Rutabaga's Reads 2026: Part 4

Here I am with the first young-adult (YA) compilation post for 2026. If you read YA fiction, what do you like about it that has you reading it? What can get on your nerves when it comes to YA?

And the River Drags Her Down (Oct. 7, 2025) by Jihyun Yun.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Ancestral magic follows the female line, but there is a strict rule that one will never resurrect departed humans. Soojin Han and her older sister, Mirae, followed that to the letter, even after their mom died when her car went down an embankment. It’s six years since that accident and now one year since Mirae drowned in the local river that runs through Jade Acre, a [fictional] California town along its coast. Soojin and her dad have only grown apart since they became a two-person household. She doesn’t know how to lift others up like Mirae did and so, in desperation and with Mirae’s milk tooth, she resurrects her sister. She is overjoyed to have her big sister back, but their good friend, Mark Moon, doesn’t share her joy. As Mirae claws her way out from the earth, he sees rot where Soojin only sees vitality. And for a brief while, Mirae seems content. When their dad’s away for work during the week, Mirae cooks with Soojin and prepares her lunches to take to school. The sisters and Mark get up to tame shenanigans in the middle of the night. But Mirae grows tired of hiding. She’s restless and hungry. She needs retribution. In a town that becomes afflicted with a deluge of heavy rain, watch out. “It listens through the water. It comes through the water!” The sister Soojin brought back isn’t, perhaps, the sister she knew, but one she still loves.

            In this YA paranormal fantasy and horror novel, ancient, ancestral magic and desperate loneliness weave together to create an unraveling that is devastating and poignant. The story is grief-filled and sometimes horrible, creepy and disquieting. The plot is propulsive, the horror is mature, and the value of being well-loved is sown throughout. It’s a story of sisterhood but also of selfishness and the desperate, dangerous choices one might make to retrieve what one lost. The narrative is water-stained with darkness and decay, which makes it all the more compelling to read. This haunting isn’t for the faint-hearted, but the strong-willed, even if they come with broken hearts.

Eliza, from Scratch (May 13, 2025) by Sophia Lee.

<This is a standalone novel.>

The one thing standing between Eliza Park (Korean American) and clinching salutatorian is a scheduling conflict that lands her in Culinary Arts – a regular course – instead of AP Physics. Not only is the class unweighted, non-Honors and non-AP, Eliza can’t cook. At all. She can’t fry an egg and only knows the mandolin to be a musical instrument, clearly not knowing that a mandoline is a culinary utensil. She planned for a perfect, flawless senior year with her best friends Kareena and Meredith, but secrets kept and an academic rival disrupting the friend group has Eliza feeling unbalanced. Culinary Arts classmate Wesley Ruengsomboon (Thai American) has her feeling unbalanced, too. She’s also incredibly annoyed with his ease, skill and know-all in the kitchen. In the final period of the day, Eliza goes from star student to mortifying mess. Eliza’s high expectations push her to believe she can win the midterm cooking contest. She’ll learn from Wesley, whom their teacher infuriatingly paired her with, and from her mom. Her mom doesn’t know that Eliza’s learning how to cook Korean food for school and instead thinks she’s learning in order to become closer to the late grandmother she never put in effort to truly understand and know. This overachiever is about to learn some lessons – about life and cooking – from scratch.

            To Wesley, Eliza looks like a cookie cutter cutout of overachieving perfectionism, and she is. Anyone who’s vied for the top spot in their class understands Eliza. It’s eye-opening and frustrating in equal measure and might have some racing to convince themselves that they were never as bad as Eliza. This YA contemporary romance features an enemies-to-lovers, AAPI couple with a sweet/salty plot and a zesty cast of characters. Lee’s debut is here to appease clean romance appetites and make readers hungry for all manner of cultural cuisine. There’s a main character who doesn’t take it in stride or handle it with grace. There’s toughness and vulnerability, hidden feelings and emotions spilling over. The story is well-balanced with freshness and high school drama. For this reader who’s very nitpicky about the YA she can stomach, this one hits the spot.

The Encanto’s Curse (Mar. 4, 2025) by Melissa de la Cruz.

