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GIVE THANKS FOR THESE #22Debuts November Releases!

10/31/2022

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#22Debuts November Releases Michelle Barry's Moongarden, H.D. Hunter's Futureland, Esme Symes-Smith's Sir Callie and The Champions of Helston, Kellye Crocker's Dad's Girlfriend and Other Anxieties, Susan Azim Boyer's Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win, Jake Maia Arlow's How to Excavate a Heart, Charity Alyse's Other Side of the Tracks, Jas Hammonds' We Deserve Monuments, Deeba Zargarpur's House of Yesterday, Rebecca Mix's The Ones We Burn, Jess Everlee's The Gentleman's Book of Vices, Emery Robin's The Stars Undying, Erin M. Evans' Empire of Exiles, Nikki Payne's Pride and Protest, Brynn Barineau's Jaguars and Other Game, Jeffrey Dale Lofton's Red Clay SuziePicture

Stuff yourself with these 16 wonderful #22Debut books releasing in November. 

We start with 4 great Middle Grade reads.
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Michelle Barry’s MOONGARDEN from Pixel + Ink on 11/1/2022

The Secret Garden meets The City of Ember. Failed climate change policy, an intergalactic conspiracy, and the magical, unlikely heroine who could unearth it all. An explosive STEAM-inspired series starter perfect for young change makers.
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https://www.22debuts.com/michelle-barry.html

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Esme Symes-Smith’s SIR CALLIE AND THE CHAMPIONS OF HELSTON (​SIR CALLIE #1) from Penguin Random House/Labyrinth Road​ on 11/8/2022        

In a magical medieval world filled with dragons, shape-shifters, and witches, a twelve-year-old nonbinary hopeful knight battles for the heart of their kingdom. A thrilling middle-grade series opener that explores identity and gender amid sword fights and magic, and proves anyone can be a hero.
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https://www.22debuts.com/esme-symes-smith.html

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H.D. Hunter’s FUTURELAND from Random House on 11/08/2022                 
 
When an extraordinary flying theme park arrives above Atlanta, one boy must stop a sinister force from stealing the park’s tech and taking over the world. An electrifying illustrated series with the Afrofuturism of Black Panther that took the world by storm. Perfect for fans of Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
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https://www.22debuts.com/h-d-hunter.html

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Kellye Crocker’s DAD'S GIRLFRIEND AND OTHER ANXIETIES from Albert Whitman & Co. on 11/22/2022
           
When her father takes her to Colorado to meet his girlfriend for the first time, 12-year-old Ava must come to grips with both her newly diagnosed anxiety disorder and her rapidly changing family. 

https://www.22debuts.com/kellye-crocker.html

We follow up with 6 exciting Young Adult books. 
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Susan Azim Boyer’s JASMINE ZUMIDEH NEEDS A WIN from Wednesday/Macmillian on 11/1/2022

A fresh spin on the cult-classic Election meets Darius the Great Is Not Okay in Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win when an international incident crashes into a high school election, and Jasmine is caught between doing the right thing and chasing her dream.

https://www.22debuts.com/susan-azim-boyer.html

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Jake Maia Arlow’s HOW TO EXCAVATE A HEART from HarperTeen on 11/1/2022

Kelly Quindlen meets Casey McQuiston in this sapphic Jewish twist on the classic Christmas enemies-to-lovers rom-com, as college freshman Shani’s internship is interrupted by a whirlwind winter fling.

https://www.22debuts.com/jake-maia-arlow.html

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Rebecca Mix’s THE ONES WE BURN from Simon & Schuster, Margaret Mcelderry on 11/1/2022

Love and duty collide in this richly imagined, atmospheric young adult debut about a witch whose dark powers put her at the center of a brewing war between the only family she’s ever known and the enemy who makes her question everything.

https://www.22debuts.com/rebecca-mix.html

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Charity Alyse’s OTHER SIDE OF THE TRACKS from Denene Millner Books/S&S on 11/22/2022

This lilting and riveting young adult debut novel about three teens entangled by secret love, open hatred, and the invisible societal constraints wrapped around people both Black and white is perfect for readers of All American Boys and The Hate U Give.

https://www.22debuts.com/charity-alyse.html

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Jas Hammonds’ WE DESERVE MONUMENTS from Roaring Brook/Macmillan on 11/29/2022

Family secrets, a swoon-worthy romance, and a slow-burn mystery collide in We Deserve Monuments, a YA debut from Jas Hammonds that explores how racial violence can ripple down through generations. What’s more important: Knowing the truth or keeping the peace?

https://www.22debuts.com/jas-hammonds.html

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Deeba Zargarpur’s HOUSE OF YESTERDAY from Macmillan / FSG BYR​ on 11/29/2022

