April 2024 Teen Book Releases

1. Canto Contigo: a novel by Jonny Garza Villa: In a twenty-four-hour span, Rafael Alvarez led North Amistad High School's Mariachi Alma de la Frontera to their eleventh consecutive first-place win in the Mariachi Extravaganza de Nacional; and met, made out with, and almost hooked up with one of the cutest guys he's ever met. Now eight months later, Rafie's ready for one final win. What he didn't plan for is his family moving to San Antonio before his senior year, forcing him to leave behind his group while dealing with the loss of the most important person in his life-his beloved abuelo. Another hitch in his plan: The Selena Quintanilla-Perez Academy's Mariachi Todos Colores already has a lead vocalist, Rey Chavez-the boy Rafie made out with-who now stands between him winning and being the great Mariachi Rafie's abuelo always believed him to be. Despite their newfound rivalry for center stage, Rafie can't squash his feelings for Rey. Now he must decide between the people he's known his entire life or the one just starting to get to know the real him.
2. Hearts Still Beating by Brooke Archer: Seventeen-year-old Mara is dead-mostly. Infected with a virus that brought the dead back to life and the world to its knees, she wakes up in a facility to learn a treatment for the disease has been found. No longer a Tick , Mara is placed in an experimental resettlement program. But her recovery is complicated by her destination: she's sent to live with the best friend she hasn't seen since the world ended-and since their first and only kiss. Seventeen-year-old Rory is alive-barely. With impaired mobility from an injury and a dead sister, Rory's nightmares are just as monstrous as the Ticks that turned her former best friend. Even after the Island-one of a handful of surviving communities-rebuilds itself, Rory is prepared for the Ticks to return at any time. She never expected them to come in the form of the only girl she's ever loved. As the girls struggle with their pasts and the people they've become, and with the Island's fragile peace in the balance, Rory and Mara must lean on each other to survive-or risk losing the girl they love all over again.
3. Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee: LOS ANGELES, 1932: Lulu Wong, star of the silver screen and the pride of Chinatown, has a face known to practically everyone, especially the Chow sisters—May, Gemma, and Peony—Lulu’s former classmates and neighbors. So the girls instantly know it’s Lulu when they discover a body one morning in an out-of-the-way stable, far from the Beverly Hills home where she lived after her fame skyrocketed. The sisters suspect Lulu’s death is the result of foul play, but the police don’t seem motivated to investigate. Even worse, there are signs that point to a cover-up, and powerful forces in the city want to frame the killing as evidence that Chinatown is a den of iniquity and crime, even more reason it should be demolished to make room for the construction of a new railway depot, Union Station. Worried that neither the police nor the papers will treat Lulu fairly—no matter her fame and wealth—the sisters set out to solve their friend’s murder themselves, and maybe save their neighborhood in the bargain. But with Lulu’s killer still on the loose, the girls’ investigation just might put them square in the crosshairs of a cold-blooded murderer.
4. No Going Back by Patrick Flores-Scott: Antonio is determined to make amends to the people he hurt most-even if it means breaking the terms of his early release from juvenile detention. It's Friday morning, and seventeen-year-old Antonio Sullivan is on the verge of earning his early release from Zephyr Woods Youth Detention Center. Having been incarcerated for the last year and a half for a crime he didn't directly commit, he's now dedicating himself to his education and his sobriety program. What's more, Antonio is driven by a deep need to make amends to the two people he hurt the most: his mom and his lifelong best friend, Maya. The conditions of his early release are clear-Antonio can't have any contact with his father or miss his first meeting with his parole officer Monday morning. But a lot can happen between Friday and Monday, especially when the odds are against you.
5. Otherworldly by FT Lukens: Seventeen-year-old Ellery is a non-believer in a region where people swear the supernatural is real. Sure, they've been stuck in a five-year winter, but there's got to be a scientific explanation. If goddesses were real, they wouldn't abandon their charges like this, leaving farmers like Ellery's family to scrape by. Knox is a familiar from the Other World, a magical assistant sent to help humans who have made crossroads bargains. But it's been years since he heard from his queen, and Knox is getting nervous about what he might find once he returns home. When the crossroads demons come to collect Knox, he panics and runs. A chance encounter down an alley finds Ellery coming to Knox's rescue, successfully fending off his would-be abductors. Ellery can't quite believe what they've seen. And they definitely don't believe the nonsense this unnervingly attractive guy spews about his paranormal origins. But Knox needs to make a deal with a human who can tether him to this realm, and Ellery needs to figure out how to stop this winter to help their family. Once their bargain is struck, there's no backing out, and the growing connection between the two might just change everything.
