It’s starting to feel springy outside, which means it’s also Winter 2024 cover reveal time! We’re so excited to share this early look at all of the new reads Wednesday Books will be publishing from January-April 2024! Thank you to our amazing art department for always making sure our books are so well-dressed.
Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment
by Arushi Avachat
On sale January 9, 2024
Jacket design by Olga Grlic
Jacket illustration by Petra Braun
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Save the Date meets Never Have I Ever in this sparkling debut rom-com about a high school senior whose life suddenly gets a Bollywood spin when her sister gets engaged.
Shaadi preparations are in full swing, which means lehenga shopping, taste testing, dance rehearsals, and best of all, Arya’s sister Alina is home. The Khannas are together again, finally, and Arya wants to enjoy it. So she stifles her lingering resentment towards Alina, plays mediator during her sister’s fights with their mother, and welcomes her future brother-in-law with open arms. (Okay, maybe enjoy isn’t exactly right.)
Meanwhile at school, Arya’s senior year dreams are unraveling. In between class and her part-time gig as a bookshop assistant, Arya struggles to navigate the aftermath of a bad breakup between her two best friends and a tense student council partnership with her rival, the frustratingly attractive Dean Merriweather.
Arya is determined to keep the peace at home and at school, but this shaadi season teaches Arya new realities: Alina won’t always be in the bedroom down the hall, Mamma’s sadness isn’t mendable, friendships must evolve, and life doesn’t always work out like her beloved Bollywood movies. But sometimes, the person you least expect will give you a glimpse of your dream sequence just when you need it most.
Structured like a Bollywood film (entertaining intermission included!) Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment will make you swoon, laugh, cry, think, nod your head in agreement, and quite possibly make you get up and dance.
The Getaway List
by Emma Lord
On sale January 23, 2024
Jacket design and illustration by Vi-An Nguyen
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When Riley graduates high school with a rearview of shenanigans but an empty road for a future, she does what they all say to do—pack her bags and head for New York. Her plan is a little loose, but her main goal is to find Tom—her childhood best friend and co-creator of The Getaway List. Years ago, they made a list of all the adventures they wanted to do together, but Tom has been increasingly distant ever since he moved to New York with his famous scriptwriter mom four years ago.
When Riley arrives in New York, her reconnection with Tom is as effortless as it was when they were young—except with one, unexpected complication that will pull Riley’s feelings in a direction she didn’t know they could take. As she, Tom, and their newfound friends work their way through the items on The Getaway List, Riley learns that sometimes the biggest adventure is not one you take, but one you feel in your heart.
Inescapably romantic and brimming with Emma Lord’s signature cheer, The Getaway List is an uplifting and romantic read that will settle into your heart and never leave.
A Fragile Enchantment
by Allison Saft
On sale January 30, 2024
Jacket design by Kerri Resnick
Jacket illustration by Kelly Chong
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In this romantic fantasy of manners from New York Times bestselling author Allison Saft, a magical dressmaker commissioned for a royal wedding finds herself embroiled in scandal when a gossip columnist draws attention to her undeniable chemistry with the groom.
Niamh Ó Conchobhair has never let herself long for more. The magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into every dress she makes is the same one that will kill her—sooner rather than later—and she’s determined to spend the little time she has left guaranteeing a better life for her family. When she’s commissioned to design the wardrobe for a nearby kingdom’s royal wedding, she knows this is her one chance to make something of herself.
Niamh arrives in Avaland, where young nobles are making their debuts into society during the candlelit balls and elegant garden parties that fill the social Season. The only damper on the festivities is the groom himself: Kit Carmine, prickly, abrasive, and begrudgingly being dragged to the altar as a desperate political act. Beneath Avaland’s glittery façade, unrest is brewing, and an anonymous gossip columnist has been spreading rumors about corruption within the royal family. As Niamh grows closer to Kit, an unlikely friendship begins to blossom into something more…until the columnist starts buzzing about her chemistry with the prince, promising to leave her alone only if she helps uncover the royal family’s secrets. Niamh discovers that the rot at the heart of Avaland goes far deeper than she bargained for—but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of, and a love she never thought possible.
