Contemporaries seem to go hand in hand with warm and sunny weather, delving into the often at times complicated lives of everyday people. Contemporaries are great reads because there are so many different takes on the genre. There are no two books alike in this genre and with the new focus on #ownvoices authors, contemporaries are now touching on more and more societal issues. To find your next contemporary read, check out this list of 10 must read contemporaries of 2020!

Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen
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When eighteen-year-old Ever Wong’s parents send her from Ohio to Taiwan to study Mandarin for the summer, she finds herself thrust among the very over-achieving kids her parents have always wanted her to be, including Rick Woo, the Yale-bound prodigy profiled in the Chinese newspapers since they were nine—and her parents’ yardstick for her never-measuring-up life.

Unbeknownst to her parents, however, the program is actually an infamous teen meet-market nicknamed Loveboat, where the kids are more into clubbing than calligraphy and drinking snake-blood sake than touring sacred shrines.

Free for the first time, Ever sets out to break all her parents’ uber-strict rules—but how far can she go before she breaks her own heart?

Echoes Between Us by Katie McGarry
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Echoes Between Us is bestselling author Katie McGarry’s breakout teen contemporary novel about a girl with everything to lose and the boy who will do anything to save her.

Veronica sees ghosts. More specifically, her mother’s ghost. The afterimages of blinding migraines caused by the brain tumor that keeps her on the fringes and consumes her whole life haunt her, even as she wonders if it’s something more…

Golden boy Sawyer is handsome and popular, a state champion swimmer, but his adrenaline addiction draws him to Veronica.

A girl with nothing to live for and a boy with everything to lose–can they conquer their demons together?

Jane Anonymous by Laurie Faria Stolarz
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Bestselling author Laurie Faria Stolarz returns with Jane Anonymous, a gripping tale of a seventeen-year-old girl’s kidnapping and her struggle to fit back into her life after she escapes.

Then, “Jane” was just your typical 17-year-old in a typical New England suburb getting ready to start her senior year. She had a part-time job she enjoyed, an awesome best friend, overbearing but loving parents, and a crush on a boy who was taking her to see her favorite band. She never would’ve imagined that in her town where nothing ever happens, a series of small coincidences would lead to a devastating turn of events that would forever change her life.

Now, it’s been three months since “Jane” escaped captivity and returned home. Three months of being that girl who was kidnapped, the girl who was held by a “monster.” Three months of writing down everything she remembered from those seven months locked up in that stark white room. But, what if everything you thought you knew―everything you thought you experienced―turned out to be a lie?

If You Only Knew by Prerna Pickett
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A boy recently released from jail and the daughter of a prosecutor fall for each other against the odds in this YA novel.

Corey has just been released from jail, and all he wants is a new beginning. But when his former gang comes knocking, Corey agrees to vandalize the home of Kent Hopper, the prosecutor who put him away.

To erase the guilt she carries from getting away with a crime, Tessa spends most of her nights riding her motorcycle. When she catches Corey destroying her father’s car, she doesn’t see a criminal: She sees a way to finally right her own wrongs. So instead of turning Corey over to the police, she convinces her father to give Corey a second chance.

As Tessa and Corey spend more time with each other, it becomes difficult to ignore the pull between them. But they’re both keeping secrets, and when those secrets come to light, they’ll each have to face their demons in order to have a future together.

Harley in the Sky by Akemi Dawn Bowman
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Harley Milano has dreamed of being a trapeze artist for as long as she can remember. With parents who run a famous circus in Las Vegas, she spends almost every night in the big top watching their lead aerialist perform, wishing with all her soul that she could be up there herself one day.

After a huge fight with her parents, who continue to insist she go to school instead, Harley leaves home, betrays her family and joins the rival traveling circus Maison du Mystère. There, she is thrust into a world that is both brutal and beautiful, where she learns the value of hard work, passion and collaboration. But at the same time, Harley must come to terms with the truth of her family and her past—and reckon with the sacrifices she made and the people she hurt in order to follow her dreams.

