21 upcoming YA book releases we can’t wait to read in 2021

My Contrary Mary – Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows

In 2021, the trio who brought us the Lady Janies trilogy – My Lady Jane, My Plain Jane, and My Calamity Jane – will kick off a new series with My Contrary Mary.

Their first trilogy of novels aimed to retell the story of famous Janes from history in new, interesting, and often fantasy-fused ways. (These involved everything from shape-shifting curses to werewolves.) The “Janies” trilogy is both feminist and surprisingly entertaining, and it certainly sounds as though their upcoming series will follow a similar path.

My Contrary Mary will be the first installment n a new trilogy that will tell the stories of similarly influential Marys – Mary, Queen of Scots, Marie Curie, and Mary Mallon (better known in life as Typhoid Mary) – with a dash of the supernatural on top. This first book will reimagine Mary, Queen of Scots as a queen with a dark secret – that she herself is a shapeshifter in a court that considers such things a death sentence.

The official synopsis describes the story as follows.

"Mary is the queen of Scotland and the jewel of the French court. Except when she’s a mouse. Yes, reader, Mary is an Eðian (shapeshifter) in a kingdom where Verities rule. It’s a secret that could cost her a head—or a tail. Luckily, Mary has a confidant in her betrothed, Francis. But after the king meets a suspicious end, things at the gilded court take a treacherous turn. Thrust onto the throne, Mary and Francis are forced to navigate a viper’s nest of conspiracies, traps, and treason. And if Mary’s secret is revealed, heads are bound to roll."

My Contrary Mary is available on June 22.

What are you looking forward to reading in 2021? Sound off in the comments.