sneakers left over from my athleisure phase three schools ago.

Even though I’ve resolved to simply exist for the next two months, I still have to find somewhere to sit. What I really need is a corner seat with no one around, but this cafeteria is too small. I can see mismatched chairs pulled up alongside the plastic ones attached to the long skinny tables. It’s one of those schools where the infrastructure is stretched to the max to accommodate everyone, which leaves me nowhere to hide and nowhere to sit without making a statement.

I end up on the far side of a table of football players—I hope the only statement I’m making is trying to not intrude. Their letterman jackets and general demeanor of being gods of the school are part of another predictable pattern, and these guys are no different. Loud and boisterous, even their lunch trays sound amplified when they thump them on the table. Nobody seems to be paying attention to the noise, though I catch a number of people looking toward them like they can’t help but watch the minutia of school celebrities. I swear I see a girl walk closer, like a comet drawn into a planet’s orbit, before she corrects her trajectory and walks away.

It’s refreshing, actually, that no matter where I go, jocks are king: hockey, basketball, football—it doesn’t matter. They’re all the same when they sit in groups in cafeterias and have adoring entourages around them at all times.

But at least I can count on them not speaking to me, thank god.

Maybe if I was in my “hot-girl summer” outfit from two schools ago they’d care, but I might as well be invisible for all the attention they pay me.

In a flash, I can see how the next two months will go: I’ll sit and read a book or scroll on my phone during lunch. In between classes, I’ll say hello to the one or two people who have deemed me interesting enough for small talk, but otherwise I’ll float through the day, do my assignments, and go home to … I haven’t figured out that part yet, but whatever it is, I’ll be doing it alone while Mom finishes up her twelve-hour workday.

I can see it so perfectly—and it’s a comfort, the whole coasting-while-figuring-out-a-hobby-and-life-direction thing—that I almost don’t notice when he sits beside me.

At first, I don’t see him at all. He’s handsome, sure, but lots of boys are handsome. He’s not a pattern disruptor. He’s stereotypically cute: curly darkish hair, brown eyes, tall, the kind of broad-shouldered that is probably half genetic, half a result of lifting weights.

I’m about to look away when he smiles at something one of the other boys says, and it makes me pause. There’s something about the way he smiles, a curve of the mouth that makes every cell inside me feel like it has been electrocuted at the same time.

I hardly know this feeling. It’s one I almost never have in a life that has been a rootless, patchwork existence of places and people I won’t ever see again.

It’s recognition.

And just like that, every plan, every persona, every me flies out the window and I am dragged—fingers clawing at dirt and hours and grains of sand in an hourglass—across space and time to an old oak tree, a broken wooden fence between his house and mine, and a pit of snails that we named Snailopolis.

Sam Jordan.

From In the Orbit of You, by Ashley Schumacher. Copyright © 2024 by the author, and reprinted with permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group

The post Read An Excerpt From ‘In The Orbit of You’ by Ashley Schumacher appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

I stole a bird.

Not a physical bird—it would be quite the feat to steal a member of a likely-extinct species—but the idea of a bird.

I should explain.

It’s September 2019. The world is blissfully unaware of the impending global pandemic, I am, perhaps less blissfully, avoiding a looming deadline, and John Green—citizen of the internet, YA author—has just released another episode of his essay-style podcast, The Anthropocene Reviewed. I’m listening to it in the kitchen of the one-bedroom apartment I share with my husband, convinced that I can justify the writing break if I scrub every nook and cranny of the countertops while I listen.

It should be noted that I was in the middle of drafting my sophomore novel, working title Full Flight, the autobiographical book I had been wrestling with in one form or another for nearly a decade. It’s done now, the book—there are advanced reader copies lined up on the shelf behind me as I write, now—so I should be able to look back on the writing of it with misremembered fondness, but I can’t. I remember all too well how the writing of it left me wrung out, how I repeated some version of the Hemingway quote, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed,” to myself as I fell into bed, anemic from deciding which memories I should twist into fiction and which I should allow to leak on the page fully realized.

