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The Most Anticipated Young Adult Novels of December

Posted by Cybil on December 1, 2021

As dedicated readers already know, some of the best and most innovative stories on the shelves come from the constantly evolving realm of young adult fiction. Every month our team looks at the books being published and how they're resonating with early readers. We use this information to put together a roundup of soon-to-be favorites.

New in December: Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson are back with another Skyward novella. Two enchantresses find love in Alicia Jasinska’s The Midnight Girls. And a deadly plague leaves a single female survivor in H.J. Nelson’s The Last She. Also new this month: boy bands, friendly vampires, and an intriguing new short story collection.

Add the books that catch your eye to your Want to Read shelf, and let us know what you're reading and recommending in the comments!

The Big Reveal
by Jen Larsen

Recommended for fans of Jennifer Mathieu and E. Lockhart, The Big Reveal is new from author Jen Larsen (Future Perfect), and it has a pretty cool premise: Dedicated dancer Addie is accepted into the prestigious school of her dreams—but she can’t afford it. To raise funds, Addie and her co-conspirators plan a top-secret, invite-only burlesque show. When the fat-shaming trolls inevitably pounce, Addie must take a stand. For life! For love! For dance!

The Righteous
by Renée Ahdieh

In this third installment of The Beautiful series—a planned quartet—author Renée Ahdieh returns to the sultry world of 19th-century New Orleans and adjacent dimensional neighborhoods. Specifically, The Righteous finds young Pippa Montrose journeying into the wild lands of the fey, where she encounters both danger and love. Ahdieh’s style tends to flit among various genres—fantasy, mystery, romance—and devotees will want to double back to her previous sets The Wrath and the Dawn and Flame in the Mist.

Here's to Us
by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

Arthur and Ben, the happy couple from 2018’s popular What if It’s Us, reunite in the new romantic comedy from Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera. Time has passed, however: Ben is now finishing up his freshman year at college, and Arthur is back in New York City, glamming it up as intern to the assistant of an off-off-Broadway director. Both Arthur and Ben have new boyfriends, and yet they keep running into each other—accidentally and otherwise. Is the universe trying to tell them something?

The Last She
by H.J. Nelson

Next time you’re tempted to feel sorry for yourself, consider the curious case of teenage Ara, the only female to survive a lethal virus that has essentially emptied the planet. In fact, since her father disappeared, Ara hasn’t seen another human in months. Ara’s fortunes change when she’s caught stealing food from a survivor group led by handsome young Kaden, who takes her captive in the hope of protecting her. H.J. Nelson’s debut novel blends romance with dystopian science fiction, and early reviews are promising.

If This Gets Out
by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich

On the other end of the life-dilemma scale, If This Gets Out spotlights the trials and tribulations of the mega-successful boy band known as Saturday. Bandmates Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are starting to feel the pressure of stardom, and in a whirlwind tour through Europe, things begin to get out of hand. Management wants to keep the boys, and their fledgling romance, deep in the closet. Zach and Ruben have other plans. See how the title makes sense now?

The Midnight Girls
by Alicia Jasinska

In the snow-covered Kingdom of Lechija, two enchantresses set their sights on the same handsome prince. Several complications arise. First, the young witches-in-disguise, Zosia and Marynka, are considered monsters here in the capital city, and the citizens like to burn monsters during winter festivities. Second, there’s a math problem: There are two girls in this equation and only one boy. The third complication may solve the other two: Zosia and Marynka appear to be falling for each other, anyway.

The Coldest Touch
by Isabel Sterling

Elise Beaumont is cursed with the power of the Death Oracle. When she touches her loved ones, she tends to foresee precisely how they will die. Happily, that’s not a problem with new friend Claire Montgomery, who’s dead already. Claire is a vampire, and she’s been assigned to help Elise learn to master her rare magical powers. When the two young women start to develop feelings for each other, everything starts to go haywire. Oh, and there’s a killer on the loose, too. Love is never simple, is it?

Fools In Love: Fresh Twists on Romantic Tales

Fools in Love
Edited by Ashley Herring Blake and Rebecca Podos

Speaking of plot complications, this looks interesting: Fools in Love is an anthology of 15 short stories in which invited authors reimagine some of the most common tropes in YA romance. You’ve got your meet-cutes, your missed connections, your mistaken identities, and the always-popular fake-romance-turns-real. Included stories feature sled races, superheroes, golf tournaments, sentient flora, the apocalypse—that sort of thing. Love will find a way.

Evershore
by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson

Billed as the last of three novellas attached to the popular Skyward series, Evershore is another flash-sideways kind of narrative where POV shifts to a different member of the main team. This time around, Jorgen and the alien Alanik work together after intercepting a strange transmission from the planet Evershore and its Kitsen inhabitants. It’s good old-fashioned, two-fisted science fiction, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Which new releases are you looking forward to reading? Let's talk books in the comments!

Check out more recent articles, including:
Readers' Most Anticipated Books of December
December's Most Hotly Anticipated Romances
Boy-Bandmates Find Love and Longing on the Road

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