11 new YA book releases to kick off your spooky season right this October

A Golden Fury – Samanta Cohoe

The debut YA fantasy from author Samantha Cohoe, A Golden Fury is the story of a young alchemist attempting to create the legendary Philosopher’s Stone before a curse drives her mad.

Set in 18th century France and England, the story follows young Thea, the daughter of one of the world’s most famous female alchemists. Though she loves her mother, she’s tired of her life of jumping from one wealthy patron to another – and she’s annoyed that she’s locked her out of her workshop now that she’s so close to her greatest success ever: The Philosopher’s Stone!

But when Marguerite destroys her own lab in a fit of madness and violence, Thea has no choice but to flee her home – and her country. Journeying from France to England and toward the father she’s never met, she’s determined to finish her mother’s work – and save them both –  before the curse that seems to follow the stone claims her too.

The official synopsis reads as follows.

"Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone—whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold—but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness. While combing through her mother’s notes, Thea learns that there’s a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose their sanity. With the threat of the French Revolution looming, Thea is sent to Oxford for her safety, to live with the father who doesn’t know she exists. But in Oxford, there are alchemists after the Stone who don’t believe Thea’s warning about the curse—instead, they’ll stop at nothing to steal Thea’s knowledge of how to create the Stone. But Thea can only run for so long, and soon she will have to choose: create the Stone and sacrifice her sanity, or let the people she loves die"

A Golden Fury is available on October 13.