I had been particularly distressed—and adamant—that I find a way to justify the books’ title. I had already been warned it could change, and it’s personal—so personal—that title, but my editor was concerned that sales and marketing would reject it and we should think of alternatives, just in case. (Because Full Flight could refer to the status of seats on a commercial airliner or an eagle soaring above mountains, but less obviously to a story about two misfits in high school marching band.)

Enter the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, the subject of episode twenty of John Green’s podcast.

In his essay, Green talks about the facts of the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō’s—how it was prized for its sleek, yellow feathers, how its call is a duet between mates, how the last pair known to exist was spotted in the early eighties and then, after a terrible hurricane, how the lone remaining Kauaʻi ʻōʻō’s song was recorded in 1986, never to be seen or heard again—but he also discusses the not-quite-facts, the in-betweens of reality and humanity’s tendency to personify things around us. Green talks about how the last bird of its kind, when it heard the ornithologist play the recording he had just taken of the one-sided duet, came flying back as if to say, “Do I know you? Do you know me?”

He was talking about this last pair of rare birds, but to me, all I could hear were Anna and Weston, the two main characters of my novel who spend all their page time looking for a safe place, a safe person, while perfecting the duet they share in marching band.

When I listened to Green’s essay, I had already written the line, “You must be able to play the duet as if you’re the only one playing. You need to be able to play around the silences.” It’s advice I was given in high school when I was learning my own duet and had argued with my band director that I could play just fine when I was playing with my partner.

But it took on a new meaning, the depth of playing and living around something, when the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō entered the picture. To conclude the episode, Green plays the only recording of the single Kauaʻi ʻōʻō before saying, “That’s the song. It’s supposed to be a duet. You can hear the silences, where the ʻōʻō still waits for a reply.”

And it was like a puzzle piece slid into place, listening to this recording of a bird lost to time. With the help of the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō , I, too, could play around the silences of my novel. I had a context, an aid in the form of a bird that may or may not be totally extinct. (The Kauaʻi ʻōʻō was thought extinct once before it’s rediscovery in the eighties.) I, too, could keep playing my half of the duet, even if I wasn’t sure anyone was listening. I included the bird in my novel, a fantastical version that follows my characters around, flitting from chapter to chapter. It seemed too important to leave the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō out of the narrative.

Green has talked at length about how his collection of essays is the most personal work from him yet, and I now know from the bone-dry experience of writing Full Flight how challenging it can be, leaving so much of yourself on the page.

But the relationship between writer and reader isn’t so different from the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō and its duet. We sing, writers. We sing and sing our part, hoping that somewhere, somehow, a reader will hear and know the other half.

Sometimes, writing the deeply personal is writing into somebody else’s silences when they aren’t able.

So I stole the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō.

Because John Green wrote into my silences.

Because I’m desperately trying to write into others.

Because I’m singing and hoping that I’ll hear a reply.

I got to keep the title, by the way. Nearly a year after completing the draft, the final cover design landed in my inbox, and there he was: My stolen Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, illustrated wings stretched wide as he took to the sky in full flight.

The post Ashley Schumacher on How Listening to a John Green Essay Fixed Her Novel appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

The YA genre is not holding back when it comes to 2022’s upcoming book releases! Between the months of January and June, readers are going to be delighted as to what they can get their hands on with books from favourite authors, to those making their debut!

From stories of love, magic, and mystery, to retellings, anthologies, and sequels, you will surely find several new reads to add to your TBR and we apologies in advance for adding to it!

Looking for more releases? Check out our Most Anticipated 2022 Releases and our Must-Have 2022 Queer Releases.

Read on to discover our picks and tell us in the comments below which ones you’re looking forward to!

JANUARY

When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord
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A bighearted novel about falling in love, making a mess, and learning to let go, When You Get the Chance is the next effervescent novel from Emma Lord, New York Times bestselling author of the Reese Witherspoon YA Book Club pick You Have a Match.

Hopepunk by Preston Norton
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A heartfelt and funny new novel about forgiveness and redemption, and about how hope is the ultimate act of rebellion, perfect for fans of John Green and Becky Albertalli.

