Don't close out the year just yet! 100% of respondents in our independent survey said the best gift they'd want to receive this Christmas is books! Yes, I am 100% the respondent. Haha.
But seriously. What better gift than a book? Give someone (or yourself!) the gift of escape to some exciting and fantastical other worlds with our rundown of these 10 sci-fi and fantasy December New Releases list of young adult books.
Just to keep it interesting, I'll start from the end of the month.
December 31st
Fae Hunted (Fae Bloodlines: Legacy Book 1) by Rose Garcia
A human girl with fae blood. A broody fae protector with too many secrets. A devious witch thirsty for revenge.
Gabriela is the descendant of a fae princess and a human witch. But her life is earth-bound, and she knows little about her fae heritage. That all changes when she discovers someone from the fae realm wants to wipe out her bloodline—someone who’s wanted to destroy her name for a long time.
Now, she’s on the run. But she’s not alone. A fae protector reveals himself when she’s attacked, and she quickly learns of the deadly foe hunting her. But there’s something about her protector she doesn’t quite trust. He’s mysterious and calculated, and she senses he’s hiding something. Even so, she can’t deny the undeniable pull she feels toward him.
With her life at risk, Gabriela must embrace who she is as a fae and a witch before it’s too late and she loses everyone she loves.
Fae Hunted is book one in the Fae Bloodlines Legacy Duology featuring enemies to lovers, blood-thirsty revenge, and heartbreaking truths. Don’t miss the other books in this epic saga!
Dec 30th
Righteous (Legend Valley Academy, Book 3): A Diverse Young Adult Multicultural Paranormal Academy Slow Burn Romance series by Sudha Kuruganti
Dec 20th
To Thaw A Heart by Sky Sommers
Sixteen-year old Kaj has to make a trade. A mysterious woman he has never seen before and will never see again offers to make it so that the Red Guard would ignore his friend Gerda while they drag her whole family away to exile. All Kaj has to do is surrender the warmth of his heart.
Will Gerda stick with Kaj after he changes overnight for the worse?
Can the Snow Queen's curse ever be broken?
What would you give to keep someone you care about alive?
Dec 17th
Crimson Kingdom (The Lochlann Feuds Book 3) by Robin D. Mahle and Elle Madison
Book Three of The Lochlann Feuds Series!
Dec 14th
Faerie Fallen (Feathered Fae Book 1) by Carol Beth Anderson
She looks like an angel ... acts like a human ... and must risk her life and heart to save the faerie realm.
Sela is a young, feather-winged faerie, living a life of magical ease. Her fellow Fae portray themselves as benevolent gods, worthy of human allegiance. But Sela would rather carouse with mortals than rule them.
When Sela gets caught illegally fraternizing with humans, her leaders cast her out of magical society, declaring her a fallen faerie. They command her to masquerade as a human and spy on the Darros, a family scheming to take down the Fae. If she helps stamp out the conspiracy, her exile will end. Sela agrees to tutor the Darros' son, Kovian, in the Fae language.
When she arrives, she discovers Kovian isn’t a little boy. He’s eighteen. He’s gorgeous. And he despises faeries. Wearing her human glamour, Sela intends to charm him into revealing his family’s plot against the Fae. But she finds herself truly falling for him, while he pushes her away at every turn.
Despite Kovian’s hostility, Sela is determined to earn his trust, learn his secrets, and save her people … if his family doesn’t discover her true identity and kill her first.
If you like rich worldbuilding, unexpected twists, and slow-burn/enemies-to-lovers romance, then you’ll love Carol Beth Anderson’s Feathered Fae series.
•••
This romantic fantasy series is written for upper-YA and adult audiences. Expect some language and violence, plus sensual romance scenes with high emotions and mild heat. Perfect for fans of Elise Kova and Holly Black.
Dec 11th
Rift by R. Dawn Hutchinson
Frankie stared at what was left of the sandcastle. In a rare moment of fast-fleeing childhood, he and Elise had built the lumpy structure by hand only a few days before. Waning moonlight reflected off a dark tide that ate at the sandcastle’s walls. Frankie didn’t pull his cloak any tighter, even as the winter wind skipped across the ocean’s surface toward him. He welcomed the gusts that scraped against his cheeks and pulled through his curls, hoping it would chill the hot anger brewing inside him. But the anger burned brighter with each wave that lapped against the sandcastle, eroding its turrets and crenulations.
