January 2017’s Best New Young Adult Books
New year, new books. Many of you are already little bookworms, but if reading more is your New Year’s resolution then you couldn’t have picked a better time than January 2017. From long-awaited sequels to charming debuts, this month in particular is crammed with pages upon pages (upon stylish covers) of great reads. Should you pick up Veronica Roth’s Carve the Mark or spend some tie with The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti? To help you cut through the noise and know exactly what you need to be reading, we’ve compiled a list of 12 new novels that are perfect for your personality. How do we know? We called on a little astrological help from our friends floating in the Zodiac. So sit back and let the stars be your guide in the month ahead.
1/13Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 3, 2017
Confident and adventurous Aries will understand the struggles of Jackie Stone in Len Vlahos’ new novel Life in a Fishbowl. Jackie’s entire family has just become huge reality stars… but not for the reasons you might imagine. Her dying father auctioned his life off on eBay. The highest bidder was a ruthless reality TV producer bent on twisting everything the Stones say or do into entertainment, and her family's personalities are radically changing under the microscope of 24/7 filming. It's up to Jackie to use her brains, the internet, and a bit of courage to bring the show down once and for all.
2/13History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 17, 2017
Security-seeking Taurus should try to get their paws on Adam Silvera’s History is All You Left Me. Griffin’s first boyfriend Theo left him a long time ago, heading out to California in pursuit of his college dreams and a new boy named Jackson. Despite this, Griffin always secretly thought Theo would return to him someday. That is, until Theo suddenly passes away. Now the future he pictured is suddenly much more uncertain. In a struggle to pull the pieces of his life back together, he finds himself commiserating with Jackson… which just makes things worse. Can he find what he needs from his past to finally move towards his new future?
3/13A List of Cages by Robin Roe
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 10, 2017
Communicative Gemini could learn a lot from Roe’s new book A List of Cages starring Adam Blake. In it, Adam lands the dream elective his senior year: all he’s gotta do is “aide” the school psychologist, AKA hang out and play with his phone — until one day when the doc asks him if he can help track down a student. That student? His long lost foster brother who hasn’t see in five years. At first, everything's great. He’s glad to see Julian again. But slowly he comes to realize that Julian’s behavior has become a bit troubling and the new life he’s find himself in is packed with secrets…
4/13The Careful Undressing of Love by Corey Ann Haydu
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 31, 2017
This month, homebody Cancers should tune into author Coery Ann Haydu’s tale The Careful Undressing of Love, straight from the neighborhood culture of NYC. Haydu brings us the girls of Devonairre Street, a tiny block in Brooklyn that has long been rumored to be cursed. Back during WWII none of the boys from this street ever returned home. But fast-forward to 2008 and this “curse” is just a cute thing to laugh about on your way to school. That is, until Jack, a beloved local, dies suddenly and violently. Suddenly, the curse seems a lot more real.
5/13Freeks by Amanda Hocking
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 3, 2017
Leos love being the center of attention, so perhaps this month they should discover what standing out can truly mean. In Hocking’s Freeks, we meet Mara, who spent way too long touring with Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Carnival. She’s grown pretty sick of all the fortune-telling and magic tricks. Longing for an ordinary life, she befriends a local boy in the town of Caudry named Gabe. Suddenly, he seems like everything she could want. But before long she’s begun to notice a darkness in the town and she realizes it’s up to her to use the power she has deep within to change the future for the better.
6/13Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 17, 2017
Critical and utilitarian Virgos should get their hands on YA sensation Veronica Roth’s newest adventure Carve the Mark. It takes place on a planet where all of the inhabitants are given a power called a currentgift. For the majority of people, these gifts give them an advantage in life, but Akos and Cyra feel that their currentgifts are actually holding them back. When their countries are in conflict, the pair is thrust into each other’s lives and suddenly at odds. Can they overcome their differences and use their abilities to survive or will they ultimately destroy each other?
7/13The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 3, 2017
Harmony-seeking Libras will easily find themselves drawn to Sedoti’s The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett. Check it out: Hawthorn wouldn’t have gotten involved… it’s just that the Lizzie Lovett disappearance was the only interesting thing that had ever happened in her small, boring town. See, Lizzie was popular and beloved until the day she just disappeared. As Hawthorn slowly pokes at the mystery, the pieces start coming together in the strangest way.
8/13The Dark Days Pact by Allison Goodman
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 31, 2017
Scorpios are bound to fall headfirst into the high intensity adventures of Allison Goodman’s Lady Helen series. It’s the summer of 1812 and after being pulled from the good graces of high society in London, Lady Helen is getting her bearing back in seaside Brighton. She’s just been banished from her family and had her world turned upside down by the discovery that the world is infested with demons. It’s not long that she’s pulled into another adventure, chasing down a journal left by one of the creatures known as Deceivers while trying to understand the violent episodes of her mentor Lord Carlston. Can Helen save the day… and the mentor with whom she shares a connection?
9/13Our Own Private Universe by Robin Talley
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 31, 2017
Fiery and optimistic Sagittarians should give Robin Talley’s Our Own Private Universe a chance. In it we meet 15-year-old Aki Hunter and her best friend Lori. Aki’s got a theory about life: That you’ve only got one chance to lead an interesting one. Aki’s also out to her BFF Lori as bisexual but since she’s only dated guys, she hasn’t felt the need to tell anyone else yet. So when the pair set off on a trip to Mexico, Aki decides to put her life theory to the test, specifically, with an older girl in their group named Christa. If she’s right, she’s also gotta pull this relationship off without a hitch.
10/13City of Saints & Thieves by Natalie C. Anderson
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 24, 2017
Proud, enduring Capricorns need to grab a copy of City of Saints & Thieves, the debut novel from Natalie C. Anderson. Anderson’s new book stars Tina, a Congolese refugee now living with her mother in Kenya. Her mother quickly found work as a maid for a prominent crime family – that is, before she is shot to death in the family’s home. Thoughts swimming with plans for revenge, Tina spends four years on the street working as a thief for the city’s underground gang. When the chance for revenge finally passes in front of her, will she take it?
11/13The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 25, 2017
A new year is the perfect time for Aquarius to read something with a lot of twists and turns – namely The Edge of Everything. Giles tells his reader of Zoe, whose father has just died and whose neighbor has gone missing. What other tragedy could possibly come her way? Well, during a blizzard, she and her brother are suddenly attacked in the nearby woods, only to be saved a bounty hunter known only as X. X isn’t just your run-of-the-mill private eye with a penchant for violence; he’s a bounty hunter from a hell called the Lowlands and is searching for the attacker who he knows for certain is truly evil. Zoe discovers this supernatural underworld and starts to piece together just how she fits into it. She’s also starting to realize that she’s heading towards a collision course with the Lowlands, X, and her harrowing recent past.
12/13Caraval by Stephanie Garber
RELEASE DATE: JANUARY 31, 2017
An adaptable Pisces will enjoy Caraval. Garber’s book tells it’s readers about Scarlett, who dreams of seeing Caraval, a once-a-year performance piece where the audience gets to participate. Unfortunately for her, her father has other plans – an arranged marriage. To help her sister realize her dream, Tella whisks her away to finally see the show. But Tella is quickly kidnapped by the games organizer and put in the center of the show, leaving Scarlett scrambling to try to find her before the other players can manage to. What's real? What's performance? And will she ever see her sister again?
