PW2019 YA #21: 13 JERICHO LANE (Ghost Story/Contemporary – “Newish Jewish” Folklore)

15yo Ari Silver isn’t your go-to-girl in a crisis. Her panic disorder is flaring thanks to her parents’ mysterious separation and a recent uptick of antisemitism... not to mention her mother moving her into a possibly-haunted house in rural Illinois. But when Ari learns the house once belonged to an asylum director who locked away girls like her for “hysteria” – and may be after her as well… the haunting turns personal. Taking on an angry ghost might help Ari prove she’s more capable than anyone thinks—or may erase her entirely, especially as her own family’s darkest secret threatens to unravel everything she knows. ANYA’S GHOST x MRS. MAISEL.

PW2019 YA #22: MINDWALKER (Soft Sci-Fi)

BLADE RUNNER x AURORA RISING

In twelve months, the supercomputer in Sil’s brain will kill her—unless Syntex Corp kills her first.

As their top-ranked Mindwalker, she helps them steal technology by commandeering agents’ minds from afar. But when a mission goes south, Sil is horrified to learn the company is illegally mindjacking civilians. With a price on her head and her tech failing, she must find a way to stop the mindjackings in order to save her friends, her reputation—and maybe even herself.

PW2019 YA #23: THE INTROVERTS’ HANDBOOK (Contemporary)

16yo Llara attends an experimental high school divided into wings based on the Myers-Briggs personality test. Her wing is an introvert’s dream, until Netflix arrives to film a documentary about their unique school. With an upcoming school board vote deciding the fate of the school, and a fame-hungry extrovert stirring up wing-on-wing hate online, Llara must fight to save the school she loves.

PW2019 YA #24: SCARLET RISING (Paranormal Thriller)

Four centuries after the town of Salem, Massachusetts, assumed they had laid their sins to rest, one family moves into the home of legendary author Nathaniel Hawthorne, reigniting a bloody feud between the area’s most sadistic ghost and one of the souls he condemned. Together, four teens must battle an unseen force to shine a light on history’s biggest literary cover-up, provided they can live long enough.

PW2019 YA #25: STARDUST IN THE WIND (Historical)

There are two things Nieve has always been sure of: her best friend, Manny, and her fascination with outer space. It’s 1985, and for the first time NASA will send a teacher along with a team of astronauts into outer space. When an essay contest pulls Nieve into the orbit of teacher-turned-astronaut Christa McAuliffe, Nieve’s dream of seeing the stars for herself seems closer than ever. Except, as Nieve turns to the stars, everything else falls apart: Just as sparks begin to fly with Manny, she loses him to new friends at school—including his beautiful new girlfriend, Shannon. With the Challenger launch date approaching, Nieve learns that time never stops moving forward and nothing lasts forever—but what’s on the other side may be more beautiful than she has ever imagined. At 65,000 words, STARDUST IN THE WIND is historical YA found at the intersection of Pretty in Pink, The Edge of Seventeen, and Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.

PW2019 YA #26: THE HALF-LIFE OF ADELINE WENDING (Contemporary Fantasy)

CONSTANTINE meets FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST: Twins Adeline and Nathaniel have never gotten along. But when their demon father takes Nathaniel’s heart as payment for a grisly contract with their mother, Adeline saves his life by coughing up half of her own heart—literally. Now, bound together by dark magic, Adeline and Nathaniel must join forces with a young demon hunter and a bloodthirsty talking rabbit to track down their parents for revenge.

PW2019 YA #27: QUICKSILVER HARVEST (Contemporary Dark Fantasy / Horror)

WILDER GIRLS x THE DEVOURING GRAY

Sixteen-year-old Wren never questions the magic of her family farm—famous for its miraculous, rainbow-hued wheat—not until a black blight slithers up from the soil. Now, people are disappearing into the woods, coming back feral with rotting bodies. Wren's own parents are missing, and she's coughing black mold. As a dark whisper beckons from the forest, Wren must team up with her boy-next-door ex to stop the blight, even if that means losing everything she holds dear—including her mind.

PW2019 YA #28: THE PLACE WHERE CLOUDS GATHER (Contemporary Fantasy – Southern African #OwnVoices)

Raised within the Cape Town office of a secretive international organization dedicated to concealing the existence of mythological creatures, Agent-in-training Finn is eager to ace her high-profile assignment. After discovering the case involves the rare Lightning Bird—whose uncharacteristic killing spree threatens to expose all cryptids—Finn’s investigation forces her to choose between the family she loves and the cryptids she swore to protect. 

Men in Black meets Wakanda

PW2019 YA #29: BEING MARY BENNET (Contemporary)

Marnie Barnes’ senior year plans are simple: Win the prestigious Hunt Prize, outshine her perfect older sister, and secure the love of the guy who saved her life. But none of it’s possible if Marnie doesn’t face the awful truth: She’s not Lizzy, she’s Mary, the unloved middle sister from Pride & Prejudice. This calls for an Anti-Mary Contract—stop lecturing, start living, don’t die alone with fifteen cats. Marnie vows to become the protagonist in her own story, even if it takes realigning those Capital P Plans.

PW2019 YA #30: RECKLESSLY EXTRAORDINARY (Magical Realism)

Sending good vibes: a kind but useless sentiment—unless you’re the Deluca triplets. When the brothers root for each other, they briefly amplify their natural talents.

It’s ruining Kai Deluca’s life.

Thanks to his brothers’ encouraging thoughts, Kai owes a debt after his illegal fight: one only a high-stakes poker game can settle. Worse, the fallout endangers the cute but painfully shy London, who appears to share their gift.

When they’re pitted against a drug kingpin, a night of poker becomes a game of cat and mouse. Hunted for their gift, the triplets find their brotherhood tested as the price of freedom is a sacrifice of one of their own.