The Most Anticipated YA Books of Summer 2025
Maybe it’s the fact that some of us (cough cough yours truly cough) grew up associating summer with reading—thanks Pizza Hut and your unbeatable BookIt program!—but there’s no other time of year that feels quite so connected to YA fiction. And as teens everywhere head into the wilds of summer vacation, a plethora of great new YA titles are headed to a bookstore near you, just in time for pool season.
But whether you’re a teen or an adult who loves YA, there’s something for everyone this summer. From magical fantasies and contemporary romances to titles that feature dangerous competitions, murder mysteries, and more, readers are spoiled for choice in the months ahead.
Here are our picks for the must-read YA books of summer 2025.
A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim
Release Date: June 3 from Knopf Books for Young Readers
Why We’re Excited: This latest YA fantasy from the author of the Six Crimson Cranes duology puts a Chinese mythology-inspired spin on Beauty and the Beast, following the story of a young art forger who agrees to an arranged marriage with a dragon prince to protect her family’s future. But her promise to help him return to the underwater realm of his people means that she’ll have to convince the Dragon King their love is real. A delightfully prickly and emotionally rich enemies-to-love story follows, and it may well be Lim’s best effort yet.
Publisher’s Description: Truyan Saigas didn’t choose to become a con artist, but after her father is lost at sea, it’s up to her to support her mother and two younger sisters. A gifted art forger, Tru has the unique ability to paint the future, but even such magic is not enough to put her family back together again, or stave off the gangsters demanding payment in blood for her mother’s gambling debts.
Left with few options, Tru agrees to a marriage contract with a mysterious dragon lord. He offers a fresh start for her mother and sisters and elusive answers about her father’s disappearance, but in exchange, she must join him in his desolate undersea palace. And she must assist him in a plot to infiltrate the tyrannical Dragon King’s inner circle, painting a future so treasonous, it could upend both the mortal and immortal realms. . . .
Heir of Storms by Lauryn Hamilton Murray
Release Date: June 3 from Roaring Brook Press
Why We’re Excited: This first installment in the Storm Weaver trilogy is a richly imagined, propulsive throwback to the golden days of YA fantasy. Heir of Storms has it all: elemental magic, forbidden love, and a cutthroat competition for a throne. Prepare to devour this in a sitting or two.
Publisher’s Description: The very day Blaze came into the world, she almost drowned it. A Rain Singer born into one of the most powerful fire-wielding families in the empire, Blaze’s birth summoned a devastating storm that left thousands dead. She’s been hidden away ever since with a dark secret: the same torrential power that branded her an outcast disappeared that fateful day. And she’s not sure she wants it back.
When an unexpected invitation arrives for Blaze and her twin brother, Flint, to compete as future rulers of the empire, she’s suddenly thrust into the limelight again — and into battle. Threats abound at the Golden Palace, where intrigue and romance await with not one but two handsome suitors: the enchanting Crown Prince and a dangerously alluring newcomer at court.
As Blaze explores her untapped power, she discovers the throne may be within her grasp. But in order to take it, she’ll have to leave behind the stories that others have told about her, and find the courage to write her own.
Kill Creatures by Rory Power
Release Date: June 3 from Delacorte Press
Why We’re Excited: A gleefully twisted story about friendship, jealousy, and betrayal, this latest novel from the author of Wilder Girls follows the story of Nan, who’s shocked when one of her missing best friends suddenly reappears a year after the disastrous hike that changed their lives forever. Because Nan’s pretty sure she killed her.
Publisher’s Description: Last summer, Luce, Edie, Jane, and Nan took a boat out for one final swim in the river. It was a perfect summer night.
But the only one who returned that night was Nan. Edie, Jane, and Luce disappeared, and Nan’s story has always been the same: She has no idea what happened. The girls went ahead, and it was as though they vanished into thin air.
Now, one year later, all of Saltcedar has gathered at the river for a memorial. Nan even recreated the outfit she wore that fateful day last summer. And when Luce climbs out of the water, no one is more surprised than Nan.
Because Nan killed her. Right before she killed Edie and Jane.
The Beautiful Maddening by Shea Earnshaw
Release Date: June 3 from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Why We’re Excited: A haunting contemporary YA fantasy about a teen who must navigate her family’s love curse, which blooms each year alongside the magical tulips on their land, in order to save her town.