Taking inspiration from the author's own Afghan-Uzbek heritage, this contemporary YA debut is a breathtaking journey into the grief that lingers through generations of immigrant families, and what it means to confront the ghosts of your past.
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https://www.22debuts.com/deeba-zargarpur.html

And lastly, we have 6 new Adult releases. ​
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Emery Robin’s THE STARS UNDYING from Orbit Books on 11/8/2022

A spectacular space opera debut perfect for readers of Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice and Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire, inspired by the lives and loves of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar.

https://www.22debuts.com/emery-robin.html

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Erin M. Evans’ EMPIRE OF EXILES from Orbit US on 11/8/2022     
 
Magic, mystery, and revolution collide in this fantasy epic where an unlikely team of mages, scribes, and archivists must band together to unearth a conspiracy that might topple their empire.

https://www.22debuts.com/erin-m-evans.html

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Nikki Payne’s PRIDE AND PROTEST from Berkley on 11/15/2022  

A woman goes head-to-head with the CEO of a corporation threatening to destroy her neighborhood in this fresh and modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice by debut author Nikki Payne.

https://www.22debuts.com/nikki-payne.html

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Brynn Barineau’s JAGUARS AND OTHER GAME from Orange Blossom Publishing on 11/22/2022

In the spirit of The Three Musketeers and Pirates of Caribbean (but with less misogyny and not only white people), Jaguars and Other Game is a historical fiction set in 1809 Rio de Janeiro. Jaguars is an adventure about found family and how far we'll go to save them from injustice. There's also a mad queen and some kick ass whip wielding.

https://www.22debuts.com/brynn-barineau.html

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Jess Everlee’s THE GENTLEMAN'S BOOK OF VICES from Carina Adores on 11/29/2022

Is their real-life love story doomed to be a tragedy, or can they rewrite the ending? Carina Adores is home to romantic love stories where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters.

https://www.22debuts.com/jess-everlee.html

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Jeffrey Dale Lofton’s RED CLAY SUZIE from Post Hill Press on 11/29/2022

A novel inspired by true events. The coming-of-age story of Philbet, a gay, physically-misshapen boy in rural Georgia, who battles bullying, ignorance, and disdain as he makes his way in life as an outsider—before finding acceptance in unlikely places.

https://www.22debuts.com/jeffrey-dale-lofton.html

Let us know if you enjoy these books @22Debuts on Twitter and Instagram! ​
Written and posted by: Anna Kopp
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TV Lovers Rejoice for these 11 Books Inspired by Film and Television

