New & Coming Soon Books for Teens

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Benton-Walker, Terry J.

Cristina and Clement Trudeau have conjured the impossible: justice.They took back their family's stolen throne to lead New Orleans' magical community into the brighter future they all deserve. But when Cris and Clem restored their family power, Valentina Savant lost everything. Her beloved grandparents are gone and her sovereignty has been revoked--she will never be Queen. Unless, of course, someone dethrones the Trudeaus again. And lucky for her, she's not the only one trying to take them down.

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Burch, Ciera

Jericka Walker had planned to spend the summer before senior year soaking up the sun with her best friend on the Jersey Shore. Instead she finds herself in Coldwater, Maryland, a small town with a dark and complicated past where her estranged grandmother lives--someone she knows only two things about: her name and the fact that she left Jericka's mother and uncle when they were children. But now Jericka's grandmother is dying, and her mother has dragged Jericka along to say goodbye.

As Jericka attempts to form a connection with a woman she's never known, and adjusts to life in a town where everything closes before dinner, she meets "ghost girl" Kat, a girl eager to leave Coldwater and more exciting than a person has any right to be. But Coldwater has a few unsettling secrets of its own. The more you try to leave, the stronger the town's hold. As Jericka feels the chilling pull of her family's past, she begins to question everything she thought she knew about her mother, her childhood, and the lines between the living and the dead.

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Calella, Christine

After a lifetime of abuse at the hands of superstitious townsfolk, Ophelia Young, a bastard child of the notorious pirate queen, is tired of paying for the sins of her mother. Despite playing by the rules her whole life, she's earned nothing but spite and suspicion. So when a naval officer saves her from the jeering crowd at her mother's hanging, Ophelia hatches a new hope of enlisting in the navy to escape her mother's legacy and redeem her own reputation for good. But Ophelia soon discovers that a life at sea isn't as honorable as she hoped.

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Cast, P. C.

On her eighteenth birthday, Wren discovers latent magical powers, earning her a place at the secret Academia de la Luna, where alongside her childhood friend Lee, they uncover secrets and dangerous mysteries, forcing Lee to choose between his family's legacy and protecting the girl he loves.

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Corey, M. E.

Kay, a trans boy, wants what every other teenage boy wants--a girlfriend and a successful rock band--but when a new girl assumes he is cis and asks him out, he accepts without correcting her. In between dates and classroom flirting, Kay discovers more of who he is and who he wants to be. From working on his setlist to win the competition to become the prom band to posing as a different male volunteer at the local animal shelter, Kay keeps finding ways to be seen and make space for himself in his small town. And as his confidence grows, he works up the courage and support to confront his bullies and his unsupportive mother.But it's going to be harder than he thought to play the show, get the girl, and keep everyone from telling her what Kay is short for.

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Edgmon, H. E.

The stunning conclusion to the Ouroboros series, a contemporary fantasy duology in which a teen, Gem, finds out they're a reincarnated god from another world.

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Engle, Margarita

Told in alternating voices, determined to make a difference and heal from their troubled pasts, teens Ana and Leandro fight to protect California wildlife and the endangered puma.

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Evans, Desiree S.

Celebrating a new generation of bestselling and acclaimed Black writers, The Black Girl Survives in This One makes space for Black girls in horror. Fifteen chilling and thought-provoking stories place Black girls front and center as heroes and survivors who slay monsters, battle spirits, and face down death. Prepare to be terrified and left breathless by the pieces in this anthology.

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Flores-Scott, Patrick

Told over the course of forty-eight hours, seventeen-year-old Tony heads back to his old life in Des Moines, Washington after being released from a youth detention center, but toxic old relationships and unforseen challenges make staying on the straight-and-narrow nearly impossible.

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Garza Villa, Jonny

In a twenty-four-hour span, Rafael Alvarez led North Amistad High School's Mariachi Alma de la Frontera to their eleventh consecutive first-place win in the Mariachi Extravaganza de Nacional; and met, made out with, and almost hooked up with one of the cutest guys he's ever met.

Now eight months later, Rafie's ready for one final win. What he didn't plan for is his family moving to San Antonio before his senior year, forcing him to leave behind his group while dealing with the loss of the most important person in his life--his beloved abuelo. Another hitch in his plan: The Selena Quintanilla-Perez Academy's Mariachi Todos Colores already has a lead vocalist, Rey Chavez--the boy Rafie made out with--who now stands between him winning and being the great Mariachi Rafie's abuelo always believed him to be. 

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He, Joan

From New York Times and Indie bestselling author Joan He, comes Sound the Gong, the dazzling, sweeping conclusion to the critically-acclaimed Kingdom of Three duology.

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Johnston, E. K.

