The Young At Heart Recommendations
Winter Book Releases 2025-2026
For the Young At Heart, winter is all about wonder. From thrilling adventures to heartfelt coming-of-age stories, this season’s YA releases bring energy, emotion, and unforgettable characters. Whether you’re 16 or 60, these books will remind you why you fell in love with reading in the first place.
february books:
Until the Clock Strikes Midnight
by Alechia Dow
The Good Place meets the Brandy version of Cinderella in Until the Clock Strikes Midnight, a cozy, romantic fantasy from award-winning author Alechia Dow.
Darling is the most talented--and unusual--Guardian to get a chance at winning the coveted once-in-a-generation Mortal Outcome Council mentorship. Getting the spot would mean having the opportunity to shape the future happiness of all mortal realms--if she succeeds at her first assignment, Lucy Addlesberg. Darling thinks it'll be an easy razzle-dazzle job... until she actually meets Lucy. Her life is a complete mess, from her failing bookshop in her downtrodden village to her doomed flirtation with the princess of Lumina. But if there's one thing Darling's good at, it's a makeover.
Calamity is the most talented--and arrogant--Misfortune of his class. It's his job to save mortals from their own terrible decisions made in the pursuit of the mythical "Happily Ever After." When Calam is granted a shot at the Mortal Outcome Council mentorship, he thinks his dreams are finally coming true. But first, he must pass the test. It should be easy--Lucy Addlesberg has been unfortunate for years. All he has to do is continue her string of bad luck so she can finally come to terms with reality and settle for a safer, more logical path in life. Yet when he arrives, he finds that Lucy has a Guardian assigned to her too--a chipper overachiever who is as colorful as the magic pouring from her glittery wand.
To thwart each other, Darling and Calam insert themselves into Lucy's life posing as a betrothed couple. As they try to guide her down what they each see as the best path for her, they start questioning their roles and ultimately what they truly want for themselves... and if those feelings of loathing they have for each other might actually be something more like love.
Also by Alechia Dow
Just a Pinch of Magic
Few Blue Skies
by Carolina Ixta
In her latest novel, Pura Belpré Award-winning author Carolina Ixta weaves a tender story about love and hope, following a teen as she works to protect her family and community from a major corporation taking over her town.
Paloma Vistamontes is heartbroken. A year ago, her ex-boyfriend, Julio Ramos, broke up with her after his father's death, a tragedy that drove Paloma and him apart. Ever since then, the mountains have felt flatter, the sky farther away.
Now, her hometown of San Fermín, a place where honest people work on farms and in factories, is in danger. Selva, a massive e-commerce conglomerate, threatens to open one of their warehouses beside her high school.
This isn't the first time they've done this. Since Selva arrived, they've opened warehouses everywhere where there used to be green spaces. Because of them, the air pollution is so bad that school is often canceled. Many people, including Paloma's ever-practical Ma, want to leave.
But Paloma wants nothing more than to stay. Because when the smog clears, there is still hope. That hope drives Paloma to reconnect with Julio to expose and challenge the dangers that Selva introduces to communities like their own. Can they stop Selva from destroying everything they know? Is there still a chance for their budding romance?
To the Death
by Andrea Tang
Two teens are pitted against each other in a magical duel for revenge, but they'll have to fight their growing attraction first, in this YA fantasy thriller from the author of These Deadly Prophecies.
Eighteen-year-old Samantha Chan wants only one thing: revenge for her brother's death in an illegal magical duel. Ever since that terrible day, she's been quietly working with legitimate dueling champion Lysander Rook and biding her time until she can take down her brother's killer: Mateus Blackwood.
Tamsin Blackwood is trapped. She wants to make a name for herself in the magical dueling circuit, but she can't get away from the legacy of her father--and coach--Mateus Blackwood. When she receives a challenge from the undefeated Lysander and his assistant Sam, she jumps at the chance to earn enough fame and glory to finally escape her father's influence.