Transporting readers to a Regency England-inspired fantasy world, A Fragile Enchantment is a sweeping romance threaded with intrigue, unforgettable characters, and a love story for the ages.
Even if it Breaks Your Heart
by Erin Hahn
On sale February 6, 2024
Jacket design and illustration by Jessica Cruickshank
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A heart-buckling ride of a romance by beloved author Erin Hahn about two teens finding out that sometimes, the hardest part of discovering what you want is getting the courage to pursue it.
The only thing keeping nineteen-year-old Case Michaels together after the death of his best friend, Walker, is a list Walker left behind of things he wants Case to accomplish in his absence. So far, though, Case hasn’t even been able to continue riding bulls in the rodeo circuit, something he’s done his entire life, balking at the thought of competing without Walker by his side. But the list? Case is determined to follow it to the letter– and he follows it all the way to Winnie Sutton.
Eighteen-year-old Winnie Sutton just wants to keep her family together. She graduated high school early to work long shifts at the Michaels family ranch so she can support her younger siblings and a father who’s more than happy to let Winnie fill the responsible parent role. If she sometimes sneaks out to ride the horses herself and forget about life for a while– well, that’s no one else’s business– until the day she crashes headfirst into Case Michaels. Case sees her riding skills and immediately ropes her into competing for the ranch and becoming his friend.
Winnie and Case couldn’t be more different, but Case can’t help but be inspired by Winnie’s badly-hidden passion for riding and competition. And there’s something about Case that makes Winnie want to try grasping onto a dream for herself, whether that’s a shot at a rodeo trophy, the annoyingly handsome rancher’s son who won’t leave her alone, or maybe both
This Day Changes Everything
by Edward Underhill
On sale February 13, 2024
Jacket design and illustration by Myriam Strasbourg
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Dash & Lily meets Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in Edward Underhill’s new whirlwind rom-com about two queer teens who spend one life-changing day together in New York City.
Abby Akerman believes in the Universe. After all, her Midwest high school marching band is about to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City—if that’s not proof that magical things can happen, what is? New York also happens to be the setting of her favorite romance novel, making it the perfect place for Abby to finally tell her best friend Kat that she’s in love with her (and, um, gay). She’s carefully annotated a copy of the book as a gift for Kat, and she’s counting on the Universe to provide an Epic Scene worthy of her own rom-com.
Leo Brewer, on the other hand, just wants to get through this trip without falling apart. He doesn’t believe the Universe is magical at all, mostly because he’s about to be outed to his very Southern extended family on national TV as the trans boy he really is. He’s not excited for the parade, and he’s even less excited for an entire day of sightseeing with his band.
But the Universe has other ideas. When fate throws Abby and Leo together on the wrong subway train, they soon find themselves lost in the middle of Manhattan. Even worse, Leo accidentally causes Abby to lose her Epic Gift for Kat. So to salvage the day, they come up with a new mission: find a souvenir from every location mentioned in the book for Abby to give Kat instead. But as Leo and Abby traverse the city, from the streets of Chinatown to the halls of Grand Central Station and the top of the Empire State Building, their initial expectations for the trip—and of each other—begin to shift. Maybe, if they let it, this could be the day that changes everything, for both of them.
Heartless Hunter
by Kristen Ciccarelli
On sale February 20, 2024
Jacket design by Kerri Resnick
Jacket art by Sasha Vinogradova, Shutterstock
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“A steamy game of cat and mouse between witch and witch-hunter, played out against a backdrop of opulence, secrets, and bloody history. I couldn’t look away.” – Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Champion of Fate
On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for.
Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?
Kristen Ciccarelli’s Heartless Hunter is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch…is falling in love.
“Enchanting and deeply romantic, Heartless Hunter drew me in with the first sentence and left me breathless by the last. A story that unfolds like a spell, and one that is destined to capture your heart.” – Rebecca Ross, New York Times bestselling author of Divine Rivals
Hope Ablaze
by Sarah Mughal Rana
On sale February 27, 2024
Jacket design by Olga Grlic
Jacket art by Shutterstock
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She lost her words but found her voice.