He had lived in a castle for a short time and could name all its specific architectural terms. He had been a prince. Perhaps he still was, though the title wasn’t worth much when the king was actively hunting his head. Frankie was a sage. He, his twin sister, and others of his kind were on the run from his father, who would not tolerate their presence in his kingdom. To the king, sages were blasphemers, claiming the power of God for themselves and, more grievously, plotting to use their powers to take Stromboden’s throne...
Dec 8th
The Lost Dreams: A Collection of Nihryst Short Stories (The Nihryst) by Cait Marie
In a world full of ancient magic, betrayal, and those seeking a place to belong, darkness is spreading.
A lonely queen loves a man she cannot have.
A soldier fights to find his family.
A merchant's daughter tries to prove her worth.
But not all hope is lost.
When a thief and his crew are caught and cursed as immortals, forced to join a war they have no part in, a prophecy is set in motion. The stars have determined their destinies; they have connected them all across the kingdoms.
And one day, their truths will be discovered.
One day, a stubborn princess will decide her own fate, and she won't stop until every last one of them is set free.
Dec 6th
The Meow Guardians : A Holiday Mini by Maria Vermisoglou
This Christmas the holiday spirit is under threat and only a special stray can save it!
The name's Ginger, AKA Agent Meow 01. Usually, I spend my free time searching for scraps and getting chased by dogs, like the stray cat that I am.
But this Christmas, everything changes.
When the dog agents from PAWs mess up and leave the human world hanging by a thread, it's Ginger to the rescue. With my combination of brains, stealth, and daring, I’m the agent they call when the fur starts to fly. Except this time, I've got a new partner.
A house cat.
With the clock ticking, this mission seems doomed to failure with so many pheromones about.
Will the Christmas spirit be saved, or will we turn our tails and let the world burn?
Dec 1st
(Special edition hardback version released early due to a slight hiccup in Amazon's publishing process! lol.)
The Curse of the Arcadian Stone: Nameless Fay Complete Series Edition (Volumes 1-3)
She was solely created to guard a legendary relic. But when a rogue thief from Earth disrupts her dreary world, her job won't be the only thing she loses.
There’s only so much for a bored three-thousand-year-old fairy to do in the forest.
A nameless fairy dubbed “Magenta” knows she only exists to serve a specific purpose. To guard the most powerful relic in the land of Arcadia. And for thousands of years, she's succeeded in fending off even the most dangerous of threats.
But when a rogue stranger from Earth offers her something much more precious in exchange for the relic, will she accede even if it risks her very existence?
Josh Richards is nothing if not resourceful. But it still took him nearly a year to find the one thing powerful enough to ensure his much overdue return to Earth. And if a little deception is all he requires to finally get his hands on it, how bad could the consequences really be?
The last thing Josh needs is a snarky forest fairy with a vendetta. So why can't he just seem to leave her behind?
Embark on a perilous quest through a mysterious, mystical land. A second-world classic fantasy adventure.
For lovers of epic fantasy, adventure, and easy to read feel-good stories. If you like Neil Gaiman's Stardust and The Chronicles of Narnia with a quirky twist, you’ll enjoy this offbeat, fast-paced YA epic fantasy adventure. Complete series now available in this special edition case laminate hardback!
And we have a late November release - Nov 26th
City of Starlight: Keeper of the Keys book 1 by Trisha Lynn
A trunk, a dagger, a map, and a...cat?
When her aunt passes away, she leaves Kaidyn an old trunk of bizarre contents. After accidentally opening a portal, Kaidyn is thrown into a kingdom divided by a massive wall and overwhelmed with ancient magic.
Thrust between two royal houses, both claiming rights to the throne, she isn't sure who or what to believe. One thing becomes clear, however, she is the next Keeper of the Keys.
An ancient lineage of human women tasked with balancing the wild magic and serving the true monarch of Evirness.
Kaidyn will need to overcome the self-doubt that plagues her from a birth deformity with the help of a formidable guard captain and unlikely friends.
Kaidyn is the only one who can bring down the wall and stop the gateways from wreaking havoc. Will she fulfill her ancestral duties or run back to the safety of her own world?
What NEW books are you excited about this December? Leave a comment below and let us know!
This article was written by S. R. Breaker.
S. R. Breaker writes offbeat, quirky, easy reading teen/young adult science fiction and fantasy books. She has a thing for "portal fantasy" and loves to live vicariously through her characters. They don’t have to vacuum all day long and are almost always guaranteed to survive any fantastical or thrilling incidents, no matter how treacherous she writes them. Visit her epic worlds in books.
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