Youngblood

Set at a prestigious boarding school for vampires, Laurens’s (A Wicked Magic) vibrant, voice-driven paranormal romance explores sexuality, privilege, and belonging. High school junior Kat Finn is a Youngblood, a generation of vampires who are born, not turned. She and her mother live a solitary existence, barely acquiring enough Hema, a human blood substitute, to survive. Yearning for more out of life, Kat applies—and is accepted—into Harcote Academy, an ultra-exclusive vampire school. Aided by a mysterious benefactor who sponsors her tuition, Kat is determined to blend into the Youngblood elite. But when her roommate turns out to be former best friend, prickly “gay weirdo,” and academy pariah Taylor Sanger, and Harcote high society threatens to push them both out, the pair must reckon with their shared past and the academy’s toxic environment to determine who they are and where they truly belong. Kat and Taylor’s alternating perspectives read as authentically teen, and every elation and humiliation is palpable. Without eschewing impassioned queer exploration, Laurens elevates this fresh look at vampire society, which is brimming with classic boarding school tropes, by astutely tackling timely issues, including homophobia and classism. Most characters cue as white. Ages 14–up. Agent: Stephanie Kim, New Leaf Literary and Media. (July)■