4 Young Adult Novels For Winter Reading Entertainment

by MK French

Your teen will soon be out of school for the winter holidays and will need something to keep them entertained. Here is a round-up of recently released and upcoming new young adult novels.

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A Bánh Mì For Two by Trinity Nguyen 

September 2024; Henry Holt and Co; 978-1250910820
audio, ebook, print (224 pages); YA romance

Lan must run her family's food stall in the wake of her father's death, so she's blocked on new food blog posts to write. Vivi is a Vietnamese American looking to learn more about her roots, which her parents never discussed. 

I really empathize with Vivi, feeling caught between cultures and not enough of either. Her parents never talk about Vietnam and paint it as a lawless place, which makes her even more eager to know more. She started with the blog "A Bánh Mì For Two," which talks about the street food and culture of Sài Gòn, the name that many locals and expats still use for Ho Chi Minh City. Lan writes the blog, but her love for her mother and family means she runs the stall and is stressed all the time. She's put off her dream of university and travel, adding to the difficulty of coming up with something to write. Of course, the two girls meet, and Vivi is across the street from the bánh mì stall. This gives more opportunities to talk and get to know each other. 

In going around places to inspire Lan and find relatives Vivi had never known, we get a chance to see Sài Gòn and the foods locals generally eat. It got me hungry, craving Vietnamese food, and enjoying the descriptions of the city. The messy, lived-in areas where locals are is a very different view than tourists usually get, and the book pulls us into those parts of the city. Lan also explains the different ethnic groups that live in Vietnam and brings up the possibility of not choosing a single cultural identity, but embracing it all. There's also great commentary on the immigrant experience, the hopes for the future, protecting children from hardship, and wanting a connection to a larger group for identity and belonging. It's a powerful feeling within the burgeoning romance between Lan and Vivi, each with their own complicated family relationships. We have our romantic happily ever after, as well as hints at a fun future and continued love for the land and culture. The ending was so heartfelt and had such emotions it brought tears to my eyes. 

Buy A Bánh Mì For Two at Amazon

What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould

December 2024; Wednesday Books; 978-1250340672
audio, ebook, print (336 pages); YA horror

Devin Green is one of several teens who are summarily dropped into the woods with two counselors for an experimental therapy program. The woods are strange, and the teens are all told that if they are able to change their self-destructive ways, they'll come out of the fifty-day hike as better people. But both counselors disappear, and the woods seem to be hiding something dangerous. The teens themselves are hiding things from each other but must trust in one another if they want to survive.

Devin is one of five teens with two coaches as part of the first REVIVE class for wilderness therapy. She gets angry and violent, and the others have various problems within their families, mostly due to alcohol or drugs. The coaches lead them on a hike, which none of them are used to. After the first checkpoint ten days into the planned fifty, the sense of creepiness is magnified after the two coaches disappear. The teens split up, one team to complete the trail and the other to try to find help. Nothing goes as expected for either team, increasing their sense of wrongness and dread.

Wilderness therapy actually exists, and many programs are not accredited or run by people with training in therapy at all. This has led to many abusive tactics, which are pointed out in the warning before the book opens. 

The program in this book is not exactly on the up and up either; Devin and Ollie were both kidnapped out of their homes with their guardian's permission in the middle of the night. Sheridan is dismissive and antagonistic, with glimmers of her past once revealed explaining why she can't connect with others. Hannah is too fearful of her father's censure and Aiden needs to feel important. Within the forest, hallucinations, dread, and creatures that stalked the teenagers heightened the tensions. 

We don't get the horror of the creatures until the second half of the book, at which point we have the question of who is human and what will it take to stay alive. The psychological horror and aspects of body horror are very well done and kept me enthralled until the very end.

Buy What the Woods Took at Amazon

A Cruel Thirst by Angela Montoya

December 2024; Joy Revolution; 978-0593643372
audio, ebook, print (432 pages); YA fantasy

Carolina Fuentes would rather be a vampire hunter than married off and safely away from her village. Lalo Villalobos had been an ordinary man before a vampire turned him. When he travels to Del Oro to find a way to the curse, he bumps into a woman who wants to drive a dagger through his heart. They have a common enemy, however, and decide that working together to end the scourge would be better. And maybe they can even find love.

Vampires in this world were created when a human bargained with Tecuani, a guardian of the land of the dead. As a result, they get his strengths as well as weaknesses, such as the inability to withstand sunlight. Lalo was turned against his will by the very vampire who killed his parents and escaped. He and his sister travel to Del Oro, where Carolina lives with her family. She is determined to prove she's a worthy hunter, even though only her grandfather has been willing to train her. Of course the two challenge each other: Carolina is brash and Fierce, ready to kill him, and Lalo isn't a mindless creature. He listens to her and believes she can fight. He also has ideas to end the scourge of vampires once and for all.

I love the mix of romance tropes we have along with the very real love for family and the lengths characters go for the ones they love. Of course, the two have their "oh no, s/he's hot" moments, adding to the enemies-to-lovers trope, but they truly do understand each other and what matters most. Rafael is stereotyped as an unwanted suitor who has zero interest in Carolina as a person, and we're meant to dislike him. Carolina and Lalo dance around each other at first, then admit their feelings as they take the fight to the source of the vampire infestation and seek to eradicate it. They truly do complement each other, and earn their happiness together. 

Buy A Cruel Thirst at Amazon

Ex Marks the Spot by Gloria Chao

December 2024; Viking Books; 978-0593692714
audio, ebook, print (384 pages); YA romance

Gemma thought she had only her mother as family, and that her Taiwanese culture was lost. One day a man shows up to tell her that her grandfather passed away, and there's a treasure hunt that will lead to her inheritance. She must go to her grandfather's home in Taiwan and will need her ex Xander's help. Gemma discovers that the treasure hunt is more than money—it's about finding family, her cultural roots, and maybe even finding true love.

Immigrants often are faced with a choice: assimilate and lose the culture they had been born with, or double down and cling harder to it. Gemma's mother wanted to be as American as possible, so Gemma grew up without learning Mandarin or any stories, foods past ramen, or folklore. She felt self-conscious about it, especially with her ex-boyfriend Xander, who was her co-valedictorian, able to speak the language, and knew more about Taiwanese culture. He even set up a program to help students go to Taipei over the summer to reconnect with her roots. Because of her grandfather's mysterious treasure hunt, she asks for a spot in his program to learn more about her grandfather. She didn't think she would care about the program or the other students in it, especially when she felt so self-conscious and continued to barrel through the clues, hoping for an inheritance that could pay for college.

Gemma has "a different wavelength" that helps her with art and puzzles, but sometimes has her feeling left out in social situations. With this trip, she winds up reaching out to her roommate and other students, learning about her grandfather's life, and the Mandarin language itself. Along the way, clues reveal secrets that her grandfather had kept, and even about Xander's grandfather, as the two had known each other in Taipei. I appreciated the language lessons Gemma learned as the novel progressed because the ideograms make for great puns and visual clues. The city and neighboring towns are so vividly described, it's like we get to learn about it along with Gemma and get a chance to experience the discoveries with her. Just as she learns to trust in other people and relax, she also learns to appreciate the family she has and the legacy that they left behind. As the child of immigrants myself, her story really resonated with me, and I appreciate it that much more.

Buy Ex Marks the Spot at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever.

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