Must-Read YA Books To Obsess Over in Fall 2024
by Laura Lambert
When there’s chaos of all stripes in the news and brain rot in your feed, YA books come to the rescue. Full-bodied fantasy, edge-of-your-seat thrillers, sparkling debuts, and much-anticipated new installments make fall 2024 one you can easily escape into. And thank goodness for that.
Here are 17 titles from Penguin Random House to look forward to.
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Under the Surface
Available from:With all eyes on Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics, this decidedly different take on the City of Lights feels timely. Under the Surface is a survival thriller set in the Paris catacombs, where friends Ruby, Val, Selena, and Olivia find themselves terribly lost. Kirkus calls it “a non-stop thrill ride through an eerily claustrophobic setting.”
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Prince of the Palisades
Available from:Award-winning YA author Julian Winters’s latest title is, in a phrase, so L.A. Seventeen-year-old Prince Jadon of the island nation Îles de la Rêverie is dispatched to Los Angeles to rehab his image after a disastrously public flame-out. At the Willow Wood Academy, he meets pink-haired classmate Reiss Hayes — a fellow outcast, but for different reasons. Their relationship blossoms, and then things get complicated. Publisher’s Weekly calls this book “a rollicking romance.”
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Everything We Never Had
Available from:From Penguin Random House’s Kokila imprint comes Randy Ribay’s exploration of four generations of Filipino American boys, spanning the 1930s to the 2020s. “A powerful and moving family saga,” says Kirkus.
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Shadows of Perl
Available from:The second installment in the bestselling House of Marionne series follows Quell Marionne, who threatens the magical Order of the grandest Houses by claiming her toushana, or dark magic. That threat puts her on a collision path with an old love, Jordan Wexton, of the Dragun brotherhood, which believes Quell must die. High drama and romance ensue.
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When the World Tips Over
Available from:Kirkus describes When the World Tips Over as “part folktale and part epistolary novel.” It follows the three Fall children — Dizzy, Miles, and Wynton (the musically inclined will see the theme). A rainbow-haired stranger named Cassidy turns their world upside down, and cracks open the secret of their father’s mysterious disappearance more than a decade earlier.
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The Glass Girl
Available from:Kathleen Glasgow’s debut novel, Girl in Pieces, gave readers an authentic, vulnerable view into the world of teen cutting and suicide. In The Glass Girl, the author’s sensitive ear and eye turn toward the issue of adolescent addiction. Fifteen-year-old Bella escapes the pressures of life through alcohol. One day, she wakes up in the hospital and then finds herself in rehab. “Bella’s experience is a glimpse into the human capacity for growth, change, and the ability to overcome adversity,” Glasgow explains.
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Zodiac Rising
Available from:Vampires and mortals and werewolves — oh, my! Each one is a Descendant of the Chinese zodiac — Evangeline, of the House of the Dragon; Nicholas, of the Snake bloodline; Alice, a mortal from the Boar bloodline; and Tristan, of the Tiger bloodline. When a fellow student at their secretive boarding school in Manhattan is found dead, these four come together to save their kind. Katie Zhao calls Zodiac Rising her “glamorous YA Chinese dark academia heist fantasy baby.”
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The Dividing Sky
Available from:This new title from Joy Revolution, the imprint by YA super couple Nicola and David Yoon, is a dystopian romance set in 2460 when those who struggle to make a living in the Metro can earn money selling memories to rich people. When 18-year-old Liv Newman’s shady memory dealings threaten the entire citizenry, she encounters Officer Adrian Rao, a rookie who vows to arrest her and bring her to justice.
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Heir
Available from:With Heir, beloved and bestselling author Sabaa Tahir returns to her young adult fantasy roots. Set in the same world as her smash debut, An Ember in the Ashes, Heir begins 20 years later and follows Aiz, an orphan; Sirsha, a tracker; and Quil, a prince, as their lives intersect. This is the first book in a planned duology.
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Love & Lattes
Available from:From the author of The Kissing Booth series comes the story of a magical goodnight kiss going horribly wrong. The night before the exclusive Arrowmile internship begins, Annalise Sherwood, one of 15 new interns, shares a kiss with Cute Guy From Across The Bar. The next day, she learns he’s the CEO’s son, Lloyd. Love & Lattes is not your typical office romance.
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Darkly
Available from:In this psychological thriller, teens everywhere aspire to spend the summer interning at the Louisiana Veda Foundation, named after a famous game designer. Dia Ganno is one of the seven chosen interns. But she quickly questions why she was chosen. Explains Pessl, “Darkly was inspired by rainy board game nights and the old-fashioned, windswept mystery novels of my childhood.”
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A Queen's Game
Available from:From the beloved author of the American Royals series comes a new story based on three real European princesses — Alix of Hesse, Hélène d’Orléans, and May of Tec. Set in the Victorian Era, it has, according to one early reviewer, “Bridgerton-worthy vibes.” (Right sentiment, different era.)
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The Davenports: More Than This
Available from:The Davenports are back in this highly-anticipated sequel to Krystal Marquis’s debut novel. The summer of 1910 winds down as the lives of Ruby Tremaine, Olivia Davenport, Helen Davenport, and Amy-Rose Shepherd heat up. This richly imagined story of the loves and lives of well-heeled Black families in turn-of-the-century Chicago is based on a real family.
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Heist Royale
Available from:The sequel to Thieves' Gambit does not take its foot off the gas. Six months after the end of the Gambit — an epic international heist competition featuring the best thieves in the world — there is a new Gambit with even higher stakes: Control of the criminal underworld. The heist takes our heroine, Ross, across the globe as she and her crew compete against the boy who betrayed her.
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Heart-Shaped Lies
Available from:When a social media post from an internet-famous teen prankster named Tommy Harding goes viral, Kiara, Priscilla, and Nevaeh realize they’re all dating the same guy: Harding. But just as they decide they’re done with him for good, he shows up dead the next morning. In Agyemang’s debut young adult thriller, the girls shift quickly from spurned exes to murder suspects.
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The Party
Available from:In The Party, the latest title from the master of YA thrillers, Natasha Preston, Bessie and her friends gather at a remote estate in the English countryside for spring break. They have their sights set on fun and games, not figuring out how to survive with a murderer in their midst.
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A Cruel Thirst
Available from:This heart-stopping title from Joy Revolution, A Cruel Thirst, is vampire YA romantasy at its best. Carolina Fuentes comes from a family of vampiro hunters, but her father wants her to get married instead. Lalo Villalobos is a reluctant vampire traveling to the birthplace of vampires, searching for a cure. The two form an unlikely alliance and work together to rid their pueblo of the monsters that plague it.
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