6. The Black Girl Survives in This One: Horror stories by Desiree S. Evans: Fifteen chilling and thought-provoking stories place Black girls front and center as heroes and survivors who slay monsters, battle spirits, and face down death. Prepare to be terrified and left breathless by the pieces in this anthology. The bestselling and acclaimed authors include Erin E. Adams, Monica Brashears, Charlotte Nicole Davis, Desiree S. Evans, Saraciea J. Fennell, Zakiya Dalila Harris, Daka Hermon, Justina Ireland, L.L. McKinney, Brittney Morris, Maika & Maritza Moulite, Eden Royce, and Vincent Tirado.
7. The Breakup Lists by Adib Khorram: Jackson Ghasnavi is a lot of things-a techie, a smoothie afficionado, a totally not obsessive list-maker-but one thing he's not is a romantic. And why would he be? He's already had a front row seat to his parents' divorce and picked up the pieces of his sister Jasmine's broken heart one too many times. No, Jackson is perfectly happy living life behind the scenes-he is a stage manager, after all-and keeping his romantic exploits limited to the breakup lists he makes for Jasmine, which chronicle every flaw (real or imagined) of her various and sundry exes. Enter Liam: the senior swim captain turned leading man that neither of the Ghasnavi siblings stop thinking about. Not that Jackson has a crush, of course. Jasmine is already setting her sights on him and he's probably-no, definitely-straight anyway. So why does the idea of eventually writing a breakup list for him feel so impossible?
8. The Misdirection of Fault Lines by Anna Gracia: Alice is on her own for the first time. She has no coach. No friends. Not even clothes that meet the Bastille Invitational's strict dress code. There's only the steady drumbeat of guilt inside-pressure to make the tournament's costly expense "worth it" in the wake of Ba's unexpected passing. But will a win on court justify the price she paid to get here? Violetta is Bastille's darling: social media influencer, coach's pet, and daughter of a former tennis star who fell from grace. Bastille is her chance to reclaim the future her mother gave up to raise her. But is that what she wants for herself?  Leylah hasn't competed in two years, thanks to a back-stabbing ex-friend. Bastille is her last chance to prove she's ready for a life of professional tennis. But will her fixation on past wrongs keep her from reclaiming her rightful place at the top? One week at the elite Bastille Invitational tennis tournament will decide their futures. If only the competition between them stayed on the court.
9. The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson: Eighteen-year-old Bel has lived her whole life in the shadow of her mom's mysterious disappearance. Sixteen years ago, Rachel Price vanished and young Bel was the only witness, but she has no memory of it. Rachel is gone, long presumed dead, and Bel wishes everyone would just move on. But the case is dredged up from the past when the Price family agrees to a true crime documentary. Bel can't wait for filming to end, for life to go back to normal. And then the impossible happens. Rachel Price reappears, and life will never be normal again. Rachel has an unbelievable story about what happened to her. Unbelievable, because Bel isn't sure it's real. If Rachel is lying, then where has she been all this time? And-could she be dangerous? With the cameras still rolling, Bel must uncover the truth about her mother, and find out why Rachel Price really came back from the dead. 
10. To a Darker Shore by Leanne Schwartz: When her best friend is sacrificed to the devil, she'll go to hell and back for him Plain, poor, plus-size, and autistic, Alesta grew up trying to convince her beauty-obsessed kingdom that she's too useful to be sacrificed. Their god blessed their island Soladisa as a haven for his followers, but to keep the devil at bay, the church sends a child sacrifice to hell's entrance every season-often poor or plain girls just like Alesta. With a head full of ideas for inventions, Alesta knows her best shot at making it to adulthood is to design something impressive for the festival exhibition so she might win a spot in the university-acceptance could guarantee her safety. But Alesta's flying machine demonstration goes awry, a failure that will surely mean death. What happens is worse: Her best friend and heir to the throne, Kyrian, takes the blame expecting leniency but ends up sacrificed in her place. To stop the sacrifices forever, Alesta plans to kill the monster that killed her friend. Prepared to save her kingdom or die trying, she travels to the depths of hell only to find Kyrian-alive, but monstrously transformed. There is no escaping hell or their growing feelings for one another, and the deeper they descend into hell, the closer they come to uncovering a truth about the sacrifices that threatens to invoke the wrath of not only monsters but the gods as well.

For more upcoming releases, check out my April 2024 YA Book Releases booklist.