The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson
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For fans of Thirteen Reasons Why, This Is How It Ends, and All the Bright Places, comes a new novel about life after. How do you put yourself back together when it seems like you’ve lost it all?

May is a survivor. But she doesn’t feel like one. She feels angry. And lost. And alone. Eleven months after the school shooting that killed her twin brother, May still doesn’t know why she was the only one to walk out of the band room that day. No one gets what she went through–no one saw and heard what she did. No one can possibly understand how it feels to be her.

Zach lost his old life when his mother decided to defend the shooter. His girlfriend dumped him, his friends bailed, and now he spends his time hanging out with his little sister…and the one faithful friend who stuck around. His best friend is needy and demanding, but he won’t let Zach disappear into himself. Which is how Zach ends up at band practice that night. The same night May goes with her best friend to audition for a new band.

Which is how May meets Zach. And how Zach meets May. And how both might figure out that surviving could be an option after all.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
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From Stonewall and Lambda Award-winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.

Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.

When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle….

But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.

Felix Ever After is an honest and layered story about identity, falling in love, and recognizing the love you deserve.

Last Girls by Demetra Brodsky
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No one knows how the world will end. On a secret compound in the Washington wilderness, Honey Juniper and her sisters are training to hunt, homestead, and protect their own.

Prepare for every situation. But when danger strikes from within, putting her sisters at risk, training becomes real life, and only one thing is certain: Nowhere is safe.

Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon
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The Hating Game meets Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by way of Morgan Matson in this unforgettable romantic comedy about two rival overachievers whose relationship completely transforms over the course of twenty-four hours.

Today, she hates him.

It’s the last day of senior year. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been bitter rivals for all of high school, clashing on test scores, student council elections, and even gym class pull-up contests. While Rowan, who secretly wants to write romance novels, is anxious about the future, she’d love to beat her infuriating nemesis one last time.

Tonight, she puts up with him.

When Neil is named valedictorian, Rowan has only one chance at victory: Howl, a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle, a farewell tour of the city she loves. But after learning a group of seniors is out to get them, she and Neil reluctantly decide to team up until they’re the last players left—and then they’ll destroy each other.

As Rowan spends more time with Neil, she realizes he’s much more than the awkward linguistics nerd she’s sparred with for the past four years. And, perhaps, this boy she claims to despise might actually be the boy of her dreams.

Tomorrow…maybe she’s already fallen for him.

Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia & Anna-Marie McLemore
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There hasn’t been a winner of the Miss Meteor beauty pageant who looks like Lita Perez or Chicky Quintanilla in all its history. But that’s not the only reason Lita wants to enter the contest, or why her ex-best friend Chicky wants to help her. The road to becoming Miss Meteor isn’t about being perfect; it’s about sharing who you are with the world—and loving the parts of yourself no one else understands. So to pull off the unlikeliest underdog story in pageant history, Lita and Chicky are going to have to forget the past and imagine a future where girls like them are more than enough—they are everything.

Witty and heartfelt with characters that leap off the page, Miss Meteor is acclaimed authors Anna-Marie McLemore’s and Tehlor Kay Mejia’s first book together.

What 2020 YA contemporaries are you looking forward to? Tell us in the comments below!

The post 10 Must-Read YA Contemporaries of 2020 appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

In January 2019, author Katie McGarry released her latest YA contemporary/romance Only A Breath Apart to rave reviews. In January 2020 she is back with her novel, Echoes Between Us, which is a companion novel to OABA, and focuses on the mysterious V and set slightly after the events of its spiritual predecessor. A haunting tale of love, loss, and the things we do for the ones we care about, Nerd Daily contributor Tasha Leigh sat down for a second time with Katie to ask her all about her upcoming release.