All My Rage meets The Poet X in this electric debut that explores a Muslim teen finding her voice in a post-9/11 America.
Nida has always been known as Mamou Abdul-Hafeedh’s niece – the poet that will fill her uncle’s shoes after he was wrongfully incarcerated during the war on terror. But for Nida, her poetry letters are her heart and sharing so much of herself with a world that stereotypes her faith and her hijab is not an option.
When Nida is illegally frisked at a Democratic Senatorial candidate’s political rally, she writes a scathing poem about the politician, never expecting the letter to go viral weeks before Election Day. Nida discovers her poem has won first place in a national contest, a contest she never entered, and her quiet life is toppled. But worst of all, Nida loses her ability to write poetry. In the aftermath of her win, Nida struggles to balance the expectations of her mother, her uncle, and her vibrant Muslim community with the person she truly wants to be.
With a touch of magic and poetry sprinkled throughout, Sarah Mughal Rana’s Hope Ablaze is heartbreaking, often funny, and ultimately uplifting, not only celebrating the Islamic faith and Pakistani culture, but simultaneously confronting racism and Islamophobia with unflinching bravery.
Ellie Haycock Is Totally Normal
by Gretchen Schreiber
On sale March 5, 2024
Jacket design and hand lettering by Erin Fitzsimmons
Jacket art by Getty
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The Breakfast Club meets Five Feet Apart in this big-hearted novel from debut author Gretchen Schreiber.
Ellie Haycock has always separated her life into sections: Ellie at home and Ellie at the hospital. At home, Ellie is a proud member of her high school’s speech and debate team alongside her best friend and her boyfriend. At the hospital, Ellie has a team of doctors and a mom who won’t stop posting about the details of her illness online. It’s not hard for Ellie to choose which of the two she prefers.
But this latest hospital stay is different. Ellie becomes close with a group of friends, including Ryan, a first-timer who’s still optimistic about the doctors that Ellie stopped trusting years ago. Despite their differences, she can’t seem to keep him out of her head. Ellie’s life has never been ordinary—but maybe this time it will be extraordinary.
The Other Lola
by Ripley Jones
On sale March 12, 2024
Jacket design by Olga Grlic
Jacket art by Shutterstock
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What happens when the people you love the most are the people you can trust the least?
In the months after Cam and Blair broke their small hometown’s legendary missing-girl story and catapulted to accidental fame, they vowed never to do it again. No more mysteries, no more podcasts, and no more sticking their heads where they don’t belong.
Until Mattie Brosillard, a freshman at their high school, shows up on their doorstep, begging Cam and Blair for help. Mattie’s sister Lola disappeared mysteriously five years ago. No trace of her was ever found. Now, she’s back—but Mattie is convinced the girl who returned is an impostor. Nobody believes Mattie’s wild story—not Mattie’s brother, not Mattie’s mother, and not even Cam and Blair. But something is definitely wrong in the Brosillard family. And Blair has her own reasons for wanting to know what really happened to Lola while she was gone.
With Cam and Blair still struggling with the aftermath of their first mystery—and with new secrets swirling between them—the stakes are higher than ever in this can’t-miss sequel to Missing Clarissa.
In the Orbit of You
by Ashley Schumacher
On sale March 19, 2024
Jacket design by Kerri Resnick
Jacket illustration by Giuditta Bertoni
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In The Orbit of You is a YA story of enduring love from acclaimed author Ashley Schumacher, where a personality test reunites two friends and makes them second guess their careful plans.
It’s been years since Nova Evans last saw Sam. She was too young then to understand why he had to move away—and what it had to do with the cuts and bruises he got from home and never wanted to talk about. All she knew is that they promised to find each other when they were older, something she thought was impossible thanks to her and her mom moving around constantly. Until she bumps into Sam in her new school, and realizes he has clearly forgotten their childhood promise.
