Read Rec Rachel: August 2024 New Releases

August brings with it some excellent new YA novels, so here’s 10 of my favorites that I think should be on all teen library shelves. (Including one of my favorite releases of the entire year, hello The Maid and the Crocodile!!!)

1 This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings

Sourcebooks Fire, August 6, 9781728297866 

Pitch: 1926, New York. Elise is heir to a reaper-hunting empire, taking out vampires like her ex-friend Layla. With reapers somehow beginning to turn part human and a string of murders taking place, one of which Layla is framed for, Elise must work with her to try and figure out how the murders connect to rumors of a reaper cure. 

Shorter pitch: The heir to a vampire hunting empire must team up with a young vampire to investigate a series of murders. 

Give to readers who ask for: historical fantasy, fantasy with a strong thrill element

For book displays on: Sink Your Teeth Into Vampire Novels, Enemies to Lovers

2 Under the Surface by Diana Urban

Putnam, August 13, 9780593625088

Pitch: On a class trip to Paris, Ruby goes after her best friend, who has snuck out to meet a mysterious French boy. But when they get invited to a party in the catacombs, they and two classmates end up lost underground – never making it to the party, and leading those above ground to frantically search.

Shorter pitch: Four teens head to a party in the Paris catacombs on their class trip and get lost, while being chased by something sinister.

Give to readers who ask for: thrillers that aren’t just about murder

For book displays on: Paris, school trips

3 The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko

Amulet, August 13, 9781419764356

Pitch: Sade is looking for a job, but she has instead accidentally bound herself to the Crocodile, a powerful god followed by rumors that he devours pretty girls. She also has the ability to alter people’s fates by cleaning their houses. As Sade begins to operate as an inn’s Curse Eater, she will need to evade the ambitions of the Crocodile to finally feel secure in her place. 

Shorter pitch: Job hunting is hard, as Sade (who went looking for a job as a maid but accidentally bound herself to a god known as the Crocodile). 

Give to readers who ask for: Beauty and the Beast readalikes, new fantasy

For book displays on: fantasy standalones, original fairy tales

4 Prince of the Palisades by Julian Winters

Viking, August 20, 9780593624425

Pitch: Jadon is on a PR mission. Îles de la Rêverie’s prince needs an image fix after a horribly public break-up, so he will need to be on his best behavior, meaning absolutely no romance. Well, maybe a little romance. It wasn’t the plan, but Jadon, a non-royal American, might just change everything.

Shorter pitch: A prince trying to fix his image falls for a non-royal American boy.

Give to readers who ask for: love stories, queer reads

For book displays on: royal romance

5 The New Camelot by Robyn Schneider

Viking, August 27, 9780593623015

The pitches are both for book one, The Other Merlin, as I usually don’t pitch a later book in the series. This is book three and wraps up the series, and does it magnificently, it’s such a fun fantasy series. 

Pitch: Camelot is a land of legend – like Arthur, the depressed botanist who accidentally pulled a sword from a stone, Lancelot, a demoted knight currently serving as a castle guard, and Emmett, a court wizard and child of Merlin who is actually his twin sister Emry in disguise. 

Shorter pitch: You know that feeling when you fall in love with a prophesied hero prince while you’re in disguise as your twin brother? 

Give to readers who ask for: fun fantasy, retellings, what to read after My Lady Jane

For book displays on: If you like…Rom-Coms (She’s the Man), “I’m just here to have a good time”

6 The Champions by Kara Thomas

Delacorte Press, August 27, 9780593379974

Pitch: 11 years after the incident involving the cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook (you can read the full story of that in Thomas’s book, The Cheerleaders, but this can be read independently!). Hadley has just been assigned to cover the football championship for the school newspaper, the timing of which beautifully coincides with the poisoning of one of the team members at a party. And like any suspicious scenario, she starts getting messages after telling her to stay away, but how can she…especially when another player dies? 

Shorter pitch: Hadley may be the new girl in town, but she’s going after the skeletons in Sunnybrook’s closet after two of the football players are killed mysteriously. 

Give to readers who ask for: thrillers (especially if they’re wanting authors with multiple thriller titles)

For book displays on: the hidden dangers of sports (the danger is murder!)

7 Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay

Kokila, August 27, 9780593461419

Pitch: Francisco works in the fields of 1930 Watsonville after immigrating from the Philippines. His son Emil is determined to make it in America, though in a different way than Francisco, and works in his aunt’s restaurant in 1965 Stockton. Chris is on the football team at his Denver high school in 1983, but a missed assignment means he needs to spend time in the library instead of the football field, leading to an interest in Filipino history that his father, Emil, is dismissive of. Enzo lives in 2020 Philadelphia, stressed out due to the global pandemic and the fact that his Lolo Emil has moved in. 

Shorter pitch: Four members of the same Filipino-American family reckon with violence, prejudice, history, and anxiety across nearly a century in the US. 

Give to readers who ask for: books to get them into historical 

For book displays on: multigenerational stories/family trees

8 Libertad by Bessie Flores Zaldívar

Dial Books, August 27, 9780593696125

Pitch: Libertad Morazán lives in Honduras, where the upcoming 2017 presidential election lurks ever closer and protests rage. In quick succession, Libi’s Mami sees texts on her phone that talk about kissing a girl, and Libi discovers Maynor, her brother, is playing a major role in the protests, leading her to dream of a new future where she can speak the truth without worrying about losing her loved ones. 

Shorter pitch: A queer young poet comes of age during the 2017 Honduran presidential election.

Give to readers who ask for: recent history, queer stories

For book displays on: books set in Central America

9 Bridge Across the Sky by Freeman Ng

Atheneum BFYR, August 27, 9781665948593

Pitch: 1924. When Tai Go and his family arrive to America from China, they are held at Angel Island. The government officials working at the immigration station, empowered by the Chinese Exclusion Act, keep them under prison-like conditions under the guise of “investigating their claims”. But Tai Go finds poetry carved into the walls by previous detainees, he finds hope, and also finds another group of detainees wanting to bring forth change. 

Shorter pitch: Tai Go finds hope in poetry while being held indefinitely on Angel Island in 1924 due to the Chinese Exclusion Act. 

Give to readers who ask for: historical fiction

For book displays on: novels in verse

10 Our Shouts Echo by Jade Adia

Disney Hyperion, August 27, 9781368090117

Pitch: Niarah plans to spend her summer building a doomsday bunker, because impending disaster might be the only thing she’s sure of. But those surefire plans fall to pieces when Mac appears in her life and with his cute smile and lovely attitude, begins to chip away at her catastrophic mindset.

Shorter pitch: Niarah’s summer plans to build a doomsday bunker are destroyed by a cute surfer named Mac.

Give to readers who ask for: grumpy/sunshine, swoony stories
For book displays on: hopecore

Filed under: new books, Teen Fiction, YA Fiction