Hello again Katie! Thank you so much for sitting down again and answering my questions! So it has been almost 12 months since Only A Breath Apart was released into the world. How has your audience received Jesse’s story?

Readers seem to love Jesse just as much as I loved writing him! One quote I kept seeing from readers was when Jesse told V in regards to Scarlett: “I think I was born in love with her…”  Plus, readers seem to fall in love not only with the connection Jesse had with Scarlett, but also the connection he had with his land.

Will it remain a standalone novel? Or can we expect to see more of Jesse and Scarlett’s love affair?

Jesse and Scarlett will remain a standalone story, but they do appear as secondary characters in Echoes Between Us!

How would you describe your novels to readers who are new to your work?

I write emotional, character driven novels with a love story. My books will make you feel what the characters are feeling…love, anger, sadness, laughter, joy and love again!

You have a new novel coming out in January titled Echoes Between Us. What was your inspiration for this one?

When I was a teenager, my life began to spiral out of control from secrets. One night, I had a dream of a ghost haunting me, following me, reaching out to harm me, and then I woke up to the sound of glass breaking. A mirror in the bathroom across from my room inexplicably sha­ttered, and when I sat up in bed shaking uncontrollably, I saw a shadowy figure in my room watching me. My dog who had been sleeping on the floor whined and backed away from the shadow, and then I heard three knocks on my window. Each one slow, methodical, and my heart beat out of my chest. Fear paralyzed me from the inside out, and I knew in that moment that if I didn’t change, if I didn’t start making be­tter choices than I had, I knew nothing good was going to happen to me.  I decided to use this experience and turn it into a book.

Veronica has a brain tumour that allows her to speak to her dead mother as well as sense spirits around her. How did her character come about?

There was a time that I suffered blinding migraines and then there was another time when someone very close to me had terrible, extreme migraines. An MRI showed a mass on my loved one’s brain. We went through a period of time called watchful waiting where we monitored symptoms along with bi-annual MRIs. I decided to take this experience and combine in it with my weird dream/paranormal experience when I was a teenager and Veronica was born!

Sawyer is the other main character in Echoes and conceals a dark secret behind his perfect public persona. What draws you to write protagonists with hidden flaws?

We are all flawed. Even the best of people have something about them that isn’t perfect. Especially in a world where social media can make us feel as if everyone else is perfect or has a perfect life, and therefore, we must fake perfection, I feel driven to show that everyone is flawed. I often receive comments from readers that after reading my books they fell less alone in the world. I think the reason for that is because they see characters who are flawed and those same characters find a way to still love who they are.

From early readers of Echoes Between Us, it appears that people are really connecting with Sawyer and can understand the relationship between he and his mother. Unfortunately, there are many people who have grown up in a household where they sometimes had to be the responsible person, even though the world believed that they had the “perfect” life.

So, Echoes takes place in the same town/area as OABA and we see the return of Jesse and Scarlett in the role of friend rather than taking the forefront. What drew you back to their little slice of America?

The moment I met Veronica in Only a Breath Apart, I wanted to learn more about her. What better place to tell her story than in the same area that contained Jesse’s land? His land had a mystical quality to it and I wanted that same feel in Veronica’s story.

Were Echoes and OABA always planned to be a sort of companion novel to each other?

I wrote Only a Breath Apart as a standalone. After I turned in Scarlett and Jesse’s story, my publisher, Tor Teen, they gave me the green light to write Veronica’s story.

Glory also returns with her psychic predictions and vague prophecies and I have to say she is one of my favourite characters. Will we ever see a novel from her point of view?

Oh, that is a wonderful idea and would be so much fun! I have to seriously think about this now!

Have you got anything in the works that you can tell us about?

I am currently working on a project. Because it is a work-in-progress, there isn’t much I can share yet, but stay tuned!

Where can people expect to see you in the near future?

I don’t have any plans to travel at the moment. I’ve taken some time off from being on the road so I can focus on my family.

