Melissa Albert is the founding editor of the Barnes & Noble Teen Blog and the managing editor of BN.com. She has written for McSweeney’s, Time Out Chicago, MTV, and more. Melissa is from Illinois and lives in Brooklyn, New York. The Hazel Wood is her first novel.
Strange Beasts (2024) (Strange Beasts, book 1) Susan J Morris "A riveting gaslamp fantasy that's equal parts bloody mystery and flat-out supernatural romp. Morris deftly weaves existing lore - from both the classic literature her characters are born of, and a taxonomist's handbook worth of supernatural creatures - into a vivid feminist tale whose pages fly. A delightful debut, bursting with affection for its magical world."
The Thirteenth Child (2024) Erin A Craig "Sumptuous, gothic, ornate - yet bracingly fresh and alive. Erin Craig writes fairy tales that feel both magical and real, marrying epic arcs with intimate, human stories, each making the other more potent and thrilling."
Mister Magic (2023) Kiersten White "In this skin-crawling story of pop culture fandom and '90s nostalgia, Kiersten White fully delivers on her gripping premise: the troubled reunion, thirty years later, of the cast of a magical kids' show that exists only in its viewers' memories. Mister Magic walks the twilit line between wonder and terror where all the best childhood games are played."
The Wishing Game (2023) Meg Shaffer "A heartwarming, page-turning story of found family, love triumphing over indifference, and the world-changing power of a good book."
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (2023) (Emily Wilde, book 1) Heather Fawcett "A book so vividly, endlessly enchanting, so crisply assured, so rich and complete and wise and far-reaching in its worldbuilding that you'll walk away half ensorcelled, sure Fawcett found Emily Wilde's journal in some sea-stained trunk."
Deep in Providence (2022) Riss M Neilson "Magic runs like a glittering thread through this densely woven tale of friendship, grief, and identity, and what begins as a backbeat of creeping dread deftly builds into a landscape of supernatural terrors. Neilson balances her page-turning fantasy narrative against the coming of age of a trio of bereaved best friends with grace, delicacy, and startling humanity."
An Arrow to the Moon (2022) Emily X R Pan "An effortless fusion of myth and realism, coming of age and fairy tale, this luminous love story cuts bone deep."
The Chosen and the Beautiful (2021) (The Chosen and the Beautiful) Nghi Vo "Crisp as paper and delirious as a fever dream, this is a redrawn Gatsby daubed in gold leaf and lip rouge and blood. Nghi Vo gives a freshly imagined Jordan Baker her due, while infusing her glittering New York with a bottomless magical menace that feels both excitingly new and cosmically true to Fitzgerald’s original."
House of Hollow (2021) Krystal Sutherland "Stepping nimbly among the liminal spaces and eerie real-world haunts of our heroine’s cipher-sister, this haunting modern fairy tale will wrap you up like a glittering fog, before going for your throat."
The Project (2021) Courtney Summers "This book is brave and raw and exciting and wise--wise about girls and women, weakness and strength, and the bittersweet beauty of being human."
The Electric Kingdom (2021) David Arnold "With luminous compassion and ceaseless invention, Arnold has built a postapocalyptic nesting doll of a tale, full of tricky resonances and moments of grace. All the pieces of this fascinating, ambitious book work together like the chambers of some great heart. I can't wait for teen readers to discover it and suspect it was written just for them."
The Ten Thousand Doors of January (2019) Alix E Harrow "'Devastatingly good, a sharp, delicate nested tale of worlds within worlds, stories within stories, and the realm-cracking power of words."
The Boneless Mercies (2018) April Genevieve Tucholke "The Boneless Mercies maintains the mystical, haunting flavor of an ancient ballad across the length of a novel. Its every page hints at a deeper magic at work; it contains a whole world and all its myths and histories within its skin."
For a Muse of Fire (2018) (Shadow Players, book 1) Heidi Heilig "An ambitious, big-souled wonder of a book, FOR A MUSE OF FIRE cements Heilig as one of YA’s great creators of fascinating fantasy worlds. She spins a tale of rebellion and refugees, beauty and vulnerability, art and ugliness. It’s complicated and soaring, full of magic and pain."
