Title: Simone Breaks All The Rules Author: Debbie Rigaud Publisher: Scholastic Press Publication Date: June 1st, 2021 Genre: Young Adult Contemporary, Young Adult Romance Synopsis: Her strict Haitian immigrant parents enforce no-dating rules and curfews, and send Simone to an all-girls school. As for prom? Simone is allowed to go on one condition: her parents will select her date (a boy from a nice Haitian immigrant family, obviously). Simone is desperate to avoid the humiliation of the set up — especially since she’s crushing on a boy she knows her parents wouldn’t approve of. With senio ..read more

Title: Dark And Deepest Red Author: Anna-Marie Mclemore Publisher: Feiwel & Friends Publication Date: January 14th 2021 Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Young Adult Historical Fiction Synopsis: Summer, 1518. A strange sickness sweeps through Strasbourg: women dance in the streets, some until they fall down dead. As rumors of witchcraft spread, suspicion turns toward Lavinia and her family, and Lavinia may have to do the unimaginable to save herself and everyone she loves. Five centuries later, a pair of red shoes seal to Rosella Oliva’s feet, making her dance uncontrollably. They draw her t ..read more

Title: Sirma Author: Reni Stankova Publisher: Self-Published Publication Date: July 1st 2019 Genre: Historical Fiction Content Warnings: non-descriptive rape scene, an implicit sex scene between consenting adults, and heavy violence. Synopsis: Sirma has spent the first 18 years of her life as a happy and hardworking Slavic girl in her quiet mountain village. Until she loses her two best friends to a gang of outlaws. The village elders don’t do anything, because they fear the wrath of Hamza Bei – the head outlaw in the area. Fed up with hiding and keeping silent, Sirma dresses up like a man ..read more

Title: The Cost of Knowing Author: Britney Morris Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers Publication Date: April 6th, 2021 Genres: Young Adult Contemporary  ARC from SIimon Teen and Coloured Pages Book Tours Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Alex Rufus is trying his best. He tries to be the best employee he can be at the local ice cream shop; the best boyfriend he can be to his amazing girlfriend, Talia; the best protector he can be over his little brother, Isaiah. But as much as Alex tries, he often comes up short. It’s hard for him to be present when every time he touches an ob ..read more

Title: The Sky Blues Author: Robbie Couch Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers Publication Date: April 6th, 2021 Genres: Young Adult Contemporary Young Adult Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA+ Synopsis: Sky Baker may be openly gay, but in his small, insular town, making sure he was invisible has always been easier than being himself. Determined not to let anything ruin his senior year, Sky decides to make a splash at his high school’s annual beach bum party by asking his crush, Ali, to prom—and he has thirty days to do it. What better way to start living loud and proud than ..read more

My Most Anticipated YA Releases Title: Zara Hossain Is Here Author: Sabina Khan Release Date: April 6th 2021 Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Pakistani immigrant, Zara Hossain, has been leading a fairly typical life in Corpus Christi, Texas, since her family moved there for her father to work as a paediatrician. While dealing with the Islamophobia that she faces at school, Zara has to lay low, trying not to stir up any trouble and jeopardise their family’s dependent visa status while they await their green card approval, which has been in process for almost nine years. But one day her tormentor ..read more

Title: The Affliction Of Praha Author: Simon Gillard Publisher: Amazon Digital Services Publication Date: July 9th 2020 Genre: Adult Historical Mystery Synopsis: It’s 20th-century Czechoslovakia… and murder comes knocking.The Teralov family are loved and respected by everyone in Prague, adored for bringing prosperity and hope to its downtrodden people… so nobody expected to find Peter Teralov inexplicably murdered in the streets. To quell the uproar, expert Soviet detective Edgar Rollenvart soon finds himself tasked with hunting down the one responsible and bringing the killer to justice ..read more

Title: The Last Miracle Author: Robert W. Adams Publisher: Self- Published Publication Date: April 21st 2020 Genre: Adult Thriller, Psychological Magical Realism Synopsis: Surrender means losing herself forever. Refusal means the end of the world. After the death of her mother, Eight-year-old Thea begins to hear and feel things other people don’t. The voice in her head says no one will believe her, not even her father. The kids call her Straight-Jacket Johnson and claiming to heal her brother’s broken wrist didn’t help. Thea battles unrelenting tragedy and dismissive doctors as she stands ..read more

Title: Catch Lili Too Author: Sophie Whittemore Publisher: NineStar Press Publication Date: November 6th 2020 Genre: Queer Punk Fantasy ARC Review Synopsis: Lili is a Mesopotamian siren, and life as an immortal being is hard enough as it is. She’s asexual (which is incredibly difficult to reconcile if your entire point as a mythical being is to seduce people to death). She’s also struggling with depression from being alive for so long. Lili is an absolutely shoddy improv-detective trying to track down a serial killer so ruthless that it makes even her murderous soul uneasy. However, there ..read more

Title: The Girl From The Well Author: Rin Chupeco Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire Publication Date: May 1 2015 Genre: Young Adult Horror Synopsis: I am where dead children go. Okiku is a lonely soul. She has wandered the world for centuries, freeing the spirits of the murdered-dead. Once a victim herself, she now takes the lives of killers with the vengeance they’re due. But releasing innocent ghosts from their ethereal tethers does not bring Okiku peace. Still she drifts on. Such is her existence, until she meets Tark. Evil writhes beneath the moody teen’s skin, trapped by a series of intrica ..read more