The Red Palace by June Hur
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June Hur, critically acclaimed author of The Silence of Bones and The Forest of Stolen Girls, returns with The Red Palace—a third evocative, atmospheric historical mystery perfect for fans of Courtney Summers and Kerri Maniscalco.

Into The Midnight Void by Mara Fitzgerald
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Fans of Holly Black and Kendare Blake will obsess over the conclusion to this deliciously dark YA fantasy duology!

Serendipity, edited by Marissa Meyer
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From stories of first love, unrequited love, love that surprises, love that’s been there all along, 10 of the brightest and award-winning authors writing YA have taken on some of your favourite romantic tropes, embracing them and turning them on their heads. Readers will fall for this collection of stories that celebrate love at its most humorous, inclusive, heart-expanding, and serendipitous. Contributors include Elise Bryant, Elizabeth Eulberg, Leah Johnson, Anna-Marie McLemore, Marissa Meyer, Sandhya Menon, Julie Murphy, Caleb Roehrig, Sarah Winifred Searle, and Abigail Hing Wen.

Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker
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Kathryn Barker’s Waking Romeo is a spectacularly genre-bending retelling of Romeo & Juliet asking the big questions about true love, fate, and time travel

Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves by Meg Long
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Meg Long’s Cold the Night, Fast the Wolves is a captivating debut about survival, found family, and the bond between a girl and a wolf that delivers a fresh twist on classic survival stories and frontier myths.

Salaam, with Love by Sara Sharaf Beg
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This heartfelt and humorous YA contemporary follows Dua, who spends the month of Ramadan making unexpected discoveries about family, faith, and first love.

Ain’t Burned All the Bright by Jason Reynolds
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Prepare yourself for something unlike anything: A smash-up of art and text for teens that viscerally captures what it is to be Black. In America. Right Now. Written by #1 New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Jason Reynolds.

The Kindred by Alechia Dow
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To save a galactic kingdom from revolution, Kindred mind-pairings were created to ensure each and every person would be seen and heard, no matter how rich or poor…

Medusa by Jessie Burton
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A dazzling, feminist retelling of Greek myth from the internationally bestselling author of The Miniaturist, stunningly illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill.

Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz
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A gothic tale full of mystery and romance about a willful female surgeon, a resurrection man who sells bodies for a living, and the buried secrets they must uncover together.

FEBRUARY

And We Rise by Erica Martin
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A powerful, impactful, eye-opening journey that explores through the Civil Rights Movement in 1950s-1960s America in spare and evocative verse, with historical photos interspersed throughout.

Lulu and Milagro’s Search for Clarity by Angela Velez
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Booksmart meets Never Have I Ever in this Latinx road trip adventure—a big-hearted, voice-driven YA about two sisters who couldn’t be more different, but become begrudging partners on their school’s cross-country college trip—from debut author Angela Velez.

Bright Ruined Things by Samantha Cohoe
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Extasia by Claire Legrand
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From New York Times bestselling author Claire LeGrand comes a new, bone-chilling YA horror novel about a girl who joins a coven to root out a vicious evil that’s stalking her village. Perfect for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale and The Grace Year.

All the Right Reasons by Bethany Mangle
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The Bachelor meets Gilmore Girls in this laugh-out-loud young adult romance about a girl who joins her mother on a reality dating show for single parents—only to fall for a contestant’s son.

League of Liars by Astrid Scholte
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In this fantasy thriller, four teens charged with murder and the illegal use of magic band together to devise the ultimate jailbreak. Perfect for fans of Six of Crows and How to Get Away with Murder.

You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen
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In this compelling and thought-provoking debut novel, after a terrorist attack rocks the country and anti-Islamic sentiment stirs, three Black Muslim girls create a space where they can shatter assumptions and share truths.

Castles in Their Bones by Laura Sebastian
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A spellbinding story of three princesses and the destiny they were born for: seduction, conquest, and the crown. Immerse yourself in the first book in a new fantasy trilogy from the author of the New York Times bestselling Ash Princess series.