Publisher’s Description: Seventeen-year-old Lark Goode wants only one thing: to escape her small town of Cutwater and the history of her family name. It’s a history that began during the Dutch tulip mania of 1636, when Lark’s ancestor stole the last remaining tulip bulbs and fled to America. But when the tulips bloomed on American soil, madness sprouted from their snowy white petals.
The madness was love.
Now, generations later, the Goodes remain cursed—the unnatural flowers outside their home causing locals to fall helplessly in love with anyone carrying Goode blood in their veins. While her brother embraces the strange power, Lark wants nothing more than to be free from it.
But when she meets a boy who seems unaffected by the family curse, Lark finds herself falling headlong into a feeling she’s spent her whole life trying to avoid. Yet, all curses and magic come with a price, and the town of Cutwater soon sinks into a dangerous sickness tied to Lark and the ill-fated tulips.
To save the town, Lark will need to sacrifice everything—even true love—to break the spell. Because in the Goode family, love has a way of destroying everything.
Amelia, If Only by Becky Albertalli
Release Date: June 10 from HarperCollins
Why We’re Excited: The latest novel from YA favorite Becky Albertalli is a story of self-discovery and queer identity as a teen drags her besties on a roadtrip to YouTuber meet and greet that both celebrates their friendship and changes the relationship between two of them in profound new ways.
Publisher’s Description: Amelia Applebaum isn’t in love with Walter Holland. He just happens to be her favorite moderately famous, chaotically bisexual YouTuber. Who she just happened to invite to prom. (But it’s fine. No, for real. If you delete the post, it didn’t happen.)
Okay, maybe her friends are right: She’s slightly parasocially infatuated. But Amelia just knows sparks would fly—if only she could connect with Walter for real.
If only he would host a meet and greet.
If only it were just a short road trip away.
And if only Amelia could talk her best friends into making it the perfect last hurrah before graduation—even her newly single, always-cynical, guitar-toting best friend Natalie.
One thing’s for sure: All roads lead to butterflies.
But what if Amelia’s butterflies aren’t for Walter at all?
The Protégée by Erica Ridley
Release Date: June 10 from Delacorte Press
Why We’re Excited: The YA debut from New York Times bestselling author Erica Ridley, The Protégée is a historical horror set in 1850s Paris that follows the story of a seamstress who seeks revenge for her family after several of them are gruesomely killed at a factory. A potent mix of ambition, fashion, and revenge.
Publisher’s Description: Eighteen-year-old Angélique dreams of designing opulent gowns for society’s elite, but her reality is a life spent dyeing silk in a sweatshop. That is, until tragedy strikes, leaving her orphaned and responsible for her younger sister.
Determined to elevate their station, Angélique secures a position as a junior dressmaker for Paris’s top modiste. Though she’s tormented by other seamstresses for being poor, and her meager salary barely pays rent, she refuses to give in.
When a high-stakes contest for a coveted protégée role is announced, Angélique will do whatever is necessary to win—even if it means resorting to deadly measures. What’s a little arsenic between coworkers?
As Angélique outshines—and outlives—the competition, her newfound privilege and power are weaponized against those who destroyed her family. Will she conquer the world of high fashion to claim her rightful place as Paris’s best designer, or will the cost of ambition be too high?
The Tournament by Rebecca Barrow
Release Date: June 17 from Margaret K. McElderry Books
Why We’re Excited: Set at an elite boarding school that mixes academics with wilderness survival prep, dark academia novel The Tournament follows the story of the Gardner-Bahnsen School for Girls’ annual Tierney Cup tournament, in which students compete in grueling physical challenges and tests of survival. An exploration of toxic friendships, class differences, and the desperate desire for belonging, with an ending folks will be talking about all summer.
Publisher’s Description: Gardner isn’t like other boarding schools. They take in those who’ve been rejected everywhere else, they offer a survival skills class that has students killing and gutting animals, and then there’s the Tournament.
A competition available only to seven elite seniors, the Tournament is revered by the entire student body. They’d do almost anything—including completing a series of grueling physical challenges—to win the champion’s cup.
And this year, three seniors make the Tournament more cutthroat than ever.
Max, the ruthless scholarship student who can’t afford any distractions, not even her ex best friend Nora’s stupid confession of love at the end of last year that ruined everything between them.
