Author: Kelly Jensen

I love that Malinda’s mystery/thriller is getting a repackage following the huge success of Last Night at the Telegraph Club, though admittedly, the original cover for this book is fantastic. Alas, I suspect this might bring in some new readers who love books that look like this one.

Jess Wong is okay being a girl on the sidelines, always watching and observing. The most important thing to her is being best friends with Angie…even if Angie doesn’t quite pick up all of Jess’s cues. So when Angie begins falling for a girl at a local boarding school named Margot, Jess’s observational skills are heightened.

Angie keeps bringing Jess into her budding friendship with Margot, but Jess continues to resist. Something is wrong with Margot and her circle, but Angie keeps getting closer. When things take the turn Jess saw coming, it is Jess who will have to step in and crack open the secrets and darkness among the three of them.

Go to this one and stay for a twisty story of friendship…and maybe something more.

This one has been on my radar since it was announced and I’m so glad I could be reminded to pick it up sooner, rather than later, in its paperback edition.

A look at the complexities of love – the romantic kind, the familial kind, and the friendship kind – is at the center of the story of Gio, a bisexual teen navigating his father’s drinking habit and friends who seem to keep wanting him involved in their drama. Complicating his life more is his mother, who left him, his brother, and his father, when Gio was 9.

Gio’s mother is back now, and he’s not sure what to do. Does he forgive her? Does he ask questions?

….and then, there’s this boy Gio is starting to catch feelings for, too.

Because Lark wants to be a writer, they begin to build a social media following. Kasim, Lark’s former best friend, accidentally posts on Lark’s Twitter threat about deep and unrequited love for a secret crush and now, those tweets are the subject of school obsession. Who are they in reference to? Lark decides they’ll protect Kasim and claim those tweets were in reference to another classmate. . . but now, with the school and thousands of outsiders following and trying to unravel the truth behind those tweets, it might be bringing Lark and Kasim closer together. Can love ignite revolution?

Sharlot’s mother has caught her in a “compromising position” and decides the best solution is for them to head to her mother’s native Indonesia.

Meanwhile, George Clooney Tanuwijaya’s father–yes, he’s obsessed with American celebrities–is also trying to rein in his son. They are some of the wealthiest people in Indonesia and no way can anything mar the family’s reputation.

So when Sharlot’s mother and George’s father strike up conversation online, each pretending to be one another’s children, they think it’ll be so their children find the “right” kind of partner. But when the real Sharlot and George find out about what their parents are doing, they are horrified…and then maybe begin to actually fall for one another.

This one’s got fake dating, ridiculous parents, a romantic island adventure, and loads of humor.

There is something Not Great happening in Snakebite, Oregon, and when Logan arrives with her dads to town to film for their paranormal reality show, she’s feeling that sense of Not Great, too. No one in Snakebite is excited to be part of this show, but when the girl who has been haunted by her dead boyfriend’s ghost teams up with Logan to solve the mystery of what’s happening, a whole box of secrets about the town and its history opens.

Queer girls + ghosts + Riverdale vibes + paranormal investigator show? I’m all in.

Jenny’s coming back home to St Louis after visiting her grandparents in New York City, and she’s excited about her senior year. Too bad her plane went “missing,” and reappeared 25 years later. Now, Jenny’s missed everything in those 25 years and has to figure out a way to move forward to build a life she never anticipated.

Time travel to the future? This one sounds intriguing!

A Black, queer, magical historical fiction set in the late 1930s? This sounds like it will be a lot in a very good way.

Laura lives in America, which is divided between those who are part of the mystical arts and those who aren’t. The Great Rust destroyed the country, and now, the great rebuilding has involved a push toward industry and technology and away from traditional mystical work. Laura plans to pursue the arts, though, and once she arrives in New York City, she finds herself struggling until she applies for a job with the government. She meets Skylar, who agrees to take her on as an apprentice, and just before their first first mission, they find work from some of the most powerful mages in history that haven’t been seen in generations. It’s work that could get both of them killed.

Ireland’s no stranger to books about American history that explore race, power, and privilege. This book does all of that and more.

Itching for a childhood friends-to-lovers romance? This one’s for you.

Hannah’s looking forward to her perfectly planned summer with her boyfriend Nate and her upcoming senior year. Too bad Nate leaves Hannah, and he, like so many of her friends, have found themselves falling for all things K-Pop. It wouldn’t be a big deal, really, but Hannah has worked hard to avoid getting to know the Korean part of her Korean American identity, so it’s even harder for her to handle this breakup than she anticipated.

Jacob, Hannah’s former best friend from childhood, is home for the summer. Jacob…who starred in K-dramas. Now, Hannah not only finds herself falling for him but needing to come to terms with her own identity in the process.

I know very little about this book except that it explores gender fluidity and that it is a YA fantasy book with undertones from Japanese folklore and Egyptian mythology.

Kaori and Kai are the first set of twins to survive on the island of Mu. The reason none have survive before is because of an ancient prophecy and now, the rivalry is beginning to emerge. But what’s more important–loyalty to the island or to one another?

Natasha’s sister went missing and her car was found at the Bend, and she wants answers. Della and her family have conjured magic from the Bend, setting spells for those who are desperate. When Natasha arrives at Della’s door, itching to find out what happened to her sister, Della knows this is going to be a case requiring a lot more than a little magic.

There are few YA books addressing the Syrian crisis, but this is one and it sounds fantastic (it’s been on my to-read list since it showed up in the mail months ago!).

