Summer has returned, and that means a new line up of releases! To gear up for the sweltering season, we have an exciting list of the most anticipated YA books. From fantasy adventures, new beginnings, alternative realities, LGBTQ romance, forbidden love, alluring rebels, and heart pounding action, this summer is sure to be one to remember.

Change of Plans by Sarah Dessen (5/5)

Colin has been Finley’s constant. He is the extrovert of the duo, and Finley is happy to play tag along with his friends, his plans, and be on the outskirts of his world. When the mother she hardly knows reappears, inviting her to the family cabin for the summer, Finley’s life takes on a new shape. She spends her summer getting to know her mother’s side of the family visiting her aunt’s diner and mingling with the teenagers working at the restaurant. After her relationship falters, a charming guitarist named Ben catches Finely’s attention, forcing her to decide what and who she wants in the life she is creating.

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Young World by Soman Chainani (5/5)

Benton Young is just a teenager when he uploads a video jokingly encouraging viewers to vote for him as a presidential write-in. Humor becomes serious in a flash as Benton becomes president-elect for real, and even more so when his election initiates world changes as teenagers from eight of the world’s most powerful countries become the new leaders of their nations. A world summit in Sweden sets the stage for the young leaders marking a new path for the world, but peace is brief. Shattered after a leader is murdered, people young and old succumb to a frenzy of mistrust. A lot hangs in the balance as the world teeters under uncertain hands trying to create peace with newfound powers, if that’s even possible.

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Nat and Cami’s Guide to Running an Undercover GSA by Karis Rogerson (6/23)

Cami is a young artist and one of the few “out” lesbians in her conservative boarding school. Cami focuses on getting her art displayed in the student gallery and planning her future as an artist. One bad night, Cami hides in the bathroom to find refuge and unexpectedly finds companionship instead,Nat is from a religious family and is a senior at 16, the head of her class, a runner in cross country, and the captain of her soccer team. Nat, too, struggles, but with depression and insomnia that pushes her to find usual spaces for peace. The accidental meeting spawns a friendship filled with late night talks and organizing an undercover support group called the Genders & Sexuality Alliance. Happily, the group attracts more people than ever imagined, and a collection of outcasts becomes a community. As Cami and Nat spend more time together, it becomes clear that their feelings for each other are more than friendship and far from expected.

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Storm Breaker by Nisha J. Tuli (5/5)

Choice is a given for many, but not for Poet Graves. Her future has been decided. She is to marry an heir of the Ruling Houses, and submission is not optional. In the teeming city of Manhattan, Poet enters the prestigious Amery Academy with her life set and a secret power simmering beneath the surface. The academy tests the character and resilience of every student with ruthless trials, tenuous alliances, and rules designed to measure the mettle of each individual. Adding to the already volatile situation, is an alluring outsider who Poet is inexplicably drawn to. Poet grapples with her own powers and the arranged life that she is supposed to live as well as the mutinous desires that lead her to make risky decisions.

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Behind Five Willows by June Hur (5/26)

Haewon is one of the two eldest daughters in a poor family set in a society woefully controlled by men. A woman’s success in this world is achieved only in marriage. A dedicated daughter and a rebel behind closed doors, Haewon works as a transcriber during the rise of censorship and book banning for an author she knows as Black Lotus. As her sister falls  in love with a well-off gentleman, Haewon becomes a chaperone, and is begrudgingly accompanied by the gentleman’s best friend, Seojun. He is a man of noble origins and heavy expectations, so naturally he has been writing, a risky and illegal act. Seojun’s support, besides his gentleman friend, is the transcriber he has never met that composes letters under the pseudonym Magpie. Mutual distaste is apparent between Haewon and Seojun, but with hours of chaperoning, the two find that their judgments might have been a bit too hasty.

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The Lovers, the Liars, and Me by DeAndra Davis (6/23)

It is the summer before college and Jallya Powell is determined to learn more about her absent mother. Freshly graduated valedictorian, Jallya is ready for the summer of her life in Jamaica, visiting her uncle and investigating her long lost mother. Everything is as it was, but somehow not. With a cousin keeping her at arms length, an aunt and uncle who are not how she remembered, an increasingly unattainable childhood crush, and a surprise new girl, India, who is full of life, vivacious, and unrestrained, this summer is going to be intoxicatingly complicated. Jallya spends her time seeking answers about her mother all while wrapped up in complex relationships, hidden truths, and outright lies. More than ever, Jallya must decide who she is and who she wants to become.

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Shadow Reaper by Lynette Noni (6/2)

The city of Aravell suffers under a wave of black mist and reapers who siphon magic from even the most vulnerable citizen: its children. At seventeen, Virdia Solace has been training to hunt the reapers and their leader, Reaper Priest, who killed her parents. When Reeve Ashton, a devoted loyalist to Reaper Priest is captured, he makes a deal: Viri frees him from prison, and in exchange, revenge on her parents’ murderer is all but assured. Breaking Reeve out of prison is easy, harder is working with sworn enemies, traveling through dangerous territories, all in the desire to stop the Reaper Priest. Trust is hard earned, especially when Viri and Reeves remain at odds with each other, but with more than one life on the line and feelings that have grown despite reason, the stakes are higher than ever for this mismatched pair.

