Secrets Never Die by Vincent Ralph

🧠 (side characters)⭐️🏳️‍🌈

TW: death, fire, murder, accidents, parental abuse, narcissism

Ralph is up there in my list of underrated YA thrillers. His book are always so well plotted, with excellent twists and turns and a deep investment in their central characters. Secrets Never Die is no exception, with a plot that had me gasping and racing through the pages until the early hours.

Full review here.

How to Die Famous by Benjamin Dean

⭐️🏳️‍🌈🧠

TW: murder, death, violence, stalking, racism, homophobia, kidnapping, sexism, sexual harassment, gaslighting, manipulation, addiction, grief

Dean excels in writing such complicated, yet charismatic characters. I fell in love with everyone here so quickly and loved seeing how they moved from their pigeonholed stereotypes as celebrities. One of my favourite things here was seeing the contrast between the constructed reality of fame and the messy authenticity beneath. It is all about optics and aesthetics. The resulting power imbalance was fascinating and gut-churning at the same time. 

Full review here.

Masters of Death by Olivie Blake

⭐️🏳️‍🌈🧠

TW: death, blood, psychological torture, murder, alcohol consumption, parental deaths, gore, body horror, possession

This has such a fantastic premise and really lives up to it. Blake weaves in explorations of life, family and facing Death, while celebrating the multiplicity of the forms of love. Non-linear, complex and stunning.

Full review here.

Henry VIII: The Heart and the Crown by Alison Weir

TW: death, execution, illness, injury, violence, warfare, miscarriage

I have grown up reading Weir’s series, charting the six wives of Henry VIII and obviously, I had to request her story about the man himself. This was an epic character study of a tormented and terrible man at times, allowing for depth and interesting twists on the history we know. It is well-researched and detailed, as always with Weir’s work.

Thieves’ Gambit by Kayvion Lewis

⭐️🧠

TW: death, neglect, emotional abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, shooting, blackmail, kidnapping

Slick, cinematic storytelling combined with a thrilling mystery plot and enough heists to feel like you are in a novel adaptation of Ocean’s Eleven? Lewis has that and so much more in this stand-out YA release.

Full review here.

House of Odysseus by Claire North

TW: war, death, murder, slavery, violence, blood, gore, sexual assault, rape

I loved reading Ithaca last year, so had to snap up the sequel. It keeps that loom spinning, bringing in multiple strands of various perspectives and crashing Greek myths. You know the inevitable ending (or do you?) but getting there is an awesome, epic journey.

Full review here.

Getting Away With Murder by Kathyrn Foxfield

⭐️🏳️‍🌈🧠

TW: death, murder, violence, gore, stabbing

This takes everything you know about horror and places it in a blender, generating a clever, meta and endlessly captivating story.  Foxfield has that atmospheric writing nailed here, with a truly claustrophobic and chilling story. The setting is spine-tingling, with that whole saccharine horror of a place of entertainment gone horribly wrong. I was just enamoured with the concept of escape rooms becoming literal traps.

Full review here.

The Reunion by Kit Frick

⭐️🏳️‍🌈

TW: death, murder, car accident, anger issues, physical assault, manslaughter, boating accident, adultery, catfishing, coming out, microaggressions, blackmail, threatening, theft

Frick revels in writing these sun-drenched, scorching mysteries with wonderfully convoluted plots, entangled relationships and characters that are enigmatic and difficult to pin down.

Full review here.

Everyone’s Thinking It by Aleema Omotoni

⭐️🏳️‍🌈🧠

TW: anti-Black racism, blackface, blackfishing, colorism, misogynoir, biphobia, queerphobia, sexism, panic attacks

This is a dark academia thriller that grapples with racism and queerphobia, offering a variety of perspectives and three-dimensional characters that I adored. The way Omotoni weaves in the Shakespearean retelling is next-level as well.

Full review here.

Suddenly a Murder by Lauren Muñoz 

⭐️🏳️‍🌈

TW: death, murder, stabbing, racism, classism, overdose, homophobia, blackmail, inappropriate relationships

This was an excellent YA mystery – solid in its plotting, atmosphere and characterisation. It draws on those Golden Age mystery vibes, but feels entirely modern and refreshing.

Full review here.

Herc by Phoenicia Rogerson

🏳️‍🌈🧠

TW: death, murder, violence, warfare, child murder, gore, grief

This is one of my favourite Greek mythology retellings I have read for a while. It paints such a complex picture of an idolised figure, showing him as hero and destroyer. Rogerson’s narrative choices are endlessly fascinating and allow everyone’s voice to be heard.

Full review here.

One of Us is Back by Karen McManus

⭐️🏳️‍🌈🧠

TW: death, blood, violence, drugging, kidnapping, stalking, sexual assault (mentioned), gun violence, hospitalisation, alcohol, alcoholism, murder

This is right up there with Two Can Keep A Secret as my favourite McManus yet. It is an incredible culmination of the Bayview Crew’s story, asking searing questions about the cyclical nature of revenge, justice and the lengths to which one should go to right the wrongs of the past.

There’s a reason why McManus is known as a Queen of YA thrillers.

Full review here.

Night of the Living Queers

⭐️🏳️‍🌈🧠💙

TW: murder, death, bullying, seizure, grief, parental death, blood, gore, fatal car crash, microaggressions, vomiting, animal death, possession, hate crime, needle imagery, toxic friendship, codependency, chronic pain, homophobia, homophobic slurs, domestic abuse, graphic animal cruelty, transphobia, suicidal ideation, intrusive thoughts

This is an awesome YA horror anthology that exclusively features queer authors of colour putting fresh takes on classic horror tropes and tales, allowing for new spins on these archetypes. A thoroughly enjoyable, entertaining and solid anthology.

Full review here.

I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast is Me by Jamison Shea

⭐️🏳️‍🌈🧠

TW: racism, classism, parental abandonment, ritualistic self harm, death, murder, burning, body horror, corpses, body shaming, torture, parental neglect, violence, gore

I absolutely loved this riveting, bloody and feral look at ambition in a Faustian take on Black Swan. It is full of female rage and the desire to strike back at a world determined to never accept you.

Full review here.