Sam Jordan has a plan for his life: accept his college football scholarship, date his girlfriend Abigail, and—most importantly—hide how much he wants to do something, anything other than The Plan™ his parents and coaches have set before him. It doesn’t matter if sometimes he finds himself thinking about the new girl he met in the cafeteria, a girl who reminds him of a past that hurts to remember.
When a school-wide personality test reveals Nova and Sam to be each others’ top matches—not only that, but a match of 99%, the highest in the school—they begin to remember why they were such close friends, all those years ago. As well as the myriad of reasons this new-yet-familiar, magnetic, sparkling thing between them will never, ever work out.
In the Orbit of You is a story about the enduring and changing nature of friendship, of the strange struggle between who you are and who you want to be, and finding your voice after trauma.
The Perfect Guy Doesn’t Exist
by Sophie Gonzales
On sale March 26, 2024
Jacket design by Kerri Resnick
Jacket illustration by Venessa Kelley
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A fanfic writer brings her favorite TV character to life in this friends-to-enemies-to-lovers novel full of humor and heart.
Ivy Winslow has the house to herself for a week while her parents are away. She’s planning to use this newfound freedom to binge-watch her favorite fantasy TV show, H-MAD, and hang out with her best friend, Henry. She’ll also have to avoid her former best friend-turned enemy (and neighbor), Mack. But things quickly go awry when Ivy wakes up to find Weston, the gorgeous, very fictional main character of H-MAD in her bedroom, claiming to be her soul mate.
Ivy realizes that her fanfic writing has somehow brought Weston as she’s imagined him to life. But it turns out that the tropes she swoons over in her stories are slightly less romantic in reality, and her not-so-fictional crush is causing some real-world problems. To figure out why Weston is here and what to do with him, Ivy decides to team up with Henry and (against her better judgment) Mack. But with Mack back in her life, Ivy starts to wonder if Weston, her “perfect guy”, is the one who’s truly perfect for her . . . or if that was someone else all along.
Draw Down the Moon
by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
On sale April 2, 2024
Jacket design by Kerri Resnick
Jacket illustration by Kelly Chong
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New York Times bestsellers P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast return with a new duology set in a dark and magickal world filled with incredible danger and irresistible romance.
On her eighteenth birthday, Wren Nightingale starts to glow. Until then, she thought she was an aberration—born of magickal parents but not under a moon sign, she should never exhibit any powers. Although she’s unsure of what her newfound powers are, the signal that she is indeed a Magick and not a Mundane, grants her summer entry and enrollment at the Academie de la Luna on Moon Isle, located off the coast of Seattle. Luckily, she’ll have her best friends Lee and Sam to help her navigate her newly found power. And maybe this will finally be the right time for her to tell Lee how she feels.
At Moon Isle, between magickal classes and trails, Wren has increasingly perplexing encounters with one of the island’s Elementals. The encounters and her unfolding power lead her to a potentially dangerous mystery, one she is determined to uncover, all while under the watchful eye of the inscrutable dean. But after a series of strange and deadly occurrences, Sam comes to Wren with her fears and suspicions. All is not what it seems at Moon Isle—especially not Dean Rottingham. After a tragedy rocks the school and leaves behind a clue meant only for Wren, she is forced to question everything she believes is true.
Canto Contigo
by Jonny Garza Villa
On sale April 9, 2024
Jacket design by Kerri Resnick
Jacket illustration by Max Reed
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When a Mariachi star transfers schools, he expects to be handed his new group’s lead vocalist spot—what he gets instead is a tenacious current lead with a very familiar, very kissable face.
In a twenty-four-hour span, Rafael Alvarez led North Amistad High School’s Mariachi Alma de la Frontera to their eleventh consecutive first-place win in the Mariachi Extravaganza de Nacional; and met, made out with, and almost hooked up with one of the cutest guys he’s ever met.
