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21 exciting new YA book releases arriving in the summer of 2021

By Lacy Baugher

Of Princes and Promises by Sandhya Menon. Image courtesy Simon & Schuster
Of Princes and Promises by Sandhya Menon. Image courtesy Simon & Schuster /
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Any Way the Wind Blows book cover
Any Way the Wind Blows. Image courtesy Wednesday Books /

Any Way the Wind Blows – Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell’s bestselling Simon Snow series is itself an offshoot of her YA novel Fangirl, in which college freshman Cath pens an enormously popular fanfiction based on the vaguely Harry Potter-adjacent series which also happens to be about boy wizards.

Set in the same world described in Fangirl, the series mixes paranormal romance and charming friendship with action and adventure. The books follow the story of Simon Snow (a British boy with magical powers) and his wizarding-school roommate, rival, vampire – and eventual boyfriend, Baz. Simon’s BFF Penelope Bunce and another student named Agatha Wellbelove also make regular appearances.

The third and supposedly final installment is called Any Way the Wind Blows, and will, in theory, see our favorite characters making multiple big life-changing decisions about who they want to become and the lives they want to live.

The official synopsis describes the story in much greater detail.

"In Carry On, Simon Snow and his friends realized that everything they thought they understood about the world might be wrong. And in Wayward Son, they wondered whether everything they understood about themselves might be wrong. In Any Way the Wind Blows, Simon and Baz and Penelope and Agatha have to decide how to move forward. For Simon, that means deciding whether he still wants to be part of the World of Mages — and if he doesn’t, what does that mean for his relationship with Baz? Meanwhile Baz is bouncing between two family crises and not finding any time to talk to anyone about his newfound vampire knowledge. Penelope would love to help, but she’s smuggled an American Normal into London, and now she isn’t sure what to do with him. And Agatha? Well, Agatha Wellbelove has had enough. Any Way the Wind Blows takes the gang back to England, back to Watford, and back to their families for their longest and most emotionally wrenching adventure yet."

Any Way the Wind Blows is available on July 6.

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