YA Pride

These YA tales from incredible queer authors are the perfect picks for Pride! We're so excited to welcome KARIS ROGERSON, author of Nat and Cami's Guide to Running an Undercover GSA, CARLI J. CORSON, author of It's a Love/Skate Relationship,  KEVIN CHRISTOPHER SNIPES, author of Don't Let Me Go, ROCHELLE HASSAN, author of The Spell for Unraveling, and LAURA GENN, author of Between Sun and Shadow. From romance at the ice rink to reincarnated love, these are cant-miss queer stories. Join us as we celebrate them!

Nat and Cami's Guide to Running an Undercover GSA by KARIS ROGERSON

15-year-old Cami is one of the few out queer students at her conservative boarding school in Italy. She just wants to focus on kickstarting an art career, but first she'll have to survive two-and-a-half years of bullying. Seeking respite from her roommate's cruelty one night, she hides out in a bathroom—only she's not the only one there.

Nat is a senior, closeted even from herself, whose homophobic, missionary parents want her to win valedictorian. She's the head of her class, the fastest runner on the cross country team, and the captain of the girls' soccer team, but her depression and insomnia keep her up all night. She takes refuge in the ground-floor bathroom where Cami shows up one night.

It's a Love/Skate Relationship by CARLI J. CORSON

Charlie Porter is a force to be reckoned with, both on and off the hockey rink. When she accidentally starts a brawl after a game, she’s suspended from school, meaning no hockey this season—and no chance to play in front of college scouts.

Alexa Goldstein’s pairs skating partner was hurt in the fight, and with only four months until their next competition, pickings for a replacement are slim. So she strikes a deal with Charlie: skate with her at the competition well enough to place, and her Olympian mother will use her formidable connections to get Charlie in front of scouts at D-1 schools, even without her team.

It seems impossible. Where Charlie is powerful, Alexa is elegant; where Charlie is quick to blow up, Alexa is cold as ice. But could it be that they’ve found the perfect partner for more than just skating?

Don't Let Me Go by KEVIN CHRISTOPHER SNIPES

From the moment that Jackson walks into his life, Riley can’t help but feel an undeniable connection. Impossible as it seems, he's seen Jackson before—in dreams. Dreams set in another time and another place where the pair are desperately in love. No matter where or when these visions play out, two things remain constant: Riley and Jackson are always together, and they always die at the end.

Forced to consider the possibility that their burgeoning relationship might be propelling them headfirst into their own tragic ending, the boys have to decide: Is it worth staying apart to save their lives if the price is forsaking a love that has defied time and space and death itself?

The Spell for Unraveling by ROCHELLE HASSAN

After the chaos of the summer solstice, Coven Blackthorn is catapulted from the shadows into the bright discerning gaze of the witch community—a powerful and complex society invested in safeguarding their secrecy.

Luckily, elder hedgewitch Anne Sterling steps in to take Coven Blackthorn under her wing—and to enlist them to her cause. There’s damage control to be done as threats of a fairy war loom and the upheaval in Elphame spills into the human realm. Leo, now a prince of Elphame, finds himself uniquely positioned to influence the course of events.

But Aziza's top priority is to rescue her oldest friend and former librarian, Meryl, a selkie whose mysterious captor may have closer ties to Blackthorn—and Aziza herself—than she ever realized. To find him, Aziza will venture into the secretive community of witches hidden beneath the surface of mundane society and confront her deadliest foe yet.

Meanwhile, Tristan delves deep into the study of necromancy, certain it will be their best defense against the danger closing in on all sides. But mastery of the infernal arts is not without its own risks. And there are some things you can’t come back from.

Between Sun and Shadow by LAURA GENN

Sixteen-year-old Kori struggles to be a dutiful heiress to the Daylands, a post-cataclysmic society reliant on chip implants to retain memory. With a strict routine and an overly cautious mother, Kori has only one friend, Aspect—an industrial robot she’s repurposed. Determined to awaken sentience in her metal companion, Kori crash-lands in enemy territory while hunting for a memory that might do the trick.

Ravaged by radiation from a meteorite, the citizens of the Shadowlands have evolved into beast-like creatures with supernatural abilities. Adria, a winged mutant, has wrested control of the Shadowlands from her bloodthirsty parents—but not everyone is so willing to embrace her leadership. What better way to instill confidence in her court than by capturing a foreign princess and demanding ransom?

However, what began as a political maneuver transforms into a potent attraction as Kori’s longing for relationship echoes Adria’s own. Granted free rein of Adria’s fortress, Kori stumbles upon a startling revelation that could upend the Daylands entirely. As rebellion grows and Adria’s precarious hold on her throne wavers, Adria and Kori must join forces to avert all-out war. Does a queen of shadows really stand a chance with a princess of sunlight? Or has the chasm between their nations grown too wide?

Tuesday, June 23rd at 6pm at Our 17th St Store!