It’s officially scarf-and-jacket weather for many Paste readers, which makes a perfect excuse to head to your favorite café with a book. Order that pumpkin spice latte, snuggle into your favorite chair and get ready: it’s time to crack open those books.
The fall is full of exciting young adult debut novels and long-awaited sequels; steampunk and rock-and-roll; sci-fi fairy tale-retellings and lush fantasies. Call your café ahead of time, Paste readers. Reserve that seat if you can. You’re going to be there awhile.
1. Manners & Mutiny by Gail Carriger
Release Date: November 3rd from Little, Brown? Books
Why You’ll Love It: I’m not ready to let go of Gail Carriger’s amazing Finishing School series, but I suppose all good things must come to an end. The fourth and final book, Manners & Mutiny wraps up all the excitement we steampunk lovers have come to expect. Trained as proper ladies and deadly assassins, the students in Carriger’s world learn how to dish out death, and they’ll have to use everything they’ve learned over the past four years to save the school… and all of London.?
Description: If one must flirt…flirt with danger. Lessons in the art of espionage aboard Mademoiselle Geraldine’s floating dirigible have become tedious without Sophronia’s sweet sootie Soap nearby. She would much rather be using her skills to thwart the dastardly Picklemen, yet her concerns about their wicked intentions are ignored, and now she’s not sure whom to trust. What does the brusque werewolf dewan know? On whose side is the ever-stylish vampire Lord Akeldama? Only one thing is certain: a large-scale plot is under way, and when it comes to fruition, Sophronia must be ready to save her friends, her school and all of London from disaster—in decidedly dramatic fashion, of course.
2. How to Be Brave by E. Katherine Kottaras
Release Date: November 3rd from St. Martin’s Griffin
Why You’ll Love It: How to Be Brave focuses on a teen named Georgia and her list. A list of things she’s always wanted to do, but has been far too afraid to try. Why? Her mother passed away, and left behind a letter insisting she live her life. It’s a moving and surprisingly sweet novel about pushing on and discovering one’s capabilities.
Description: Reeling from her mother’s death, Georgia has a choice: become lost in her own pain, or enjoy life right now, while she still can. She decides to start really living for the first time and makes a list of fifteen ways to be brave—all the things she’s wanted to do but never had the courage to try. As she begins doing the things she’s always been afraid to do—including pursuing her secret crush, she discovers that life doesn’t always go according to plan. Sometimes friendships fall apart and love breaks your heart. But once in a while, the right person shows up just when you need them most—and you learn that you’re stronger and braver than you ever imagined.
3. The Lies About Truth by Courtney C. Stevens
Release Date: November 3rd from HarperTeen
Why You’ll Love It: I will read anything Courtney C. Stevens writes, and you might feel the same. Her debut, Faking Normal, is a heart-wrenching read that I simply cannot recommend enough. And now she’s back with a new standalone, The Lies About the Truth. Another devastating story, her latest focuses on a girl that’s lost her best friend in a car crash and grapples with the subsequent scars, both physical and emotional. A powerful read about moving on, I feel like this is going to make a lot of best-of lists come December.
Description: Sadie Kingston is a girl living in the aftermath. A year after surviving a car accident that killed her friend Trent and left her body and face scarred, she can’t move forward. The only person who seems to understand her is Trent’s brother, Max. As Sadie begins to fall for Max, she’s unsure if she is truly healed enough to be with him—even if Max is able to look at her scars and not shy away. But when the truth about the accident and subsequent events comes to light, Sadie has to decide if she can embrace the future or if she’ll always be trapped in the past.
4. Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray
Release Date: November 3rd from HarperTeen?
Why You’ll Love It: Book two in Gray’s Firebird trilogy is here. The follow up to A Thousand Pieces of You, the sequel picks up with a dimension-traveling Marguerite on the run from enemies who are after her parents’ invention, the Firebird. As anyone who read the first book will tell you, it’s an imaginative, exciting piece of sci-fi that’s full of wonder.?
Description: Ever since she used the Firebird, her parents’ invention, to cross into alternate dimensions, Marguerite has caught the attention of enemies who will do anything to force her into helping them dominate the multiverse—even hurting the people she loves. She resists until her boyfriend, Paul, is attacked and his consciousness scattered across multiple dimensions. Marguerite has no choice but to search for each splinter of Paul’s soul. The hunt sends her racing through a war-torn San Francisco, the criminal underworld of New York City and a glittering Paris where another Marguerite hides a shocking secret. Each world brings Marguerite one step closer to rescuing Paul. But with each trial she faces, she begins to question the destiny she thought they shared. ?
5. For the Record by Charlotte Huang
Release Date: November 10th from Delacorte? Press
Why You’ll Love It: I recently dived—or should say stage dived—into this book about rock and roll. Marketed as Almost Famous for the YA crowd, For the Record is an music-filled adventure packed with humor, heart and page-turning drama. ?