10/28/2022

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​In love with a popular TV show or a cult-favorite movie? Us too! Here are eleven new novels inspired by film and TV. Hey, just because we love books, it doesn't mean we don't love our televisions, too!
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Goth Girl, Queen of the Universe by Lindsay S. Zrull
(7/19/2022 from Flux)
Bounced between foster homes since the age of seven, Jessica knows better than to set down roots. Most of the kids at her new Michigan high school think she’s a witch anyway (because, you know, goth). The only one who gives her the time of day is geeky Oscar, who wants to recruit her fashion skills for his amateur cosplay group. But Jess is fine showing off her looks to her Insta fans—until a woman claiming to be her biological mother barges into her DMs.
Jess was claimed by the state when her bio mom’s mental illness made her unstable. While their relationship is far from traditional, blood ties are hard to break. There’s only one problem: Jess can’t reunite with her mom in New York City without a bunch of paperwork and she worries her social worker will never approve the trip. That’s when she remembers Oscar’s cosplay group, who are aiming for that big convention in New York… So Jess joins Oscar’s team—with every intention of using them to get to her mom. But her plan gets complicated when she discovers that, actually, cosplay is pretty great, and so is having friends. And Oscar, who Jess thought was just a shy nerd, can be as gallant and charming as the heroes he pretends to be. As the big convention draws near, Jess will have to decide whether or not chasing a dream of “family” is worth risking the family she’s built for herself.
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How to Fake It in Hollywood by Ava Wilder
(6/14/2022 from Ballantine Bantam Dell)
Grey Brooks is on a mission to keep her career afloat now that the end of her long-running teen TV show has her (unsuccessfully) pounding the pavement again. With a life-changing role on the line, she’s finally desperate enough to agree to her publicist’s scheme: fake a love affair with a disgraced Hollywood heartthrob who needs the publicity, but for very different reasons. Ethan Atkins just wants to be left alone. Between his high-profile divorce, struggles with drinking, and grief over the death of his longtime creative partner and best friend, Ethan has slowly let himself fade into the background. But if he ever wants to produce the last movie he and his partner wrote together, Ethan needs to clean up his reputation and step back into the spotlight. A gossip-inducing affair with a gorgeous actress might be just the ticket, even if it’s the last thing he wants to do. Though their juicy public relationship is less than perfect behind the scenes, it doesn’t take long before Grey and Ethan’s sizzling chemistry starts to feel like more than just an act. But after decades in a ruthless industry that requires bulletproof emotional armor to survive, are they too used to faking it to open themselves up to the real thing?
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The Turning Pointe by Vanessa L. Torres
(2/22/2022 from Knopf Books For Young Readers)
When sixteen-year-old Rosa Dominguez pirouettes, she is poetry in pointe shoes. And as the daughter of a tyrant ballet Master, Rosa seems destined to become the star principal dancer of her studio. But Rosa would do anything for one hour in the dance studio upstairs where Prince, the Purple One himself, is in the house. After her father announces their upcoming auditions for a concert with Prince, Rosa is more determined than ever to succeed. Then Nikki--the cross-dressing, funky boy who works in the dance shop--leaps into her life. Weighed down by family expectations, Rosa is at a crossroads, desperate to escape so she can show everyone what she can do when freed of her pointe shoes. Now is her chance to break away from a life in tulle, grooving to that unmistakable Minneapolis sound reverberating through every bone in her body.
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As Seen on TV by Meredith Schorr
(6/7/2022 from Forever/Grand Central Publishing)
Emerging journalist Adina Gellar is done with dating in New York City. If she’s learned anything from made-for-TV romance movies, it’s that she’ll find love in a small town—the kind with harvest festivals, delightful but quirky characters, and scores of delectable single dudes. So when a big-city real estate magnate targets tiny Pleasant Hollow for development, Adi knows she’s found the perfect story—one that will earn her a position at a coveted online magazine, so she can finally start adulting for real . . . and maybe even find her dream man in the process. Only Pleasant Hollow isn’t exactly “pleasant.” There’s no charming bakery, no quaint seasonal festivals, and the residents are more ambivalent than welcoming. The only upside is Finn Adams, who’s more mouthwatering than the homemade cherry pie Adi can’t seem to find—even if he does work for the company she’d hoped to bring down. Suddenly Adi has to wonder if maybe TV got it all wrong after all. But will following her heart mean losing her chance to break into the big time?
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Love From Scratch by Kaitlyn Hill
(4/5/2022 from Penguin Random House/Delacorte Press)
​This summer, Reese Camden is trading sweet tea and Southern hospitality for cold brew and crisp coastal air. She's landed her dream marketing internship at Friends of Flavor, a wildly popular cooking channel in Seattle. The only problem? Benny Beneventi, the relentlessly charming, backwards-baseball-cap-wearing culinary intern--and her main competition for the fall job. Reese's plan to keep work a No Feelings Zone crumbles like a day-old muffin when she and Benny are thrown together for a video shoot that goes viral, making them the internet's newest ship. Audiences are hungry for more, and their bosses at Friends of Flavor are happy to deliver. Soon Reese and Benny are in an all-out food war, churning homemade ice cream, twisting soft pretzels, breaking eggs in an omelet showdown--while hundreds of thousands of viewers watch. Reese can't deny the chemistry between her and Benny. But the more their rivalry heats up, the harder it is to keep love on the back burner...
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Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah
(9/6/2022 from Sourcebooks/Fire)
​Sixteen-year-old Koral and her older brother Emrik risk their lives each day to capture the monstrous maristags that live in the black seas around their island. They have to, or else their family will starve. In an oceanic world swarming with vicious beasts, the Landers―the ruling elite, have indentured Koral's family to provide the maristags for the Glory Race, a deadly chariot tournament reserved for the upper class. The winning contender receives gold and glory. The others―if they're lucky―survive. When the last maristag of the year escapes and Koral has no new maristag to sell, her family's financial situation takes a turn for the worse and they can't afford medicine for her chronically ill little sister. Koral's only choice is to do what no one in the world has ever dared: cheat her way into the Glory Race. But every step of the way is unpredictable as Koral races against contenders who have trained for this their whole lives and who have no intention of letting a low-caste girl steal their glory. When riots break out and rogues attack Koral to try and force her to drop out, she must choose―her life or her sister's―before the whole island burns.
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For Butter or Worse by Erin La Rosa
(7/26/2022 from Harlequin/HQN)
An enemies-to-lovers mash-up of THE HATING GAME and THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE-OFF, in which two rival hosts of a massively popular cooking show have to fake a relationship to save their careers after an explosive on-air fallout, only to find their feelings for each other becoming real.
​Their feelings are about to boil over...
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Mindwalker by Kate Dylan
(9/1/2022 from Hodder & Stoughton)
In twelve months, the supercomputer grafted to Sil Sarrah’s brain will kill her—unless the Syntex Corporation kills her first. As their top-ranked Mindwalker, Sil rescues the company’s imperilled field agents by commandeering their minds from afar and leading them to safety. But when a mission goes south, she is horrified to learn that her employer is illegally mindjacking civilians. With a price on her head and her tech rapidly degrading, Sil must find a way to stop the mindjackings in order to save her friends, her reputation—and maybe even herself.
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Boys I Know by Anna Gracia
(7/5/2022 from Peachtree Publishing/Peachtree Teen)
June Chu is the “just good enough” girl. Good enough to line the shelves with a slew of third-place trophies and steal secret kisses from her AP Bio partner, Rhys. But not good enough to meet literally any of her Taiwanese mother’s unrelenting expectations or to get Rhys to commit to anything beyond a well-timed joke. While June’s mother insists she follow in her (perfect) sister’s footsteps and get a (full-ride) violin scholarship to Northwestern (to study pre-med), June doesn’t see the point in trying too hard if she’s destined to fall short anyway. Instead, she focuses her efforts on making her relationship with Rhys “official.” But after her methodically-planned, tipsily-executed scheme explodes on the level of a nuclear disaster, she flings herself into a new relationship with a guy who’s not allergic to the word “girlfriend.” But as the line blurs between sex and love, and the pressure to map out her entire future threatens to burst, June will have to decide on whose terms she’s going to live her life—even if it means fraying her relationship with her mother beyond repair.
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Catastrophe Theory by Rebecca Lowry Warchut
(10/4/2022 from Woodhall Press)
Due to a rare brain tumor, Vera Garcia’s soccer career is suddenly sidelined at the start of her senior year. When her single mother— terrified at the thought of losing her only daughter— clings too tightly, both Vera’s identity and her freedom are in jeopardy. They make it to St. Petersburg, Florida for surgery just as Hurricane Phoenix’s trajectory turns directly toward them. As the cyclops churns closer and closer, their paths collide with a tech guru recently expelled from college, a mysterious Catalonian street magician, holograms of Salvador Dali himself, and the ambitious museum curator connecting them all in a whirlwind of love, betrayal, and illusion. Can they escape their past choices and entangled destinies, determining their own fates? Will they succumb to loss, or like the phoenix, reinvent themselves, rewrite their stories, and rise anew? For everyone who has lost something, Rebecca Lowry Warchut’s YA novel Catastrophe Theory is a surreal tale about the dangers of letting one thing define us and how to find opportunity in tragedy.
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Frances and the Monster by Refe Tuma
(8/23/2022 from HarperCollins)
Frances Stenzel is an aspiring scientist, and one day she’ll be a world-famous inventor like her parents … if they’d only let her leave the house. When Frances is left home yet again with only an infuriatingly clever robot named Hobbes for company, she enters her parents’ off-limits laboratory, determined to claim her freedom and prove her scientific mettle. Instead, she accidentally awakens her great-grandfather’s secret and most terrible invention—an enormous monster who breaks out of the manor and disappears into the city below. With her pet chimp, Fritz, and a reluctant Hobbes by her side, Frances sets off to find the monster, facing a persistent constable, angry locals, and an unexpected friendship along the way. But with the trail going cold and the monster nowhere in sight, Frances is running out of time before her future science career, and the town itself, are doomed forever.

