Your January reads set the tone for the year. It’s time to dig into the books that got left behind on your 2024 TBR and collect exciting new titles. These new releases are a choose-your-own adventure for the beginning of the year. Does 2025 open with a love story? Historical fiction? Something dark and magical? The books are here. The choice is yours.
Better than Revenge by Kasie West
Finley’s dreams are thwarted when her football player boyfriend auditions for their high school’s podcast team, stealing her pitch idea in the process. Now Finley wants two thing, her spot on the podcast team and revenge.
To get back at Jensen, Finley plots to take his spot on the football team. Cue the training montage as Finley works on her kicking skills with Theo, Jensen’s nemesis.
Can revenge lead to love? When Finley and Theo’s training sessions turn into romance, it just might.
If you like: Contemporary, fiction, high school, podcasts, sports, football, romance
The Other Side of Tomorrow written by Tina Cho and art by Deb JJ Lee
In a graphic novel exploring the journey for refugees escaping North Korea, Myunghee and Yunho run away. Yunho wants to find his Omma who crossed the border before, and Myunghee is chasing a future that is only possible outside of North Korea.
Their dreams have brought Myunghee and Yunho together, and their unlikely partnership will help them face snakes, soldiers, and discovery.
If you like: Graphic novels, middle grade, historical fiction, realism
We are the Beasts by Gigi Griffis
There’s a creature in the mountains, attacking and killing people in the countryside. The citizens of the French hamlet of Mende think it might be a curse. Joséphine and Clara don’t believe it’s a curse. Instead, they want to use the beast to break free of their real world problems.
Joséphine and Clara use the creature’s attacks to fake their friends deaths and help them runaway. Their plan isn’t as simple as they thought it might be. Winter, the villagers, and the creature all stand between each person’s escape and might lead to their actual deaths.
If you like: Mystery, thriller, suspense, horror, historical fiction
Fortune’s Kiss by Amber Clement
Fortune’s Kiss is a legendary and magical gambling house that appears twice a year in a new city to offer life-changing and dangerous wagers. When Fortune’s Kiss arrives in Ciudad Milagro as El Beso de la Fortuna, the game is LoterÃa.
Best friends Mayté Robles and Lorena (Lo) de León have parent problems they hope the game can solve. Lo wants to escape her father and find her mother. Mayté wants to escape family expectation and become a painter.
Will they be abe to chase their dreams or become victims of the house? The game is impossible, but with the right help, they just might win.
If you like: Fantasy, magic, mystery
A Diamond Bright & Broken by Holly Davis
Have you ever wished for a superpower? For sixteen-year-old Cadence, her ability to cry tears of diamonds is a blessing and a curse (not to mention painful). Cadence’s parents have used her tears to join the wealthy elite and pay for treatments for her sister’s neuromuscular disorder.
A nasty run-in with the prince at the King’s Summer Solstice Ball leaves Cadence at risk of exposing her secret (don’t cry in public!), but a mystery girl saves her from the prince’s comments and reveals that Cadence’s ability is actually a curse.
To take control of her life and her power, Cadence escapes to the City of Magi to embrace her power.
If you like: Fantasy, magic
