Welp, after checking out all the incredibly enticing young adult science fiction and fantasy novels coming out in April, May, and June, my TBR queue has once again reached epic proportions. There are so many great reads coming in the next few months, but out of all of them these are the ones I’m looking forward to the most. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to clear some space on my bookshelves.
April
Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #5)
Juliette Ferrars may be the new Supreme Commander of Sector 45, but her reign has been marked with catastrophe and tragedy. Warner, the man she loves, has been lying to her all this time. When she learns about the secrets he’s keeping about the truth of her identity and her family, she may not be able to control her deadly powers any longer.
Apr. 2, 2019, HarperTeen
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Defy Me
Descendant of the Crane by Joan He
After her father’s unexpected and suspicious death, Hesina is thrust on the throne of the kingdom of Yan. She must navigate the rough waters of manipulative courtiers, political intrigue, and her own rules of law, all while figuring out how to build a just society over a foundation of lies, slaughter, and betrayal.
Apr. 9, 2019, Albert Whitman
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Descendant of the Crane
Alien: Echo by Mira Grant
After aliens attack new colony on a strange world, twin sisters Olivia and Viola flee for their lives. But as Olivia learns terrifying secrets about her family – and as the aliens begin to hybridize with the local fauna – only her wits can save her. I didn’t know I wanted a standalone YA novel set in the Alien universe…until now.
Apr. 9, 2019, Imprint
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Alien: Echo
The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala (The Tiger at Midnight Trilogy #1)
Years after the kingdom of Dharka conquered the neighboring land of Jansa, a drought ravages the land while the ruthless Senap Guard punishes citizens. Esha, an assassin, is sent to kill the general of the Guard, but before she can she’s framed by an unknown enemy. Kunal, the general’s nephew, must hunt her down. Both teens would rather do anything else than live lives dedicated to killing, but their growing romance will only make things worse.
Apr. 23, 2019, Katherine Tegen
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The Tiger at Midnight
May
The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad
Fatima was one of only three survivors after a band of djinn killed nearly every person in the city of Noor eight years ago. Now protected by a new Maharajah and the Ifrit, the city is thriving once more. After the death of a powerful Ifrit, Fatima’s latent djinn magic are awakened. With political turmoil lurking in the shadows, Fatima must come to understand the root of her power and how she might use it to protect those she loves.
May 14, 2019, Scholastic
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The Candle and the Flame
The Lost Coast by Amy Rose Capetta
Two mysteries permeate the foggy, forest town of Tempest, California, and newcomer Danny is the key to solving both. She joins the Grays, four openly queer teen witches and unlocks her own magical abilities as they try to locate the wandering mind of another Gray, Imogen. At the same time, something dark and cold has infected the towering coastal redwoods, making them kill. Just as Danny has found a place where she can truly be herself, she might lose it all.
May 14, 2019, Candlewick
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The Lost Coast
We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal (Sands of Arawiya #1)
The lives of Zafira, a teenage rebel who must disguise herself as a man to move freely enough to help her starving people, and Nasir, a boy who kills at the behest of his father the sultan, collide as each hunts a mystical artifact. Zafira wants to use it to save her family and Nasir to put an end to rebellion, but they will have to work together if they want to save their kingdom from an even greater threat.
May 14, 2019, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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We Hunt the Flame
The Wise and the Wicked by Rebecca Podos
Ruby Chernyavsky knows she’s going to die soon. She, like all women in her family, had a vision of her demise when she turned 13. Supposedly her fate is immutable, but when another Chernyavsky woman dies very differently than her vision indicated, suddenly Ruby has hope she might change her future. But Ruby’s personal demons – drinking, depression, and her mother’s disappearance – haunt her.
May 28, 2019, Balzer + Bray
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The Wise and the Wicked
June
Not Your Backup by C.B. Lee (Sidekick Squad #3)
The Resistance is finally ready to take on the corrupt Heroes League of Heroes, but success is far from assured. Although the rest of her teammates have a variety of superpowers, high school senior Emma Robledo is a plain, ordinary human. The rest of the Resistance might not think much of her, but she’s determined to lead the Resistance to victory.
June 4, 2019, Duet
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Not Your Backup
Stronger than a Bronze Dragon by Mary Fan
Anlei dreams of adventure, and being married off to a man she doesn’t love isn’t part of her plans. When Viceroy Kang offers to protect her village with his army of bronze dragons in exchange for Anlei’s hand and the village’s sacred River Pearl, she has no choice but to agree. But after the River Pearl is stolen, Anlei teams up with boy known as the Masked Giver and they descend into the Courts of Hell to rescue his people.
June 11, 2019, Page Street
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Stronger than a Bronze Dragon
The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante
After Marisol’s indiscretion with another girl is discovered, she and her younger sister are forced to flee El Salvador for the US. They’re captured shortly after crossing the border. Desperate to stay, Marisol agrees to become a grief keeper, someone who physically takes on someone else’s grief, in exchange for their asylum applications being approved. She becomes the grief keeper for Rey, a young woman Marisol can’t stop thinking about.
June 11, 2019, GP Putnam’s Sons
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The Grief Keeper
All of Us with Wings by Michelle Ruiz Kiel
Alone in San Francisco, Xochi nurses wounds, emotional and psychological, from her childhood. Things turn around when she gets a job as the live-in nanny for young Pallas, but a spell gone awry throws everything into chaos. A pair of ancient beings set about taking revenge on those who harmed Xochi, and not even she is safe from their wrath.
June 18, 2019, Soho
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All of Us with Wings
Last Bus to Everland by Sophie Cameron
When the very cute Nico invites Brody to Everland, a magical realm belonging to Nico and his fellow outcasts, Brody jumps at the chance. There he’s free to be himself and be accepted for all his quirks and differences, a sharp contrast to his dour homelife. Soon he will have to choose between the real world and Everland, and the consequences will change his life forever.
June 18, 2019, Macmillan Children’s
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Last Bus to Everland
Soul of the Sword by Julie Kagawa (Shadow of the Fox #2)
Now that Kage Tatsumi is possessed by a demon called Hakaimono, half-human half-kitsune Yumeko is out of options. She has to get her portion of the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers, an artifact that can summon a wish-granting Kami Dragon, to the Steel Feather temple, before Hakaimono and the Master of Demons catch her. The fate of the kingdom is in Yumeko’s shapeshifting hands.
June 18, 2019, Inkyard
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Soul of the Sword
Wicked Fox by Kat Cho (Gumiho #1)
As a gumiho, Gu Miyoung feeds on the gi (energy or life force) of wicked men in order to survive. One night she rescues a boy, Ahn Jihoon, from a goblin attack and makes two big mistakes: revealing herself as the mythical nine-tailed fox and losing her fox bead (aka her soul). Miyoung and Jihoon are pulled closer and closer, but misadventure and Miyoung’s monstrous nature might keep them apart for good.
June 25, 2019, GP Putnam’s Sons
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Wicked Fox
Alex Brown is a high school librarian by day, local historian by night, author and writer by passion, and an ace/aro Black woman all the time. Keep up with her on Twitter and Insta, or follow along with her reading adventures on her blog.
