About two months into my new gig as a Selection Librarian1 I decided to create a newsletter featuring soon-to-be released titles that I’m excited about. For months I shared this with front line library staff in my system. It became so popular that a supervisor suggested I share it with everyone. I did, and then I thought I’d share it with everyone everone, which is to say I’d share it here. I’m splitting it into two posts, one for Adult titles and one for Teen, this one’s for Teen. Enjoy!
The Forest Demands Its Due by Kosoko Jackson
release date: 10/03/2023
Regent Academy has a long and storied history in Winslow, Vermont, as does the forest that surrounds it. The school is known for molding teens into leaders, but its history is far more nefarious.
Seventeen-year-old Douglas Jones wants nothing to do with Regent’s king-making; he’s just trying to survive. But then a student is murdered and, for some reason, by the next day no one remembers him having ever existed, except for Douglas and the groundskeeper’s son, Everett Everley. In his determination to uncover the truth, Douglas awakens a horror hidden within the forest, unearthing secrets that have been buried for centuries. A vengeful creature wants blood as payment for a debt more than 300 years in the making–or it will swallow all of Winslow in darkness.
And for the first time in his life, Douglas might have a chance to grasp the one thing he’s always felt was missing: power. But if he’s not careful, he will find out that power has a tendency to corrupt absolutely everything.
Amber’s why: I feel like this book would have fit better with last month’s list with all the evil tree books, but this is more evil forest surrounding a Vermont boarding school and the kid that may be falling into it’s corruption.
The Scarlet Alchemist by Kylie Lee Baker
release date: 10/03/2023
Zilan dreams of becoming a royal alchemist, of providing for her family by making alchemical gold and gems for the wealthy to eat in order to stay young forever. But for now, she’s trapped in her impoverished village in southern China, practicing an illegal form of alchemy to keep food on the table–resurrecting the dead, for a price.
When Zilan finally has the chance to complete her imperial exams, she ventures to the capital to compete against the best alchemists in the country in tasks she’ll be lucky to survive, let alone pass. On top of that, her reputation for raising the dead has followed her to the capital, and the Crown Prince himself seeks out her help, suspecting a coming assassination attempt.
The more Zilan succeeds in her alchemy, the more she gets caught in the dangerous political games of the royal family. There are monsters lurking within the palace walls, and it’s only a matter of time before they–and secrets of Zilan’s past–catch up with her.
Amber’s why: I’m very into Asian fantasy right now.
The Rosewood Hunt by MacKenzie Reed
release date: 10/31/2023
Lily Rosewood has lived with her grandmother since her dad’s death a year ago. She and Gram have always been close–Gram’s role as chair of their family’s luxury coat business has inspired Lily’s love of fashion, and Lily hopes to follow in Gram’s footsteps one day.
Then Gram dies suddenly, and Lily’s world is upended. Gram’s quarter of a billion dollar fortune is missing, and Lily has been banned from the manor she and Gram shared.
But Gram has always loved games, and even in death, she still has a few tricks up her couture sleeve. When Lily and three other seemingly random teens get letters from Gram sending them on a treasure hunt around Rosetown, they hope the fortune will be the reward. But they’re not the only ones hunting for Gram’s treasure, and soon the hunt becomes more dangerous than they ever could have imagined.
Amber’s why: I feel like this is going to have heists. Yeah, okay, puzzles to find a treasure, but that’s practically heists. It’s at least heist-like, heist-adjacent if you will.
Night of the Witch (Witch and Hunter #1) by Sara Raasch & Beth Revis
release date: 10/03/2023
Fritzi is a witch. The lone survivor of a brutal attack on her coven, she’s determined to find her only remaining family member and bring the hexenjägers–zealot witch hunters–to justice for the lives they ended. To do this, she will need to take down their leader, the merciless and enigmatic Kommandant Dieter Kirch.
Otto is a hexenjäger–but that’s just his cover. Years ago, the hexenjägers burned his innocent mother alive, and he has been plotting his revenge against the people who tore apart his family ever since. And now the time has come for them to pay for what they’ve done.
When Fritzi and Otto are unexpectedly thrown together, neither is sure they can trust the other. The reluctant truce fueled by their common enemy takes them from the city at the heart of the hexenjägers’ power to the wild and mysterious Black Forest. As old truths come to light and new dangers are revealed, Fritzi and Otto uncover a horrifying magical plot at the center of the hexenjäger attacks that leads back to Kommandant Kirch . . . but their own growing feelings for each other may be the most powerful magic of all.