In the small town of Eganston, Ontario, five high school friends have had enough. They've experienced the worst abuse, bullying, and gaslighting their small community has to offer. But it hasn't been all bad. They now know they can count on each other, and surviving their high school years has taught them a few things. One might even say they've learned some useful tactics. And this year is going to be all about using them.

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Khorram, Adib

A high school stage manager has to face his complicated feelings about love when he catches himself falling for the same guy as his sister.

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Lee, Stacey

In in 1930s Los Angeles Chinatown, the Chow sisters, May, Gemma, and Peony, suspect foul play in the death of Chinatown star Lulu Wong and take it upon themselves to solve the murder, revealing a conspiracy that threatens their Chinatown neighborhood.

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Levithan, David

When David Levithan published Wide Awake in 2004, he set it in an imagined 2024, where a gay Jewish man had just been elected president of the United States, until a governor decides that some election results in his state are invalid, awarding crucial votes to the other candidate and his fellow party member. What follows is the story of teens Jimmy and Duncan as they explore their relationship, their politics, and their country.

In Wide Awake Now, David Levithan is flipping the script and rewriting Jimmy and Duncan's story in the real 2024, rather than his imagined version. This is a protest novel for today.

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Little Badger, Darcie

Shane works with her mother and their ghost dogs, tracking down missing persons even when their families can't afford to pay. Their own family was displaced from their traditional home years ago following a devastating flood and the loss of Shane's father and her grandparents. They don't think they'll ever get their home back. Then Shane's mother and a local boy go missing, after a strange interaction with a fairy ring. Shane, her brother, her friends, and her lone, surviving grandparent, who isn't to be trusted, set off on the road to find them. But they may not be anywhere in this world, or this place in time. Nevertheless, Shane is going to find them.

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Lukens, F. T.

In a land where the supernatural is believed to be real, non-believer Ellery and familiar Knox from the Other World form an unexpected alliance to strike a deal that could alter their lives forever.

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Marie, Racquel

Growing up, Bryce, Beatriz, and Santiago were inseparable. But when Santiago moved away before high school, their friendship crumbled. Three years later, Bryce is gone, Beatriz is known as the dead boy's girlfriend, and Santiago is back.

The last thing Beatriz wants is to reunite with Santiago, who left all her messages unanswered while she drowned alone in grief over Bryce's death by suicide. Even if she wasn't angry, Santiago's attempts to make amends are jeopardizing her plan to keep the world at arm's length--equal parts protection and punishment--and she swore to never let anyone try that again.

Santiago is surprised to find the once happy-go-lucky Bea is now the gothic town loner, though he's unsurprised she wants nothing to do with him. But he can't fix what he broke between them while still hiding what led him to cut her off in the first place, and it's harder to run from his past when he isn't states away anymore.

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Mikuta, Zoe Hana

Witches and lovers Caro Rabbit and Iccadora Alice Sickle's twisted past comes to light as they are once again thrust into each other's lives and beckoned back to Wonderland, the dark, monster-filled forest where it all began.

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Miller, Samuel

In Calico Springs, Willie's life has been defined by two powerful forces: God and the river. The "miracle boy" died for five minutes as a young child, and ever since, Willie is certain he survived for a reason, but that purpose didn't become clear until he found the Game.

The Game is called Manifest Atlas, and the concept is simple: enter an intention and the Game provides a target--a blinking blue dot on the map. Willie's second time playing Manifest Atlas, his intention takes him to an ominous target: three empty graves. Willie is sure the Game is telling him he's going to die.

Willie's older brother, Bones, doesn't believe him, but their friends are intrigued. Sarai, a girl from across the river, sets the next intention: something bloody. The group follows the Game's coordinates and they discover something even more unsettling than the graves: a dead body. Sarai's stepfather's body. The Game is suddenly personal.

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Schwartz, Leanne

Plain, poor, plus-size, and autistic, Alesta grew up trying to convince her kingdom that she's too useful to be sacrificed like so many of their country's poor to appease the infernal monster across the poison sea in hell. When Alesta's attempt to prove herself with inventions goes awry, her best friend and heir to the throne, Kyrian, takes the blame expecting leniency--and ends up tithed in her place. To end the sacrifices forever, Alesta plans to kill the monster that killed her friend. She travels to the depths of hell only to find Kyrian, alive, but monstrously transformed. There's no escaping hell or their deeper feelings for one another, and the farther they go, the closer they come to uncovering a truth about the tithings that threatens to invoke the wrath of not only monsters but the gods as well.

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Zhao, Ann

Dear Wendy--a dual POV Young Adult contemporary debut from Ann Zhao--finds two aromantic and asexual college students in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends in real life, in a platonic love story perfect for fans of Netflix's The Half of It!

Summaries provided by DPL's catalog unless otherwise noted. Click on each title to view more information.