<This is the second novel in a duology.>

<Alert: Potential spoilers ahead.>

A creature stalks the night. It is a manananggal – a mythical creature of the Philippines that separates its upper torso from its legs when hunting – and MJ Robertson-Rodriguez must protect her kingdom as she’s also learning how to be the newly crowned queen of Biringan. She has a vivid dream in which she attacks a young couple in love. The very next day, the couple is there. Injured, but alive. They’re reporting a manananggal attack on one of their goats. MJ comes to the mortifying conclusion that she is the monster. She has no idea how this curse came upon her, and she flees to Mount Makiling with select members of her court, including Sir Lucas Invierno; Grand Duchess Amador Oscura, Sir Lucas’ promised bride; and Nix Xing, a princess of Jade Mountain. Also with their group is the delegation from Jade Mountain, led by Prince Qian, a half-brother to Nix, after he initially tries to get Nix to return to Jade Mountain by force. Prince Qian is a handsome, famed monster hunter. MJ is charmed by him and thinks she could love him someday, but her heart still beats for Lucas just as it also fills with bloodthirst. The young queen must gain control of herself lest she lose her kingdom, her crown and herself, to the viciously hungry ways of the manananggal.

            The concluding novel in The Encanto’s Daughter duology is a YA fantasy that is steeped in Filipino mythology and paranormal romance. I don’t consider it romantasy, for while it does contain kissing, there’s nothing particularly steamy about any of the scenes. I did prefer this story to its predecessor. Where MJ came across as often petulant in that story, I did not get that here, as she races to lift her curse and hide the changes happening to her. The pace is fast, the plot is tense and the tone is dark with notes of hopefulness. Aswang queen though she may be, she’s still a queen and an encanto. And unlike Yara Liliana, practically erased from the history books, MJ has friends who care for and support her. Time isn’t on her side, but her friends are.

            Book One: The Encanto’s Daughter

Rutabaga's Reads 2025: Part 19

A third adult fiction compilation post?! I’m surprised, too!

Dreadful (May 28, 2024) by Caitlin Rozakis.

<This is a standalone novel.>

You know it’s bad when you wake up in a partially-destroyed workshop with no memories and no eyebrows. There’s an abducted princess in a cell of the evil wizard’s castle and the goblin workforce fatalistically expects to one day be immolated on the whim of the evil wizard. Also, the evil wizard is ... him. What is his name? Others refer to him as Dread Lord Gavrax, but as he has no memories of the time before, he refers to himself as Gav. He plans to fake it until he makes it, but he might still die a horrible death at the hands of the evil wizard leader, Zarconar. Or maybe the moat squid will succeed in eating his face. Or he’ll self-immolate accidentally. He doesn’t want to die, and he also doesn’t want to be like Gavrax. He wants to be a, well, not a good wizard, but also not an evil wizard. He wants to be a wizard Orla will talk to about a hosting menu in her gamboling monster kitty apron that her granddaughter made her. And a wizard that Grrribeetle isn’t afraid of and will do more than mumble to. And a wizard that Princess Eliasha (apprentice name Wren) wants to be friends with. There is something truly evil at work. The princess is definitely only there for a nefarious purpose, which will assuredly mean her death. There’s a gathering of evil wizards, an upcoming summoning of demon evil, the arrival of hero types doing Artharno the White Wizard’s bidding and a village garlic festival. Candied garlic or garlic brittle, anyone? Gav has lots more to worry about than his flames-adorned cloak. He needs to decide who he wants to be going forward.

            I definitely judged this book by its sprayed edges, which are black and include skulls in the decorative edge-work, but I only bought it after I read the jacket copy and found myself intrigued. This adult fiction novel is a comedic fantasy with splashes of violence. There’s even a little gore, but it’s a quick scene, so it can therefore be sometimes spicy with dashes of darkness. Gav, with his missing memories, is more a bumbling fool than any threat to anyone – except the guy he turned into a chicken – so the story’s more entertaining than anything and not scary. I don’t know that I’d call it cozy, but it is genuinely funny. It contains wit, self-awareness and empathy, giving a fresh take on fantasy tropes. This book won’t bite, but if you’re not careful, something from the story might, so beware!

Gone Before Goodbye (Oct. 21, 2025) by Reese Witherspoon & Harlan Coben.

<This is a standalone novel.>

A renowned combat surgeon with a renowned combat surgeon husband and co-founder of a successful medical mission called WorldCures, Maggie McCabe was making a positive impact, and she had it all. Her reality now is a life where her medical license has been revoked, her husband is dead, her sister is going through a messy divorce, and both sisters are struggling financially. She’s thrown a mighty lifeline, and when she accepts, debts are erased, litigation against her is suddenly resolved, and she has a whole lot of money in her bank account, and that’s only half the payment. Absolute discretion is imperative, but she knows HIPAA. She arrives at a remote location in Russia. It’s a palace, and one of her clients is a reclusive oligarch. When he goes missing while he should still be under her care, Maggie becomes a fugitive herself around people who can afford Bugatti Tourbillons that cost $4.1 million (starting) and can jet-set in their own private planes with their own Michelin-star-level personal chefs. Her combat training as well as her medical expertise are going to be tested, and the truths she might uncover may cost her her life.

