Prepare yourselves because this list of 2021 young adult book releases will see you adding several to your TBR! With new releases from favourites, such as Kristin Cashore, Neal Shusterman, Cassandra Clare, and Julie Murphy, as well as debuts from the likes of Ellie Eaton, Angeline Boulley, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, and many more! Plus, the YA genre is absolutely delivering with gorgeous covers!

Want more 2021 book releases? Check out our list of Most Anticipated releases, Fantasy and Sci-Fi releases, Queer releases, and Queer SFF releases.

Read on to discover our January to June 2021 releases and tell us what you’re looking forward to in the comments below!

JANUARY

Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink
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A historical YA novel that takes place during the Greenwood Massacre of 1921, in an area of Tulsa, OK, known as the Black Wall Street.

The Divines by Ellie Eaton
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With the emotional power of Normal People and the reflective haze of The Girls, a compulsively readable literary debut set in a secluded boarding school, exploring the intoxicating, destructive relationships between teenage girls. 

Roman and Jewel by Dana L. Davis
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If Romeo and Juliet got the Hamilton treatment…who would play the leads? This vividly funny, honest, and charming romantic novel by Dana L. Davis is the story of a girl who thinks she has what it takes…and the world thinks so, too.

You Have a Match by Emma Lord
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From the beloved author of Tweet Cute comes Emma Lord’s You Have a Match, a YA novel of family, friendship, romance and sisterhood…

Cast in Firelight by Dana Swift
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The first book in an epic, heart-pounding fantasy duology about two royal heirs betrothed to be married, but whose loyalties are torn, and a ruthless enemy who threatens their world, perfect for fans of Sabaa Tahir, Hafsah Faizal, and Renée Ahdieh.

Winterkeep (Graceling Realm #4) by Kristin Cashore
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The highly anticipated next book in the New York Times bestselling, award-winning Graceling Realm series, which has sold 1.3 million copies.

Crown of Bones by A.K. Wilder
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For fans of epic fantasies and sweeping adventures, this ensemble cast will immerse you in a world of unique magic, breathtaking action and unforgettable characters.

Glimpsed by G. F. Miller
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Perfect for fans of Geekerella and Jenn Bennett, this charming, sparkly rom-com follows a wish-granting teen forced to question if she’s really doing good—and if she has the power to make her own dreams come true.

FEBRUARY

What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo
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Rose Szabo’s thrilling debut is a dark and thrilling novel about a teen girl who returns home to her strange, wild family after years of estrangement, perfect for fans of Wilder Girls. 

The Girl from Shadow Springs by Ellie Cypher
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The Revenant meets True Grit with a magical twist in this thrilling and atmospheric debut fantasy about two teens who must brave a frozen wasteland and the foes within it to save their loved ones and uncover a deadly secret.

Of Silver and Shadow by Jennifer Gruenke
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Ren Kolins is a silver wielder—a dangerous thing to be in the kingdom of Erdis, where magic has been outlawed for a century. But when a wealthy rebel leader discovers her secret, he offers her a fortune to join his revolution. The caveat: she won’t see a single coin until they overthrow the King.

A Pho Love Story by Loan Le
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When Dimple Met Rishi meets Ugly Delicious in this funny, smart romantic comedy, in which two Vietnamese-American teens fall in love and must navigate their newfound relationship amid their families’ age-old feud about their competing, neighbouring restaurants.

As Far as You’ll Take Me by Phil Stamper
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The author of The Gravity of Us crafts another heartfelt coming-of-age story about finding the people who become your home–perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli.

Game Changer by Neal Shusterman
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This high-concept novel from the National Book Award-winning and New York Times-bestselling author of the Arc of a Scythe series tackles the most urgent themes of our time, making this a must-buy for readers who are starting to ask big questions about their own role in the universe.

Love Is a Revolution by Renée Watson
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From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Rene Watson comes a new YA–a love story about not only a romantic relationship but how a girl finds herself and falls in love with who she really is. 

Love Is for Losers by Wibke Brueggemann
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This is a laugh-out-loud exploration of sexuality, family, female friendship, grief, and community. With the heart and hilarity of Netflix’s critically-acclaimed Sex Education, Wibke Brueggemann’s sex positive debut is required reading for Generation Z teens. Think of this as Bridget Jones’ Diary, if it were written by Bridget’s daughter.

MARCH

Lost in the Never Woods by Aiden Thomas
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When children go missing, people want answers. When children go missing in the small coastal town of Astoria, people look to Wendy for answers. 

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
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Debut author Angeline Boulley crafts a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange. 