If you could see any of your novels adapted for the screen, which would it be and what form would it take?

I would love to see any of my book series as a TV series on Netflix or Hulu. It would be so much fun to see Noah and Echo, Oz and Emily or Scarlett and Jesse play out on TV!

And last question for a bit of fun, if you could only read 5 more books in your lifetime, what would they be?

Wow, super tough question! A Wrinkle in Time, The Stand, the Bible, Redeeming Love, and The Bronze Horseman

Will you be picking up Katie McGarry’s Echoes Between Us? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Q&A: Katie McGarry, Author of ‘Echoes Between Us’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Echoes Between Us follows Veronica who can see ghosts, in particular her dead mother. She also lives with a benign tumour in her brain that causes chronic migraines that keep her from being accepted by her schoolmates. Enter bad boy Sawyer, who likes to jump off cliffs and is the most popular guy at school, and he pairs up with Veronica for an English AP project. Veronica is a girl with little life left and Sawyer is willing to risk it all – can they complete each other in the end?

Echoes Between Us, in the kindest wording possible, reads like an early 2000s young adult contemporary would read. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, except the fact that the book felt very outdated. Now, there is no reason to write a book reminiscent of earlier tropes in young adult literature, but this was just a painfully obvious and formulaic story stuck in the 2000s that it covered every cliché. If executed well, that’s not a problem. But this time around, it just felt bland.

The cast of characters was exactly what you’d expect: a vulnerable protagonist (who here deals with a terminal illness which I thought was going to be so interesting to read about but turned out to be a plot point to get the love triangle going and keep the fire of boys making girls feel unlovable stoked); a “bad” boy (who is actually a great guy that takes care of his mother and his little sister and does not at any point of this book or the past do anything remotely bad?); a jealous male best friend who keeps telling the protagonist that he is confused and doesn’t know what to do (though dating other girls and partying it up sounds like a good idea to him while guilting Veronica into being celibate); and the quirky sidekick of the love interest who is gay for the sole purpose of reducing her to every stereotype there ever was.

There was a lot to handle within the plot – Veronica’s chronic headaches, her ability to see ghosts (adding a paranormal element to the story that was either ridiculed or exploited to make her more of a ‘weirdo’), a group of friends that seems to accept her brain tumour but also doesn’t, and Sawyer’s impulse to jump off bridges and cliffs for kicks.

McGarry has a tendency to repeat certain phrases but I really hope that editing will go over this book once more because at one point I got so obsessed with a phrase describing Sawyer’s desire to jump off cliffs that I started highlighting it for a few chapters and came up to a count of 87 references to it. We get it, he likes the adrenaline rush and can’t stop. Overall, I feel like this book would be more suited to middle schoolers because the characters behaved very inexperienced and not like teenagers. There was also almost no personality change between the two POVs and if there weren’t headers over the chapters, I would have had no idea whether it was Veronica or Sawyer.

Speaking of the characters, no one acted how they were described, either. Veronica is described and claims herself as quirky – beyond the fact that she celebrates holidays at self-determined times during the year, there is nothing quirky about her. Sawyer is the proclaimed golden AND bad boy yet he never does anything to be revered or punished. Veronica’s best friend with whom she is in love with for half the book never says anything romantic (unless you count that part about him never being able to love her because she has a brain tumour and how no one else could ever love her). Sawyer’s best friend, equally, is just constantly used for gay bashing. His manipulative mother keeps trying to get them together even though she knows Sylvia is gay. What, exactly, was the point of that storyline except making LGBTQ+ people feel annoyed?

All in all, certainly not my favourite McGarry book but I appreciate it for what it was trying to do and it was nice to get back into the early YA mindset for a while. My, how far we have come since those days where bad boys were just good boys who called themselves bad and best friends kept telling you that you’re unlovable because of something you have no control over. Thank the author community for expanding on these stereotypes and making them their own.

Echoes Between Us is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers as of January 14th 2020.