Full Flight by Ashley Schumacher
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A heartbreaking novel about finding your first love and what happens when it’s over too soon. Ashley Schumacher’s Full Flight is about how first love shapes us—even after it’s gone. 

Sunny G’s Series of Rash Decisions by Navdeep Singh Dhillon
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For fans of Sandhya Menon and Adam Silvera, a prom-night romantic-comedy romp about a Sikh teen’s search for love and identity

Only a Monster by Vanessa Len
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The sweeping romance of Passenger meets the dark fantasy edge of This Savage Song in this stunning contemporary fantasy debut from Vanessa Len, where the line between monster and hero is razor thin.

These Deadly Games by Diana Urban
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Author of All Your Twisted Secrets, Diana Urban’s explosive sophomore novel, These Deadly Games, will keep you riveted until the final twist is revealed.

MARCH

The One True Me and You by Remi K. England
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A big-hearted, joyful romance and a love letter to all things geek, Remi K. England’s The One True Me and You is a *witness me* celebration of standing up for, and being, yourself.

Debating Darcy by Sayantani DasGupta
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This Pride & Prejudice retelling brings New York Times bestselling Sayantani DasGupta’s trademark wit and insight to her bright and funny YA debut!

A Thousand Steps into Night by Traci Chee
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From New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award finalist, Traci Chee, comes a Japanese-influenced fantasy brimming with demons, adventure, and plans gone awry.

This Golden State by Marit Weisenberg
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Marit Weisenberg’s This Golden State follows a family on the run, a restless teenage daughter hungry for the truth, and the simple DNA test that threatens their carefully crafted world

Kiss & Tell by Adib Khorram
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A smart, sexy YA novel about a boy band star, his first breakup, his first rebound, and what it means to be queer in the public eye, from award-winning author Adib Khorram.

Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix by Aminah Mae Safi
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A ragtag band of misfits gets swept up in Holy Land politics in Travelers Along the Way by Aminah Mae Safi, a thrilling YA remix of the classic legend of Robin Hood.

Message Not Found by Dante Medema
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An emotionally complex portrayal of secrets, loss, and grief from Dante Medema, Indies Introduce author of the Indie Next Pick title The Truth Project. 

A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson
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From the author of Sing Me Forgotten comes a lush new fantasy novel with an art-based magic system, romance, and murder…

Love, Decoded by Jennifer Yen
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For fans of Jenny Han and Jane Austen, a rom-com that’s equal parts hilarious and heartfelt about the unexpected consequences of one teen’s quest to help her friends find love, from the author of A Taste for Love.

Cinder & Glass by Melissa de la Cruz
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Blockbuster author Melissa de la Cruz’s YA retelling of Cinderella, set in 17th Century Versailles.

The Book of Living Secrets by Madeleine Roux
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Perfect for fans of The Hazel Wood, this genre-bending page-turner from New York Times bestselling author Madeleine Roux follows two girls who transport themselves into the world of their favorite book only to encounter the sinister alternate reality that awaits them. 

A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft
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A romantic YA fantasy perfect for fans of Erin A. Craig and Margaret Rogerson, about two people who find themselves competing for glory – and each other’s hearts – in a magical fox hunt.

APRIL

Year on Fire by Julie Buxbaum
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What secrets will people keep—or reveal—to protect those they love? This novel, set against the frightening backdrop of an encroaching fire season, sparks reflection about friendship, the allure of romantic love, and loyalty to family.

This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke
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The Fountains of Silence meets Spinning Silver in this rollicking tale set amid the 1956 Hungarian revolution in post-WWII Communist Budapest from Sydney Taylor Honor winner Katherine Locke.

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf
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They Wish They Were Us meets The Queen’s Gambit in the world of competitive Scrabble when a teen girl is forced to investigate the mysterious death of her best friend a year after the fact when her Instagram comes back to life with cryptic posts and messages.

K-Pop Revolution by Stephan Lee
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She thought that debuting in a K-Pop band was the finish line, but it was only the beginning. Because now it’s not only her company judging her—it’s the entire world. If K-Pop Confidential was about finding your voice, K-pop Revolution is about finding the courage to stand by your beliefs, even when powerful forces are trying to shame and silence you.