Tamsin has no idea about Sam's scheming, and Sam plans to keep it that way. Despite herself, though, she can't help liking Tamsin, and the two girls quickly grow closer to each other than anyone else in their lives. But Sam won't let anything get in the way of her revenge--not even her heart.
According to Plan
by Christen Randall
Three starred reviews!
From USA TODAY bestselling author Christen Randall comes a cozy, "authentic, and affirming" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) queer romance about self-discovery, finding your person, and carving out a space for yourself in unexpected places--perfect for fans of Heartstopper, Felix Ever After, and Julie Murphy.
Mal Flowers expected senior year fall to be full of cozy sweaters, good coffee, and copyediting. As the new editor-in-chief of their school's literary magazine, they just want to follow The Plan to graduate and get out of their small midwestern town--a place where, as a broke, fat, queer person with ADHD, they've never really fit in. But when budget cuts result in the lit mag's cancellation, Mal is suddenly left scrambling for something to replace it.
That is, until Emerson Pike--who also has ADHD but is loud, confident, and Mal's complete opposite--suggests the staff go rogue and create a zine instead. Which would be cool, except that making and selling contraband isn't exactly what Mal envisioned listing as the extracurricular activity on their college application. A zine would be unofficial, unapproved, and definitely not in The Plan.
But a zine is also a good way to spend more time with Emerson, whose playful banter and bad jokes Mal can't seem to get enough of. And maybe, with a group of new friends, the back of the charming coffee shop where Emerson works could be somewhere Mal does belong. Because breaking the rules with Emerson--and flirting with her over coffee--is fun.
Maybe The Plan isn't the only way to find happiness, but can Mal let go of something they've depended on for so long?
They Call Her Regret
by Channelle Desamours
In this young adult speculative mystery, a teen must find a way to free a cursed witch in order to save her best friend before time runs out.
Every year horror-loving Simone Washington throws an epic Halloween party for her classmates. Party-planning is her favorite escape from the dark secrets in her past, and this year, she's taking things up a notch with an invitation-only event to celebrate her eighteenth birthday--something that will leave the halls of Pinegrove Academy flooded with gossip about the big ghoulish bash. The overnight stay at Doll's Head Lake will be filled with spooky pranks and scary stories told by the fire--including the legend of a local witch named Regret.
But those dark secrets from Simone's past are forced to the surface at the party when her best friend Kira dies under questionable circumstances. The witch appears and offers Simone a deal: if Simone can figure out how to release Regret from the curse trapping her at the lake within fourteen days, all of Simone's regrets will be erased. If Simone accepts, Kira's life will be immediately restored. But if she fails, Kira will die again--and Simone will be the one to kill her.
JANUARY PICKS:
Nine Goblins: A Tale of Low Fantasy and High Mischief
by T Kingfisher
From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Nine Goblins, a tale of low fantasy and high mischief.
DELUXE EDITION--a gorgeous hardcover with endpapers illustrated by the author and a foil case stamp
No one knows exactly how the Goblin War began, but folks will tell you that goblins are stinking, slinking, filthy, sheep-stealing, henhouse-raiding, obnoxious, rude, and violent. Goblins would actually agree with all this, and might throw in "cowardly" and "lazy" too for good measure.
But goblins don't go around killing people for fun, no matter what the propaganda posters say. And when a confrontation with an evil wizard lands a troop of nine goblins deep behind enemy lines, goblin sergeant Nessilka must figure out how to keep her hapless band together and get them home in one piece.
Oxford Blood
by Rachael Davis-Featherstone
The first in a series of compelling and skillful dark academic thrillers from a brilliant new voice in YA fiction.
Love, Lies, Legacy...
Eva has one dream: to study English at Oxford University. Not only will she receive a world-class education - getting into Oxford is a path to freedom.
But when Eva and her best friend George are invited to interview week, they find themselves in the cutthroat ultra-competitive world of elite academia, and at the center of gossip on anonymous student forum Oxford Slays. When Eva finds George dead near the steps of a statue in the college, she knows he's been murdered - but all eyes are now on her. Can she clear her name, catch the true killer and win her place at Beecham College?
