Teen Scene
August 2025

Recent Releases
The Tournament
by Rebecca Barrow

Unlike most boarding schools, Gardner-Bahnsen School for Girls teaches survival classes and hosts a wilderness competition for seniors. To win, scholarship student Max, her ex-best friend Nora, and new student Teddy will provoke each other and spill dangerous secrets. This intensifying thriller will draw fans of dark academia.
Among Ghosts
by Rachel Hartman

Seven years ago, Charl and his mother fled to the safe haven of St. Muckle's. Life is peaceful, until a ghost, a murderer, a plague, and a dragon threaten the town in quick succession. This richly detailed fantasy is set in the world of author Rachel Hartman's popular Seraphina series.
These Vengeful Wishes
by Vanessa Montalban

When aspiring artist Ceci moves to her mother's eccentric small town of Santa Aguas, she forms a strange affinity with the specter of a wronged witch, learns her mother's secrets, and must prevent wishings from being used for wrong reasons.
Skipshock
by Caroline O'Donoghue

Margo is a troubled schoolgirl heading to a new boarding school in a new city on a train when she meets Moon, a salesman, and their fates become linked as she must pass as a traveling salesman moving between worlds.
The Grove
by Brooks Whitney

Set in a struggling 1960s Florida town, two sisters, fifteen-year-old Pip and seventeen-year-old Sissy, share a close bond, but after the annual carnival leaves, Sissy grows distant and reveals a shocking secret, thrusting the sisters and their friend Silas into a life-changing, desperate situation.
Dark Academia
Sinister scholars, secret societies, deadly conspiracies...no matter the storyline, you can count on dark academia for plenty of twists, as well as unsettling, ominous vibes.
 
Curious Tides
by Pascale Lacelle

Emory and her best friend Baz unravel the secrets behind the strange ritual at Aldryn College for Lunar Magics that left seven students dead -- including Baz’s sister -- and imbued Emory with powerful magic. This fast-paced dark academia mystery opens a duology. Read-alikes: Kayla Cottingham’s My Dearest Darkest; Kate Alice Marshall’s The Narrow.
The Library of Shadows
by Rachel Moore

Enrolling in the third most haunted school in the country in the hope of finding her dead father, Este Logano instead finds Mateo, an annoying real ghost, and soon discovers that following her father's footsteps might be more dangerous than she ever anticipated.
A Study in Drowning
by Ava Reid

Effy Sayre has won the opportunity to redesign the home of late author Emrys Myrddin. At the crumbling estate, Effy meets literature scholar Preston, and the longer they stay, the more they wonder if the evil Fairy King Myrddin wrote about isn't actually fictional. Read-alikes: A.B. Poranek's Where the Dark Stands Still; Anna Bright's The Hedgewitch of Foxhall.
Tender Beasts
by Liselle Sambury

Sunny Behre, a student at the posh Toronto private school bearing her family’s name, embraces her role as the golden child. But her loyalty is put to the test when clearing her brother’s name in a murder case means uncovering family secrets. Read-alikes: Kosoko Jackson’s The Forest Demands Its Due; Jumata Emill’s The Black Queen.
The Invocations
by Krystal Sutherland

Zara and Jude need magic to solve their problems, so they seek out Emer, a witch bent on revenge and dedicated to women in need. As Emer's former clients start dying mysteriously, the trio fights back to find the killer and fix their lives. Read-alikes: Georgia Bowers' Mark of the Wicked; Kate J. Armstrong's Nightbirds.
 
Contact your librarian for more great books for age 14 and up!
Wright Memorial Public Library
1776 Far Hills Avenue, Oakwood, Ohio 45419
(937) 294-7171

https://www.wrightlibrary.org/