12 must-read new YA books to cool off with this July

Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

Kalynn Bayron’s Cinderella Is Dead is already one of the most-talked-about YA books of the summer, and the praise is only bound to increase when it arrives in bookstores. Bayron’s first novel since 2016, this story rethinks the classic fairy tale of Cinderella, imagining how it might have affected the generations that followed.

Cinderella Is Dead picks up 200 years after Cinderella finds her prince, and society has taken her success story to heart. Teenage girls are now required to attend the same annual ball Cinderella did, but the stakes are a bit higher for them. While at the ball, they’ll need to find their match — and if they don’t, there’s a promising chance they won’t be seen again.

That’s bad news for the novel’s main character, Sophia, who’d rather marry her best friend Erin. And the dread surrounding finding a suitor weighs heavily on Sophia, so much so that she flees the situation. Luckily, her flight leads her to a place where she might be able to change things. According to the book’s synopsis:

"“There, she meets Constance, the last known descendant of Cinderella and her step sisters. Together they vow to bring down the king once and for all–and in the process, they learn that there’s more to Cinderella’s story than they ever knew . . .”"

Fans of fairy tale retellings and reimaginings are sure to fall headfirst into this story, which offers a unique and compelling perspective of a childhood classic. Cinderella Is Dead will be available in print and ebook format beginning on July 7.