My Dearest Darkest by Kayla Cottingham
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Wilder Girls meets The Craft in this Sapphic horror debut that asks: what price would you be willing to pay to achieve your deepest desires?

Some Mistakes Were Made by Kristin Dwyer
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Sarah Dessen meets Adam Silvera in the debut YA romance everyone is talking about!

Very Bad People by Kit Frick
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In this dark academia young adult thriller for fans of The Female of the Species and People Like Us, a teen girl’s search for answers about her mother’s mysterious death leads to a powerful secret society at her new boarding school—and a dangerous game of revenge that will leave her forever changed.

My Sister’s Big Fat Indian Wedding by Sajni Patel
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A fresh, witty rom-com romp set against the backdrop of a high-profile music competition and a riotous Indian wedding.

Flirting With Fate by J.C. Cervantes
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Jane the Virgin meets The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in New York Times bestselling author J.C. Cervantes’s charming, romantic YA debut.

This May End Badly by Samantha Markum
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When a high stakes boarding school prank war leads to a fake dating scheme, two teens must decide if they are ready to take the ultimate risk — falling in love.

The Genesis Wars by Akemi Dawn Bowman
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Black Mirror meets Marie Lu’s Warcross in Nami’s continuing adventures as she fights to free her friends in this high-stakes sequel to The Infinity Courts by award-winning author Akemi Dawn Bowman.

All the Best Liars by Amelia Kahaney
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Amelia Kahaney’s All the Best Liars is a dark, modern psychological thriller and coming-of-age story about obsession, manipulation, and the intensity of those first friendships that take hold of you and never let go

MAY

See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon
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From the author of Today Tonight Tomorrow comes a magical romance in the vein of Groundhog Day about a girl forced to relive her disastrous first day of college—only to discover that her nemesis is stuck in the time loop with her.

Together We Burn by Isabel Ibañez
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An ancient city plagued by dragons. A flamenco dancer determined to save her ancestral home. A dragon hunter refusing to teach her his ways. They don’t want each other, but they need each other, and without him her world will burn.

Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino
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Salem’s Lot meets The Darkest Part of the Forest in this horror-fantasy retelling of Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market.”

A Show for Two by Tashie Bhuiyan
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New from the author of Counting Down with You comes a sparkling YA romance about an aspiring screenwriter who falls for the indie film star who goes undercover at her school.

The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson
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Who killed Brooke Donovan? It’s the biggest mystery of the summer, and everyone in Castle Cove thinks it’s the wrong guy. Fans of One of Us Is Lying and Riverdale can’t miss this page-turning who-done-it that’s sure to be the next must read Young Adult thriller!

The Summer of Bitter and Sweet by Jen Ferguson
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In this complex and emotionally resonant novel about a Métis girl living on the Canadian prairies, debut author Jen Ferguson serves up a powerful story about rage, secrets, and all the spectrums that make up a person—and the sweetness that can still live alongside the bitterest truth.

Destination Unknown by Bill Konigsberg
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From Stonewall Award winner Bill Konigsberg, a remarkable, funny, sexy, heartbreaking story of two teen boys finding each other in New York City at the height of the AIDS epidemic.

Murder for the Modern Girl by Kendall Kulper
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Gatsby-era glamour, a swoon-worthy love story, and an indomitable heroine dazzle in this romp that captures the extravagance of the Roaring Twenties and the dangers of vigilante justice.

Love Radio by Ebony LaDelle
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Hitch meets The Sun Is Also a Star in this witty and romantic teen novel about a self-professed teen love doctor with a popular radio segment who believes he can get a girl who hates all things romance to fall in love with him in only three dates.

Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho
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What would you do if the world’s biggest K-pop star asked you to prom? Perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sandhya Menon, this hilarious and heartfelt novel brings the glamour and drama of the K-pop world straight to high school.

All Signs Point to Yes, edited by G. Haron Davis, Cam Montgomery, and Adrianne White
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A YA anthology of love stories for each of the star signs that will showcase multicultural characters and celebrate the myriad facets of love, from meet-cutes to the lesser-explored love expressed by aromantic people, featuring 13 bestselling and award-winning multicultural authors.

