Recently Added to the YA Bookshelf

Taking a look at some of the most recent additions gracing the shelves of our YA department.

City of Villains by Estelle Laure

In City of Villains, we follow Mary Elizabeth Heart, a high school student who has a prestigious internship at the Monarch police department. The police department is busy at work, trying to suppress the high crime rate and quell tension between the City's wealthy elite and their plans to gentrify the decaying neighborhood of the city. Then, when a wealthy businessman's daughter disappears, Mary gets her time to shine, she takes on the case and gets to see the ugly underbelly of the city first-hand, showing the magical roots of the city.

"Disney's Villains meet Gotham in this gritty fairy tale-inspired crime series." -- Goodreads

Into the Heartless Wood by Joanna Ruth Meyer

The forest is a dangerous place, where siren song lures men and women to their deaths. For centuries, a witch has harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow her domain. When Owen Merrick is lured into the witch's wood, one of her tree-siren daughters, Seren, saves his life instead of ending it. Every night, he climbs over the garden wall to see her, and every night her longing to become human deepens.

"Familiar motifs, such as wilderness versus technology, a witch versus a king, and star-crossed lovers, placed in unfamiliar settings ensure that this dark romantic fantasy fulfills expectations without becoming formulaic." -- Kirkus Reviews

Wingfeather Tales by Andrew Peterson

Wingfeather Tales has a world of bomnubbles and quarreling cousins, sea dragons and book publishers, thieves and Fangs and secret maps. It has untold stories of the distant past, lost adventures, forgotten songs, and heartbreaking histories. The Shining Isle is restored, but Aerwiar is vast.

"A delightfully diverse collection of "tales" written and illustrated by a group of authors and illustrators who are themselves fans of the Wingfeather Saga!" -- Redeemed Reader

The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold

In The Electric Kingdom, a deadly fly flu sweeps the globe and it leaves a shell of the world that once was. Among the survivors are eighteen-year-old Nico and her dog, on a voyage devised by Nico's father to find a mythical portal; a young artist named Kit, raised in an old abandoned cinema; and the enigmatic Deliverer, who lives Life after Life in an attempt to put the world back together. As swarms of infected Flies roam the earth, these few survivors navigate the woods of post-apocalyptic New England, meeting others along the way, each on their own quest to find life and love in a world gone dark.

"With a haunting, deliberately paced tale of post apocalyptic survival, Arnold creates a devastated world held together by myth and memory." -- Publishers Weekly

How to Become a Planet by Nicole Melleby

A month before the end of the school year, Pluto's frightened mom broke down Pluto's bedroom door. What came next were doctor's appointments, a diagnosis of depression, and a big black hole that still sits on Pluto's chest, making it too hard to do anything. Pluto can't explain to her mom why she can't do the things she used to love, And it isn't until Pluto's dad threatens to make her move with him to the city that Pluto becomes desperate enough to do whatever it takes to be the old Pluto again.

"A realistic, hopeful account of personal recovery and discovery." -- Kirkus Reviews

The Cost of Knowing by Brittney Morris

In The Cost of Knowing, we follow Alex Rufus, a sixteen-year-old that has the special gift that every time he touches an object or person, he sees into its future. When he touches a scoop, he has a vision of him using it to scoop ice cream. When he touches his car, he sees it years from now, totaled and underwater. When he touches his girlfriend, Talia, he sees them at the precipice of breaking up, and that terrifies him. Alex feels these visions are a curse, distracting him, making him anxious and unable to live an ordinary life.

"Dear Martin meets They Both Die at the End in this gripping, evocative novel about a Black teen who has the power to see into the future, whose life turns upside down when he foresees his younger brother's imminent death, from the acclaimed author of SLAY." -- Goodreads

What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson

In What Beauty There Is, we follow Jack Morton, a man that has nothing left, except his younger brother, Matty, who he'd do anything for. Now with their mother gone, and their funds quickly dwindling, Jack needs to make a choice: lose his brother to foster care, or find the drug money that sent his father to prison.

"Anderson's starkly atmospheric thriller illuminates ways in which cycles of poverty and incarceration can disenfranchise children." -- Publishers Weekly

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne Brown

In A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, we follow Malik, for whom the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts Malik's younger sister, Nadia, as payment into the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal - kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia's freedom.

"The first in a fantasy duology inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess and a desperate refugee find themselves on a collision course to murder each other despite their growing attraction." -- Goodreads

This writing brought to you by BPL Student Advisor, Braden Unruh.