The Stolen Kingdom by Jillian Boehme
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Nothing is quite as it seems in this thrilling YA fantasy adventure by Jillian Boehme, The Stolen Kingdom!

Sing Me Forgotten by Jessica S. Olson
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Cast into a well at birth for being one of the magical few who can manipulate memories when people sing, she was saved by Cyril, the opera house’s owner. Since that day, he has given her sanctuary from the murderous world outside. All he asks in return is that she use her power to keep ticket sales high—and that she stay out of sight. For if anyone discovers she survived, Isda and Cyril would pay with their lives.

Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
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The wolves are circling and a young king will face his greatest challenge in the explosive finale of the instant #1 New York Times-bestselling King of Scars Duology.

The Bright and the Pale by Jessica Rubinkowski
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Debut author Jessica Rubinkowski delivers the thrilling first book in an epic Russian folklore–inspired fantasy duology filled with page-turning romance, tragedy, magic, and monsters. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo and Sara Raasch!

Chain of Iron by Cassandra Clare
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The Shadowhunters must catch a killer in Edwardian London in this dangerous and romantic sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling novel Chain of Gold, from New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Cassandra Clare. 

American Betiya by Anuradha D. Rajurkar
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Fans of Sandhya Menon, Erika Sanchez and Jandy Nelson will identify with this powerful story of a young artist grappling with first love, family boundaries, and the complications of a cross-cultural relationship.

APRIL

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni
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From bestselling author Lynette Noni comes a dark, thrilling YA fantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, and Sabaa Tahir.

The Mary Shelley Club by Goldy Moldavsky
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New York Times–bestselling author Goldy Moldavsky delivers a deliciously twisty YA thriller that’s Scream meets Karen McManus about a mysterious club with an obsession for horror.

In Deeper Waters by F.T. Lukens
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A young prince must rely on a mysterious stranger to save him when he is kidnapped during his coming-of-age tour in this swoony adventure that is The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue meets Pirates of the Caribbean.

Kisses and Croissants by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau
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As sweet as a macaron from Laduree, with writing as crisp as a freshly baked baguette, this romantic novel set in Paris about an American ballerina and a charming French boy is parfait for fans of American Royals and Netflix’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.

Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet by Laekan Zea Kemp
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I’m Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter meets Emergency Contact in this stunning story of first love, familial expectations, the power of food, and finding where you belong.

What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson
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An exhilarating, emotionally powerful and superbly written thriller that’s Winter’s Bone meets The Road.

My Epic Spring Break-Up by Kristin Rockaway
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A fun and upbeat paperback original romance about a girl who finds a cheat sheet for love.

Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O’Neal
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Teen Wolf meets Emergency Contact in this sharply observed, hilarious, and heartwarming debut young adult novel about friendship and the hairy side of chronic illness. 

MAY

The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He
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One of the most twisty, surprising, engaging page-turner YAs you’ll read this year—We Were Liars with sci-fi scope, Lost with a satisfying resolution.

Baby & Solo by Lisabeth Posthuma
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Joel’s new job at the video store is just what the therapist ordered. But what happens if the first true friend he’s made in years finds out about What Was Wrong With Him?

Sixteen Scandals by Sophie Jordan
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In this irreverent regency romp by New York Times best-selling author Sophie Jordan, newly minted sixteen-year-old Primrose Ainsworth finds herself on a wayward birthday adventure through London with a mysterious hero—perfect for fans of My Lady Jane.

Pumpkin by Julie Murphy
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Return to the beloved world of Julie Murphy’s #1 New York Times bestselling Dumplin’—now a popular Netflix feature film starring Jennifer Aniston—in this fabulously joyful, final companion novel about drag, prom, and embracing your inner Queen.

Off the Record by Camryn Garrett
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The behind-the-scenes access of Almost Famous meets the searing revelations of #metoo in this story of a teen journalist who uncovers the scandal of the decade.

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
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Crazy Rich Asians meets The Princess Diaries in this irresistible story about Izumi, a Japanese-American girl who discovers her senior year of high school that she’s really a princess of Japan.

Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan
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In this sparkling and romantic YA debut, a reserved Bangladeshi teenager has twenty-eight days to make the biggest decision of her life after agreeing to fake date her school’s resident bad boy.

Not My Problem by Ciara Smyth
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Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Nina LaCour, this queer coming-of-age story from the author of The Falling in Love Montage is wry, multilayered, and unflinchingly honest.

JUNE

Eat Your Heart Out by Kelly deVos
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Shaun of the Dead meets Dumplin’ in this bitingly funny YA thriller about a kickass group of teens battling a ravenous group of zombies.