A Cruel and Fated Light by Ashley Shuttleworth
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Half-fae Arlo becomes entangled in the courtly intrigue at the Seelie Summer palace as danger for ironborns mounts in this gripping sequel to A Dark and Hollow Star that’s The Cruel Prince meets City of Bones.

JUNE

Our Crooked Hearts by Melissa Albert
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Secrets. Lies. Super-bad choices. Witchcraft. This is Our Crooked Hearts, a darkly gripping contemporary fantasy from Melissa Albert, the New York Times bestselling author of The Hazel Wood

The Song That Moves the Sun by Anna Bright
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This sweeping YA fantasy romance full of star-crossed love, complex female friendship, and astrological magic is perfect for fans of Laini Taylor, Alexandra Bracken, and V.E. Schwab. From the acclaimed author of The Beholder.

This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede
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Emily Thiede’s exciting fantasy debut, This Vicious Grace, will keep readers turning the pages until the devastating conclusion and leave them primed for more!

Blade Breaker by Victoria Aveyard
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In the sequel to Victoria Aveyard’s instant #1 New York Times bestselling Realm Breaker, a divided world must rally, an unstoppable enemy must be defeated, and the fate of the world rests on a blade’s edge.

This Place Is Still Beautiful by XiXi Tian
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A sweeping debut novel about first love, complicated family dynamics, and the pernicious legacy of racism. Perfect for fans of Tahereh Mafi, Jandy Nelson, and Emily X.R. Pan, with crossover appeal for readers of Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half and Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You.

Valiant Ladies by Melissa Grey
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Two teen vigilantes set off on an action-packed investigation to expose corruption and deliver justice in Valiant Ladies, Melissa Grey’s YA historical fiction novel inspired by real seventeenth century Latinx teenagers known as the Valiant Ladies of Potosí.

Rise of the Vicious Princess by C.J. Redwine
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The first in a YA political fantasy duology about a fierce princess determined to bring lasting peace to her kingdom regardless of the cost to her heart —from C.J. Redwine, the author of the Defiance series and the New York Times bestselling Ravenspire series. Perfect for fans of These Violent Delights, And I Darken, and Ash Princess.

Stealing Infinity by Alyson Noel
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The Dream Runners by Shveta Thakrar
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Go Hunt Me by Kelly deVos
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For Dracula lovers and fans of Diana Urban’s All Your Twisted Secrets, this spine-tingling thriller follows seven horror buffs as their dream trip to a remote Romanian castle turns into a nightmare when they begin to be killed one by one.

Game of Strength and Storm by Rachel Menard
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Game of Strength and Storm is a YA gender-bent Hercules retelling. Teenagers of Olympia Gen and Castor race to be the first to complete six nearly impossible challenges to obtain their greatest desire. Only one will win. The other walks away with nothing—if she walks away at all.

Bad Things Happen Here by Rebecca Barrow
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I Killed Zoe Spanos meets The Cheerleaders in this haunting mystery about an island town with a history of unsolved deaths—and a girl desperate to uncover the mystery behind it all.

What 2022 YA book releases are you looking forward to? Tell us in the comments below!

The post 72 Upcoming YA Book Releases To Add To Your TBR appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

If you are looking for a YA contemporary romance featuring a booklover and an author with an instant hate-to-love relationship, this book is the perfect fit for you.

Amelia is a recent high school graduate who’s decided that she is going to follow her best friend Jenna’s master plan on what college they’ll attend and what they’ll study. She thinks she has it all figured out, but upon getting into an argument with Jenna that isn’t resolved before Jenna’s unexpected death, she starts to wonder if the path she’s on is really the one for her.

This book starts out at a book festival, and for some of us, we can only dream of being at an in-person book festival again. Amelia and Jenna are waiting for an event with Amelia’s favourite author, N. E. Endsley, to begin so that she can finally meet him and have her book signed. Taking a quick bathroom break, Amelia returns to find out from her best friend and the festival announcer that Endsley’s event has been canceled. It isn’t until their drive home that Amelia finds out Jenna was the reason behind it.