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Immortal Game by Alison Saft (8/4)

Shea Fury has been dreaming of setting her sister free for years. Captured by the fae High King of the Otherworld and held indefinitely in their lands and separated by the Iron Veil that divides the human and fae worlds. Opportunity arises in the form of a chess tournament taking place in the Otherworld, and the prize is a wish granted by the High King himself. Shea wastes no time entering the contest, but in a land of dark and malignant magic, filled with opponents possessing no qualms in breaking the rules to win, a lot stands between her and the coveted wish. To win, Shea is willing to forge a risky alliance with the fae princess Ciara of Bri Leith. In a deadly tournament filled with hostile enemies, Shea will either bring her sister home or lose everything.

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The Beckett Effect by Nashae Jones (5/5)

Hate doesn’t seem a strong enough word to describe what Wren feels about Beckett Lane. He is an overrated popular kid whose best attribute is having a famous father which is the only reason he gets away with all that he does, but the girls love him. Unfortunately, Wren’s sister Kennedy is another victim to Beckett’s false charms leading to an embarrassing event at a party that leaves Kennedy brokenhearted and thoroughly embarrassed. Well, Wren is not about to let her sister take the fall, so she plans a revenge documentary to expose him. Getting closer to her seemingly untouchable foe gets complicated when hatred starts to feel more like passion, and Wren has to reconsider what she actually feels for the infamous Beckett Lane.

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Drop Dead Famous by Jennifer Pearson (5/5)

Blaire Baker is killed at her homecoming concert in the height of her career. A joyous occasion becomes sister Stevie’s worst nightmare. Devastated and craving answers, Stevie investigates her famous sister’s murder, and the loss dredges up echoes of a past loss that hauntingly lingers. No place is too dark for Stevie as she sheds lights of the horrors of being a celebrity, following clues that seem to lead her back home. Stevie discovers the murderer might not be a deranged stranger, but someone she knows all too well. When answers lead to more questions, Stevie must prepare for the idea that the truth will be a nasty one.

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Oh My Affogato! By Donna Ghorbanpoor and Daphne Ang (5/5)

Soraya is fresh off her high school graduation when she sets a plan in motion to turn her on-again, off-again relationship with Wes into the real deal all while secrets fester in the back of her mind. A graduation trip to the Amalfi Coast in Europe is the fresh start setting the scene for an unforgettable time with friends and, of course, Wes, but all is not as it seems, especially not with him. And out of nowhere comes a sweet and handsome Italian boy who helps his family at the B&B. With old flames burning out and new sparks arising, Soraya discovers that plans change quickly.

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Queerleaders by Olivia A. Cole and Ashley Woodfolk (5/19)

Oak Haven High’s varsity cheer team has a long history of girls coming out of the proverbial closet, so the cheerleaders are better known as the Queerleads. As the new varsity captain, Davie is in charge of recruiting new members and is subject to a vicious rumor that the cheer team only recruits queer cheerleaders. Under the threat of disbandment, Davie’s objective is clear, to choose a straight cheerleader to add to the team. The decision seems to be easy meeting Kendall Hayes, an edgy, off beat girl with a boyfriend. Assumptions put the entire team in danger when Davie discovers that not only is Kendall bisexual, but also, she is newly single. Now, stuck keeping up the ruse until after nationals, the facade grows increasingly difficult to maintain as real feelings develop between Davie and Kendall. The sticky situation leaves Kendall contemplating the stifling feeling of being back in the closet, and forces Davie to decide whether her feelings are more important than the cheer team.

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Survival Show by Juno Dawson (8/4)

Taryn Beck’s life has been filled with violence and strife. She spends her days laboring to scrape together the means to support her sick brother in the Scottish refugee camps that her family now calls home and Taryn dreams of getting away from it all. That dream comes center stage when the New Peace Global Alliance produces a show called Starmaker, a televised singing contest. It takes guts to sing on television, even more when the lowest rated contestant is to be executed on live television as a Project Population sacrifice. So, Taryn and the contestants must sing like it is the last time, because for one unfortunate soul, it is.

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Killing Sadie by Rachel Peterson (8/4)

An infamous barn party goes down in history when seventeen-year-old Sadie Cooper and her killer, Mason Vreeland are found dead. Sadie’s twin sister, Jayne, witnesses the horrific murder. Though Sadie’s boyfriend Ben tried to intervene, he only managed to kill Mason in the process. Clear cut case right? Wrong. When Jayne, Ben, and Sadie’s best friend Liz talk to the police, their stories don’t align which leaves authorities unable to figure out what really happened.

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My Killer Family Reunion by Dinesh Thiru (8/11)

Jayshree Devi has never really been close to her extended family. She has cousins who do not even remember she exists and meddling aunts who constantly try to set her up. When her wealthy grandma ends up in a coma after a “tragic” accident, she must investigate to decide if this was an accident at all. Joined by a bubbly cousin and one irritatingly hot friend, the three must get to the bottom of a complicated mystery. To uncover if the family is behind grandma’s horrible accident, Jay gets close with her distant family and closer to the truth. Mysteries can be messy and this one is no exception.

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