Daughter of Sparta by Claire M. Andrews
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A reinterpretation of the classic Greek myth of Daphne and Apollo, Daughter of Sparta by debut author Claire Andrews turns the traditionally male-dominated mythology we know into a heart-pounding and empowering female-led adventure.

The Ghosts We Keep by Mason Deaver
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Perfect for fans of Adam Silvera and Becky Albertalli, this book will rip your heart out before showing you how to heal from tragedy and celebrate life in the process.

Sisters of the Snake by Sasha Nanua and Sarena Nanua
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Deadly magic, hidden temples, and dark prophecies: Sisters of the Snake is an action-packed, immersive fantasy that will thrill fans of The Crown’s Game and The Tiger at Midnight. 

Simone Breaks All the Rules by Debbie Rigaud
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Late bloomers unite! This fresh and funny #ownvoices novel from rising star Debbie Rigaud is perfect for fans of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Booksmart.

A Season of Sinister Dreams by Tracy Banghart
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Furyborn meets A Curse So Dark and Lonely in this courtly feminist fantasy from Grace and Fury author Tracy Banghart.

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
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Gossip Girl meets Get Out in Ace of Spades, a YA contemporary thriller by debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé about two students, Devon & Chiamaka, and their struggles against an anonymous bully. 

We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon
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A wedding harpist disillusioned with love and a hopeless romantic cater-waiter flirt and fight their way through a summer of weddings in this effervescent romantic comedy from the acclaimed author of Today Tonight Tomorrow.

What YA books are you looking forward to releasing between January and June 2021? Tell us in the comments below!

The post 2021 YA Book Releases You Need To Have On Your TBR appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Read on to discover a few of our January picks and tell us in the comments below if you will be checking any of them out!

Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor
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An alien artifact turns a young girl into Death’s adopted daughter in Remote Control, a thrilling sci-fi tale of community and female empowerment from Nebula and Hugo Award-winner Nnedi Okorafor.

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
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A delicious twist on a Gothic classic, Rachel Hawkins’s The Wife Upstairs pairs Southern charm with atmospheric domestic suspense, perfect for fans of B.A. Paris and Megan Miranda.

The Divines by Ellie Eaton
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

With the emotional power of Normal People and the reflective haze of The Girls, a compulsively readable literary debut set in a secluded boarding school, exploring the intoxicating, destructive relationships between teenage girls. 

The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon
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Public radio co-hosts navigate mixed signals in Rachel Lynn Solomon’s sparkling romantic comedy debut.

The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick
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Darkly magical and intricately imagined, The Mask of Mirrors is the unmissable start to the Rook & Rose trilogy, a rich and dazzling fantasy adventure in which a con artist, a vigilante, and a crime lord must unite to save their city.

The Perfect Guests by Emma Rous
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The USA Today bestselling author of The Au Pair returns with another delicious, twisty novel–about a grand estate with many secrets, an orphan caught in a web of lies, and a young woman playing a sinister game.

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
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Artemis Fowl meets Men in Black in this exhilarating debut middle grade fantasy, the first in a trilogy filled with #blackgirlmagic. Perfect for fans of Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky, the Percy Jackson series, and Nevermoor.

The Frozen Crown by Greta Kelly
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A princess with a powerful and dangerous secret must find a way to save her country from ruthless invaders in this exciting debut fantasy, the first novel in a thrilling duology packed with heroism, treachery, magic, and war.

Be Dazzled by Ryan La Sala
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Project Runway goes to Comic Con in an epic queer love story about creativity, passion, and finding the courage to be your most authentic self.

Angel of Greenwood by Randi Pink
Goodreads | Amazon | Book Depository

A historical YA novel that takes place during the Greenwood Massacre of 1921, in an area of Tulsa, OK, known as the Black Wall Street.

If I Tell You the Truth by Jasmin Kaur
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Told in prose, poetry, and illustration, this heartrending story weaves Kiran’s and Sahaara’s timelines together, showing a teenage Kiran and, later, her high school–aged daughter, Sahaara.

Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews
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From award-winning author, Ilona Andrews, an all-new novel set in the New York Times #1 bestselling Kate Daniels World and featuring Julie Lennart-Olsen, Kate and Curran’s ward.

What January 2021 releases are you looking forward to? Tell us in the comments below!

The post January 2021 Book Releases appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

“Divines could be cruel, conceited, arcane, but we were faithful to the end. We sobbed and hugged one another. Forever, we promised, always. Nothing could break us apart, proving in the end how much we underestimated Gerry. We swore on our lives. We crossed our hearts.”