Curated by Lindsay S. Zrull
Posted by Sarah Priscus

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10 New Novels About the Not-Quite-Real

10/26/2022

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Spooky season is afoot, and strange goings-on are happening in these novels from the 22 Debuts! If you like stories about the real world—but with a magical or supernatural twist—these young adult and adult books are for you.

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Young Adult:

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A Heavy Dose of Allison Tandy by Jeff Bishop
(7/12/2022 from Putnam Books for Young Readers/Penguin Teen)
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl meets Paper Towns in a funny and heartfelt debut about a boy's delirious summertime quest with his ex-girlfriend.
​The summer after senior year should have been a time for Cam to party and hang out with his friends. It should also have been a time for him to win back the love of his life, Allison Tandy, who'd dumped him so brutally the year before. But it quickly becomes clear that this summer is going to be worse than a failure for Cam. It's going to be a tragedy. Ally is left comatose after a terrible car accident on her way home from college. Then Cam tears his ACL, followed by an operation that leaves him in agony. Now Cam will be spending his time on the couch, ruminating over the fact that his ex may not survive. ​But when, after taking his medication, Cam starts seeing Ally everywhere--yes, comatose Ally--he starts to think two things: 1. He might be headed for a mental breakdown and 2. This summer might just be interesting after all. Brimming with honesty and humor, A Heavy Dose of Allison Tandy interrogates how much control we really have over matters of love . . . and life.