Will you be picking up Echoes Between Us? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Echoes Between Us is bestselling author Katie McGarry’s breakout teen contemporary novel about a girl with everything to lose and the boy who will do anything to save her.

Veronica sees ghosts. More specifically, her mother’s ghost. The afterimages of blinding migraines caused by the brain tumor that keeps her on the fringes and consumes her whole life haunt her, even as she wonders if it’s something more…

Golden boy Sawyer is handsome and popular, a state champion swimmer, but his adrenaline addiction draws him to Veronica.

A girl with nothing to live for and a boy with everything to lose–can they conquer their demons together?

The post Review: Echoes Between Us by Katie McGarry appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

The Nerd Daily contributor, Tasha Leigh, had the privilege of asking McGarry some burning questions covering her journey in publishing, her favourite characters and getting the low down on her latest novel.

You write within the Young Adult genre of romance/contemporary rather than the larger adult romance. Was this a specific choice? Or did your writing/characters guide you in this direction?

My characters guide me. They come to me with a story they want me to help them tell. I think that since my own teen years were an emotional rollercoaster, experiencing adult problems while also facing the challenges of being a teenager, I’m drawn to write these complex characters.

Your novels are all extremely emotionally charged with their content and references. How do you counteract the toll it would take upon you to be constantly writing such in-depth and heavy hitting stories?

I eat chocolate. Kidding, but not kidding. Writing is like therapy for me. I take emotions that I shoved down from experiences I’ve been through and pour them out onto the page. It’s a very cathartic release. By writing, I’m able to work through and process emotions that I buried deep within me—emotions I couldn’t quite process at the time of the experience.

As with Only a Breath Apart, I wanted to write a story where the lines between contemporary and mystical blur. After a death of my best friend, I had a psychic tell me something that only my best friend would have known. Her death hit me hard and that psychic reading made me think a lot about destiny. I used Only a Breath Apart to work through some of my emotions and questions about the universe. Was the psychic real? A con artist? That is how the character Glory was born and thus her relationships with Scarlett and Jesse.

Do you have any habits/rituals you undertake during the writing process (e.g. No TV during editing, meeting a word/time goal every day, specific research processes for your characters)?

I don’t have a set writing time in order to have a habit or ritual. I typically carry my laptop wherever I go. I have written in carpool lines, in airports, and I even wrote the original opening to Only a Breath Apart while I was a patient in a hospital.

I do like to research my character’s interests. For instance, in Only a Breath Apart, I researched palm reading and tarot cards in order to write the scenes between Scarlett, Jesse and Glory.

Prior to writing your first novel, did you undertake any specific education (college, creative writing courses, workshops) for writing or have always been naturally blessed when it comes to putting pen to paper?

I’m a natural verbal storyteller, but I had to learn how to put my stories onto paper. I took online courses on the craft of writing plus I read numerous books on writing. My favourite online course was by Margie Lawson, and my favourite craft book is John Truby’s Anatomy of Story.

When you write, do you produce your works on paper first? Or head straight to the word processor from the inception of your idea?

I hardly ever write anything on paper—I have terrible handwriting.

If you could tell your younger self one thing about the journey to being a widely published author, what would it be?

To focus on your friends and family. It can be easy to get lost into a story and all the work associated with being published, but even the best review or sales never makes you smile as much as being around the people you love.

I recently read your upcoming novel, Only A Breath Apart and I absolutely loved it, including that the title had changed. Was this a personal decision? Or one determined during the editorial process?

The title change was the result of the editorial process. I love writing novels, but often struggle finding the right title. I originally titled the book Breathe—Jesse’s farm is almost its own character in the novel and there is a discussion in the book about how when the characters connect to the land, the land breathes. But as we were editing the book, we decided the title should focus on Scarlett and Jesse’s relationship with each other and the land.