Description: Chelsea thought she knew what being a rock star was like…until she became one. After losing a TV talent show, she slid back into small-town anonymity. But one phone call changed everything Now she’s the lead singer of the band Melbourne, performing in sold-out clubs every night and living on a bus with three gorgeous and talented guys. The bummer is that the band barely tolerates her. And when teen heartthrob Lucas Rivers take an interest in her, Chelsea is suddenly famous, bringing Melbourne to the next level—not that they’re happy about that. Her feelings for Beckett, Melbourne’s bassist, are making life even more complicated. Chelsea only has the summer tour to make the band—and their fans—love her. If she doesn’t, she’ll be back in Michigan for senior year, dying a slow death. The paparazzi, the haters, the grueling schedule… Chelsea believed she could handle it. But what if she can’t?
6. Winter by Marissa Meyer
Release Date: November 10th from Feiwel & Friends
Why You’ll Love It: This is the fourth book in Marisa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles! If you haven’t picked up Cinder, the first book in the series, please fix this immediately. Meyer’s amazing sci-fi world introduces readers to wise-cracking cyborgs, deadly plagues, brilliant hackers, star-crossed lovers and oh-so-much more. It’s a fairytale retelling unlike anything you’ve ever read, and I guarantee you’ll tear through the first few books (and the many novellas and short stories).
Description: Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana. Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.
7. Soundless by Richelle Mead
Release Date: November 10th from Razorbill ?
Why You’ll Love It: You might recognize Richelle Mead as the author of the popular Vampire Academy series. Her latest novel, Soundless, is her first standalone book. With its imaginative world and a unique concept (sound is a weapon!) it sounds like a thrilling fantasy read.?
Description: For as long as Fei can remember, there has been no sound in her village, where rocky terrain and frequent avalanches prevent residents from self-sustaining. Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom. When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink and many go hungry. Fei’s home, the people she loves and her entire existence is plunged into crisis, under threat of darkness and starvation. But soon Fei is awoken in the night by a searing noise, and sound becomes her weapon.
8. Hello? by Liza Wiemer
Release Date: November 10th from Spencer Hill Contemporary ?
Why You’ll Love It: Mark this as one of the most original YA novels of the year. Wiemer’s debut introduces five teenagers who end up connecting via a phone call, but Hello? tells that worn tale in an altogether unique way. Of the five viewpoints, two are told through narration, one through free-verse poetry, one through a screenplay and the last through drawings. If you’re looking for something incredibly different to pick up this month, push this to the top of your list.
Description: Tricia: A girl struggling to find her way after her beloved grandma’s death. Emerson: A guy who lives his life to fulfill promises, real and hypothetical. Angie: A girl with secrets she can only express through poetry. Brenda: An actress and screenplay writer afraid to confront her past. Brian: A potter who sets aside his life for Tricia, to the detriment of both. Linked and transformed by one phone call, Hello? weaves together these five Wisconsin teens’ stories into a compelling narrative of friendship and family, loss and love, heartbreak and healing…and ultimately hope.
9. Just Visiting by Dahlia Adler
Release Date: November 17th from Spencer Hill Contemporary
Why You’ll Love It: Just a few months ago, Dahlia Adler’s Under the Lights was in our Best New YA Books in June list, and now, just five months later, here she is with another new book. How does she do it? I can’t say, but she’s certainly a prolific writer to continue watching. A novel with diverse characters, big dreams and a seriously geeky love interest, Just Visiting is another wonderful contemporary read from Adler. Definitely pick this one up.?
Description: Reagan Forrester wants out—out of her trailer park, out of reach of her freeloading mother and out of the shadow of the relationship that made her the pariah of Charytan, Kansas. Victoria Reyes wants in—in to a fashion design program, in to the arms of a cute guy who doesn’t go to Charytan High and in to a city where she won’t stand out for being Mexican. One thing the polar-opposite best friends do agree on is that wherever they go, they’re staying together. But when they set off on a series of college visits at the start of their senior year, they quickly see that the future doesn’t look quite like they expected.
10. Promises I Made by Michelle Zink
Release Date: November 24 from HarperTeen
Why You’ll Love It: The follow-up to Michelle Zink’s Lies I Told, Promises I Made follows Grace Fontaine, a teen girl adopted by a family of thieves and raised to conduct flawless heists. Things go wrong when she finds herself smitten with someone she’s supposed to deceive and her family’s empire starts to unravel. This is a great read for fans of Ally Carter.
Description: Grace Fontaine was trained to carry out perfect crimes. But when a mistake was made the night her family tried to execute their biggest heist yet, her world fell apart. Now her brother is in jail, her mother has disappeared with the entire stolen fortune and her father is determined to find a new mark, no matter the cost. Haunted by the way she betrayed her friends—and Logan, the only boy she’s ever loved—as well as the role she played in her brother’s arrest, Grace decides she must return to the place every thief knows you should avoid: the scene of the crime. Returning to Playa Hermosa as a wanted criminal is dangerous, but Grace has only one chance to make things right. To do it, she has to use everything she’s been taught about the art of the con to hunt down the very people who trained her: the only family she’s ever known.