New YA Book Releases This Week, May 21, 2025

This book sounds like catnip for fans of Adam Silvera’s sci-fi flavored queer romances.

Riley is out and proud, and he knows that falling for a straight boy is no good news. But he can’t help continuing to feel some big feelings for Jackson, a good looking sporty guy who just so happens to look like the spitting image of a guy Riley keeps dreaming about. Those dreams allow Riley to live out a fantasy of being with Jackson without any reservations for either of them.

But those dreams start to shift into nightmares where while the boys are able to be together, they both die at the end of the dream. As the two boys start to develop a real relationship outside of Riley’s dreams/nightmares, they’re realizing they have to make the toughest choice ever: try to make things work and face potential prophetic consequences or avoid each other and know their endings will allow them life, if not love.

This year’s winner for best book cover and best author duo is this banger. That dinosaur is fierce and fashionable.

18-year-old gender nonconforming Sully is stoked about their summer internship, since it will allow them to get away from their tiny Pennsylvania town and into the life of the Big Apple. Sully’s sold his car to Brad, too, to make a little extra cash. Brad happens to be the only other gay kid in town and is super boring.

But then Sully’s internship crashes and they’re stuck in their small town for the summer. . . without a car. To do a little self-care, Sully does a little shopping at the local thrift store and finds an incredible bag. If it’s an authentic designer handbag like they think, Sully can cash in and solve some of their problems.

What Sully didn’t anticipate? The bag is haunted. The specter is Rufus, a drag performer from the 50s who has no idea how he died. Now Sully has a whole new summer ahead of themself: discovering how Rufus died and whether or not they can sell a haunted purse.

Dera’s been sent to live with her estranged father in white suburbia and she’s dreading it. Things go from bad to worse when she learns her new school doesn’t have a girls’ track team. She makes a plea to administration and is given the opportunity to run on the boys’ team, which at least means her dreams of potentially running in the Olympics one day remains viable.

It’s one win in a sea of challenges for Dera who is having a hard time fitting in and making friends. So when she’s approached by a classmate–who happens to be the cousin of one of the boys on the track team who is actually nice to Dera–Dera’s offered the opportunity to have her story featured on a blog. Dera runs with it because it’s her chance to get a voice in telling her story (and maybe it’ll help her get a little closer to that nice boy, too).

When the story goes unexpectedly viral, though, Dera’s life is further thrown into upheaval. People online are as cruel as those off line, and her relationship with her dad isn’t getting any better. Can Dera pull it together? Will going back to the thing she loves most–running–be the answer?

Looking for a Latine fantasy inspired by El Zorro? Look no further!

Lola de La Peña is a young Mexican girl who knows she has to follow a certain set of rules because of societal expectations for girls like her. Lola spends her days being quiet and docile, watching as her mother helps heal the ailing with sal negra. It’s a newly discovered magical balm that cures all.

But at night, Lola is Salvación, a lady vigilante who helps protect her small Mexican community–this is especially important because outsiders want to take over the town.

A woman comes running into Lola’s town one night to share that her own town was just taken over by Damien Hernández, a man who wields a dangerous and deadly sal roja, Salvación knows she has to stay ready. It’s one day later Damien and a band of men make their way into her town. Now Salvación has to do everything within her power to save her community from his cruel goals. It won’t be long before Salvación discovers there may be a boy on Damien’s team who doesn’t share his goals but does want to help the young vigilante save her town . . . and help her find a little romance along the way.

A dance-themed timeloop romance? Yes, yes, and yes.

Raina is ready to win the National Bollywood Dance Circuit Scholarship. It’s for herself, of course, but it’s also to prove to her mom that dance is a viable career. It’s also to prove to her dance co-captain and boyfriend Aditya they’re meant to be.

The problem? Aditya breaks up with her. Then their choreography goes up in flames on stage. Then her scholarship is completely out of the question.

Raina is desperate for a second chance and by some miracle, when she wakes up the next morning, she’s afforded just that. The problem is that the disasters that befell her yesterday begin to repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

Perhaps if she perfects the dance, she’ll unlock the secret to getting out of this disastrous time loop, earn her scholarship, and rekindle her romance with Aditya. Or, perhaps, there’s a lesson here about the importance of letting go of that very perfection.

If this title sounds familiar, that’s because you have had access to the ebook and audiobook editions for a year now. We’re finally getting this one in paperback this week.

Valerie Danners was raised in a religious cult, which means she’s been subject to a fundamentalist homeschool routine since she was young. Finding a queer novel at the local library begins to throw everything she’s learned into question, though the book is hardly the biggest thing raising alarms in Valerie. She’s met a new girl in town named Riley, with who Valerie cannot spend enough time. She’s developing a lot of feelings, which she knows goes against everything her family and religious community have taught her.

Now, Valerie must choose between her family or the chance at being who she truly is.

Mara knows she and her ex-Nico are meant to be. Even if they’re not anything right now. But when Nico goes missing and is pulled out of the sea on New Year’s Day, the one thing Nico remembers is her name. She doesn’t know anything else, including how she got there.

When Mara and Nico’s paths cross again, will their relationship become something more permanent this time? Mara hopes so, but she’s worried that one day, Nico may remember what led her to the sea and her accident and it might spell the end of their Meant To Be.

This one’s for readers who like second chance romances. . . and who may not be able to get the title of this book out of their head.

It’s the summer before senior year of high school, and Jericka Walker planned to spend it hanging out on the Jersey Shore. But those plans are upended when her grandmother is dying, and Jericka’s mother drags her to spend time with grandma in Coldwater, Maryland. Jericka doesn’t know her grandmother at all, as she abandoned Jericka’s mother and uncle when they were growing up.

But as much as Jericka’s struggling to form any kind of bond with her grandmother, it’s the town of Coldwater that’s more of a struggle. The vibes of it are off, and there is so much drama. Jericka does meet Kat, though, a “ghost girl” who helps her find some fun in Coldwater.

Coldwater is full of secrets, though, and Jericka might find herself sucked into some pretty big ones.