Ellie Eaton’s compelling debut is a study into how we constantly reshape our memories in order to make them fit better with the personal identities we are trying to build in the present. Any inaccuracies between who we used to be and who we are tend to be altered in order to create a more harmonious image of our self. And when trauma is also involved, can we really trust our memories to tell the real story? That’s what The Divines is trying to explore in addition to the Boarding School Syndrome, which is related to the long-term effects of attending a boarding school such as depression, anxiety, difficulties in forming and maintaining relationships, and even amnesia.

Josephine is newly married, she has a promising career as a freelance journalist, and her future looks so bright that she seemingly has no reason to dwell on the past. A spontaneous visit to her old boarding school will change everything and propel her on a journey of introspection and self-inspection. It will motivate her to reflect on the experiences that built her personality and made her who she is as an adult. She will think back almost obsessively on her classmates, the Divines with their pretentiousness, the way they isolated themselves, looked down on anyone from the outside, their odd traditions and lastly, the scandals that lead to the school closure. When she gets the opportunity to reunite with some of them, she will seize it and try to understand more about her past self and what really went down back then.

The students of St John The Divine are very privileged, they all come from rich families that pay ridiculous tuitions to the school and because of that, the teachers are extremely lenient on them. They let the girls get away with absolutely everything from taunting the school staff relentlessly to smoking and drinking on school grounds without ever being truly punished, they have no regard for the rules or for any authority. The antagonism between the Divines and the ‘townies’ (as the locals are called) made it even more apparent that the girls have no grasp of the real world or the struggles of everyone else because of their entitlement. They have nothing but disdain for anyone who is less than Divine and being Divine comes with speaking and acting in a certain way, owning fancy clothes and having boyish names. Because of this unity and even uniformity, the only characters that leave a lasting impression on Josephine are Gerry Lake who is the outcast of their class and Lauren, a townie that she befriends specifically because she comes from a different background and she isn’t easily impressed by the antics of the Divines. These two characters are the only ones that stir up trouble by not confining to the rules and standards set by the Divines, but there are definitely consequences for their actions.

What set this book apart from the others in the dark academia sub-genre is the emphasis on character development, the negative effects of such an elitist education, and the introspective process that an adult who went to a boarding school might go through, especially when faced with the important decision of choosing the right type of education for their own children rather than the usual themes of mystery, murder, and violence. It doesn’t completely shy away from these later subjects, but it definitely focuses more on human relationships and the psychology behind dark academia. The writing is lyrical and mesmerising, and the twists and the mysterious atmosphere will definitely keep you turning the pages in search for answers. There are some conflicts and plotlines that are build up and teased ceaselessly only to have some very unsatisfying and unforeseeable conclusions. Until you realise how unreliable the narrator really is, you might feel a bit tricked by those turns of events.

The Divines is a bold debut that shows us that memory can be way trickier than we think. It is a gritty study into how our identities are built, how our formative years impact us, and how our past will always influence us in ways that we might not even be aware of. The seemingly effortless way of building suspense, the beautiful writing, and the complex psychological themes that are addressed in this book will certainly convince you that Ellie Eaton is an author to watch.

The Divines is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of January 19th 2021.

Will you be picking up The Divines? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

With the emotional power of Normal People and the reflective haze of The Girls, a compulsively readable literary debut set in a secluded boarding school, exploring the intoxicating, destructive relationships between teenage girls.

Can we ever really escape our past?

The girls of St John the Divine, an elite English boarding school, were notorious for flipping their hair, harassing teachers, chasing boys, and chain-smoking cigarettes. They were fiercely loyal, sharp-tongued, and cuttingly humorous in the way that only teenage girls can be. For Josephine, now in her thirties, the years at St John were a lifetime ago. She hasn’t spoken to another Divine in fifteen years, not since the day the school shuttered its doors in disgrace.

Yet now Josephine inexplicably finds herself returning to her old stomping grounds. The visit provokes blurry recollections of those doomed final weeks that rocked the community. Ruminating on the past, Josephine becomes obsessed with her teenage identity and the forgotten girls of her one-time orbit. With each memory that resurfaces, she circles closer to the violent secret at the heart of the school’s scandal. But the more Josephine recalls, the further her life unravels, derailing not just her marriage and career, but her entire sense of self.

Moving between present-day Los Angeles and 1990s Britain, The Divines is a scorching examination of the power of adolescent sexuality, female identity, and the destructive class divide. Exposing the tension between the lives we lead as adults and the experiences that form us, Eaton probes us to consider how our memories as adults compel us to reexamine our pasts.

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