            There’s cutting-edge technology, state-of-the-art equipment and people who can live in gluttonously opulent luxury in this adult fiction, mystery and medical thriller by Academy Award-winning actress Reese Witherspoon and internationally bestselling thriller author Harlan Coben. The novel is action-packed, though it really didn’t pick up for me until an intense escape about 150 pages in. It’s also part globe-trotting adventure, part psychological thriller. The story contains twists and suspense, the plot is high-stakes, and the story is dynamic and pedal to the metal. It has me wondering what I’ve been missing out on since this is my first Coben novel, and I don’t know how much of the writing Witherspoon did, but this collab really works.

The Second Chance Convenience Store (June 17, 2025/US edition) by Kim Ho-Yeon.

   Janet Hong, translator.

<This is a standalone novel.>

The owner of the Second Chance Convenience Store, Mrs. Yeom, is a retired history teacher who keeps her store open in Cheongpa-dong to keep her few employees employed. She’s distraught over the loss of her purse until she receives a call from Seoul Station. Dokgo is an unhoused man who can’t remember his past or his actual name due to alcohol-related dementia. To thank him for returning her purse, she invites him to come to her store every day to receive an unexpired boxed lunch free of charge. He comes, but insists on only eating the expired boxed lunches. He even cleans up the picnic table, though it’s wintertime and very cold. When Dokgo saves the store from a robbery attempt, Mrs. Yeom offers the big, bear-like Dokgo the night shift. She requires him to stop drinking alcohol, but she buys him new clothes and a haircut. He learns fast and quickly wins over the denizens of the neighborhood, though his coworkers are slower to warm up to him. He’s grateful to his new boss, and business sees an uptick with his customer service, slow and methodical though it may be. The better business upsets Mrs. Yeom’s ne’er-do-well son, Minsik, who wants to try to convince his mom to back his latest venture (and they either tend to fail or turn out to be scams). Minsik hires a man to look into Dokgo’s past, because his mom’s convenience store is an inconvenience store to him.

            In this adult, cozy, urban fiction story, already an international bestseller from Korea, readers will find a broken man who gets his life back, a store owner with a kind soul and a wayward son, a caustic morning shift employee and a mid-shift employee who’s questioning what to do next. The fiction is realistic and sometimes unpleasant, but it’s encouraging and compassionate, too. It’s a story of community and healing. Overall, it’s a soft, heartfelt novel.

"The House of Quiet" by Kiersten White

The House of Quiet (Sept. 9, 2025) by Kiersten White.

<This is a standalone novel.>

If she can enter the House, she can save her sister. This is what Birdie believes, so she’s blackmailed her way in as a maid. She truly is a maid, having worked as one since she was 10. She’s now 16. She saved all of her money for her little sister, Magpie, to have the procedure and hopefully gain a special ability that would get her family off the poorest streets of Sootcity. She always thought Magpie would be a good outward empath. Birdie enters the House of Quiet, which is surrounded by a peat bog. She works hard, but has her eye on the House Wife’s door. Of her fellow maids, Rabbit is very green and Minnow has clearly never worked as one. The only residents of the House are all from wealthy families, so she’s boggled as to why they’re there. They all appear to have abilities, even though none claim to have undergone the procedure. Their abilities are not all obvious. What is obvious is that things are not right. There are only more mysteries. There is handsome and silent Forest, clever River, trapped-in-his-mind Nimbus, wants-to-be-helpful Dawn, what-is-she-talking-about Lake, and scary Sky. Even without the un-navigable bog, the House of Quiet is a desolate, dangerous place. It holds sinister secrets and terrible truths. Birdie only wants the House to hold Magpie, and she can’t be found.

            The latest from White is a dark gothic YA fantasy that is a standalone novel, but could easily start a series. It’s claustrophobic and all-consuming, and that is a compliment. It’s mysterious with a chilling air without being downright scary and is balanced with sparks of sarcasm and a whole lot of empathy. This group – with their different classes in a dystopian-like world – becomes an unlikely group of friends, even when they don’t all trust each other initially (and shouldn’t, as one was sent to kill another). There is struggle where there is also great privilege and friendship through darkness and nightmares. This tale is imaginative and clever with an explosive ending. Get ready to ignite the rebellion with two rebel maids I never knew I needed in my reading repertoire.