Nora, who always put herself on the sidelines so Max could have everything she wanted, but might just be ready for center stage now that Max has brutally excised herself from Nora’s life.
And Teddy, the transfer who’s on her last chance and will chase any high that can pull her back from the gaping, dark void inside herself that’s always threatening to pull her in.
If one of them wants to win, then they can’t let anything—or anybody—get in their way
A Treachery of Swans by A. B. Poranek
Release Date: June 24 from Margaret K. McElderry Books
Why We’re Excited: An evocative Swan Lake retelling that features complex, morally gray characters and a queer spin on the classic tale, A Treachery of Swans is one part murder mystery, one part revenge tale and one part sapphic romance.
Publisher’s Description: Two hundred years ago, a slighted deity stole the magic from Auréal and vanished without a trace. But seventeen-year-old Odile has a plan. All her life, her father, a vengeful sorcerer, has raised her for one singular task: infiltrate the royal palace and steal the king’s crown, an artefact with enough power to restore magic. But to enter the palace, she must assume the identity of a noblewoman. She chooses Marie d’Odette: famed for her beauty, a rumored candidate for future queen…and Odile’s childhood-friend-turned-sworn-enemy.
With her father’s help, Odile transforms Marie into a swan and takes her place at court. But when the king is brutally murdered and her own brother is accused, her plans are thrown into chaos. Desperate to free her brother, Odile is forced to team up with none other than elegant, infuriating Marie, the girl she has cursed…and the girl she can’t seem to stop thinking about despite her best efforts.
To make matters worse, there are whispers that the king’s murder was not at the hands of man, but beast. Torn between loyalty to her father and her growing feelings for Marie, Odile becomes tangled in a web of treachery and deceit. To save her kingdom, she must find the true path to magic…and find the real killer before they—or it—strikes again.
Heiress Among Thieves by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
Release Date: June 24 from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Why We’re Excited: This sequel to last year’s Heiress Takes All, Heiress Among Thieves follows Olivia Colman and friends as they plot another elaborate and highly dramatic heist—this time in Switzerland!—at the home of her extraordinarily wealthy grandmother.
Publisher’s Description: When teen heiress and heist leader Olivia Owens receives an invitation for her cold-hearted grandmother’s seventieth birthday at the family’s inherited Swiss castle, only one thing entices her to accept: the vault full of gold waiting in the castle’s frigid dungeons. Assembling her old crew of high school criminals, now including her boyfriend Jackson, Olivia feels more prepared than ever for grand theft.
But not everything is what it seems when they arrive. For starters, the reunion turns out to be less of a party and more of a wake. Her grandmother announces that she’s dying … and plans to be buried with her fortune. Suddenly the entire greedy Owens clan turns their eyes toward Olivia’s target. It’s hard enough to steal something everyone’s looking at, but an old backstabber, a new suitor, and an uninvited guest add fuel to the fire until Olivia is desperately trying to hold the pieces of her plan—and her crew—together.
As Olivia faces her family’s dark legacy of deceit, grift, and maybe even murder, she’s forced to weigh how deeply she loves Jackson with how her love might destroy him. She didn’t choose her family, but now she has to choose—who she loves, who she trusts, and who she’s willing to risk to get what she wants. In a family of thieves, this might cost her everything.
The Nightblood Prince by Molly X. Chang
Release Date: July 1 from Random House Books for Young Readers
Why We’re Excited: A unique, Chinese-inspired spin on established vampire lore from the author of To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, mixes swoon-worthy romance with sharp political intrigue and a fearless young heroine with a prophesied destiny.
Publisher’s Description: The night Fei was born, a prophecy was made: she would one day become the Empress of All Empresses.
Torn from her family as a child and raised in the palace to one day marry the Crown Prince of the most powerful empire in the land, Fei has only ever known loneliness. When the opportunity arises to seize her own destiny for the first time in her life, Fei sets out to hunt a legendary tiger, knowing it might cost her everything. What she doesn’t expect is to fall under the mercy of Yexue, the beautiful runaway prince from a rival kingdom. Blessed by the night, harboring a dangerous magic, and capable of commanding an army of deadly vampires, Yexue could be the key to Fei gaining more than just her freedom.
But to outrun destiny, Fei must spark a wave of events that will change the world as she knows it. Torn between two princes and plagued by nightmares of bloodshed, she finds that the stars might be more inescapable—and more irresistible—than she ever considered before. . . .
