🔮 FANTASY 2/2 🔮

- Amari and the Night Brothers by B. B. Alston
- Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms by Jamar J. Perry

these books are marketed as middle grade, but they're more like younger end of YA (Amari is 13 and Cameron is 12)

👾 SCIENCE FICTION 👾
- The Kindred by Alechia Dow
- Long Division by Kiese Laymon
- Survive the Dome by Kosoko Jackson

👻 HORROR 👻
- White Smoke by Tiffany Jackson
- The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
- The Undead Truth of Us by Britney S. Lewis
- Me (Moth) by Amber McBride

🏙️ CONTEMPORARY 🏙️
- You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreed
- Simone Breaks All the Rules by Debbie Rigaud
- Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers
- Turning by Joy L. Smith
- Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson

contemporary is the biggest genre of YA being published so there are TONS even within the past year, so these are just a select few. if anyone wants more or on specific topics, i can name more.

maybe one of these days i'll get off my ass and compile a list of recent YA books published by asian authors, indigenous authors, muslim authors, and queer authors bc i see so many

unfortunately, very underrepresented in publishing and especially YA are authors who are either disabled or trans women (trans authors in general are far and few between, but trans women are essentially nonexistent in big 5 publishing)