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What We Harvest by Ann Fraistat
​(3/15/2022 from Delacorte Press/Penguin Random House)
For fans of Wilder Girls comes a nightmarish debut guaranteed to keep you up through the night, about an idyllic small town poisoned by its past, and one girl who must fight the strange disease that’s slowly claiming everyone she loves.
Wren owes everything she has to her home, Hollow’s End, a centuries-old, picture perfect American town. Tourists travel miles to marvel at its miracle crops, including the shimmering, iridescent wheat of Wren’s family farm. Until five months ago. That’s when the quicksilver blight first surfaced, poisoning the farms of Hollow’s End one by one. It began by consuming the crops–thick, silver sludge bleeding from the earth. Next were the animals. Infected livestock and wild creatures alike staggered off into the woods by day—only to return at night, their eyes, fogged white, leering from the trees. Then, the blight came for the neighbors. Wren is among the last locals standing. And the blight has finally come for her, too. Now, the only one she can turn to is the last person she wants to call: her ex, Derek. They haven’t spoken in months, but Wren and Derek still have one thing in common—Hollow’s End means everything to them. Only there’s much they don’t know about their hometown and its renowned miracle crops. And they’re about to discover that miracles aren’t free. Their ancestors have an awful lot to pay for, and Wren and Derek are the only ones left to settle old debts.

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The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond by Amanda Glaze
(10/4/2022 from Union Square Kids)
Edie and Violet Bond know the truth about death. The seventeen-year-old twins are powerful mediums, just like their mother—Violet can open the veil between life and death, and Edie can cross into the spirit world. But their abilities couldn’t save them when their mother died and their father threatened to commit them to a notorious asylum. Now runaways, Edie and Violet are part of a traveling Spiritualist show, a tight-knit group of young women who demonstrate their real talents under the guise of communing with spirits. Each night, actresses, poets, musicians, and orators all make contact with spirits who happen to have something to say. . . notions that young ladies could never openly express. But when Violet’s act goes terribly wrong one night, Edie learns that the dark spirit responsible for their mother’s death has crossed into the land of the living. As they investigate the identity of her mysterious final client, they realize that someone is hunting mediums…and they may be next. Only by trusting in one another can the twins uncover a killer who will stop at nothing to cheat death.

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The Moth Girl by Heather Kamins
(3/8/2022 from Putnam Books for Young Readers/Penguin Teen)
Anna is a regular teenaged girl. She runs track with her best friend, gets good grades, and sometimes drinks beer at parties. But one day at track practice, Anna falls unconscious . . . but instead of falling down, she falls up, defying gravity in the disturbing first symptom of a mysterious disease. This begins a series of trips to the hospital that soon become Anna’s norm. She’s diagnosed with lepidopsy: a rare illness that causes symptoms reminiscent of moths: floating, attraction to light, a craving for sugar, and for an unlucky few, more dangerous physical manifestations. Anna’s world is turned upside down, and as she learns to cope with her illness, she finds herself drifting further and further away from her former life. Her friends don’t seem to understand, running track is out of the question, and the other kids at the disease clinic she attends once a week are a cruel reminder that things will never be the same. ​From debut author Heather Kamins comes a beautiful and evocative story about one girl’s journey of choosing who she wants to be—in a life she never planned for.

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The Loophole by Naz Kutub
(6/21/2022 from Bloomsbury)
Sy placed all his bets for happiness on his boyfriend, Farouk . . . who then left him to try and “fix the world.” Now, the timid seventeen-year-old Indian Muslim boy is stuck in a dead-end coffee shop job and all he can do is wish for one more chance.
​Sy never expects his wish to be granted. But when a mysterious girl offers him three wishes in exchange for his help and proves she can grant at least one wish with an instant million-dollar deposit into Sy's struggling bank account, a whole new world of possibility opens up. Is she magic? Or just rich? And can Sy find the courage to leave Los Angeles and cross the Atlantic Ocean to lands he'd never even dreamed he could visit, all to track down his missing ex? With help from his potentially otherworldly new friend, will Sy go all the way for one last, desperate chance at rebuilding his life and refinding love?
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Remember Me Gone by Stacy Stokes
(3/22/2022 from Penguin Random House/Viking)
People come from everywhere to forget. At The Memory House, in Tumble Tree, Texas, Lucy’s father can literally erase folks’ heartache and tragic memories. Lucy can’t wait to learn the family trade and help alleviate others’ pain, and now, at 16, she finally can. But everything is not as it seems. When Lucy practices memory-taking on her dad, his memory won’t come loose, and in the bit that Lucy sees, there’s a flash of Mama on the day she died, tinged red with guilt. Then Lucy wakes up the next morning with a bruised knee, a pocketful of desert sand, and no memory of what happened. She has no choice but to listen to Marco Warman—a local boy she’s always wondered about who seems to know more than he should. ​As Lucy and Marco realize there are gaps in their own memories, they team up to fill in the missing pieces—to figure out what’s really going on in their town, and to uncover their own stolen history along the way. But as the mysteries pile up one thing becomes certain: there are some secrets in Tumble Tree people will do anything to keep.