Rutabaga's Reads 2023: Part 14

I’m here with my second YA compilation post of the year (cutting it close, I know). Middle-grade seems to be “winning,” but I remain a regular reader of YA novels, too.

Chain of Thorns (Jan. 31, 2023) by Cassandra Clare.

<This is the final novel in a trilogy.>

<Casual spoilers present for those who haven’t read this trilogy.>

Things are dire. Cordelia Carstairs’ father was murdered a few short weeks ago, her marriage to James Herondale seems a sham, her plans to become Lucie’s parabatai razed and, on top of all that, she’s become unwittingly bound to the ancient demon Lilith as her paladin. She can’t fight without summoning Lilith, so she has Alastair, her brother, hide Cortana, the blade that chose her. She flees to Paris with Matthew Fairchild, James’ best friend. The nightlife is glittering and her new wardrobe is daring. Elsewhere, Jesse Blackthorn is fully alive and in his body, and Lucie had a hand in that. James goes to track Lucie first with his dad, Will, and the warlock Magnus Bane. James, now out from under Grace Blackthorn’s (née Cartwright) twisted curse, feels the loss of Cordelia, but doesn’t know how to explain being in Grace’s thrall. He’s also been denying Belial what he wants, which is to possess his body, but can he keep denying Belial indefinitely? The other Merry Thieves aren’t without their secrets, either: Thomas Lightwood loves Alastair who doesn’t get on with James and Matthew at all, and Christopher Lightwood is mostly his science-minded self in his singed clothes, but there is compassion in him, seen when he visits Grace in the Silent City. Anna Lightwood seems all beautiful, sharp features in her tailored menswear, and Ariadne (Ari) Bridgestock has left her parents’ home. She’s living with Anna, whom she loves. Reality intrudes when the group learns that Tatiana Blackthorn has escaped the Adamant Citadel, and following Belial, a Prince of Hell, laying waste to London looks imminent. The secret that Belial is James’ and Lucie’s grandfather (and their mom’s demon parent) is no longer a secret, and that will throw the Herondale name under suspicion. Things don’t only seem bleak, they are bleak.

            Within the bulky page count of this YA novel are 11 ensemble characters slaying demons, dealing with the raving maniac Tatiana, untangling romantic drama, working through self-loathing, giving into make-out sessions, protecting one another, letting secrets out and finally battling Belial and confronting Lilith. There is some diversity amongst the ensemble and relationships both straight and queer. The trilogy-ending novel is, at turns, dramatic, romantic, dangerous and not without gore, and is all-around a dark fantasy adventure. Clare is there with her characters’ reliable banter and humor to help suffuse the dark tone. The epilogue is mostly tidy, though I have questions about no spoiler here. From funny to fiendish, bleak to bright(ish), the story retains its fantastic world-building.

            Side note: I admit that my interest in the Shadowhunters universe has been waning. While I enjoy Clare’s stories, the bulk of my disinterest comes from the chunky page counts. There are very few authors whose novels I’d happily devour if they were, say, a thousand pages, and Clare isn’t one of them for me. That isn’t to say that I won’t read any other Shadowhunter novels. I expect I still will, if they relate to an ongoing series or include the characters I’ve already come to know. But non-Shadowhunter novels are not on my to-buy list.

            The Last Hours Book 1: Chain of Gold

            The Last Hours Book 2: Chain of Iron

Iron Widow (Sept. 21, 2021) by Xiran Jay Zhao.

<This is the first in a series.>

<A trigger warning is included.>

Welcome to your nightmare, indeed. After her sister is killed (murdered?) in service to a Prince-class pilot, 18-year-old Wu Zetian gussies herself up (i.e. has her unibrow painfully and painstakingly plucked) and enlists as a concubine-pilot. When she is declared to be an Iron Widow by Senior Strategist of the Human Liberation Army Sima Yi – “a girl who sacrifices her male partner to power up Chrysalises” – the Sages make her a partner to the Vermilion Bird’s Li Shimin, age 19. He has top marks, but is no Prince-pilot. He’s the Iron Demon, murderer of his own family. Zetian doesn’t expect to survive long, even as an Iron Widow who could power her own Chrysalis, if only the misogynistic powers-that-be would allow her to. Normally, the girls die from the mental strain of battle, hence the need for many concubine pilots. They are sacrifices, but “girls are naturally weaker pilots!” and “Girls ... know how to sacrifice.” She and Shimin are unexpectedly joined by student strategist Gao Yizhi, stating that he can welcome himself in because he’s “young and rich.” The three will work to discover how the pilot system works in favor of the male pilots, and she’ll make a deal with Yizhi’s rich father, despite knowing he’s holding close non-consensual intel to try to control her. To tame her. But Zetian’s invaluable mental strength and, especially, the raging inferno within her cannot be tamed. And woe to anyone who gets in her way.

