Tag Archives: Young Adult

Cover Reveal: Maybe This is Moving On by Emery Lee

Today on the site I’m thrilled to welcome Emery Lee to reveal the cover of eir upcoming speculative trans YA, Maybe This is Moving On, releasing February 9, 2027 from Tiny Ghost Press! Here’s the story:

For seventeen-year-old Ness, walking with the dead is a sacred family gift.

After someone dies, Ness is able to travel twenty-four hours into the past, to help them meet their end without regrets.

But there are rules:

Never tell the dead that they’re dead.

Never reveal himself to himself.

And never ever alter history.

If Ness breaks the rules, he loses his ability. Simple.

Until his ex-boyfriend, Jaime, dies in a tragic car accident.

Sent back five months before the crash destined to take Jaime’s life, Ness’s only mission is to ensure Jaime doesn’t die carrying a heavy heart. After all, changing fate would break cosmic law.

But five months is a long time to spend with the boy who once held his heart, especially when it means reliving the bittersweet heights of first love and the sharp agony of their messy breakup. As secrets unfold and old feelings resurface, Ness finds that healing Jaime’s regrets before the clock runs out means diving headfirst into the worst of his own.

With his heart, his powers, and his obligations to the universe on the line, can he do what needs to be done to help Jaime move on?

And here’s the mesmerizing cover by Laya Rose!

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | Tiny Ghost Press

Emery Lee is an award-winning author and the founder of #Transbooks365, a community hashtag made to celebrate books by and about trans people. Coming from a university background of creative writing, e’s gone on to write entertainment news, edit literary magazines, and work as a trade book reviewer. Outside of novels, e’s written interactive fiction, short stories, and webcomics. Eir books have received starred reviews, been featured in ALA’s rainbow booklist, and been translated into multiple languages. In 2025, MEET CUTE DIARY was exhibited in the Museum of Transology, the UK’s most significant collection of objects representing trans, nonbinary, and intersex people’s lives. When away from writing, e can be found reading webcomics, listening to music, or snuggling cute dogs.

Cover Reveal: Bottle Blonde by Elle Grenier

Today on the site I am thrilled to welcome back Elle Grenier to reveal the cover of a book I have been waiting on foreverrrr, a contemporary YA called Bottle Blonde releasing May 18, 2027 from HarperCollins! Here’s the story:

Amelia knows she was born to be a leading lady. But there’s just one thing: only one other person knows she’s a girl.

With only three and a half months until graduation, Amelia is determined to make her senior year dreams come true. And the key to living out her picture-perfect high school fantasy is landing the part of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde: The Musical. It would give Amelia the chance to play opposite her longtime crush—sensitive, mega-talented basketball star, Travis dos Santos. Travis, who always laughs at her jokes and makes space for her thoughts. Travis, who has started to look at her a bit differently.

But if she wants a real shot at her dream role, she has to come out as a trans girl.

Amelia is closer than ever to turning her main-character daydreams into reality, if only she could prove herself to the rest of the school. But finding her happily-ever-after might be more complicated than she thought—and her vibrant imagination might just carry her away this time.

Here’s the gorgeous cover designed by David DeWitt with art by Betsy Cola!

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Elle Grenier is a queer and trans author from Southern Ontario currently residing in British Columbia with her partner and their three cats. Elle has a BA in English Literature from the University of Toronto, and is the author of This Wretched Beauty (A Dorian Gray Remix) as well as their upcoming YA coming-of-age rom com, Bottle Blonde.

Fave Five: YA Sci-Fi Romance

The Disasters by M.K. England (m/m)

The Celestial Seas by T.A. Chan (f/f)

If All the Stars Go Dark by S.G. Prince (m/m GN)

The Kindred by Alechia Dow (m/f)

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer (m/m duology)

Bonus: Coming in 2027, keep an eye out for We Were Supposed to Find This by Emily Snyder (f/f)

Fave Five: Queer YA Fantasy Duologies

Divine Traitors by Kamilah Cole

The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski

Blood Debts by Terry J. Benton-Walker

 Never-Tilting World by Rin Chupeco

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling

Cover Reveal: Spiraling Out by Maya Ameyaw

Today on the site, I’m delighted to welcome back Maya Ameyaw to reveal the cover of her next contemporary YA, Spiraling Out, which releases March 2, 2027 from Annick Press! (Can’t wait to get your hands on a copy? Reviewers can grab it on Netgalley as a Read Now for 24 hours!) Here’s the story:

A competitive figure skater tries not to buckle under pressure while ignoring her growing feelings for her rival in this YA novel perfect for fans of Some Girls Do and Spinning.

Ever since failing to get the gold last season, figure skater Evelyn Osei has had her eyes on the prize. This time nothing will get in her way―not friends or school, not her OCD, and definitely not her ex-friend and rival Mei Sato who is training at Evelyn’s club this year. As the season progresses and her relationships fray, Evelyn has to confront that she might not have everything under control and that her feelings for Mei run deeper than either friendship or rivalry.
In her third novel, award-winning author Maya Ameyaw explores the stress of athletic competition and the confusion of first love with sensitive and vivid prose. Spiraling Out will speak to figure skating fans as well as any reader balancing the demands of daily life while on the complicated road to self-discovery.

And here’s the beautiful cover by Ashley Floreal!

Cover: Spiraling Out, by Maya Ameyaw. Text: This season, everything feels off balance. Illustration: two young women strike figure-skating poses while look at one another over their shoulder.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | Annick Press

MAYA AMEYAW is a Toronto-based community arts writing instructor and award-winning author. She has edited several mental health–themed anthologies for youth and adults and is the author of the critically acclaimed novels When It All Syncs Up and Under All the Lights.

