La Sala (Beholder) fuses body- and eco-horror into a propulsive paranormal thriller. Queer, musically inclined teen Ollie Veltman has spent the past year away from his hometown on the island of Anchor’s Mercy, having accompanied his mother to her cancer treatments. The time spent on the mainland drove a wedge between Ollie and his best friends Bash and Elisa, and made applying to college and attending conservatory auditions seem unfathomable. What begins as an uneasy homecoming—complete with tentative reconnections with his buds and a new flirtation with visitor Sam—spirals into surreal terror when Ollie’s mother vanishes and his aunt attacks him while in a fugue state. The island is then quickly overrun by Weepers, twisted, infected beings both human and pelagic whose origins may be tied to a decades-old chemical spill. As the island goes into lockdown, Ollie and his friends fight to survive, uncovering chilling secrets that threaten both their own lives and their community’s future. Journal entries from varying characters further enrich Ollie’s cutting narration, while post-lockdown interviews with island residents add a sense of foreboding to this intense offering that meditates on the resilience of found family and the cost of unethical experimentation as well as institutional secrecy and corruption. Ollie reads as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Peter Knapp, Park, Fine & Brower Literary. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/11/2025 | Details & Permalink

A Black college freshman and her roommates find themselves caught in the web of a charismatic but dangerous older man in this nail-biting thriller by Jackson (The Weight of Blood). After spending her childhood attending primarily white private schools, Jordyn is excited to find a sense of belonging at Frazier University, a historically Black college where she makes fast friends with her suitemates Loren, Kammy, and Vanessa. Then, shortly into the school year, Vanessa’s brother Devonte, in his 30s and recently released from prison, comes to visit “for a few days.” At first, his presence is welcome; he cooks for the girls and gives them advice. But soon, his manipulation of the teens and their actions begins to spiral out of control. It’s up to Jordyn, with help from her crush, a white fraternity member named Nick, to break Devonte’s hold on her and her friends. Jackson’s signature chilling prose presents action-filled and fast-paced plotting rife with tension as Jordyn attempts to puzzle out the mystery behind Devonte’s endgame while navigating issues of personal identity. Jordyn and Nick’s budding romance—and the obstacles it unearths as it unfolds amid the HBCU setting and the overarching conflict—adds a layer of complexity to this satisfying offering. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/11/2025 | Details & Permalink

Allen (When the Wolfsbane Blooms) reimagines Frankenstein through a feminist lens in this macabre gothic horror novel set in 1889 London. When Dilly and her twin sister, Deirdre, were 10, Dilly’s curiosity about her physician father’s basement lab prompted an accident that resulted in Deirdre’s having a permanent limp. As such, the girls’ father forbids Dilly from pursuing a career in medicine, insisting it’s her duty to care for Deirdre, whose marriage and employment prospects are slim. After a carriage crash orphans the siblings at 17, Dilly resolves to pursue her dream of becoming the Royal Society’s first female surgeon. For funding, Dilly partners with roguish medical student and part-time gravedigger Ben to sell stolen corpses to the local college for study. Ben, a resurrectionist, believes that locating the “seat of the soul” is the key to cheating death, to which Dilly scoffs—until she finds her father’s promising research into resurrection and decides to continue his work. Dilly narrates, her determination and audacity driving Allen’s layered plot while conferring emotional complexity and societal context. Though the plot relies heavily on happenstance, it does little to diminish the impact of the gruesome, nerve-shredding conclusion. Main characters cue as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer Weltz, Jean V. Nagger Literary. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/11/2025 | Details & Permalink

