July 2019
July shows no sign of cooling off when it comes to summer book releases. We’re now halfway through the year (!?!) and so many of the books we’ve been looking forward to are finally on the horizon! From exciting debut novels to hotly anticipated sequels, this month’s YA novels promise entertaining stories for every reader. So while you’re savoring those last few weeks of summer and packing your beach totes and vacation bags, be sure to include one of the titles listed below because things are getting weird, twisted, and dramatic.
Wilder Girls by Rory Power
It's been a year and a half since the Raxter School for Girls was ravaged by the Tox, a sickness that crept in slowly through the woods before distorting the bodies of the teachers and students in vicious ways, leaving them wilted and blackened when it was finished. Left with the promise of a cure, the quarantined girls watch out for one another. That's precisely what Hetty is doing when her friend Byatt disappears, and together with her friend Reese, she breaks quarantine to penetrate the wild beyond the fence to find her. At the same time, they navigate their fragile, maybe even brittle, relationship that's strained by the complicated, desolate circumstances.
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
When a royal messenger comes calling, Maia Tamarin uproots her life as a seamstress to take her father's place at the Summer Palace. Posing as her brother, Maia competes for the title of imperial tailor, amid schemes, lies, and one very persistent court enchanter, Edan. Her final test as a tailor launches her on a journey across the kingdom to create three legendary dresses out of the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars. However, completing this task means testing the limits of body, mind, and soul—something Maia may not be ready for.
Maybe This Time by Kasie West
Sophie Evans works for the local florist and party planner in her small southern town, so she attends all of the big "events," all the time sketching and dreaming of applying to design school; but this year there is a fly-in-the-ointment of her life--Andrew Hart, son of the fancy new chef in town, who is also at all the local events, and keeps getting in her way, making her life more complicated.
Before I Disappear by Danielle Stinson
Rose Montgomery parks her family’s trailer in Fort Glory, Oregon with one goal: to carve out a new life for herself and her little brother, Charlie. They need a fresh start for their family, and she thinks she's finally found it in a town where nobody knows them. But Rose’s plans come crashing down when, in an instant, Fort Glory disappears and every person in town vanishes into thin air—including Charlie. Rose and four other teens become trapped in the Fold, a patch of woods caught halfway between the real world and the lost town. In the Fold, a mysterious force suspends the laws of physics, and everyone’s inner darkness has the power to kill. To survive the Fold, Rose must unravel the clues Charlie sends her from the missing town. And Rose has to find Charlie soon—or he'll be gone forever.
Destroy All Monsters by Sam J. Miller
Ash and Solomon are best friends fighting against evil and their past in very different ways. Ash takes refuge in her passion for photography, while Solomon retreats to a vivid fantasy world, complete with dinosaur transportation. Ash is the only person in Solomon's life who takes his stories about Darkside remotely seriously. Most of the time Solomon is labeled as crazy or psychotic, even by his own father, who also happens to be the local high school football coach. When a string of targeted attacks puts the town on edge, Ash suspects that the football team is behind the incidents. As she uses her photography to get to the truth, a dark secret from her and Solomon's past begins to creep to the surface.
The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen
In a fantasy kingdom with strict castes, the bottom-rung Crows are relentlessly persecuted. The only people immune to the plague capable of wiping entire towns off the map, Fie's small band of Crows are tasked with visiting stricken households, disposing of the dead victims, and showing mercy to those near their end. When the Crown Prince and his bodyguard fake their own deaths by plague, Fie extracts a promise of greater equality for their caste from the prince in exchange for restoring him to power. Although she's been preparing to lead her own band one day, she has to assume leadership after a sudden betrayal leaves her alone with the prince, his bodyguard, and the promise they've made to one another.
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