Beth Is Dead
by Katie Bernet
Three starred reviews!
Beth March's sisters will stop at nothing to track down her killer--until they begin to suspect each other--in this "brilliantly snappy...electrifying" (Publishers Weekly, starred review) debut thriller that's also a bold, contemporary reimagining of the beloved classic Little Women.
When Beth March is found dead in the woods on New Year's Day, her sisters vow to uncover her murderer.
Suspects abound. There's the neighbor who has feelings for not one but two of the girls. Meg's manipulative best friend. Amy's flirtatious mentor. And Beth's lionhearted first love. But it doesn't take the surviving sisters much digging to uncover motives each one of the March girls had for doing the unthinkable.
The Swan's Daughter: A Possibly Doomed Love Story
by Roshani Chokshi
In this lush and enchanting novel from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi, a prince is only as good as his beating heart and a maiden is only as good as her honest word. But when love and the truth become impossibly tangled, the two must figure out how to survive together, or fall completely apart.
To find love is a curse ...
Prince Arris knows that marriage means murder. Thanks to a poorly worded wish to a sea witch, all one needs to rule the Isle of Malys is the heart and hand of the kingdom's heir. Historically, this has been construed quite literally.
Thus, Arris expects that the day after his marriage and murder he will wake up as a sentient tree alongside the rest of his predecessors. His only chance at a long life is finding true and lasting love. When Arris's parents announce a tournament of brides to compete for his hand and heart, a slew of eligible, lovely and (possibly murderous) bachelorettes make their way to Rathe Castle. Amidst glittering balls in ozorald caves, strolls through menageries of daydream trees and pearl crocodiles, tea time on glass boats and kisses that leave his head spinning, Arris cannot tell who is here out of love for him...or lust for power.
Until he meets Demelza.
December Picks:
Persephone's Curse
by Katrina Leno
The Hazel Wood meets Laini Taylor in this gorgeous urban fantasy of sisterhood, ghosts, and old family curses.
Are the four Farthing sisters really descended from Persephone? This is what their aunt has always told them: that the women in their family can trace their lineage right back to the Goddess of the Dead. And maybe she's right, because the Farthing girls do have a ghost in the attic of their New York City brownstone --a kind and gentle ghost named Henry, who only they can see.
The Obsession
by Natasha Preston
What if being famous was the most dangerous thing you ever did? #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Natasha Preston is back with a twisted tale of social media, secrets, and survival.
SOMEONE IS ALWAYS WATCHING.
Connie never asked to be famous--but thanks to her mother's relentless vlogging, she and her sister Isla have spent their lives under a virtual microscope. Every smile, every moment curated for clicks. Every stranger online thinking they know them.
The Last Vampire
by Romina Garber
Pride & Prejudice meets Crave when Austen-loving Lorena Navarro attends a new boarding school expecting to find her own Mr. Darcy, but accidentally awakens the world's last vampire instead!
Pride comes before the fall.
When a boarding school opens in a once-condemned Victorian manor buried in the woods of New Hampshire, Austen-loving Lorena Navarro enrolls in hopes of finding her own Mr. Darcy. Instead, she stumbles across a coffin and accidentally awakens the world's last vampire.
Us Without You
by Vicky Skinner
Perfect for fans of Tillie Cole and Laura Nowlin, this heartfelt and tearjerking novel starts when a girl embarks on a road trip to find out who her brother, who recently died, really was.
When her brother Luke disappeared one year ago, Ellie thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen to her.
Now Ellie knows better. Because Luke is dead. And all she feels is numb.
But when she receives some of Luke's things in the mail from an address in Michigan, she decides she has to know where her brother went when he disappeared. And she's not the only one who wants answers. She soon finds herself roped into a cross-country road trip with Luke's best friend Wes, Luke's ex-girlfriend Gwen, and Cade, the boy she almost kissed the night Luke ran away.