Den of Liars by Jessica S. Olsen
Release Date: July 1, Feiwel & Friends
Why We’re Excited: The latest YA fantasy novel from the author of A Forgery of Roses follows the hidden daughter of a crime boss who attempts a daring heist during a high-stakes tournament at a magical casino full of illusions.
Publisher’s Description: Lola St. James is the world’s best kept secret. When her father’s loss in the Liar’s Dice Tournament—a high-stakes competition where players are forced to gamble with their deepest secrets—made her a target, she was rescued by the Thief, the notorious leader of the Tentacles. But the Thief’s kindness came with a price: Lola’s heart. In the years that followed, she and the Thief formed a bond like no other, able to feel each other’s emotions because of their shared heart.
Now, living under the pseudonym Astra, she is determined to prove herself and become a full-fledged Tentacle. But when a critical heist goes sideways, the only way forward is for Lola to compete in the Liar’s Dice Tournament herself. Lola is confident in her ability to pull off any heist, but the Thief’s mysterious brother, the Liar, runs the game and he turns out to be more than she bargained for. As her attraction for him grows and illusions run wild, she will be forced to confront the secrets of her past, the truth of the brothers’ shared history, and the lies she tells herself.
The Rebel Girls of Rome By Jordyn Taylor
Release Date: July 8 from Harper Collins
Why We’re Excited: One part historical history, one part romance, this dual timeline narrative that follows two young women: Lilah, a college student looking to understand her grandfather’s mysterious past, and Bruna, a queer Jewish woman who joins the resistance during World War II.
Publisher’s Description: Now: Grieving the loss of her mother, college student Lilah is hoping to reconnect with a grandfather who refuses to talk about his past. Then she receives a mysterious letter from a fellow student, Tommaso, claiming he’s found a lost family heirloom, and her world is upended.
Soon Lilah finds herself in Rome, trying to unlock her grandfather’s history as a Holocaust survivor once and for all. But as she and Tommaso get closer to the truth—and their relationship begins to deepen into something sweeter—Lilah realizes that some secrets may be too painful to unbury…
Then: It’s 1943, and nineteen-year-old Bruna and her family are doing their best to survive in Rome’s Jewish quarter under Nazi occupation. Until the dreaded knock comes early one morning, and Bruna is irrevocably separated from the rest of her family.
Overcome with guilt at escaping her family’s fate in the camps, she joins the underground rebellion. When her missions bring her back to her childhood crush, Elsa, Bruna must decide how much she’s willing to risk—when fully embracing herself is her greatest act of resistance.
Soulmatch by Rebecca Danzenbaker
Release Date: July 29 from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Why We’re Excited: Suspenseful storytelling, a fully imagined dystopian world, and a creative premise help this story of a futuristic society where souls are tracked and controlled across lifetimes pack a thrilling punch.
Publisher’s Description: Two hundred years after World War III, the world is at peace, all thanks to the soul-identification system. Every eighteen-year-old must report to the government to learn about their past lives, a terrifying process known as kirling. Good souls leave the institute with their inheritance, a career path, and if they’re lucky, a soulmate. Bad souls leave in handcuffs.
It’s a nerve-wracking ordeal for Sivon, who, given her uncanny ability to win every chess match, already suspects her soul isn’t normal. Turns out, she was right to worry. Sivon’s results stun not only her, but the entire world, making her the object of public scrutiny and anonymous threats.
Saddled with an infuriating and off-limits bodyguard, Sivon is thrust into a high-stakes game where souls are pawns and rules don’t exist. As deaths mount, Sivon must decipher friend from foe while protecting her heart against impossible odds. One wrong move could destroy the future lives of everyone Sivon loves, and she can’t let that happen, even if they’ll never love her back.
Glorious Rivals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Release Date: July 29 from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Why We’re Excited: Millions, hearts, and lives are at stake in the latest installment in Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s megapopular Inheritance Games saga.
Publisher’s Description: Seven players arrived on Hawthorne Island, each with their own secrets and motivations to win the Grandest Game. Millions are at stake, but so are hearts—and lives. The players now must race to win the game, solve myriad mysteries, and survive the twists and turns of Glorious Rivals.
A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury
Release Date: July 29 from Margaret K. McElderry Books
Why We’re Excited: The latest from Liselle Sambury mixes dark academia and urban fantasy (with a deadly magic competition thrown on top) in a story where monsters are real, but in which their existence is used to explore complex themes of prejudice, systemic violence, belonging, and more.