To start, I love drama between friends in books. Perfect relationships don’t exist, and they won’t be believable, in my opinion, if there isn’t a little bit of trouble between the characters. That said, I unexpectedly didn’t like the drama the author created between Amelia and Jenna. It was like reading a badly scripted scene, but I was actually able to hear it in my head and also imagine it. I was a little put off when Amelia got seriously upset with Jenna for consoling someone in the midst of an obvious breakdown. She made it seem like, even though Endsley wasn’t mentally fit to be at the festival, it didn’t matter because she was more important and should’ve been able to meet him. It made me type “Life isn’t all about you, Amelia!” in my notes.

Moving forward, I was very excited when Amelia decided to take an unplanned trip to Michigan to figure out where a mysterious book–that had been shipped to her at her town’s bookstore–came from. Upon arriving at the bookstore in Michigan that the package had stated the book was from, no one gives her the answers she’s looking for. Amelia finds instead an adorable and inviting bookshop with a snappy (in a good way) owner and her skeptical son, along with a slightly overbearing but cute dog named Wally.

This section was quite enjoyable and I think the “mystery” of the bookshop, the unusual 101st copy of Amelia’s favourite book, and the sudden appearance of N. E. Endsley in this small Michigan town were placed and developed well. I was really ensnared in the book at this point, and though Amelia did grind my gears at some points, I thought that Schumacher really did a great job in writing this section.

Unfortunately, past this point is when I felt that things started to go downhill again. The pacing started off well, but then it started to progressively become slower. I’m not the biggest fan, personally, of slower-paced books and began to get bored from it. Along with this, Amelia’s character became pretty frustrating. At multiple points within the book, I felt she was just hanging around Endsley because she wanted to know more about his books in general, as well as her 101st copy. To add to that, she called him “troubled” when referring to his mental crisis back at the book festival. As someone who has mental disorders and lives with them every day, I hate that. It makes me feel like nothing more than someone who needs to be watched 24/7, almost like a dog. And with this, Amelia never once felt regret over how she placed the guilt for Endsley’s mental health disallowing her from originally meeting him on Jenna before her death.

Surprisingly enough, once I got to the ending of the book, I actually felt that the book got much better. Amelia became less insufferable, the romance aspect of the book didn’t feel as forced as it had in the middle of the story, a bit of humour was actually picked up, and the pacing instantly sped up. I was a little disappointed with the epilogue just being a summary of things that happen after their teen years, but overall, it wasn’t that bad!

Amelia Unabridged is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of February 16th 2021.

Will you be picking up Amelia Unabridged? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Eighteen-year-old Amelia Griffin is obsessed with the famous Orman Chronicles, written by the young and reclusive prodigy N. E. Endsley. They’re the books that brought her and her best friend Jenna together after Amelia’s father left and her family imploded. So when Amelia and Jenna get the opportunity to attend a book festival with Endsley in attendance, Amelia is ecstatic. It’s the perfect way to start off their last summer before college.

In a heartbeat, everything goes horribly wrong. When Jenna gets a chance to meet the author and Amelia doesn’t, the two have a blowout fight like they’ve never experienced. And before Amelia has a chance to mend things, Jenna is killed in a freak car accident. Grief-stricken, and without her best friend to guide her, Amelia questions everything she had planned for the future.

When a mysterious, rare edition of the Orman Chronicles arrives, Amelia is convinced that it somehow came from Jenna. Tracking the book to an obscure but enchanting bookstore in Michigan, Amelia is shocked to find herself face-to-face with the enigmatic and handsome N. E. Endsley himself, the reason for Amelia’s and Jenna’s fight and perhaps the clue to what Jenna wanted to tell her all along.

Ashley Schumacher’s devastating and beautiful debut, Amelia Unabridged, is about finding hope and strength within yourself, and maybe, just maybe, falling in love while you do it.

The post Review: Amelia Unabridged by Ashley Schumacher appeared first on The Nerd Daily.