6 New Young Adult Books Released on First Half of May

6 New Young Adult Books Released on First Half of May 

1. Perfect Little Monsters by Cindy R. X. He

Amazon | May 7, 2024 | 333 pages | Sourcebooks Fire

Someone has murdered the queen bee of Sierton High School. All the dead girl's friends are suspects. And each one has a reason for wanting her to die.

Ella Moore was the most popular girl in school…and also the most hated. When she's murdered at her own party, there are too many suspects to count. And too many people who think she deserved it.

The police's prime suspect is the new girl, Dawn Foster. Dawn was the last to hand Ella a drink on the night she died. Plus, all of Ella's friends with a motive for wanting Ella dead are more than willing to throw Dawn under the bus, if it means keeping the heat off themselves.  

But Dawn refuses to go down without a fight. She's determined to clear her name. As she delves deeper into the past, she discovers that Ella and her friends had major enemies, and someone is out for revenge. Dawn must uncover the truth before the police arrest the wrong suspect… and before the next person dies.

2. Death's Country by R. M. Romero

Amazon | May 7, 2024 | 324 pages | Peachtree Teen

Lakelore meets “Orpheus and Eurydice” when two Miami teens travel to the underworld to retrieve their girlfriend’s soul.

Andres Santos of São Paulo was all swinging fists and firecracker fury, a foot soldier in the war between his parents, until he drowned in the Tietê River… and made a bargain with Death for a new life. A year later, his parents have relocated the family to Miami, but their promises of a fresh start quickly dissolve in the summer heat. 

Instead of fists, Andres now uses music to escape his parents’ battles. While wandering Miami Beach, he meets two girls: photographer Renee, a blaze of fire, and dancer Liora, a ray of sunshine. The three become a polyamorous triad, happy, despite how no one understands their relationship. But when a car accident leaves Liora in a coma, Andres and Renee are shattered. 

Then Renee proposes a radical solution: She and Andres must go into the underworld to retrieve their girlfriend’s spirit and reunite it with her body—before it’s too late. Their search takes them to the City of the dead, where painters bleed color, songs grow flowers, and regretful souls will do anything to forget their lives on earth. But finding Liora’s spirit is only the first step in returning to the living world. Because when Andres drowned, he left a part of himself in the underworld—a part he’s in no hurry to meet again. But it is eager to be reunited with him... 

In verse as vibrant as the Miami skyline, critically acclaimed author R.M. Romero has crafted a masterpiece of magical realism and an openhearted ode to the nature of healing.

3. This Book Won't Burn by Samira Ahmed

Amazon | May 7, 2024 | 384 pages | Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

From the New York Times bestselling author of Internment comes a timely and gripping social-suspense novel about book banning, activism, and standing up for what you believe. 

After her dad abruptly abandons her family and her mom moves them a million miles from their Chicago home, Noor Khan is forced to start the last quarter of her senior year at a new school, away from everything and everyone she knows and loves.

Reeling from being uprooted and deserted, Noor is certain the key to survival is to keep her head down and make it to graduation. 

But things aren’t so simple. At school, Noor discovers hundreds of books have been labeled “obscene” or “pornographic” and are being removed from the library in accordance with a new school board policy. Even worse, virtually all the banned books are by queer and BIPOC authors. 

Noor can’t sit back and do nothing, because that goes against everything she believes in, but challenging the status quo just might put a target on her back. Can she effect change by speaking up? Or will small-town politics—and small-town love—be her downfall? 

4. Too Nice by Sally Nicholls

Amazon | May 9, 2024 | 80 pages | Barrington Stoke

Abby struggles with feelings of anxiety about school during a period of family upheaval in this sensitive and touching story from Sally Nicholls.

Abby is used to it being just her and her dad at home, but now her dad’s new girlfriend Jen is moving in and everything is changing. It’s not like Jen is an evil stepmother, though. Instead, Abby’s problem is that Jen is just too nice! She constantly compliments Isla on everything from her appearance to her schoolwork, and Abby finds it fake and claustrophobic. But how can she explain to her dad how she feels when Jen hasn’t really done anything wrong?

5. A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur

Amazon | May 14, 2024 | 364 pages | Feiwel & Friends 

June Hur, bestselling author of The Red Palace, crafts a devastating and pulse-pounding tale that will feel all-too-relevant in today’s world, based on a true story from Korean history.

Hope is dangerous. Love is deadly.

1506, Joseon. The people suffer under the cruel reign of the tyrant King Yeonsan, powerless to stop him from commandeering their land for his recreational use, banning and burning books, and kidnapping and horrifically abusing women and girls as his personal playthings.

Seventeen-year-old Iseul has lived a sheltered, privileged life despite the kingdom’s turmoil. When her older sister, Suyeon, becomes the king’s latest prey, Iseul leaves the relative safety of her village, traveling through forbidden territory to reach the capital in hopes of stealing her sister back. But she soon discovers the king’s power is absolute, and to challenge his rule is to court certain death.

Prince Daehyun has lived his whole life in the terrifying shadow of his despicable half-brother, the king. Forced to watch King Yeonsan flaunt his predation through executions and rampant abuse of the common folk, Daehyun aches to find a way to dethrone his half-brother once and for all. When staging a coup, failure is fatal, and he’ll need help to pull it off—but there’s no way to know who he can trust.

When Iseul's and Daehyun's fates collide, their contempt for each other is transcended only by their mutual hate for the king. Armed with Iseul’s family connections and Daehyun’s royal access, they reluctantly join forces to launch the riskiest gamble the kingdom has ever seen:

Save her sister. Free the people. Destroy a tyrant.

6. An Infinite Pull by Taylor Simonds

Amazon | May 14, 2024 | 330 pages | Aurita

Nym has always loved the stars.

It's in her blood: Nym is a Medyssian, a shapeshifter born with an irresistible wanderlust for the universe's depths. But that was before a ravenous predator called the Shadow drove her kind to near-extinction and her family into hiding--accidentally leaving her behind in the process. Now, she wanders the ether with nothing but a map full of dead ends, desperate to find her way home.

Aren has always feared the stars.

He isn't just the youngest member of the Celestial Company--the most skilled crew of mercenaries to ever sail the void--he's the only son of its ruthless captain, drowning in both the weight of her legacy and his secret fear of space itself. And if he can't prove himself a worthy successor soon, he'll be left behind completely.

When Nym saves Aren from the wreckage of a mission gone wrong, he sees helping her as the perfect opportunity to prove he's more than a weak link. But the Shadow isn't the only predator lurking in the deep, Nym is hiding a power she can't resist or control, and the Celestial Company itself has secrets threatening to fracture it from the inside. And as the monsters hunting them multiply, Aren must make a choice: protect the only family he's ever known, or save the only person who's ever made him feel fearless.