Adult:

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Jackal by Erin E. Adams
(10/4/2022 from Penguin Random House/Bantam Dell)
Liz Rocher is coming home . . . reluctantly. As a Black woman, Liz doesn’t exactly have fond memories of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white town. But her best friend is getting married, so she braces herself for a weekend of awkward, passive-aggressive reunions. Liz has grown, though; she can handle whatever awaits her. But on the day of the wedding, somewhere between dancing and dessert, the couple’s daughter, Caroline, disappears—and the only thing left behind is a piece of white fabric covered in blood. As a frantic search begins, with the police combing the trees for Caroline, Liz is the only one who notices a pattern: A summer night. A missing girl. A party in the woods. She’s seen this before. Keisha Woodson, the only other Black girl in Liz’s high school, walked into the woods with a mysterious man and was later found with her chest cavity ripped open and her heart removed. Liz shudders at the thought that it could have been her, and now, with Caroline missing, it can’t be a coincidence. As Liz starts to dig through the town’s history, she uncovers a horrifying secret about the place she once called home. Children have been going missing in these woods for years. All of them Black. All of them girls. With the evil in the forest creeping closer, Liz knows what she must do: find Caroline, or be entirely consumed by the darkness.
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The Net Beneath Us by Carol Dunbar
(9/13/2022 from Forge Books​)
It was never Elsa Arnasson’s dream to live in the woods, let alone off the grid, in a house her husband is building from the trees he fells by hand. But the big-hearted, nature-loving Silas has ideals enough for them both, and with him, Elsa can finally set down roots. When a logging accident changes everything for their budding family, Elsa has more questions than answers about how to carry on in an unfinished house. How do you fix a generator? What’s the best way to split wood? How do you build a fire that will last the night and keep the children warm? As winter descends and challenges mount, threatening both her sanity and her health, Elsa makes one decision after another that no one—not even her in-laws—can support. If she wants to stay, she must learn how to forge her own relationship with the land and accept help from the people and places she least expects. Dunbar, drawing from her own lived experiences, vividly describes the wonder and harshness of life off the grid. Told over the course of a year, The Net Beneath Us is a lyrical exploration of loss, marriage, parenthood, and self-reliance; a tale of how the natural world—without and within us—offers us healing, if we can learn where to look.
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The Almond in the Apricot by Sara Goudarzi
(2/15/2022 from Deep Vellum Publishing​)
Emma had the perfect trifecta: a long-term job as an engineer designing sewers; a steady relationship with her reliable boyfriend; and an adoring and creative best friend (about whom she wasn’t quite ready to admit her unrequited feelings). Then early one morning, a phone call changed her world forever. Now she’s having nightmares that threaten to disrupt the space-time continuum –– nightmares of hiding from bombs in basements, of glass shattering from nearby explosions. But these disturbing dreams, in which she inhabits the body of a young girl named Lily, seem all too real, and Emma’s waking life begins to be affected by the events that transpire in this mysterious wartime landscape. Convinced she has been given a chance to save a life, Emma tries to rescue Lily from heartache, but ultimately it is through Lily that Emma finds her way back. The Almond in the Apricot navigates connections formed across space and time and explores love, grief, and the possibility that the universe might be bigger than either Emma or Lily ever imagined.
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Divine Vintage by Sandra L. Young
(2/21/2022 from The Wild Rose Press)
Tess Burton is always up for an adventure and she’s risked her inheritance to open Divine Vintage clothing boutique. While modeling an elegant gown from an Edwardian trousseau, her mind is opened to a century-old murder. Visions—seen through the eyes of the murdered bride—dispute local lore that claims the bridegroom committed the crime. Trey Dunmore doesn’t share her enthusiasm for mind-blowing visions, yet the appeal to clear his family’s tainted legacy compels him to join her in exploring the past. Aided by the dead woman’s clothing and diary, Tess and Trey discover that pursuing love in 1913 was just as thorny as modern day. As the list of murder suspects grows, the couple fears past emotions are influencing, and may ultimately derail, their own blossoming intimacy.

