11 new YA book releases to kick off your spooky season right this October
By Lacy Baugher
"I literally cannot wait for Among the Beasts & Briars 😍," I say, ignoring all the books I already have waiting for me to read them https://t.co/GqQJvzGO4R pic.twitter.com/NE8QyimoGg
— HarperTeen 📚 (@harperteen) September 18, 2020
Among the Beasts and Briars – Ashley Poston
The latest novel from Ashley Poston, the author of Heart of Iron and Soul of Stars, Among the Beasts and Briars is part dark fairytale and part coming of age story. (Plus it honestly has one of the most beautiful covers I’ve seen in 2020. So gorgeous!)
The story follows Cerys, the royal gardener’s daughter in the kingdom of Aloriya. Her quiet life is both small and simple, with only her father, the Princess Anwen and a local fox for friends. (Yes, the fox talks.) But, Cerys is happy enough with her lot, because their kingdom is safe and prosperous, and has been ever since the first king made a bargain with the mysterious Lady who rules the Wildwood that surrounds his lands.
But as Anwen prepares to take her crown, dark things begin to threaten the kingdom’s peace. And Cerys and her fox find themselves headed into the Wildwood itself, in the hopes that they can stop it.
The official synopsis has a lot more detail about the story.
"Cerys is safe in the kingdom of Aloriya. Here there are no droughts, disease, or famine, and peace is everlasting. It has been this way for hundreds of years, since the first king made a bargain with the Lady who ruled the forest that borders the kingdom. But as Aloriya prospered, the woods grew dark, cursed, and forbidden. Cerys knows this all too well: when she was young, she barely escaped as the woods killed her friends and her mother. Now Cerys carries a small bit of the curse—the magic—in her blood, a reminder of the day she lost everything. The most danger she faces now, as a gardener’s daughter, is the annoying fox who stalks the royal gardens and won’t leave her alone. As a new queen is crowned, however, things long hidden in the woods descend on the kingdom itself. Cerys is forced on the run, her only companions the small fox from the garden, a strange and powerful bear, and the magic in her veins. It’s up to her to find the legendary Lady of the Wilds and beg for a way to save her home. But the road is darker and more dangerous than she knows, and as secrets from the past are uncovered amid the teeth and roots of the forest, it’s going to take everything she has just to survive."
Among the Beasts and Briars is available on October 20.