Publisher’s Description: When August’s brother disappears before his sophomore semester, everyone thinks the stress of college got to him. But August knows her brother would never have left her voluntarily, especially not after their mother so recently went missing.
The only clue he left behind was a note telling her to stay safe and protect their remaining family. And after August is attacked by a ten-foot-tall creature with fur and claws, she realizes that her brother might be in more danger than she could have imagined.
Unfortunately for her, the only person with a connection to the mysterious creature is the bookish Virgil Hawthorne…and he knows about them because he is one. If he doesn’t find a partner to help control his true nature, he’ll lose his humanity and become a mindless beast—exactly what the secret society he’s grown up in would love to put down.
Virgil makes a proposition: August will join his society and partner with him, and in return, he’ll help her find her brother. And so August is plunged into a deadly competition to win one of the few coveted candidate spots, all while trying to accept a frightening reality: that monsters are real, and she has to learn to master them if she’s to have any hope of saving her brother.
Bones at the Crossroads by LaDarrion Williams
Release Date: July 29 from Labyrinth Road
Why We’re Excited: The sequel to Williams’ magical HBCU-set YA debut Blood at the Root, Bones at the Crossroads continues the story of Malik and his time at Caiman University, as he struggles to hone his powers and learns more about his family and their legacy.
Publisher’s Description: It’s Homecoming season at Caiman University, and all 17-year-old Malik Baron wants to do is be a regular college student…or as regular as he can get at a magical HBCU for young, Black Conjurers. He’s ready to go to parties, hang out with his new friends, choose a major, and talk to girls. Instead, he’s reeling from a summer of revelations, heartbreak and betrayal, and still uncovering the truth about his powers and his legacy.
The family he only just discovered is already fractured beyond repair, and a new relative who shows up on his doorstep brings even more questions. Then there’s the mother he risked everything to find, who might be the biggest threat to the life he’s trying to build. To protect his new community, Malik joins an elite secret society with roots in ancient magic.
His journey takes him even deeper into his own heritage and the history of the magical world, while bringing him closer to a classmate whose friendship might mean something more, if Malik is ready to let her in. But how can he use powers he can’t even control to defend a world he’s not sure will ever fully accept him? And as the pressure and danger builds, will he be able to confront the deepening cracks within the magical society, and those building within himself?
A Theory of Dreaming by Ava Reid
Release Date: August 5 from HarperCollins
Why We’re Excited: The second book from Ava Reid hitting shelves this year, this highly anticipated sequel to the excellent dark academia fantasy A Study in Drowning, A Theory of Dreaming adds a second POV character (fellow scholar and love interest Preston) and an increasingly complex emotional journey for heroine Effy as she becomes the first woman in history to enroll at the literature college and must decide who she is without the stories that have shaped her.
Publisher’s Description: Effy learned that when she defeated the Fairy King. Even though she may never know exactly what happened at Hiraeth, she is free of her nightmares and is able to pen a thesis with Preston on the beloved national fairy tale Angharad. She has finally earned a spot at the literature college, making her the first woman in history to enroll.
But some dreams are dangerous, especially when they come true. The entire university—and soon the entire nation—is waiting for her to fail. With the Fairy King defeated and Myrddin’s legacy exposed, Effy can no longer escape into fantasy. Who is she without her stories?
With Effy under threat, Preston is surprised to discover a rage simmering inside him, ringing in his ears like bells. He begins to dream of a palace under the sea, a world where he is king—visions that start to follow him even in waking.
As the war between Llyr and Argant explodes, Effy and Preston find themselves caught in the crossfire: Effy losing her dreams and Preston losing himself in his.
A Beautiful and Terrible Murder by Claire M. Andrews
Release Date: August 5 from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Why We’re Excited: A historical murder mystery that reimagines the story of Irene Adler as an Oxford student disguising herself to study at a college that only admits men, alongside fellow students James Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes. When her male alter-ego is the prime suspect in a murder, she’ll join forces with Holmes while still pretending to be a boy, and must grapple with her increasingly complicated feelings for him.
Publisher’s Description: Irene Adler is no ordinary young lady. She’s at the top of the ranks in the All Souls cohort, a competitive preparatory class reserved for Oxford’s brightest minds. But her peers and professors don’t know she’s a lady at all. To them, she is Isaac Holland.
