There Are Legit So Many Good New YA Books to Read in 2021

Release Date: January 5

When Happi and Genni lose their sister Kezi to police brutality, they try to figure out the best way to honor her, and they end up learning things about Kezi and themselves along the way. Their journey involves the historical Green Book, which you may be familiar with from Lovecraft Country on HBO and, unfortunately, the movie Green Book. 

Release Date: July 6

In the finale of Rowell's Simon Snow series, the magical trio (and Agatha) will finally put an end to their adventures... if they can!  The series spun off the author's YA novel Fangirl and has truly become its own beast. Pro-Tip: Rowell is creepy good at hiding emotional jabs in the most unexpected moments, so make sure you have tissues on hand. 

Release Date: July 27

Competitive sisters Stella and Ellie become suspects when the new girl in town, their cross country rival Mila, goes missing while training. They just want to get out of their small town, and Ellie was actually starting to become friends with Mila. Now this?! Goodman is also the author of They Wish They Were Us. 

Release Date: May 18

In the present day, a misfit named Eva is invited to join a secret society at her prep school, and she starts to realize how many secrets the society might actually be responsible for keeping. Her story becomes inexplicably linked to Connie's, who went to the  school in the 1960s. Connie volunteered for a nuclear fallout shelter test to get close to her crush and ended up (literally) in way over her head. Now, Eva has a mystery to unravel. Taylor is also the author of The Paper Girl of Paris. 

Release Date: January 26

You may have heard that Millie Bobbie Brown is already set to star in the film adaptation of this book, but hold your horses! Let the book speak for itself first. It's about a con artist's daughter, who becomes an innocent bystander in a bank heist, perfectly poised to eff sh*t up.

Release Date: June 15

This book is the latest in the popular author's Truly Devious series. Stevie, the protagonist and teen detective, is tasked with solving her first case outside of school—a cold case, as a favor to help out a friend's true crime podcast. Set at a summer camp, this is one summer Stevie and her friends may want to forget. 

Release Date:  February 2

Yen, who started out under the pseudonym J. L. Clark, is best known for her fantasy series The Avalon Relics. This new book, however, is a teen romance set in modern times that's all about baking. Fun! 

Release Date: November 16

This is the anticipated third book in Lee's Montague Siblings series. The sibling at the center of this installment is the anxious Adrian, who sets off on a seafaring adventure to find his missing siblings and end the curse on his family once and for all. 

Release Date: February 9

Arnold is the author of books like Mosquitoland and Kids of Appetite. His new book is (gulp) set in an apocalypse after a deadly flu has swept the world. Two teens search for a portal to another world in the aftermath. If they find it, can they call me? 

Release Date: June 1

McQuiston wrote Red, White & Royal Blue, so you just know that everyone is going to be talking about her new book. One Last Stop gets all timey wimey when a modern-day girl name August falls for a girl named Jane from the '70s. I'm already feeling the angst. Technically, it's not a YA novel, but we can't help but add it to this list as everyone should read it!

Release Date:  May 11

Lara's teenage dream is seemingly coming true when the guy of her dreams finally takes interest in her... but then a girl she met over the summer comes back into her life and throws everything off balance—or into a love triangle she never saw coming. How do summer loves always find us?  It's uncanny, y'all. 

Release Date: February 9

This is the first book in a new series from Forna. In it, a girl named Deka is rejected by her village and gets recruited to join a supernatural all-girl army instead. Who would turn that down? Suddenly, Deka goes from a misfit to the biggest adventure of her life. 

Release Date: January 5

When ex-boyfriends Raffy and Luca are forced to work together in a cosplay competition, it should be a nightmare. But like... you know it's just going to amp up the tension. 

Release Date: April 20

The latest from the author of the Love Simon-verse is all about how sometimes having "mutual crushes" with our friends makes them feel unattainable and therefore safe... but would be really, really not fun if that crush started to turn into something more real for your friend, and not you.  

Release Date: January 5

For all of us theater fans, this book will be an instant favorite. 

Following a young actress as she becomes the understudy to a mega Broadway star, she didn't expect to fall in love with the show's resident bad boy—who's also the male lead. When a video of the new couple suddenly goes viral (along with some discussion about her role in the play), they all learn exactly what the price is for fame. 

Release Date: May 18

Izumi Tanaka never felt like she fit in among the people of her small suburban town, because it's always been just her and her mom. But then a major secret comes to light: she's actually the daughter of the Crown Prince of Japan. Suddenly a princess, does her life become the fairytale she's always dreamed of? It's an updated version of The Princess Diaries... and frankly, yes. 

Release Date: January 5

Set within the world of Greek mythology, nine gods are banished to Earth every seven years, subject to potentially being murdered by descendants of other ancient bloodlines looking for eternal glory. Lore Perseous has left that world behind, instead pushing down her desire to avenge the deaths of her family. But what happens when an old friend and one of the last Greek gods asks her to help kill a mutual enemy? It's a book about choices and the consequences, which can last forever. 

Release Date: January 12

Set seventeen years before Thomas' novel The Hate U Give, the author explores what it means to be a Black man living in the United States. Following the son of a former gang legend, Maverick does all he can to help his single mom while his dad's incarcerated. When he discovers he has a child, he now has to figure out how to be the father he doesn't have while also trying to be the man he wants to be. It's bound to pull on your heartstrings before you finish the first chapter.