Your characters in Only A Breath Apart, Jesse and Scarlett, both come from violent familial circumstances but neither knows this fact about the other initially. Was there ever a temptation to have them bond over this fact or was it always going to be a secondary theme within the work?

No, there wasn’t a temptation to do this. Scarlett and Jesse are very private people and have spent a good majority of their lives hiding this part of themselves from other people—including each other when they were younger.

Jesse sees his past as a curse and wouldn’t bring it up because of his fear of the Lachlin curse and what he believes is the curse’s ability to hurt the people he loves. Scarlett has been trained since a small child to keep her parents’ secrets. In order for Jesse and Scarlett to tell someone their secrets, they would have to deeply trust them so that would mean a bond would have to be formed first.

Many writers say they put a piece of themselves into their characters. Did you do this with Only A Breath Apart? If so, to which character do you best relate?

I gave nearly all of the characters in Only a Breath Apart a piece of myself. I understood Scarlett’s panic attacks and the crushing need to make the world believe things are perfect when they aren’t, I understand Jesse’s love for his land and his loyalty to his family and friends, and I definitely understood that sometimes you need time and a change of scenery to figure out who you really are.

Do you have a favourite supporting personality?

I have two! I fell in love with Glory (Jesse’s older cousin and town psychic) and V (Jesse’s eccentric best friend).

The farm/Lachlin land has a personality of its own and becomes more of its own character throughout the novel. Do you have any opinions relating to the underutilisation of settings being their own characters within the world of fiction?

I love novels where the setting becomes a character. There is something very mystical about it that draws me in. Only a Breath Apart is a book I’ve wanted to write for a long time. Creating a setting that is a character was one of the reasons why.

You have written whole series based on certain characters, compared to Only A Breath Apart being a standalone. Can we expect more of Scarlett and Jesse in the future? Or do you feel like their story has already been told and want to allow your readers to guess where they are headed in life?

One of the things I’ve learned is to never say never. As of right now, I don’t have plans to continue Jesse and Scarlett’s story in their own novel, but if they decide they have a story to be told and won’t stop pestering me about it—I’d write it.  In the meantime, my next novel with Tor Teen features V from Only a Breath Apart. Jesse and Scarlett become secondary characters in her story.

If a reader were new to your various works, where would you suggest they start their journey?

I’d suggest starting with Only a Breath Apart and then read the Pushing the Limits series.

Last question, do you have any sage advice for those endeavouring to write their first manuscript/enter the publishing industry?

My advice would be to read a lot and to write a lot. I’d also suggest studying the craft of writing and to find a good critique group.  Rejection is part of the publishing process. Remember—you only need one yes, so don’t get caught up emotionally in the no.

QUICKFIRE ROUND

Fiction or nonfiction? Fiction
Plotter or pantser? (Do you plot out your entire story to the smallest detail or just have a vague idea + major occurrences and let the characters guide you?) Plotter
Favourite bookish trope? Bad boy or girl and good boy or girl
Least favourite bookish trope? Love triangles
Coffee or tea? Tea
Pizza or pasta? Pasta
Beach holiday or hiking in the bush? Beach
Convention crowds or smaller signings? Convention crowds
Sunny or rainy? Sunny
If you could pick a single holiday destination for the rest of your life, where would it be? Disney World
Music, books or Netflix – you can only pick 2? Music and books

Only A Breath Apart is a standalone novel and now available from Tor Teen. You can find it on Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers.

Have you read anything by Katie McGarry? Tell us in the comments below!

The post Interview: Katie McGarry, Author of ‘Only A Breath Apart’ appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Read on to discover our picks and tell us in the comments below if you will be reading any!

Our Year of Maybe by Rachel Lynn Solomon
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Aspiring choreographer Sophie Orenstein would do anything for Peter Rosenthal-Porter, who’s been on the kidney transplant list as long as she’s known him. Peter, a gifted pianist, is everything to Sophie: best friend, musical collaborator, secret crush. When she learns she’s a match, donating a kidney is an easy, obvious choice. She can’t help wondering if after the transplant, he’ll love her back the way she’s always wanted.