Salama is a pharmacy student when the Syrian Revolution began, and everything with her family and home seemed “normal” at the time. But now as she volunteers at a hospital where wounded are showing up, desperate and in need of help, Salama is torn. She thinks it is time to flee, especially as her sister-in-law is about to have a baby. Salama’s desperation manifests itself into an imagined companion who continues pressing her to leave.

Despite thinking and feeling it is right to leave, Salama’s story is about that tear between starting fresh and staying in the country she loves to continue crying for freedom.

I love Deb Caletti, both as an author and as a person — we did a panel together a few years ago and clicked instantly. Her latest book follows Harper, a girl who was conceived by a sperm donor. Certain that she cannot know herself until she knows the anonymous donor who helped forge her life, Harper wants to track him down and is able to get a lead through Instagram. That lead? A half sibling.

As Harper heads to Hawaii to get to know her new half siblings, she navigates learning about her father, about the family she never met, and the realities of growing up in the midst of a pandemic — and how that pandemic only intensified her already-intense anxiety.

It’s a feminist book about discovery, coming-of-age, and mental health.

Itching for a South Asian fantasy? Look no further.

Koral, who is 16, and her brother Emrik have to capture the dangerous (and potentially deadly) maristags everyday which live in the sea around their island. Their family are indentured servants to the ruling upper class, who use these sea creatures as part of the Glory Race, a chariot tournament for the elite which can turn quite deadly.

When the last maristag of the year escapes, Koral’s family has nothing to sell and now their finances are in dire straits–they can’t afford the medication her younger sister needs. Koral takes it upon herself to find a solution: cheat her way into the Glory Race and hope that she can come out a winner.

But there are several challenges. First: she’s never trained for this. Second: her ex-boyfriend is one of the competitors. Third: is she truly prepared to put her life on the line for someone else?

This one is compared to The Hunger Games meets These Violent Delights in marketing copy, but I also see some Scorpio Races here.

I’m reading this one now and it is excellent. Set up partially as a true crime podcast, Jackson’s horror novel is a take on the classic Carrie.

Maddie’s been passing for white her entire life and forced to keep up the act thanks to her father. She’s always been the target of bullying at her small high school, but when her secret is revealed, things go from bad to worse.

A viral video showcases the school’s deep racist roots, and student leaders decide one way to fix their reputation is to host their first integrated prom. Too bad not everyone will make it out of the prom alive . . . and, of course, those who do make out are pointing the finger at Maddie.

The first in a fantasy series, Becker’s debut follows Rora, a shifter. Rora, like those also born in the wilderness, is magical and feared. Her power is used to spy on the king and when a devastating illness begins to impact the kingdom, Rora is heartbroken when Finley–a young prince and her best friend–has caught it. Stardust would save him, but that’s only accessible via the forest Rora has sworn to never return to.

Rora is going to make the journey, though. Soon, though, she and her companions realize they may be in for a series of even bigger challenges than just saving Finley’s life.

The sequel to this one is out this week, too, so you can read the entire duology in one big gulp.

Rachel is the new kid at her school, and as a scholarship student, she’s already an outcast. When she’s caught in a prank gone bad, she fears it’s over for her socially.

But that prank catches the attention of the Mary Shelley Club, a group of students who seek to come up with the best prank to truly scare fellow students. It’s a competition, and the consequences may be deadly, especially as the Club begins to turn on itself.

The first in a series and a just-named Barnes & Noble September YA Book Club Pick, expect to hear quite a bit about this book in the weeks to come.

19-year-old Signa was orphaned as a baby and has lived with a string of relatives…all of which have met unfortunate and untimely demise. Now she’s with the wealthy Hawthornes, and though the mother is dead, her spirit haunts the family and claims she was poisoned. Signa, suspecting danger for the rest of the family, teams up with a stable boy to unravel the mystery, now finds herself in need of cooperation from an unlikely source: Death.

Is there a love story between Signa and the stable boy? Or Signa and Death? Or is this strictly to get to the bottom of the late Mrs. Hawthorne’s suspicious death?

Cori, Maz, and Sam were inseparable growing up. They hung out all of the time, shared a deep love for Halloween and arcade games, among other things, but when they were in middle school, things started to change. 

Fast forward to 1993, and Sam has been gone for six years. Cori and Maz are seniors, and they run across one another by chance…and that chance meeting resurrects not only the feelings of their broken friendship but it also brings Sam back. Sam, who comes back not as a senior himself, but as his 12-year-old self. Still believing it is 1987. 

What unravels is a story of secrets the best friends kept from one another, as well as what both Cori and Maz believe happened to Sam.

This is a fun, funny paranormal mystery for readers who love Stranger Things.

Mateo and his little sister are American citizens, but their parents are undocumented immigrants from Mexico. They’ve been taught to fear potential deportation, but because Mateo’s parents have been so integrated into America–and they have American-born children–that fear has faded.

But when Mateo comes home from school and discovers his parents are missing, the family’s worst nightmares may have come true. Now Mateo and his little sister have to figure out how survive alone while working to find their parents.

Violeta Graceling — Leta — arrives at Lakesedge estate prepared to find a monster in Rowan, who, rumor has it, drowned his entire family. Leta soon discovers neither Lakesedge nor Rowan are what they’ve been built to be. She begins to fall quickly for Rowan, but soon discovers his allegiance to a sinister death god residing in the lake on the estate. Now Leta is drawn to that death god and must unpack the dark truth of her past, as well as her connection to the death god, in order to save herself and Rowan.