New young adult books for December 2023
by Sophie Green
Looking for some new YA titles to read this December? Take a look at our top picks, from the latest romantic instalment in the Heartstopper series to a murderous plot with nowhere to run.
Find more recommendations for young adults.
Let's Talk, by Jessie Yendle
This is an empowering and confidence-boosting book for young people on how to live your best life and get over hurdles that slow you down. On a mission to fight her debilitating stammer after the pandemic, Jessie set herself a challenge on TikTok: to film herself openly 'having a go' ordering at drive-throughs, starting conversations with people and sharing her experience with the world. Her videos have received millions of views with overwhelmingly positive reactions. 'Let's Talk' is an empowering book for teens and young adults on how to live their best lives and overcome life's hurdles.
Catch Your Death, by Ravena Guron
The new thriller from the author of This Book Kills.
When three girls are stranded at the grand Bramble Estate in the middle of a snowstorm, they stumble into a murder plot. Someone has poisoned wealthy Emily Vanforte in the middle of a family dinner - which means Devi, Lizzie and Jayne are trapped in the house with a killer and a mystery to solve. With knives under floorboards, vanishing guns and secret passages in the walls, no one is safe and everyone is a suspect. But in a house of liars and corruption, will the girls save themselves - or learn to fit in?
Heartstopper Vol. 5, by Alice Oseman
Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. The bestselling LGBTQ+ graphic novel about life, love, and everything that happens in between: this is the fifth volume of the much-loved Heartstopper series.
Nick and Charlie are very much in love. They've finally said those three little words, and Charlie has almost persuaded his mum to let him sleep over at Nick's house... But with Nick going off to university next year, is everything about to change?
This Cursed Light, by Emily Thiede
Sequel to This Vicious Grace.
When the gods make the rules, the players must choose: sacrifice their love to save the world, or choose love and let it burn? Six months after Divorando, Alessa is returning from a diplomatic trip, eager to embrace her post-battle life and live happily ever after with Dante. But as the ship nears shore, a premonition of danger strikes. Little does she realise that the battle of wills between the gods is just beginning.
In their time apart, Dante has physically recovered from his brush with death, but he's still haunted by nightmarish visions of looming attack, suffocated by the adoration of those who once loathed him, and grappling with the loss of his ghiotte powers - without which, every painful kiss he steals from Alessa threatens death.
Didn't See That Coming, by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Seventeen-year-old Kiki Siregar is a fabulous gamer girl with confidence to boot. She can't help but be totally herself. except when she's online.Her secret? She plays anonymously as a guy to avoid harassment from other male players. Even her online best friend - a cinnamon roll of a teen boy who plays under the username Sourdawg - doesn't know her true identity. Which is fine, because Kiki doesn't know his real name either, and it's not like they're ever going to cross paths IRL. Until she transfers to an elite private school for her senior year and discovers that Sourdawg goes there, too. But who is he? How will he react when he finds out Kiki's secret? And what happens when Kiki realizes she's falling for her online BFF?