Exclusive Cover Reveal: The Upstairs Room by Dana Mele

Today on the site I’m delighted to reveal the cover of The Upstairs Room by Dana Mele, a horror thriller coming from Sourcebooks Fire April 20, 2027! Here’s the story:

A summer of nannying takes a terrifying turn when Blair discovers a legacy of mysterious deaths connected to her employer’s sprawling summer estate…but the secrets Blair is harboring may be just as deadly. 

The last place Blair Carver wants to spend the

summer is on the remote Pearl Island. Still, nannying for the reclusive Hathorne family off the coast of Maine is hardly an escape from a complicated junior year and home life—especially with all the rules that must be followed.

Stepping onto the island is like traveling back in time. Raven’s Nook, the Hathorne’s estate, sprawls around a century’s-old lighthouse. A cemetery on the property conceals family secrets, a creepy collection of dolls won’t stay put, and a forbidden upstairs room seems to hold the key to what the family is hiding.

The Hathorne children are cold and standoffish, and when they start hazing Blair with a series of escalating—dangerous—pranks, the town’s whispers about the Hathorne curse grow louder. Postcard perfect Pearl Island conceals a sinister history. Blair has dark secrets too, family secrets that have been been passed down for generations, and if Blair’s not careful, this summer will be their last…

And here’s the creeptastic cover by Jana Heidersdorf!

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

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Dana Mele is a Pushcart-nominated author of short stories and YA novels including THE BEAST YOU LET IN. A graduate of Wellesley College, Dana holds degrees in theatre, education, and law.

Dana’s debut, PEOPLE LIKE US, was shortlisted for the 2019 ITW Thriller Award for Best Young Adult Novel and is an ALA Rainbow List Selection. Dana’s sophomore novel, SUMMER’S EDGE, was a Barnes & Noble YA Book Club Selection and a New York Public Library Best Books for Teens title. Up next is THE UPSTAIRS ROOM, a YA supernatural thriller forthcoming from Sourcebooks Fire, slated for publication April 20, 2027. Dana lives in Upstate New York with their family.

Fave Five: New Queer YA Summer Romances, 2025-26 Edition

For older Sapphic summer Romances, click here.

Summer Girls by Jennifer Dugan (F/F)

Donut Summer by Anita Kelly (F/X)

Everything About You by Robby Weber (M/M)

Hallie’s Rules for a Recovering Romantic by Jessica Lewis (F/F)

Summer Official by Rebekah Weatherspoon (F/F)

Inside an Anthology: Being Aro ed. by Madeline Dyer and Rosiee Thor

Today on the site I’m delighted to give a peek into Being Aro, the brand-new YA anthology edited by Madeline Dyer and Rosiee Thor containing stories featuring aromantic rep across a variety of genres! Here’s the gist:

Explore expansive aromantic love and connection in stories across genres

These twelve stories showcase aromantic people breaking generational curses, finding acceptance, and protecting the vulnerable while highlighting the infinite ways people find connection and love without romance.

A high school matchmaker learns a lesson about love. A rebellious spaceship pilot defies his culture’s compulsory coupling. A boy magically transforms banned romance novels into living dragons. A teen immune to romance, and the zombie virus, fights to survive the apocalypse. Being Aro is full of stories throughout real and imagined worlds that cross genres and disrupt the status quo.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

And here’s some insight into some of the stories, given by the authors themselves!

Continue reading Inside an Anthology: Being Aro ed. by Madeline Dyer and Rosiee Thor →

Exclusive Cover Reveal: When Life Gives You Corpses by Lene D. Buttner

Today on the site I’m delighted to reveal the cover of When Life Gives You Corpses by Lene D. Buttner, a charmingly monstrous YA releasing March 23, 2027 from Wednesday Books! Here’s the story:

In this delightfully cozy and creepy YA romp, a cave monster masquerading as a search-and-recovery guide intends to find and eat a lost wizard—but catches feelings for him instead, perfect for fans of TJ Klune and Andrew Joseph White.

Theory has a monstrous secret. He isn’t an ordinary search-and-recovery guide at Fiendworld, the world’s premier magical-sinkhole-turned-amusement-park; he’s a cursed, human-eating mantis. But not to worry—he has an excellent solution for his particular diet. Whenever he’s asked to retrieve the corpse of a lost adventurer, he simply snacks on a finger or two. No harm done.

That is, until he’s given his latest assignment: recover the body of park management’s missing son. Great. Yet another foolish wizard who got lost adventuring, and this time the direct descendant of the very person who cursed Theory in the first place. Worse, when Theory reluctantly sets off on the search, he’s shocked to find the wizard somehow still alive.

Nim—the wizard in question—has no desire to be rescued. He’s on a mission to the bottom of the sinkhole, and refuses to return to the surface before he gets there. He may be a subpar wizard, as his parents constantly remind him, but he’s got a positive attitude, an enchanted backpack, and now a mysterious rescue worker to recruit to his cause! Even though said worker is quite rude and seems to be getting Nim into more danger rather than out of it.

To survive, Theory and Nim must brave man-eating fish, walls of tentacles, and devastating secrets: both their own, and ones the park desperately tries to keep hidden. Along the way, they may just discover that they’re stronger together than apart.

And here’s the glorious cover, designed by Anto Marr and illustrated by the author themself!

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | Macmillan

LENE D. BUTTNER lives in London, surrounded by various fluffy and non-fluffy pets. When they’re not writing, they work in Computer Animation, where they spend their time exploding things and simulating toilet paper. They love everything scifi and fantasy and are yet to run out of book ideas featuring misunderstood, snarky monsters.