Hey, YA Readers!
It’s one of my favorite dates of the year: 3-21. Nothing special or meaningful is associated with the date, but it just looks and sounds very satisfying.
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Let’s get into what you’re here for, though. This week, a pair of paperback releases to keep you speeding through pages and a roundup of bookish news. It is adaptation news season, y’all!
Bookish Goods
Flower on Book Necklace by WittingCraft
I love a good bookish piece of jewelry, and this necklace is definitely within that “good bookish piece of jewelry” realm. I love the delicate design with the flowers emerging from the pages. $33, with color choices (gold, rose gold, and silver) and tons of length opens.
New Releases
This week, we’re lower on paperback releases than usual. As a result, the list is also not as inclusive as usual—I don’t like to highlight books that aren’t first in a series in this roundup only because of the possibility of spoilers and/or how annoying it can be to borrow or buy a book not realizing it’s not the first one. But in the interests of making sure I highlight a couple of diverse books this week, know that Broken Web by Lori M. Lee (book 2 in a series) and Abuela, Don’t Forget Me by Rex Ogle (a companion memoir in verse to Ogle’s previous two memoirs) hit shelves this week.
Cursed Cruise by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren
The RMS Queen Anne is a transatlantic cruise ship where guests seem to buy one way tickets to their death. They climb aboard but never make it to their destination. Chrissy, Chase, Kiki, and Emma are all invited to cruise, and they have some weird feelings about it the minute they arrive.
Then Chrissy goes missing the first night. While no one else knows, what Chrissy knows is she’s been sucked into a different time altogether. There’s a passenger who has a message for Chrissy and her friends—that she didn’t die by accident. Her death was on purpose, and the person who killed her is alive and well.
That murderer might even be on the ship right now.
Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell
Clara’s got magic. It’s never been dangerous, though. Then, one day, she touches her father’s chest, and from it blooms poisonous flowers. She knows the only way to help him is to cast a spell. It’s the kind of spell that requires precision and perfection, and it’s the kind of spell that will require her to seek help from Xavier. Xavier is her childhood friend, and he’s asking a heavy price for his help. Clara accepts, even though she’s nervous to do so.
But what Clara discovers about Xavier is the truth of why he’s changed so much between childhood and now. Clara may be the only one with the power to heal him.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
YA Book News
- Robbie Couch’s The Sky Blues is being adapted and has a director attached.
- The adaptation of I Wish You All The Best debuted last week at South by Southwest to great reviews. I suspect we’ll see a wider distribution before too long.
- What a roster of judges for the National Book Awards for Young People’s Literature this year!
- Alice Oseman talks with People magazine about the surprises of her hit career.
- Speaking of Oseman, Heartstopper, Volume 3 details about filming and release are trickling in.
- Is this mostly a roundup of adaptation news? Yes. Let’s keep that theme going. A Teen Titans live-action film is in the works.
- Season three of The Summer I Turned Pretty has started to film.
As always, thanks for hanging out. We’ll see you on Saturday with some great book deals.
Until then, happy reading!
–Kelly Jensen, currently reading Freshman Year by Sarah Mai