Curated by Heather Kamins.
​Posted by Sarah Priscus. 
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10 Middle Grade Books with LGBTQ+ Rep

10/24/2022

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Check out these 10 middle grade books with LGTBQ+ rep! From STEM elements to mythology to mystery, there's something for every young reader.
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Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms by Jamar J. Perry
(2/1/2022 from Bloomsbury)
Cameron Battle grew up reading The Book of Chidani, cherishing stories about the fabled kingdom that cut itself off from the world to save the Igbo people from danger. Passed down over generations, the Book is Cameron’s only connection to his parents who disappeared one fateful night, two years ago. Ever since, his grandmother has kept the Book locked away, but it calls to Cameron. When he and his best friends, Zion and Aliyah, decide to open it again, they are magically transported to Chidani. Instead of a land of beauty and wonder, they find a kingdom in extreme danger, as the queen’s sister seeks to destroy the barrier between worlds. The people of Chidani have been waiting for the last Descendant to return and save them . . . is Cameron ready to be the hero they need?

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Drew Leclair Gets a Clue by Katryn Bury
(
3/1/2022 from HarperCollins/Clarion)
In this modern take on Harriet the Spy, twelve-year-old Drew uses her true crime expertise to catch the cyberbully in her school—only to discover that family, friendship, and identity are the hardest mysteries to solve.
​Drew Leclair knows what it takes to be a great detective. She’s pored over the cases solved by her hero, criminal profiler Lita Miyamoto. She tracked down the graffiti artist at school, and even solved the mystery of her neighbor’s missing rabbit. But when her mother runs off to Hawaii with the school guidance counselor, Drew is shocked. How did she miss all of the clues? Drew is determined to keep her family life a secret, even from her best friend. But when a cyberbully starts posting embarrassing rumors about other students at school, it’s only a matter of time before Drew’s secret is out. Armed with her notebooks full of observations about her classmates, Drew knows what she has to do: profile all of the bullies in her grade to find the culprit. But being a detective is more complicated when the suspects can be your friends. Will Drew crack the case if it means losing the people she cares about most?

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The Best Liars in Riverview by Lin Thompson
(3/8/2022 from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers)
In the woods of a small Kentucky town, Aubrey sets off on a journey about growing up, self-discovery, and acceptance while searching for their missing best friend—perfect for fans of King and the Dragonflies and Three Times Lucky.
​Aubrey and Joel are like two tomato vines that grew along the same crooked fence—weird, yet the same kind of weird. But lately, even their shared weirdness seems weird. Then Joel disappears. Vanishes. Poof. The whole town is looking for him, and Aubrey was the last person to see Joel. Aubrey can’t say much, but since lies of omission are still lies, here’s what they know for sure: For the last two weeks of the school year, when sixth grade became too much, Aubrey and Joel have been building a raft in the woods. The raft was supposed to be just another part of their running away game. The raft is gone now too. Aubrey doesn’t know where Joel is, but they might know how to find him. As Aubrey, their friend Mari, and sister Teagan search along the river, Aubrey has to fess up to who they really are, all the things they never said, and the word that bully Rudy Thomas used that set all this into motion.

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The Real Riley Mayes by Rachel Elliott
(5/3/2022 from HarperCollins/Balzer and Bray/Harper Alley)
Fifth grade is just not Riley’s vibe. Everyone else is squaded up—except Riley. Her best friend moved away. All she wants to do is draw, and her grades show it. One thing that makes her happy is her favorite comedian, Joy Powers. Riley loves to watch her old shows and has memorized her best jokes. So when the class is assigned to write letters to people they admire, of course Riley’s picking Joy Powers! Things start to look up when a classmate, Cate, offers to help Riley with the letter, and a new kid, Aaron, actually seems to get her weird sense of humor. But when mean girl Whitney spreads a rumor about her, things begin to click into place for Riley. Her curiosity about Aaron’s two dads and her celebrity crush on Joy Powers suddenly make more sense.

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The Civil War of Amos Abernathy by Michael Leali
(6/7/2022 from HarperCollins)
A heartfelt debut novel about a boy’s attempt to find himself in the history he loves—perfect for fans of Dear Sweet Pea and From the Desk of Zoe Washington.
Amos Abernathy lives for history. Literally. He’s been a historical reenactor nearly all his life. But when a cute new volunteer arrives at his Living History Park, Amos finds himself wondering if there’s something missing from history: someone like the two of them. Amos is sure there must have been LGBTQ+ people in nineteenth-century Illinois. His search turns up Albert D. J. Cashier, a Civil War soldier who might have identified as a trans man if he’d lived today. Soon Amos starts confiding in his newfound friend by writing letters in his journal—and hatches a plan to share Albert’s story with his divided twenty-first century town. It may be an uphill battle, but it’s one that Amos is ready to fight. Told in an earnest, hilarious voice, this love letter to history, first crushes, and LGBTQ+ community will delight readers of Ashley Herring Blake, Alex Gino, or Maulik Pancholy.

