New Books in Young Adult Literature

Loretta Chefchaouni, "The Lustrous Dark" (Peachtree Teen, 2026)

Loretta Chefchaouni's debut The Lustrous Dark [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9781682638378] (Peachtree Teen, 2026) follows protagonist Shay.Orphaned as a baby, Shay has spent her life training as the midwife’s apprentice. Her role grants her stability, yet Shay has always yearned for more. Namely, motherly affection and answers regarding her mysterious birth—neither of which the midwife deems practical to provide. After Shay discovers her birth mother, Hind, is still alive and addicted to a magical drug called Snow, she determines to get the woman clean. But when Hind betrays Shay to get her hands on more Snow, Shay’s abandoned within a deadly forest and forced to rely on a band of monstrous ghouls for safety. Shay’s realm has long stood on the brink of war between the men who control magic and the revolutionaries who want to eliminate it. But in the forest, Shay hears the pleading call of ancient spirits who claim that not only has magic been stolen, but Shay has the power to return it. With the help of a spitfire revolutionary and the boy who’s winning over her heart, Shay discovers the horrific truth of who produces Snow and will have to decide for herself whether to heed the spirits’ charge or fade into obscurity. This emotionally raw and gorgeously rendered fairy tale combines the lush worldbuilding of This Woven Kingdom with the mother trauma of Snow White and a dash of Tim Burton. Steeped in mysticism and mythology, The Lustrous Dark confronts injustices against women with a righteous scream that’ll inspire readers to rally against the patriarchy and oppressive regimes worldwide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Mackenzi Lee, "Masters of the Universe: Teela: Daughter of Eternos" (Mattel, 2026)

Mackenzi Lee's Masters of the Universe: Teela: Daughter of Eternos [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9781640366084] (Mattel, 2026) is a young adult tie-in for the Masters of the Universe (2026) film.  A FALLEN KINGDOM Four years after Skeletor decimated the kingdom of Eternos, Teela and the scattered refugees of Eternia survive by never staying in one place for long. When a brutal storm of acidic rain deep within the Evergreen Forest leaves their camp ravaged and hope at its thinnest, some, like Teela’s friend Locke, begin to plan for a future beyond Eternia. But Teela knows her father Duncan, the once-mighty Man-At-Arms, won’t survive leaving the land he swore to protect. A FORBIDDEN ALLIANCE Desperate to save her people, Teela ventures to Darksmoke to bargain with the ancient dragon Granamyr. He bestows upon her a vial filled with a mysterious, powerful elixir—and no instructions on its use. Enter Evil-Lyn, Skeletor’s ruthless second-in-command, who intercepts Teela with a dangerous proposal: an alliance. In exchange for the vial’s secrets, Teela and the Heroic Warriors must someday help the sorceress overthrow Skeletor himself. A MAGIC THAT COULD SAVE—OR DESTROY—THEM ALL The vial heals the sick and brings food back to empty tables—until the forest around the camp begins to change. Rivers vanish. Trees peel to bone. Creatures flee. As the land around them withers at an ever-increasing pace, Teela must confront an impossible question: Has the very magic she used to save her people doomed Eternia instead? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Maria Ingrande Mora, "A Wild Radiance" (Peachtree Teen, 2026)

Maria Ingrande Mora's latest fantasy romance A Wild Radiance [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9781682637562] (Peachtree Teen, 2026) brings readers to the magical industrial revolution. Josephine Haven is about to find out exactly where she fits into the march of Progress. Her outbursts are infamous at the House of Industry, the school for children who can wield radiance, an electricity-like magic. She's tried to follow the rules, but her fiery nature is at odds with the core tenet of the House: Never form attachments. If she is meant to feel nothing, why are her emotions so volatile? No one is surprised when, upon graduation, Josephine is banished from the city to a remote Mission. In Frostbrook, she must work under standoffish Julian, the former golden boy of the House of Industry who seems determined to watch her fail. And then there's Ezra, the flirtatious stranger who's a little too curious about how the Mission operates. But there are bigger problems than Julian and Ezra's secrets. A deadly disease is spreading across the countryside, and in Frostbrook, not everyone is eager to embrace Progress. As Josephine questions the system that raised her--and gives in to desire she's been taught to suppress--she must decide what she's willing to sacrifice to expose not just corruption within the House but the devastating truth about the radiance in her core.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Elana K. Arnold, "Holloway" (Clarion Books, 2026)

In her latest young adult novel, Holloway [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9780062990884] (Clarion Books, 2026), award-winning author Elana K. Arnold returns with a boldly visionary, deeply felt story that crosses space and time to examine loss and love in a world on the brink. It is the late summer of 2021, and a girl named Nora is on the Paris Metro. Nora, whose mother loved her, even though Nora was broken. Nora, who couldn't help her mother when her mother needed her most. Nora, from whom the pandemic has taken nearly everything, save the object she clings to: a cylinder containing her mother's ashes. With no family left, no friends to speak of, and no way to turn back time, Nora has come to France to keep a promise she never got to make: to spread the ashes in a place her mother never got to see. But instead, Nora finds herself on the run through a forest in the night, taking refuge in a dark holloway. And when she wakes, and tries to make her way back to something she recognizes, she realizes that is impossible. Because it is no longer 2021. Questioning everything--including her own sanity--Nora sets out on a journey through a time and place completely foreign to her, and yet one that, much like the time and place she came from, is defined by death, loss, fear, and uncertainty. A journey in which she must find a way to honor her mother--and heal herself--in a world that feels irrevocably broken. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Brianna Jett, "Under a Carnivore Sky" (Page Street YA, 2026)

Under a Carnivore Sky [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9798890033901] (Page Street YA, 2026) is Brianna Jett's debut young adult novel in verse. Sixteen-year-old Lili is a hunter, which means she has one goal: Find the monster lurking in the carnivorous, labyrinthian swamp that borders their hometown—and slay it. Her father failed to kill the beast, and like all townsfolk over eighteen, bits of his flesh and bone are being stolen away by its curse. With all roads out of town leading back in, they’re trapped with the curse unless Lili stops it; yet the ease with which she wanders the swamp leaves her more feared than favored. When a boy, Caleb, offers to map the swamp in exchange for her help in finding a way through it, Lili agrees, hoping to track down the monster. But the more they explore, the more she resents the town and questions the curse itself. Confronted with the truth, Lili must decide if duty or her own freedom is a worthier pursuit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]