The authors of the Witch and Hunter duology return with a biting historical fantasy series launch that fuses Tudor-era courtcraft with Celtic fae legend. Eighteen-year-old Alyth Graham, a half fae lady-in-waiting, is bound by her estranged Seelie prince father to maintain the magical barrier that separates the human and fae realms, by extension protecting Mary, Queen of Scots, from her scheming, power-hungry husband, of whom Alyth has suspicions of hiding something. When dark fae weapons infiltrate the castle and a dire prophecy foretells the barrier’s collapse, Alyth’s skills as Scotland’s unseen guardian are put to the test. Enter street-savvy 19-year-old Samson Calthorpe, who was cursed by a fae relic to experience periods of berserker fury. Summoned by his unscrupulous father, Samson poses as a lord’s secretary to recover the heavily guarded artifact that doomed him—his only hope to break the curse. Upon meeting, Alyth and Samson’s immediate attraction pushes them into a wary alliance to solve the barrier mystery. Alternating first-person POVs propel their quest through magical ambushes, court corruption, and attempted regicide. Intriguing Scottish folklore imbues the period setting with texture and sets the stage for a climactic clash of magic and politics that features a sharp-tongued heroine and a sensitive hero confronting duty, destiny, and betrayal. Ages 14–up. Agents: (for Raasch) Amy Stapp, Wolfson Literary; (for Revis) Merrilee Heifetz, Writers House. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/11/2025 | Details & Permalink

Organic prose centers Black teens in a juicy high-stakes sports drama with soapy twists. An athletic scholarship allows high school sophomore Chyna Thomas—living in fictional Maryland metropolis Diamond Falls—the opportunity to forgo “broke kids gymnastics camp” and attend elite charter school the Heights. But between navigating her mother’s kidney failure, keeping “Miss Thinks She All That” gymnastics cocaptain Alicia Swanson in check, and grieving the murder of her secret boyfriend Jacquees Henderson, Chyna struggles to find her footing both on and off the mat. Meanwhile, Jacquees’s younger brother Jamaal is ready to represent his “blackity-Black” Southside roots as captain of the Heights’ basketball team. Then his congenital heart condition threatens to sideline him from an important game, his cozying up to Alicia estranges Chyna, and the truth about his brother’s death surfaces. And thanks to “online venom” posted by an anonymous social media account bent on seeding tension between rival communities, Heights players find that much more rides on this season’s outcome than potential scholarships or bragging rights. In this scintillating series starter told via Chyna and Jamaal’s alternating perspectives, Chase (Keeping It Real) deftly examines issues of classism and systemic racism amid Gossip Girl–style glitz. Ages 13–up. Agent: Jennifer Carlson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/11/2025 | Details & Permalink

Two years and four months before the start of this quiet novel by Sloan (The Elephant in the Room), middle schooler Cordy’s life is irrevocably altered when her father, a commercial crab fisherman, drowns while working. Now unable to afford their cozy rental home in a small coastal Oregon town, Cordy, her younger brother Geno, and their mother move into a boathouse belonging to the wealthy family for whom Cordy’s mother manages property. Simultaneously, Mom waits tables at a local seafood restaurant while forming an “escape plan” to a better life—an idea that gives Cordy, who can’t imagine leaving the only home she’s ever known, a stomachache. The family’s adoption of a lovable stray dog with extremely bad breath, whom they name Lost, sets into motion gradual changes that result in emotional conflict for reflective, conscientious Cordy. Her father called her Daughter of the Sea, a title she questions until an awe-inspiring sight of a dolphin with albinism ignites within her a profound curiosity. Cordy’s unrealized passion for the ocean as well as her open-minded ponderings about life add depth to the leisurely paced narrative, while perceptive, kindhearted adult characters ground this hopeful story in a sense of community. The protagonists read as white. Ages 9–up. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/11/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this riveting survival novel by Newbery Honoree Holm, a white-cued 12-year-old ventures for the first time beyond her secluded doorstep. A decade before this book’s start, “some stupid country decided to start a war” via venomous missile, prompting Razzi’s parents to create an isolated compound called the Refuge. As the oldest, Razzi is expected to set an example for other kids, a responsibility she takes seriously. But the death of a peer, Ollie, a few months prior weighs heavy on her mind: desperate to see outside the Refuge’s walls, Ollie scaled and fell from the building’s roof. When a doctor’s visit reveals that Razzi needs a heart transplant, she receives the heart of a greyhound named Wind, and she soon feels that the surgery has changed her, prompting her to forgo her typical rule-abiding tendencies. Upon stowing away on a Refuge truck bound for a supply run, she makes a discovery that changes everything. Fascinating, intimately detailed characterization and worldbuilding makes everything from Razzi’s motivations and reactions to the children’s carefree games to the community’s fear of the outside world feel palpable across a white-knuckled adventure about autonomy and cultivating one’s own inner strength. Ages 9–12. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/11/2025 | Details & Permalink