            “Up the sword mountain, down the fire sea,” this story is ferocious and brutal. The YA tale is sometimes horrible to read, like, drastically so. The story is bloodthirsty and full of rage – think of a primal scream in book form – with fast pacing, an action-filled plot and fantasy world-building. If you don’t read the story with care, it will beat you up. Wu Zetian is one of the most unapologetic female leads I’ve ever encountered (another is Lada Dracul), bold and brash. This story is thrilling, brutal and unstoppable. Zetian is clearly a feminist in a world with rigid gender roles. Queer themes are incorporated. A sequel is imminent. This forceful, ambitious story contains twists and a cliffhanger ending. Unfortunately, I don’t know if I’ll read the sequel. If I do, I’ll check it out from the library instead of purchasing it.

            P.S. The Chrysalises are “giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens (Hunduns) that lurk beyond the Great Wall.”

Queen Bee (Apr. 4, 2023) by Amalie Howard.

<This is a standalone novel.>

Her younger self, Lady Ela Dalvi, the daughter of the Earl of Marwick, is a naïve young lady who’d never dream of taking on the ton, the filthy-rich and lofty, those of the peerage and landed gentry alike. But that 1814 self is no longer the teenager battling acne and wearing Poppy Landers’ throwaway dresses (Poppy’s not a peeress, but her father is a wealthy landowner), her reputation ruined after her former only friend, Poppy, goes the vilest of routes, ruthlessly tearing apart Lady Ela’s reputation. When that happens, Lord Keston (Kes) Osborn, Marquess of Ridley and heir to the Duke of Harbridge, shuns her, tells her off, believing the worst of her. She’d built a friendship with Kes and his younger sister, Lady Zenobia (Zia), but that ends with Poppy’s despicable, vengeful, jealous act. Ela is sent to Hinley Seminary for Girls in Cumbria, about as far northwest as one can get and still be in England. Hinley is a school where girls go to be forgotten. Ela, now E, is bitter and angry, but she makes friends, especially in Church, who’s around 20 years her senior. By 1817, Lady Ela is now Lady Lyra Whitley, presenting herself as Lady Patience Birdie’s companion for London’s social season. She’s blossomed into a beautiful young woman, no longer flat-chested, no acne in sight, with her hair dyed black. She is unrecognizable as the disgraced 15-year-old from Burghfield, Berkshire. Instead, she’s the “newest fortune with legs,” an 18-year-old with a remarkable dowry. But she isn’t in London to enjoy musicales and make friends. She’s there to bring Poppy down. Will her plans for retaliation be stalled when she reunites with Lord Ridley? In this complicated game of real-life chess, there’s only room for one queen bee, and it’s definitely not Poppy.

            Call me Vengeance, because I delight in stories where the bullies get their comeuppance, and in “Queen Bee” the lead character’s purpose is to bring Poppy down. Readers know this from Chapter One. Ah, a Machiavellian plot. Delicious. It’s touted as “an anti-historical Regency romp,” which it is. The years fall within the Regency era, but this YA novel doesn’t exist to be a historical account, even though the author clearly did historical research. It’s of one young woman getting revenge on her backstabbing former best friend as she becomes a diamond of the first water. Howard creates an entertaining exploration of vengeance, forgiveness and women finding agency in a very patriarchal time. It’s sassy, gossipy and dramatic, fast-paced and engaging. The chapters alternate between Ela’s/Lyra’s past and present. Not having read Howard’s novels before, I didn’t know what to expect. But this story is funny and smart. It is a refreshing and enjoyable tale, and I especially love the diversity of the characters (multiple characters are of South Asian, African and East Asian descent).

            Standout lines: ”Sally Price, niece of fun-starved harpies, and future governess of a vainglorious, highfalutin London lady. That’s me.” (p. 227)

            Lines we can all live by: “It means you will keep your opinion and I will keep mine, as we are unable to come to any compromise or agreement. Neither of us is wrong in how we view the world. We are all still learning. Maybe one day, I will come to understand your point of view, and you will come to know mine, but that day is a while away. So ... we agree to disagree.” (--Church to Ela, pp. 156-157)