Trick or Treat, YA Readers!
If you’re thinking I am too early, you’d be right. Halloween is not until next week, but in the spirit of the season, I’m going to offer up a few Hallowreads this week to get you into the groove for next. This’ll be the first year I’ve bothered with a costume in a long time, and I am excited. It is likely the last year I’ll have a say over what my kid dresses as–and that’s totally fine!–but her costume inspired me to put one together, too. I’ve actually named what I’ll be in this newsletter, so I’ll be curious if anyone can guess it.
Before we get to everything, just wanted to say that since autumn is here, many of us will be gravitating towards the Cozy. And, whatever cozy means for you, be it romance, creepy reads, modern classics, or whatever, TBR can help you find the perfect books for your fall reading, with options curated to your specific reading tastes.
Bookish Goods
Mushrooms and Tomes Mug by TalesandTomesStore
Sip your warm beverage of choice out of this adorable autumnal camping mug featuring books and mushrooms aplenty. $15.
If you think this mug looks kind of familiar, that’s because it is from the same shop that I shared recently, which also has a bookish fall thermos. There are some awesome genre-themed camping mugs you’ll want to drool over, too.
New Releases
And lo, we’ve entered the time of year when publishing begins to slow down again. In YA world, it was unusually busy in August and busy as normal through mid-October. Now, we’ll see fewer new books being published, which means you’ll hopefully get some time to catch up on your TBR.
Here are two of the new hardcovers on shelves this week. You can catch the whole list over here.
Sleepless in Dubai by Sajni Patel
Nikki is a budding photographer and is looking forward to spending five days with her father in Dubai to celebrate Diwali. However, she soon discovers that her neighbor and rival, Yash is also on the flight to Dubai.
Nikki’s family doesn’t know about the tension between the two and, with their sights on matchmaking, encourage Nikki to get cozy with Yash. But can they? Is their history too heavy?
Perhaps the celebration of light will change everything in this enemies-to-lovers rom-com.
When We Become Ours edited by Shannon Gibney and Nicole Chung
If you’re looking for an anthology of stories by and from adoptees, look no further. The stories represent a wide range of experiences being adopted, and the author list is a knockout: Kelley Baker, Nicole Chung, Shannon Gibney, Mark Oshiro, MeMe Collier, Susan Harness, Meredith Ireland, Mariama J. Lockington, Lisa Nopachai, Stefany Valentine, Matthew Salesses, Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom, Eric Smith, Jenny Heijun Wills, and Sun Yung Shin.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
YA Hallowreads
We are finally seeing Halloween becoming a more common setting or scene in YA. It felt like there were so few for decades, but now, well, it’s nice to be able to have titles to choose from in making a list!
I’ve included below YA Halloween reads that are either centered entirely on the celebration or have a prominent scene related to the scariest day of the year. Let yourself enjoy the season with these reads that range from sweet to chilling.
Night of the Living Queers edited by Shelly Page and Alex Brown
This anthology is at the top of my reading list, sitting on my pile after a recent library run. It is a collection of nothing but scary stories. And these aren’t just scary stories: they’re all written by and feature queer people. The contributor list is rad, too, including Alex Brown and Shelly Page, Kalynn Bayron, Ryan Douglass, Sara Farizan, Maya Gittelman, Kosoko Jackson, Em Liu, Vanessa Montalban, Ayida Shonibar, Tara Sim, Trang Thanh Tran, and Rebecca Kim Wells.
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
Set over Halloween and into Dia De Los Muertos, Thomas’s debut novel follows Yadriel, who is determined to prove himself a powerful brujo despite the gendered expectations of his traditional Latine family. He employs the help of two friends to perform a ritual that will help him find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set him free.
This was a lot of fun while also being packed with so much interesting stuff about gender, about Brujeria and how gendered it is, about family, and a sweet, humorous romance.
Also, check out the short story “Ghost Town” by Malinda Lo, originally published in the anthology Defy The Dark edited by Saundra Miller. The story is published in full over at Uncanny Magazine.
If you’re thinking you’re less into the all things Halloween vibes and would instead prefer a broader book that is a love song to autumn, look no further than Crystal Maldonado’s latest, The Fall of Whit Rivera.
Thanks as always for hanging out. I will see you again on Thursday for your YA book news and paperback releases.
Until then, happy reading!
– Kelly Jensen, currently reading Howl by Shaun David Hutchinson.