Intense action meets heavy emotion on the Arizona junior rodeo circuit in this captivating novel by Bowling (The Beat I Drum). Thirteen-year-old Canyon Cress credits his parents with instilling in him a love for bull riding and fiddle playing. After Canyon’s musician mother is killed by a drunk driver, though, everything about the youth’s life turns upside down. When Canyon’s athlete father uses whiskey to cope with his grief, the teen must navigate the politics of an elite bull riding competition on his own. Though Canyon’s maternal grandmother looks after him and his younger sister Josie in Dad’s stead, Canyon insists on bearing the brunt of the childcare responsibilities, hoping to reignite his father’s once affectionate nature. In the meantime, participating in his beloved adrenaline-fueled sport helps distract Canyon from his own grief, and making music with his fiddle assists in managing the persistent headaches, nausea, and pain caused by his cumulative bull riding injuries (“I imagine the notes rising off my fiddle... I breathe them into my body, where they flow in my bloodstream and find all the cracks”). Deploying melodic prose that sings with the trademark melancholy and yearning of a country song, Bowling crafts a distinctive, nuanced protagonist in Canyon, whose gentle first-person POV guides readers to an emotionally satisfying resolution. The Cress family cues as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Shannon Hassan, Marsal Lyon Literary. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/11/2025 | Details & Permalink

After his grandmother’s worsening Alzheimer’s disease leaves her unable to care for him, middle schooler Jaxon moves to sleepy Walkonby, Kans., to live with his callous aunt Helga and uncle Clive, and their six unpleasant kids. When his attempts to run away prove unsuccessful, Jax instead establishes his own micronation—the Free State of Jax—on a raft in the hot springs pond of prickly and reclusive adult neighbor Owen. Owen, who is rumored to have murdered his own brother, allows Jax to stay under the condition that the youth write a constitution. Thus begins Jax’s crash course in developing a new society, which he institutes mostly on the fly: a supportive classmate is made its general, her lawyer mother becomes the attorney general, and local kids comprise its army. Between regular skirmishes with his cousins, Jax works on beautifying Owen’s property, all the while wondering if the rumors about him are true. This first foray into contemporary middle grade by Nielsen (One Wrong Step) is somewhat uneven; the over-the-top humor of Jax’s family antics is often at odds with the nuanced exploration of personal agency, while the central mystery regarding Owen proves less intriguing than Jax’s firsthand civics education. Main characters read as white. Ages 8–12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Aevitas Creative. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/11/2025 | Details & Permalink

An unlikely trio embark on the adventure of a lifetime in this laugh-out-loud romp by Gemeinhart (Coyote Lost and Found). Twelve-year-old Oscar has lived with his grandfather at the Sunny Days Retirement Community since Oscar’s parents’ deaths when he was an infant. When the community’s new owner raises rent prices, though, Oscar and his grandfather must find a way to make more money or risk becoming unhoused. Then foul-mouthed retiree Jimmy offers Oscar a deal: if the youth helps him to complete his bucket list, he’ll give Oscar the money he needs. Accompanied by Natasha, the 12-year-old daughter of Sunny Days’ new manager, typically responsible Oscar resolves to break the rules—just this once—and agrees, only to discover that Jimmy’s unfinished business involves causing all manner of trouble, including dining-and-dashing and participating in an underground poker game with convicted criminals. Gemeinhart’s multilayered rendering of the mostly white-cued characters’ clashing dynamics—particularly between nervous Oscar, irascible Jimmy, and brash Natasha—adds multilayered emotional depth into simultaneously heartfelt, sentimental, and chaotic plotting. Altogether, it’s a joyful tale that suggests it can be okay to bend the rules in pursuit of growth and change. Ages 8–12. Agent: Pam Pho, Steven Literary. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/11/2025 | Details & Permalink