Most anticipated YA books of 2024

Young adult authors are shaping up to deliver plenty of magic—real or metaphorical—in 2024. While authors like Kacen Callender and Hafsah Faizal whisk us away to fantastical worlds, others such as Marissa Meyer and Alexene Farol Follmuth will keep us spellbound by tales set closer to home.

Available 1/02/2024

A Fragile Enchantment

By Allison Saft

After the passionate, bestselling A Far Wilder Magic, Allison Saft is back with another entrancing fantasy—this time featuring an intriguing setting based on Regency England. Fans of “Bridgerton” will want to keep an eye out for A Fragile Enchantment, which follows Niamh Ó Conchobhair, a magical dressmaker who is hired by the kingdom of Avaland to serve as the tailor for a royal wedding. However, the job of dressing the beautiful but thorny prince Kit for his impending political union comes with far more complications than she could have ever expected.

Available 2/06/2024

Infinity Alchemist

By Kacen Callender

Full of smart dialogue, Infinity Alchemist moves with the kind of pace that will keep readers drawn in, but it is the overriding feeling of empathy that elevates this resonant fantasy.

Available 2/13/2024

With a Little Luck

By Marissa Meyer

Beloved for her enthralling science fiction, which includes The Lunar Chronicles series and the Renegades trilogy, Marissa Meyer also proved herself a cross-genre champion with Instant Karma, her bestselling (as usual) first rom-com. In With a Little Luck, she’s taking fans back to the coastal town of Fortuna Beach to meet Jude, whose ordinary life—working at his parents’ vinyl store, drawing comics and playing Dungeons & Dragons—is transformed when he finds a special 20-sided die that gives him incredible luck. But what happens when this luck runs out?

Available 2/20/2024

A Tempest of Tea

By Hafsah Faizal

With A Tempest of Tea, Hafsah Faizal plugs fully into the young adult fantasy zeitgeist, weaving serious themes into a fast-paced and thrilling heist story.

Available 3/05/2024

The Prisoner’s Throne

Holly Black captivated legions of fans with the Folk of the Air series, then she whisked them away once more to Elfhame with the Stolen Heir duology. The Prisoner’s Throne picks up where The Stolen Heir left off, switching to Prince Oak’s perspective as he struggles through the explosive consequences of his journey north with Wren.

Available 3/19/2024

Where Sleeping Girls Lie

By Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Faridah Abiké-Iyimidé won a 2022 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work for her debut novel, Ace of Spades, a heart-pounding thriller about two Black senior class prefects at a prestigious private academy. So it’s with bated breath that we anticipate Where Sleeping Girls Lie, another mystery set at an elite school that promises just as many twists and turns, on top of Abiké-Iyimidé’s thoughtful, multilayered social commentary.

Available 4/02/2024

The Black Girl Survives in This One

Edited by Saraciea J. Fennell

Zakiya Dalila Harris, Brittney Morris, Monica Brashears and more unite in this star-studded horror anthology of 15 stories about Black girls who face all sorts of terrors—and survive. Modern horror audiences are lucky to witness all the fresh, exciting ways in which the genre continues to evolve, and The Black Girl Survives in This One promises to push the “Final Girl” trope toward new horizons that will thrill and terrify readers. Bonus: Tananarive Due writes the forward.

Available 4/09/2024

Canto Contigo

By Jonny Garza Villa

Jonny Garza Villa brought a sweetly poignant voice to contemporary YA romance with their tender, nuanced novels Fifteen Hundred Miles From the Sun and Ander & Santi Were Here. In Canto Contigo, the Pura Belpré Honor recipient tackles rivals-to-lovers romance as talented singer Rafael Alvarez moves to San Antonio for his senior year only to discover that his new school’s mariachi band already has someone occupying the coveted lead vocalist role: a very cute boy that Rafie happens to have met before.

Available 4/16/2024

Sheine Lende

By Darcie Little Badger, Illustrated by Rovina Cai

Sheine Lende focuses on a girl who must use her experience finding missing persons with ghost dogs to track down her own mother.

Available 4/23/2024

Blood Justice

By Terry J. Benton-Walker

In the sequel to Terry J. Benton-Walker’s much-lauded debut, Blood Debts, Cris and Clem Trudeau find themselves defending their recently won throne in a version of New Orleans that is alive with deadly magic. Tensions run high as mighty forces descend upon the siblings amidst murders, power plays and quests for revenge. Readers will look forward to seeing how Benton-Walker once again pulls off untangling a knot of intricate plotting.

Available 6/18/2024

Twelfth Knight

By Alexene Farol Follmuth

In a starred review, we praised the “agile and cutting voice” of The Atlas Six, Alexene Farol Follmuth’s debut published under the pen name Olivie Blake. We’re eager to read her upcoming retelling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, in which Viola is a high school student who finds solace in an online role-playing game called Twelfth Knight. She’s also the student body Vice President to football player Jack Orsino’s President. When her virtual avatar, Cesario, meets his Duke Orsino online, sparks fly in a rom-com as hilariously tangled as its source material.

Available 6/25/2024

Sleep Like Death

By Kalynn Bayron

Full of heroism, romance and wisdom, Sleep Like Death is a wonderful coming-of-age fantasy story that will delight readers searching for a robust fairy tale retelling.

Available 7/30/2024

The Grandest Game

By Jennifer Lynn Barnes

It would probably be easier to win the Hawthorne fortune than to ignore the blockbuster success of Jennifer Lynn Barnes’ Inheritance Games series, which has won over global audiences, having been translated into 31 languages. Barnes invites us back into another lavish competition with The Grandest Game, in which Avery Grambs is now a billionaire giving seven contestants their own chance to win a fortune and change their lives forever.

Most anticipated by genre

Previous most anticipated YA lists

Recent YA reviews

Book jacket image for Honeysuckle and Bone by Trisha Tobias

Honeysuckle and Bone

Readers who enjoy twisted thrillers in bright tropical settings will revel in Honeysuckle and Bone’s exploration of the contrast between glittery surfaces and the secrets buried beneath them.

Everything is Poison

The desperation and determination of the women in Everything Is Poison draw from rich historical detail while creating obvious parallels to modern struggles.

Kaya of the Ocean

In Gloria L. Huang’s fantastical, heartfelt coming-of-age tale Kaya of the Ocean, the protagonist’s gradual willingness to trust herself will resonate with readers on their own journey to self-confidence, magic-infused or otherwise.

This is the Year

While This Is the Year is unflinching in its portrayals of natural, social and economic disasters, it is also careful to demonstrate how healing is possible.

Book jacket image for Visitations by Corey Egbert

Visitations

Visitations is a haunting, complex memoir about religion, mental illness and broken families, told through the eyes of a young boy.

Book jacket image for What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould

What the Woods Took

An atmospheric thriller with genuine scares, What the Woods Took examines how teenagers can go through the worst and still choose to trust, over and over again.

For She Is Wrath

A fantasy-fuelled retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo, For She Is Wrath takes the tension and mystery of Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel and transfers it to a lush, exuberant, Pakistan-inspired setting.

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Thief of the Heights

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