Our teen book spotlight this week is focused on books that have recently been added to our collection meaning they are new!!!! New books are the best; they have a new book smell and there is just something about being one of the first people to read it. We are featuring some amazing fiction this time including titles from a few of our favorite authors as well as a handful of book ones which are kicking off new series for the coming years! These books and more can be found by searching the catalog using the search tag #2024yanewbooks as well as on Libby and Hoopla. Check back next week for a new teen book spotlight and if you have any book suggestions, please let us know!!
I Loved You In Another Life by David Arnold--Teenagers Shosh and Evan are both struggling. Following his father's abandonment and his mother's breast cancer diagnosis, high school senior Evan Taft is conflicted about applying for his dream gap-year experience in Alaska while recent high school graduate Shosh Bell drinks to cope with her older sister's death and puts her dream of attending acting school on hold. But everything changes when the two teens hear a mysterious song that draws them together, and they soon discover they have an immediate connection and a feeling that they've known each other before. Little do they know that fate has been pulling them together across centuries.
Brooms by Jasmine Walls--In an alternate 1930s Mississippi, magic is regulated by those in power and Blacks and other people of color are prohibited from practicing it--unless, of course, they get an exemption. Hoping to earn enough money for the exemption fee, or to simply move away to a state where they can practice magic, a coven of witches form a team to participate in underground broom racing, which is lucrative, but illegal. Led by captain Billie Mae and her best friend Loretta, the team includes transmasculine Cheng-Kwan and Choctaw and Black Mattie and Emma. As local officials try to catch them breaking the law, the group prepares for their biggest race yet, which could be the answer to their prayers or the source of their downfall.
Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle--A student at Aldryn College for Lunar Magics, Emory Ainsleif only possesses mediocre healing magic until the night she follows her roommate and best friend Romie Brysden to a secret meeting at the Dovermere Caves. She witnesses Romie and several other students take part in a secret ritual and shortly thereafter the caves flood, leaving Emory as the only survivor. Now possessing a strange mark and powers she can't control, Emory teams up with Romie's brother Baz to understand what happened to her and the other students on that fateful night.
Champion of Fate by Kendare Blake--Rescued as a child after her village was attacked, Reed was saved by members of the legendary Order of the Aristene--a group of immortal female warriors. Training to become one of them, Reed has finally reached the age of sixteen and can start her Hero's Trials, the final test before initiation. Her task is to usher a hero to glory on the battlefield, and her charge, Hestion, a prince from a country on the cusp of war, is on a mission to defeat a prophet-killing king from a neighboring region. The pair's partnership turns into a deeper connection, however, and soon Reed realizes that she may want a different life than one as an Aristene.
Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood--Eighteen-year-old Mallory Greenleaf thought she left the world of competitive chess behind when it nearly destroyed their family. With her Grand Master father deceased, and her mother suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, Mallory now supports the family with her menial auto mechanic job. A friend convinces her to play in a charity chess tournament however, and when she unexpectedly wins, beating reigning world champion Nolan Sawyer, she's thrown back into the chess world, where she can't turn down the prize money that helps support her family. Nolan is both handsome and infuriating and as her love of the sport rekindles, so do her feelings for her biggest competitor and cheerleader.
Inaugural Ballers by Andrew Maraniss--Offers a historical account of the first U.S. Women's Olympic basketball team. Provides historical context for the event, including the 1972 passage of Title IX, which opened up opportunities in sports for women living in the United States. Discusses the recruitment of team members, where they came from, and background on the coaching staff. Also lends historical context for the misogyny, sexism, and racism that players had to endure, how male colleagues underestimated them, and how they overcame it all to become silver medalists.