Amber’s why: Honestly, the fact that this is about witches is enough to get me to read it, but this has all the markers of an enemies-to-friends-to-lovers within a vengeance plot and that’s got me all excited.
Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall
release date: 10/10/2023
In rural Caball Hollow, surrounded by the vast National Forest, the James women serve up more than fried green tomatoes at the Harvest Moon diner, where the family recipes are not the only secrets.
Like her sisters, Linden was born with an unusual ability. She can taste what others are feeling, but this so-called gift soured her relationship with the vexingly attractive Cole Spencer one fateful night a year ago . . . A night when Linden vanished into the depths of the Forest and returned with no memories of what happened, just a litany of questions–and a haze of nightmares that suggest there’s more to her story than simply getting lost.
Now, during the hottest summer on record, another girl in town is gone, and the similarities to last year’s events are striking. Except, this time the missing girl doesn’t make it home, and when her body is discovered, the scene unmistakably spells murder.
As tempers boil over, Linden enlists the help of her sisters to find what’s hiding in the forest . . . before it finds her. But as she starts digging for truth–about the Moth-Winged Man rumored to haunt the Hollow, about her bitter rift with Cole, and even about her family–she must question if some secrets are best left buried.
Amber’s why: It’s Mothman! Mothman! Mothman and family secrets! Mothman, family secrets, and semi-magical sisters!
Unholy Terrors by Lyndall Clipstone
release date: 10/17/2023
Everline Blackthorn has devoted her life to the wardens–a sect of holy warriors who guard against monsters known as the vespertine.
When a series of strange omens occur, Everline disobeys orders to investigate, and uncovers a startling truth in the form of Ravel Severin: a rogue vespertine who reveals the monsters have secrets of their own.
Ravel promises the help she needs– for a price. Vespertine magic requires blood, and if Everline wants Ravel to guide across the dangerous moorland, she will have to allow him to feed from her.
It’s a sin for a warden to feed a vespertine– let alone love one– and as Everline and Ravel travel further across the moorland, she realizes the question isn’t whether she will survive the journey, but if she will return unchanged. Or if she wants to.
Critically acclaimed author of monstrous romances Lyndall Clipstone weaves a bloodstained tale of a girl torn between her vows and her heart, where falling in love may be the deepest sin of all…
Amber’s why: Y’all know my predilection for monster romances, right? Apparently, this one is appropriate for teens. Looks fun.
Beholder by Ryan La Sala
release date: 10/03/2023
No one survived the party at the penthouse. Except Athan.
Athanasios “Athan” Bakirtzis has made it far in life relying on his charm and good looks, even securing an invitation to a mysterious penthouse soiree for New York City’s artsy elite. But when he sneaks off to the bathroom, he hears a slam, followed by a scream. Athan peers outside, only to be pushed back in by a boy his age. The boy gravely tells him not to open the door, then closes Athan in.
Outside the door, the party descends into chaos. Through hours of howls, laughter, and sobs, Athan stays hidden. When he finally emerges, he discovers a massacre where the corpses appear to have arranged themselves into a disturbingly elegant sculpture–and Athan’s mysterious savior is nowhere to be found. Athan–the only known survivor–is now the primary suspect.
In a race to prove his innocence, Athan is swept up in a supernatural mystery, one of secret occult societies and deadly eldritch horrors with rather distinctive taste. Something evil is waking up in the walls of New York City, and its compelling victims toward violence, chaos, and self-destruction. Bound to him by a mysterious hereditary power, Athan has felt this evil hiding behind his reflection his entire life, watching him. Waiting. Now, it’s taking over.
Amber’s why: Everyone at the party dies horribly except for Athan. Of course, the police are looking to blame him, only this is a world filled with eldritch horrors and there’s something evil lurking behind Athan’s reflection. Like, I am so into evil reflections, or creatures impersonating reflections, and the fight for control of the primary body. Though I’m a bit disappointed the synopsis doesn’t mention spiders. Why tease us with spiders by putting one on the cover if they’re not going to feature in the story? I mean, they still might be… We can always hope, right?
- Yipee! ↩︎
Knotting the Wind 