11 must-read YA book releases to read by the pool this July
By Lacy Baugher
July 2021 release: Small Favors – Erin A. Craig
From the bestselling author of House of Salt and Sorrows comes a mesmerizing and chilling novel that’s The Village meets Needful Things about what lurks in the shadows of the people you think you know.
Beekeeper’s daughter Ellerie Downing lives in Amity Falls, a quintessential small American town, except for the fact that it borders a dark forest that legends claim used to contain devils and whose founders strung bells along its edges to keep the monsters out.
But when a supply train goes missing – Craig’s story is deliciously vague about when precisely this tale tales place – and shortages of necessary goods become rampant, the townsfolk assume that the monsters have returned and turn against one another in sinister (if predictable) ways.
Things worsen as strange events begin to take place in town – deformed livestock, ruined crops — and residents begin to sabotage one another. When her parents are called away on an emergency, Ellerie must protect her farm and family from monsters of multiple varieties – with the help of a broken-nosed trapper who might be everything she ever wanted.
The official synopsis describes the story in more detail.
"Ellerie Downing lives in the quiet town of Amity Falls in the Blackspire Mountain range–five narrow peaks stretching into the sky like a grasping hand, bordered by a nearly impenetrable forest from which the early townsfolk fought off the devils in the woods. To this day, visitors are few and rare. But when a supply party goes missing, some worry that the monsters that once stalked the region have returned. As fall turns to winter, more strange activities plague the town. They point to a tribe of devilish and mystical creatures who promise to fulfill the residents’ deepest desires, however grand and impossible, for just a small favor. But their true intentions are much more sinister, and Ellerie finds herself in a race against time before all of Amity Falls, her family, and the boy she loves go up in flames."
Small Favors is available on July 27.