Keeping up her disguise gets trickier when All Souls students start dying, one by one. Determined to find out who’s responsible for the deaths, Irene—as Isaac—teams up with fellow classmate and roommate Sherlock Holmes to track down clues. Their mission grows more dangerous by the day as someone tries to frame Isaac for the murders, and Irene’s own father, Dean Moriarty, begins to threaten her seat in school.
Soul of Shadow by Emma Noyes
Release Date: July 29 from Wednesday Books
Why We’re Excited: A YA romantasy inspired by Norse mythology and described as perfect for fans of The Vampire Diaries is a Venn diagram of my personal interests, but this contemporary set story that follows a sixteen-year-old trying to solve a mysterious disappearance that literally opens the door to a hidden world.
Publisher’s Description: Charlie Hudson is just trying to survive junior year, navigating the halls of school and the chaos of parties like a ghost. But her world is about to become seriously transformed―like world shifting altered―when a classmate mysteriously disappears into the forest, leaving only a pair of shoes and strange symbols carved into a tree.
Drawn to the disappearances by forces she can’t explain, she finds herself investigating the mysterious, alluring newcomer in town, Elias Everhart. With piercing eyes and sharp wit, he dances around her questions, only intriguing her further. Elias has a secret. More than one.
But what Charlie doesn’t know is that those secrets will lead her to a place she never imagined: a world hiding in plain sight, filled with enchantments, mythic beings, hidden dangers―and a first love fated to fall apart.
Girls of Dark Divine by E. V. Woods
Release Date: August 5 from Delacorte Press
Why We’re Excited: A troupe of preternaturally talented ballet dancers secretly suffer under the weight of a brutal curse in this gothic fantasy about control, creation, and survival.
Publisher’s Description: In the legendary ballet theatre of New Kora, the girls onstage enchant the audience each night with their grace and divine beauty. Before Emberlyn was the star of the show, it was her dream to become one of them… until she learned the price of their living nightmare.
A magical curse binds the girls to the show’s mastermind, Malcolm, whose invisible strings wield their limbs as if they are marionettes. . . and the commands don’t stop when the curtain comes down. Each dancer is destined to turn to dust once the curse consumes her.
When the troupe is invited to perform in the glitzy city of Parlizia, Emberlyn knows this could be her best chance to save them all. She meets an elusive boy made of shadows who has a magical connection to the girls. Together, they work to unravel the haunting truth about their creation and fight for their survival. But the cost of freedom might be too high, and as Emberlyn dances closer to the edge of darkness, she realizes she might break the curse. . . or break her own heart forever.
The Executioner’s Three by Susan Dennard
Release Date: August 26 from Tor Teen
Why We’re Excited: This latest novel from the author of The Luminaries and the Witchlands series is described as a YA mystery-romance perfect for fans of Stranger Things. Set in 1999 in a small town off Lake Michigan, it mixes a small-town murder mystery with romance, suspense, and a curse that dates back centuries.
Publisher’s Description: Freddie Gellar didn’t mean to get half the rival high school arrested. She’d simply heard shrieks coming from the woods, so she’d called the cops like any good human would do. How was she supposed to know it was just kids partying?
Except the next day, a body is found. And while the local sheriff might call it suicide, Freddie’s instincts tell her otherwise. So, like the aspiring sleuth (and true X-Files aficionado) she is, Freddie sets out to prove there’s a murderer at large.
But her investigation is quickly disrupted by the rivalry between her school and the school of the partying teens she got arrested. For over twenty years, the two student bodies have had an ongoing prank war, and Freddie’s failed attempt at Good Samaritanism has upped the ante. Worse, the clever—and gorgeous—leader of the rival prank squad has set his sights on Freddie.
As more pranks unfurl, more bodies also start piling up in the forest. But it’s the supernatural warning signs around town, each plucked straight from an old forgotten poem called “The Executioners Three,” that worry Freddie the most. She knows the poem and its blood curse can’t be real, but she’s quickly running out of time to prove it.
Because the murderer—or executioners?—knows she’s onto them now, and their next target just might be Freddie.
Lacy Baugher Milas is the Books Editor at Paste Magazine, but loves nerding out about all sorts of pop culture. You can find her on Twitter and Bluesky at @LacyMB