Now eight months later, Rafie’s ready for one final win. What he didn’t plan for is his family moving to San Antonio before his senior year, forcing him to leave behind his group while dealing with the loss of the most important person in his life—his beloved abuelo. Another hitch in his plan: The Selena Quintanilla-Perez Academy’s Mariachi Todos Colores already has a lead vocalist, Rey Chavez—the boy Rafie made out with—who now stands between him winning and being the great Mariachi Rafie’s abuelo always believed him to be. Despite their newfound rivalry for center stage, Rafie can’t squash his feelings for Rey. Now he must decide between the people he’s known his entire life or the one just starting to get to know the real him.
Canto Contigo is a love letter to Mexican culture, family and legacy, the people who shape us, and allowing ourselves to forge our own path. At its heart, this is one of the most glorious rivals-to-lovers romance about finding the one who challenges you in the most extraordinary ways.
I’m the Girl
by Courtney Summers
On sale April 16, 2024
Jacket design by Kerri Resnick
Jacket illustration by Kemi Mai & Shutterstock
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Available now from bestselling and award-winning author Courtney Summers, an “emotionally raw and brutally captivating” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) queer coming-of-age thriller based loosely on the Epstein case that’s “not for the faint of heart.” (The New York Times)
All sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis wants is everything, but the poverty and hardship that defines her life has kept her from the beautiful and special things she knows she deserves. When she stumbles upon the dead body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James, Georgia teams up with Ashley’s older sister Nora, to find the killer before he strikes again, and their investigation throws Georgia into a glittering world of unimaginable privilege and wealth—and all she’s ever dreamed. But behind every dream lurks a nightmare, and Georgia must reconcile her heart’s desires with what it really takes to survive. As Ashley’s killer closes in and their feelings for one another grow, Georgia and Nora will discover when money, power, and beauty rule, it’s not always a matter of who is guilty but who is guiltiest—and the only thing that might save them is each other.
I’m the Girl is a brutal and illuminating account of how one young woman feels in her body as she struggles to navigate a deadly and predatory power structure while asking readers one question: if this is the way the world is, do you accept it?
Merciless Saviors
by H.E. Edgmon
On sale April 16, 2024
Jacket design by Kerri Resnick
Jacket illustration by Elena Masci
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That day at the First Church of Gracie changed everything for Gem Echols, and not just because Marian and Poppy betrayed them. Forced to use the Ouroboros knife on Zephyr, who had kidnapped their parents, Gem now has the power of the God of Air.
While for any other god things might work out okay, the Magician—whose role within the pantheon is to keep the balance—having the power of another god has thrown everything into chaos. The Goddess of Death can now reanimate corpses; the God of Art’s powers are now corrupted and twisted, giving life to his macabre creations; and, while the God of Land has always been able to communicate with creatures of the Earth, now everyone can hear their cries.
As Gem, Rory, and Enzo search for a way to restore the balance without sacrificing themselves, new horrors make them question how far they’re willing to go. In the end, Gem may be forced to fully embrace their merciless nature and kill off their own humanity—if it ever really existed in the first place.
Ruthless Vows
by Rebecca Ross
On sale December 26, 2023
Jacket design by Olga Grlic
Jacket illustration by Magdalena Wasiczek & Shutterstock
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The epic conclusion to the intensely romantic and beautifully written story that started in Divine Rivals.
Two weeks have passed since Iris Winnow returned home bruised and heartbroken from the front, but the war is far from over. Roman is missing, and the city of Oath continues to dwell in a state of disbelief and ignorance. When Iris and Attie are given another chance to report on Dacre’s movements, they both take the opportunity and head westward once more despite the danger, knowing it’s only a matter of time before the conflict reaches a city that’s unprepared and fracturing beneath the chancellor’s reign.
Since waking below in Dacre’s realm, Roman cannot remember his past. But given the reassurance that his memories will return in time, Roman begins to write articles for Dacre, uncertain of his place in the greater scheme of the war. When a strange letter arrives by wardrobe door, Roman is first suspicious, then intrigued. As he strikes up a correspondence with his mysterious pen pal, Roman will soon have to make a decision: to stand with Dacre or betray the god who healed him. And as the days grow darker, inevitably drawing Roman and Iris closer together…the two of them will risk their very hearts and futures to change the tides of the war.
