New YA Book Releases This Week, February 5, 2025

The first book in a romantic fantasy series, this story follows Mancella Cliff. Mancella is heir to the throne and wants nothing more than a lifetime without bloodshed. This is tricky, given that the power she holds is to summon animals, but she can only do that once she’s killed them. It’s a power she doesn’t like and it reminds her of the horrors inflicted by her father to keep power over the kingdom.

Silver is a thief who has been struggling to survive under an oppressive royal leadership. But he’s given the opportunity for a heist of a lifetime, which includes the chance to rob the castle. Silver is going to take it—but to succeed, he’ll have to get through Mancella.

Things are tough as Mancella wants to avoid violence but Silver needs to engage in it to survive. How can the two of them compromise? Can they? What happens if real feelings emerge between them? And what of Mancella’s brutal father?

Senior year is here at Meadowbrook Academy and friends Sarah and Amy are excited for it. They’re reveling in the first week back. At least they were until Sarah and her boyfriend were found murdered. Everyone suspects it was Amy, given that she was Sarah’s only roommate.

Amy doesn’t do herself a lot of favors by covering for her boyfriend’s whereabouts during the time of the murder. But as the days drag on with no good leads on the murder, Amy begins to unravel a lot of lies that Sarah carried with her.

Now Liz, school newspaper editor, is bound and determined to find out who the killer is. Aside from solving the murders, this could be a way for Liz to get a scholarship to her dream college. But the deeper she digs into what happened, the darker things get (and fast).

Sariyah Lee Bryant has the ability to hear what anyone needs, and it’s a talent only her family and best friend Malcolm know about. But when Sariyah fulfills a need from her best friend Deja and Deja goes missing, Sariyah worries that her talent is more of a curse.

Being that Deja is a Black girl and Black girls tend to go missing without much follow-up from police, Sariyah decides she needs to track down her lost friend by herself. It’s complicated, though, as Sariyah’s mom is now struggling with job loss and her brother has been experiencing complications from sickle cell disease. She’ll be mostly on her own to find Deja…and she’ll tap into her sense of knowing what people need to do the job. Only, now that she’s going down that road, Sariyah may find herself in the same place as the friend she’s trying to find.

Queen of the genre blend Libba Bray is back this fall with a brand new book, and it sounds like a must-read historical mystery.

Set over three different time periods, the story centers the Bridegroom’s Oak, which legend has said if you write to, it will send you a letter back from the love of your life. In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to find that she has a message in the Oak from a mysterious suitor. At the same time, her best friend Hanna is finding that the Bridegroom’s Oak plays a crucial role in resisting Nazis.

Fast forward to 1980s West Germany, where American teen Jenny finds herself feeling cut off and suffocated in her new home. Then she meets Lena and not only is Jenny falling for her hard, but she’s learning about how to engage her punk rock spirit and desire to help tear down the Berlin wall.

Then we get to 2020 and COVID hits New York. Miles and Chloe are dealing with virtual school when a mysterious package arrives from Chloe’s grandmother. That package leads them to the legend of Bridegroom’s Oak and the disappearance of two teenagers 80 years earlier.

Told non-linearly, this story follows an impulsive decision by overachieving teens Scarlett and David that ultimately changes their lives forever.

Both Scarlett and David have been good kids throughout high school. But as they wrap up school and are in the summer before college, the two are drawn together in ways neither can understand. It leads to a summer of decisions that impacts both of their lives in very different ways and forces them both to reckon huge emotions and experiences, including grief, addiction, and more.

This is a read for fans of realistic, character-driven fiction.

Brynn Kwan has never been her true self throughout high school. Certainly, she’s done well for herself, having become favored for prom queen, heading up the yearbook committee, and having a great four-year relationship with her first crush, Oliver. But no one knows what’s really going on, in large part because Brynn can’t imagine the pitying looks and attitudes that would accompany people knowing she’s got a disability slowly but surely taking over her life.

But it’s when she tries to break up a pep rally fight that Brynn’s disease becomes something she knows she needs to be more honest about. She’s been suspended and doesn’t recognize who she is anymore. It’s made harder because her sister is perfectly healthy, and her now-ex boyfriend is simply confused about why their relationship ended.

Can she be honest about who she is when she returns to school? What will happen if she is?

Venus Stoneheart is a hustler who brews magic love potions, even though it is a dangerous job—it not only has physical consequences, but if she’s ever caught, she will end up in prison.

Then Venus’s mom is killed by an enemy. Everything changes in an instant for her, the it changes even further when the Grand Witcher of her coven offers Venus the opportunity for revenge. All Venus needs to do is brew a potion that will enslave some of the most powerful politicians in D.C.

This story brings us into a world of people and witches and the battle of power between them. It’s also about making tough choices in the name of saving your life and your loved ones.

The Principal Moore Method is the standard by which the boys at Urban Promise Prep School are to subscribe. There are strict rules, meant to help turn boys into men and help boys of color to escape the fate of so many others in their communities.

J.B., Ramón, and Trey follow these rules, but when Principle Moore turns up dead, they are the prime suspects to the police. Now the three of them need to work together to clear their names and unearth the real killer.

Effie Galanos dreams of working in digital media. It’s her senior year, and she’s been preparing for college admissions for years—she uses a wheelchair, so there are so many more considerations about her future to take into account. Effie thinks she’s found the perfect place to go to school. It’s in New York City, has the degree she wants, and she knows it’ll be the kind of change from her home in Minneapolis to really put her outside of her comfort zone in the way she desires. Oh, and the cute boy she’s had a crush on is applying there, too. That’s a bonus.

But as her senior year unfolds, Effie experiences tons of things she didn’t anticipate. And maybe her plans are going to go sideways…or upside down…or somewhere altogether different. She’ll have to decide whether to stay with the plan or roll with the potential other options opening in front of her.