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Repairing the World by Linda Epstein
(7/5/2022 from Aladdin/S&S)
A young girl grapples with her grief over a tragic loss with the help of a new perspective from Hebrew school and supportive new friends in this heartfelt middle grade novel about learning to look forward.
​Twelve-year-old Daisy and Ruby are totally inseparable. They’ve grown up together, and Daisy has always counted on having Ruby there to pave the way, encourage her to try new things, and to see the magic in the world. Then Ruby is killed in a tragic accident while on vacation, and Daisy’s life is shattered. Now Daisy finds herself having to face the big things in her life—like starting middle school and becoming a big sister—without her best friend. It’s hard when you feel sad all the time. But thanks to new friends, new insights, and supportive family members, Daisy is able to see what life after Ruby can look like. And as she reaches beyond that to help repair the world around her, she is reminded that friendship is eternal, and that magic can be found in the presence of anyone who chooses to embrace it.

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Grounded For All Eternity by Darcy Marks
(7/26/2022 from Simon & Schuster/Aladdin)
A group of kids from hell come to Earth on one of the craziest nights of the year—Halloween—in this snarky, witty middle grade adventure about teamwork, friendship, shattering expectations, and understanding the world (or otherworld) around us.
​Mal and his friends are just your regular average kids from hell. The suburbs that is, not the fiery pit part. But when Hell’s Bells ring out—signaling that a soul has escaped from one of the eternal circles, Mal and his friends can’t help but take the opportunity for a little adventure. Before they know it, they’ve somehow slipped through the veil and found themselves in the middle of Salem, Massachusetts, on Halloween night. And what’s even worse, they’ve managed to bring the escaped soul with them! As the essence of one of history’s greatest manipulators gains power by shifting the balance on Earth, Mal and his squad-mates—along with some new friends that they meet along the way—work desperately to trap the escapee, save the people of Earth from the forces of evil, and find the portal back to their own dimension. If they can’t manage it before their parents realize they’re gone, they’ll be grounded for an eternity. And an eternity in hell is a very, very long time.

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The Trouble with Robots by Michelle Mohrweis
(9/27/2022 from Peachtree)
Evelyn strives for excellence. Allie couldn’t care less. These polar opposites must work together if they have any hope of saving their school’s robotics program. An excellent pick for STEAM enthusiasts, this earnestly told narrative features a dual point of view and casually explores Autistic and LGBTQ+ identities.


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Hazel Hill Is Gonna Win This One by Maggie Horne
(10/18/2022 from HarperCollins/ Clarion)
A funny, feminist, and queer contemporary middle grade debut that follows twelve-year-old loner Hazel Hill, who, after one of her classmates is harassed online, devises a plan to catch the school’s golden boy in the act.
Seventh-grader Hazel Hill is too busy for friends. No, really. She needs to focus on beating her nemesis, the gorgeous and smart Ella Quinn, in order to win the school-wide speech competition after last year’s embarrassing hyperbole/hyperbowl mishap that cost her first place. But when Hazel discovers Ella is being harassed by popular golden boy, Tyler Harris, she has to choose between winning and doing the right thing. No one would believe that a nice boy like Tyler would harass and intimidate a nice girl like Ella, but Hazel knows the truth—and she’s determined to prove it. In this deeply relatable, surprisingly humorous, and wonderfully empowering middle grade about friendship, finding your voice, and standing up for what you believe in, sometimes you have to lose in order to win.

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Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes-Smith
(11/1/2022 from Penguin Random House/Labyrinth Road)
In a magical medieval world filled with dragons, shape-shifters, and witches, a twelve-year-old nonbinary hopeful knight battles for the heart of their kingdom. A thrilling middle-grade series opener that explores identity and gender amid sword fights and magic, and proves anyone can be a hero.
When their ex-hero dad is summoned back to the royal capital of Helston to train a hopeless crown prince, Callie lunges at the opportunity to finally prove themself worthy to the kingdom’s “great and powerful.” Except the intolerant great and powerful look at nonbinary Callie and only see girl. But Callie has always known exactly what they want to be, and they’re not about to let anything stand in their way. Trapped in Helston’s rigid hierarchy where girls learn magic and boys train as knights, Callie discovers they aren’t alone—there’s Elowen, the chancellor’s brilliant daughter, whose unparalleled power is being stifled; Edwyn, Elowen’s twin brother desperate to win his father’s approval; and Willow, the crown prince who was never meant to be king. In this start to an epic series packed with action, humor, and heart, Callie and their new friends quickly find themselves embedded in an ancient war—and their only hope to defeat the threats outside the kingdom lies in first defeating the bigotry within.

List curated by Michelle Mohrweis and Tracy Badua.
​Posted by Sarah Priscus.

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