Online Enemies, A Fake Dating Roman Holiday, and More YA Book Talk and News for June 20, 2024
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Hey YA Readers!
Welcome to the new “What’s Up in YA” newsletter format. I’m going to keep things going this week as has been in the past — paperback releases and YA book news — but it is very likely that going forward, I’ll focus one weekly newsletter exclusively on new releases in all formats and one newsletter on news and something else thematically YA. In essence, you’ll get the same thing, if not a little more, but just reversed in when you receive it.
Bookish Baubles
First, check out these clever and truthful bookish friendship bracelets with me. They’re all from the same Etsy shop, ranging in price from $8 to about $25.
We’ve got a simple and straightforward rainbow bracelet with the word bookworm.
Then we have this clever stack of two bracelets featuring the bookworms’ lament.
And finally, we’ve got ourselves a stack of three bracelets declaring that bookmarks are for quitters.
There are a bunch more to choose from as well.
New Paperback Releases This Week
Let’s take a peek at some of this week’s paperback releases. You can grab all of these now. As usual, the full roundup of new paperback YA books is available here, and you might need to toggle your view once you click the links in order to see the paperback editions.
All Roads Lead to Rome by Sabrina Fedel
If you love the fake dating trope and love romances with royals, you’re going to dig this one. Astoria, who goes by Story, is living with her attorney mother in Italy. It’s great, and she loves it, though what happens when she goes to college next year is in the air.
When Story is at a gelato shop and runs into Luca — a Scottish celebrity — she’s agreed to a fake dating scheme with him. It’ll protect his relationship with a pop princess, and in return, she’ll be rewarded with funding to establish a scholarship in her dad’s honor.
The dating in Italy? It’s perfect and fun. At least, it is until there are nonstop paparazzi and the two of them cannot tell what’s real about their relationship and what’s fake.
Clementine and Danny Save the World (and Each Other) by Livia Blackburne
Clementine, under the name Hibiscus, writes a popular blog all about her Chinatown neighborhood. Readers love it and appreciate not only her tea shop reviews but also her discussions of larger issues impacting the community. But there’s one person who doesn’t appreciate that, and it’s BobaBoy888.
BobaBoy888 is really Danny, who has been angry about his community’s gentrification. He doesn’t like change and doesn’t want to see his beloved Chinatown fall victim to the effects of redevelopment. His solution is to channel that rage online with blogger Hibiscus.
A beloved tea shop is being threatened with shutdown by a big corporation, and suddenly, Clementine and Danny are working together to save the shop. But neither of them knows that the other is their online enemy. Despite the passion they’re sharing for saving a beloved institution — and the passion they’re finding for one another — when the truth about their personas comes out, will it be too much for their relationship to endure?
Something More by Jackie Khalilieh
Jessie is 15 years old, just starting high school, and has recently been diagnosed with autism. She has a plan for the year, including hiding her diagnosis, being a part of the school play, and getting her first kiss. What she wasn’t expecting, though, was falling for two guys at the same time.
Jessie, like the author, is also Palestinian Canadian. If you’d like to read more Palestinian authors from across the diaspora, this is a great choice.
YA Book News
As always, thanks for hanging out. We’ll see you Saturday with some rad YA book deals.
Until then, happy reading!
–Kelly Jensen, currently reading Shift Happens by J. Albert Mann
