Older Readers
The Boyfriend Wish.
By Swati Teerdhala.
Feb. 2024. 336p. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen, $19.99 (9780063279155). Gr. 9–12.
Teerdhala’s sweet, wintry romance is perfect for any season. Deepa has big plans for her junior year: she’s gathered all the courage to ask a boy out to the dance, and she has her eyes set on an exciting school committee. Except, her crush already has a date, and the only committee with spots left is for the junior lock-in, with her neighbor and frenemy, Vikram. Feeling unlucky in love, Deepa wishes for someone who meets all the requirements of The List, containing all the qualities of her perfect boyfriend, that she made freshman year. The very next day, Deepa meets a new neighbor, and to her surprise, he just might be the boy of her dreams. But is he really perfect for her? The romantic arc here is charming, but the friendships are the star of the show. Deepa genuinely cares about her loved ones, and their dynamics will leave a smile on readers’ faces. This is the perfect choice for anyone looking for a warm pick-me-up. —Amber Hayes
Compass and Blade.
By Rachel Greenlaw.
Feb. 2024. 336p. Harlequin/Inkyard, $19.99 (9781335012326); e-book, $9.99 (9780369749260). Gr. 8–11.
The sea takes, and the sea gives. This is the credo that Mira has grown up with, and for her people, on the island of Rosevear, it is a way of life: to survive the harsh winters, they lure ships to their rocky coasts, wrecking them along their shores and plundering their holds. As one of the seven who swims out to the ships, Mira is responsible for saving what lives she can, and it’s a responsibility she takes seriously; she lost her own mother, a wrecker before her, to the sea. When the city watch decides to no longer turn a blind eye to Rosevear and sentences Mira’s father to hang, Mira enlists the services of a boy she once saved from drowning and hires herself a crew that could be her salvation or her doom. Armed with only a set of coordinates left to her by her mother, she heads for an open sea filled with pirates and monsters, praying for something that will help her on her quest. The high stakes and ticking clock make this propulsively readable, but it’s the dreamy, confident writing that elevates this debut to the next level. A swashbuckler that metes out romance and vengeance in equal measure and with equal weight, this series starter is poised to make a significant splash. —Maggie Reagan
Conditions of a Heart.
By Bethany Mangle.
Feb. 2024. 352p. Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry, $19.99 (9781665937634). Gr. 9–12.
When 18-year-old Brynn Kwan, a scholarship student at a prep school in New Jersey, is punched in the face trying to stop a fight at a pep rally, not only does she subluxate her hip and dislocate her shoulder (thanks, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome) but, because the other student’s parents are lawyers who have donated a lot of money to the school, she and her friends are blamed, and she’s suspended for a week. She’s also banned from participating in any senior activities, including her beloved yearbook and student council. With all of her health conditions getting in the way of her dreams of going to a good college and being a doctor, after a week out of school, she contemplates dropping out before channeling her rage into fighting the systemic inequalities and finally letting her classmates know about her invisible disabilities. Mangle’s third YA (Prepped, 2021; All the Right Reasons, 2022) brings in pieces of the author’s own life (hEDS, POTS, ADHD), connects them to COVID-era changes in accessibility, and masterfully sets it all against a backdrop of prep-school suburban New Jersey with an all-too-realistic relationship breakup. This book is highly recommended for its portrayal of invisible disabilities, neurodiversity, and the impact of the purported “end of the pandemic” on disabled populations. —Kathleen Breitenbach
Cursed Cruise.
By Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren.
Mar. 2024. 288p. Delacorte/Underlined, paper, $11.99 (9780593649381). Gr. 7–10.
The second installment of Fulton and Mc-Claren’s Horror Hotel series (Horror Hotel, 2022) finds the Ghost Gang attempting to recover from the traumatic events of their last adventure while growing their popular ghost-hunting YouTube channel. An invitation to a voyage on the RMS Queen Anne, a ship famously haunted by a woman in white, seems like the perfect opportunity to increase their viewership and test-drive the new romantic relationships that have recently developed within the group. Rival YouTubers and a complex haunting throw the foursome for a loop and keep the plot moving along at a steady clip. The first-person narration shifts among the four main characters, which offers readers insight into the personal relationships playing out alongside the spooky stuff but also results in a choppy and slightly disorienting reading experience. A quick read for fans of the first novel and readers who can’t get enough light horror. —Beth McIntyre
The Diablo’s Curse.
By Gabe Cole Novoa.
Feb. 2024. 400p. Random, $19.99 (9780593378052). Gr. 8–12.
Dami, raised by El Diablo, has learned the ways of making deals with mortals to grant them the things they most desire: love, wealth, prolonged life. In exchange, those humans promise their souls, their firstborn—whatever it takes. It was through one of these deals that Dami entered El Diablo’s world in the first place. Now, to avoid spending eternity as a demonio, or a being of the dead, they must end 127 contracts in eight months. Surprisingly, the first 126 are easy. Then Dami, Latinx halfdemon, arrives in nineteenth-century Boston to free the final contractee, Silas Cain. Their bargain is the only thing keeping Silas alive, and he has unfinished business of his own. With their fates inextricably bound, and feelings beginning to smolder, the unlikely duo embarks on a hunt for buried treasure, facing certain death at every turn. Will they survive each other and meet the deadline or be doomed to live forever on someone else’s terms? A standalone companion to The Wicked Bargain (2023), this propulsive fantasy explores more of Novoa’s imaginative world. —Elizabeth Bevington
Eyes Open.
By Lyn Miller-Lachmann.
May 2024. 352p. Carolrhoda/Lab, $19.99 (9798765610114). Gr. 9–12.
Lisbon, Portugal, 1967. Fifteen-year-old Sónia Dias, the first-person narrator of this compelling story in verse, is a poet who specializes in free verse (“I don’t have time / to rhyme,” she