Let’s Go Swimming on Doomsday by Natalie C. Anderson
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Forced to become a child soldier, a sixteen-year-old Somali refugee must confront his painful past in this haunting, thrilling tale of loss and redemption for fans of A Long Way Gone and What is the What

Just For Clicks by Kara McDowell
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Mommy blogs are great . . . unless the blog happens to belong to your mom. Twin sisters Claire & Poppy are accidental social media stars thanks to Mom going viral when they were babies. Now, as teens, they’re expected to contribute by building their own brand. Attending a NY fashion week and receiving fan mail is a blast. Fending off internet trolls and would-be kidnappers? Not so much. Poppy embraces it. Claire hates it. Will anybody accept her as “just Claire”? And what should Claire do about Mom’s old journals? The handwritten entries definitely don’t sound like Mom’s perfect blog persona. Worse, one of them divulges a secret that leaves Claire wondering what else in her life might be nothing but a sham . . .

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
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In a lush, contemporary fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Brigid Kemmerer gives readers another compulsively readable romance perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer.

Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen M. McManus
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Echo Ridge is small-town America. Ellery’s never been there, but she’s heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age seventeen. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows. The town is picture-perfect, but it’s hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone’s declared open season on homecoming, promising to make it as dangerous as it was five years ago. Then, almost as if to prove it, another girl goes missing.

96 Words for Love by Rachel Roy and Ava Dash
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A modern retelling of a classic Indian legend of Shakuntala and Dushyanta, 96 Words for Love is a coming-of-age story.

Only A Breath Apart by Katie McGarry
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Bestselling author Katie McGarry’s trademark wrong-side-of-the-tracks romance is given a new twist in the gritty YA contemporary novel, Only a Breath Apart.

The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin
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Mean Girls meets The Tudors in Hannah Capin’s The Dead Queens Club, a clever contemporary YA retelling of Henry VIII and his wives (or, in this case, his high school girlfriends). Told from the perspective of Annie Marck (“Cleves”), a 17-year-old aspiring journalist from Cleveland who meets Henry at summer camp, The Dead Queens Club is a fun, snarky read that provides great historical detail in an accessible way for teens while giving the infamous tale of Henry VIII its own unique spin.

White Stag by Kara Barbieri
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The first book in a brutally stunning series where a young girl finds herself becoming more monster than human and must uncover dangerous truths about who she is and the place that has become her home.

The Similars by Rebecca Hanover
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When six clones join Emmaline’s prestigious boarding school, she must confront the heartbreak of seeing her dead best friend’s face each day in class.

Famous In Small Town by Emma Mills
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For Sophie, small-town life has never felt small. She has her beloved marching band, the pride and joy of Acadia High (even if the football team disagrees); and her four best friends, loving and infuriating, wonderfully weird and all she could ever ask for. Then August moves in next door. A quiet guy with a magnetic smile, August seems determined to keep everyone at arm’s length. Sophie in particular. Country stars, revenge plots, and a few fake kisses (along with some excellent real ones) await Sophie in this hilarious, heartfelt story.

Death Prefers Blondes by Caleb Roehrig
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Teenage socialite Margo Manning leads a dangerous double life. By day, she dodges the paparazzi while soaking up California sunshine. By night, however, she dodges security cameras and armed guards, pulling off high-stakes cat burglaries with a team of flamboyant young men. But then Margo’s personal life takes a sudden, dark turn, and a job to end all jobs lands her crew in deadly peril. Overnight, everything she’s ever counted on is put at risk. But can one rebel heiress and four kickboxing drag queens withstand the slings and arrows of truly outrageous fortune? Or will a mounting sea of troubles end them — for good?

Are there any other YA books that you are excited for? Tell us in the comments below!

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