11 must-read new YA releases that will capture your heart this February

Together We Caught Fire – Eva V. Gibson

Emily V. Gibson’s contemporary YA debut, Together We Caught Fire, is an addictive page turner about forbidden love that turns into something so much more.

Lane Jamison hasn’t exactly had an easy life. Her mother committed suicide when Lane was just 5, and she’s spent most of the years since trying to keep everyone at arms length. But things get more complicated when her father remarries – and not just any woman, but the mother of the boy that Lane’s been in love with since eighth grade. Grey, as it turns out, is wrong for Lane for many reasons, not the least of which is that he’s also the boyfriend of her best friend Sadie. That, of course, doesn’t make suddenly living on the other side of a wall from him any easier. And things get even messier when Lane gets involved with Sadie’s older brother Connor, a relationship that makes Grey jealous even as it delights her BFF.

In short, this is as raw and messy a teen drama as you could ever wish for, with lots of characters to root for on all sides of this relationship quadrangle.

The official synopsis describes the story as follows.

"Lane Jamison’s life is turned upside down the week before her senior year when her father introduces her to his new fiancée: mother of Grey McIntyre, Lane’s secret, longtime crush. Now with Grey living in Lane’s house, there’s only a thin wall separating their rooms, making it harder and harder to deny their growing mutual attraction—an attraction made all the more forbidden by Grey’s long-term girlfriend Sadie Hall, who also happens to be Lane’s friend Torn between her feelings for Grey and her friendship with Sadie—not to mention her desire to keep the peace at home—Lane befriends Sadie’s older brother, Connor, the black sheep of the strict, evangelical Hall family. Connor, a metal working artist who is all sharp edges, challenges Lane in ways no one else ever has. As the two become closer and start to open up about the traumas in their respective pasts, Lane begins to question her conviction that Connor is just a distraction. Tensions come to a head after a tragic incident at a party, forcing Lane to untangle her feelings for both boys and face the truth of what—and who—she wants, in this gripping and stunningly romantic debut novel."

Together We Caught Fire is now available everywhere.