Read Rec Rachel: New YA Releases for November and December 2024

After a busy bookish September and October, we’re combining the posts for November and December! Here’s 10 fabulous titles that release before the end of 2024.

The Davenports: More Than This by Krystal Marquis

Sequel to: The Davenports by Krystal Marquis

The Davenports Pitch: The Davenports live in 1910s Chicago, one of the few Black families in the area to live in wealth and high societal status. Olivia, Helen, and John Davenport soon find themselves facing romantic endeavors–Olivia, the eldest, falling for a civil rights leader instead of the man she was expected to marry, while Helen falls for the latter of those two men. John is desired both by Amy-Rose (childhood friend turned maid to the Davenports) and Ruby (Olivia’s best friend).

The Davenports Shorter Pitch: Members of a wealthy Black family in 1910s Chicago fall in love and fall into tumultuous romantic scenarios.

Ideas for displays/RA asks: multi-POV, historical romance, love triangles and other complicated shapes, the 20th century

Dial BFYR, November 12, 9780593463369 

A Queen’s Game by Katharine McGee

Pitch: Alix is the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and will eventually become queen of Russia and mother to Anastasia Romanov, but right now she’s falling in love with a prince that’s not the one she’s set to marry. May of Teck, who will eventually become queen of the UK and grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II, has lived life just on the outskirts of the royal world, but she’s determined to marry the future king. And Hélène d’Orléans, the daughter of the exiled French king, has enjoyed the ability to break rules, especially when she’s hanging out with Prince Eddy, heir to the British throne.

Shorter Pitch: The lives of the future Queen Alexandria of Russia, Queen Mary of the UK, and Hélène d’Orléans, daughter of the exiled king of France, intersect as teens.

Ideas for displays/RA asks: historical romance, royalty, 19th century, multi-POV

Random House BFYR, November 12, 9780593710708

Heist Royale by Kayvion Lewis

Sequel to: Thieves’ Gambit by Kayvion Lewis

Thieves’ Gambit Pitch: Ross comes from a family of thieves, but her plans don’t always work out. Like her plan to run away…that got thwarted when her mom’s life ends up in danger. To save her, Ross enters the Thieves’ Gambit, a series of heists to compete for a wish for anything in the world.

Thieves’ Gambit Shorter Pitch: Ross enters a series of heists to try and find a way to save her mom.

Ideas for displays/RA asks: fun YA, thriller, con artists/thieves, heists, competition

I Am the Dark That Answers When You Call by Jamison Shea

Sequel to: I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me Pitch: Laure is a Black ballerina trying to take center stage in the Parisian ballet. Lurking in the depths of the catacombs is a river of blood, one that promises her everything she’s ever wanted. And as Laure’s star climbs, so do the lengths she’s willing to go to fall further into the darkness.

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me Shorter Pitch: Black ballerina Laure will do whatever it takes to make a name for herself in the Parisian ballet, even making a deal with a river of blood.

Ideas for displays/RA asks: villainous leads, dance, Paris, horror

Rani Choudhury Must Die by Adiba Jaigirdar

Pitch: Meghna and Rani used to be best friends, but years of silence and rivalry have changed things. But when both realize they’re being played by the same guy, Zak, they decide to team up to take him down. Working together at the European Young Scientist Exhibition, they create an app to expose cheaters while falling for each other in the process

Shorter Pitch: Ex besties turned rivals Meghna and Rani decide to team up to take down the boy that was playing them both.

Ideas for displays/RA asks: romance, sapphic YA, friends to rivals to lovers, STEM

Fortune’s Kiss by Amber Clement

Pitch: El Beso de la Fortuna has returned to Ciudad Milagro, where best friends Mayté and Lo hope to win the game that Fortune’s Kiss promises. Mayté hopes to leave her family in favor of life as a painter while Lo wants to track down her missing mother and leave her abusive father. But though they enter the gaming salon to play what seems like a game of Lotería, the two quickly learns that the house always wins.

Shorter Pitch: Best friends Mayté and Lo enter a dangerous game with a traveling magical gambling house to try and escape their families.

Ideas for displays/RA asks: magical games, best friends, debuts, fantasy

Sophomore Year by Brianna Peppins

Sequel to: Briarcliff Prep by Brianna Peppins

Briarcliff Prep Pitch: Avielle LeBeau is fourteen and just starting her freshman year at the Historically Black Briarcliff Preparatory School for Girls. While there, and working to cement her mark on the school newspaper, she discovers a terrible secret about her older sister’s boyfriend.

Briarcliff Prep Shorter Pitch: Avielle’s freshman year of high school is upended when she learns a terrible truth about her older sister’s boyfriend.

Ideas for displays/RA asks: prep/private/boarding schools, young YA main characters (14yo!)

My Fairy God Somebody by Charlene Allen

Pitch: Clae and her mom have lived in the city of Gloucester since she was a baby. All she’s ever known about her dad was that he took off when she was a baby. But when she gets to attend a journalism program over a NYC summer, she realizes that she’s in the city her parents lived in before she was born, and she begins to put clues together about a person called her fairy god somebody.

Shorter Pitch: Clae spends the summer in New York City to attend a journalism program and find out more about her family history.

Ideas for displays/RA asks: New York City, summer vacation, contemporary

HarperCollins, December 3, 9780063212848 

A Cruel Thirst by Angela Montoya

Pitch: Vampire hunter Carolina is supposed to be getting married, but she just wants to keep helping rid her pueblo of the sedientos that stalk the night. Lalo, a newly turned sediento, is on the move north to a pueblo where he believes he can find answers to his condition, running into Carolina along the way.

Shorter Pitch: A newly turned vampire and a vampire hunter must work together to stop the monsters in the shadows.

Ideas for displays/RA asks: vampires, romantic fantasy, hunter x hunted

Joy Revolution, December 17, 9780593643372 

Ex Marks the Spot by Gloria Chao

Pitch: Gemma believed all of her grandparents had passed, but when a mysterious man shows up with the news of her grandfathers extremely recent death, she’s sent reeling. She’s also handed the first clue to a treasure hunt that will begin at his home in Taiwan, halfway across the world with her ex Xander, to lead to her inheritance.

Shorter Pitch: When Gemma’s grandfather passes away, she goes on a treasure hunt with her ex boyfriend to find her inheritance.

Ideas for displays/RA asks: romantic adventure, treasure hunts, books set outside the US, rivals to lovers

Viking, December 31, 9780593692714 

Filed under: Booklists, Reader's Advisory