14 must read YA book releases to kick off summer right this June
By Lacy Baugher
June 2021 release: Violet Ghosts – Leah Thomas
From William C. Morris and Edgar Award finalist Leah Thomas comes an ethereal, thought-provoking YA tale about a teen who can see ghosts and helps them avenge their deaths.
Violet Ghosts follows the story of Dani, a trans teen who can both see and talk to ghosts and whose mother has moved them both to Michigan to escape an abusive relationship. His best friend – a ghost named Sarah – is an angry teenager who hates men as a result of having been killed by one. But when the pair discover another ghost named Patricia, lying dazed in the woods, they decide they need to find a way to help the ghosts of murdered women.
But as Dani begins to develop a friendship with his taciturn, equally haunted classmate Seiji, he realizes that he and Sarah may be keeping one another from finding peace.
Equal parts chilling, raw, and emotionally resonant, this ghost story for the #MeToo era is about reclaiming trauma and finding peace among true friends.
The official synopsis describes the story as follows.
"Dani’s best friend, Sarah, is a ghost. But maybe that’s normal when you’ve spent your childhood running from an abusive parent. Dani and Sarah might be more than friends, though Dani dares not say so. Dani is afraid that if he tells Sarah he’s trans, she won’t bother haunting him anymore. Sarah’s got good reason to distrust boys, having been strangled by one. After Sarah and Dani come across another ghost haunted by her own brutal murder, they set out to bring peace and safety to spirits like her. But when an old rival reenters Dani’s life, their unexpected friendship gives Dani a strange new feeling of belonging. As Dani starts to find his place in the living world, he’ll need to let go of his ghosts."
Violet Ghosts is available on June 22.