February 2026 list by K. Pearson |
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All the Way Around the Sun
by XIXI Tian
Stella Chen’s life ground to a halt when her brother unexpectedly passed away a year ago. Raised together by their grandmother for years in the Chinese countryside before rejoining their parents in the United States, his absence destroys the connective tissue in her family. With another jarring move her senior year, from rural Illinois to unfamiliar surroundings in San Diego, she is left alone and adrift in her family’s suffocating silence and the void of unanswered questions her brother left behind.
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Blood Circus: Ice Moon
by Camila Victoire
Return to the untamed wilderness where survival demands sacrifice in the gripping sequel to Blood Circus. Ava may have survived the deadly Blood Race at Circo, but on human soil, she is a fugitive, hiding her true identity for fear of being hunted. If she can't complete the Klujn Blood Race--the real one, in the wild--before the Ice Moon rises, she faces permanent exile. On the run, she learns that Grouse, the ruthless autocrat, holds her adoptive mother captive. Ava's only chance at true freedom and to save those she loves is to bring Grouse the heart of Warwick, Circo's king--the same mad king who enslaved her and who has terrorized humanity for decades.
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Candace, the Universe, and Everything
by Sherri L. Smith
Candace discovers a portal in her locker that connects her across time and space with two other women who also had the same locker as girls, and the three go on to investigate the origins of the portal.
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Cast vs. Crew Act 1: Setting the Stage
by Lindsay Champion
As stage manager for the middle school spring musical, eighth-grader Ella struggles to prevent the feud between the cast and crew from derailing the show.
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Coldwire
by Chloe Gong
A dystopian story following a young soldier who is framed for a political assassination and must team up with her country's most wanted terrorist to clear her name.
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A Dark Forgetting
by Kristen Ciccarelli
No matter how far she runs, the forest always comes for Emeline Lark. She is haunted by its mysterious disappearances and the tales of fae magic lurking in its depths. But when her grandfather goes missing, the stories Emeline has always scoffed at suddenly seem less foolish.
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The Dysfunctional Family's Guide to Murder
by Kate Emery
A mystery-loving teen finally gets a chance to solve a real-life crime. But solving a murder is complicated when all the prime suspects are related to you... 14-year-old Ruth was expecting a few fights on her family's vacation at their remote farmhouse. But she wasn't expecting a murder. And death by typewriter wasn't quite how she thought her step-grandmother, GG, would meet her end. As an avid reader of mystery novels, Ruth is more than a little excited to have a real mystery to solve.
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Fall of the Fireflies
by Guadalupe García McCall
Twins Delia and Velia plan the launch of their Magic-Twin Tour with their father's Tejano band, a sudden supernatural attack on their father derails the family. Papá is delirious with a susto, a fright so awful that it allows a mysterious supernatural being to begin slowly sucking the life out of him. As the twins hunt down his attacker, a wider world of borderland monsters opens up to them. Each twin has her own decision to make, with her own guide from the Aztec pantheon--Quetzalcoatl guiding Velia, and Xolotl advising Delia. Soon the girls must choose: Should they follow a divine mandate to become monster hunters for the goddess of death?
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Final Cut
by Olivia Worley
Eighteen-year-old Hazel Lejeune lands the lead role in a slasher film set in the town where her father, the Pine Springs Slasher, was convicted of a series of murders, but when real killings start occurring on set, she must uncover whether a copycat is at work or if the wrong killer is behind bars.
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Hekate: The Witch
by Nikita Gill
Orphaned by the war between the Titans and Olympians, Hekate is raised in the Underworld by Styx and Hades, and after discovering her powers and ascending to Goddess status, she becomes the key to ending an immortal war that threatens both the Underworld and Mount Olympus.
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I Killed the King
by Rebecca Mix
After a decade of war, the kingdoms of Avendell and Istellia have finally agreed to peace. As nobles and magic wielders from both countries arrive at remote Castle Avendell for a historic all-night masquerade to celebrate, King Costis summons an unlikely group to his chambers: the crown prince, his Istellian bride-to-be, his personal guard, a wild beast tamer, and the palace's questionable new healer. But before Costis can reveal why he has gathered them, the castle goes dark.
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The Incredibly Human Henson Blayze
by Derrick Barnes
Thirteen-year-old Henson Blayze strives to be seen as more than just a football player in his predominantly white small town of Great Mountain, Mississippi, but when a horrific incident compels him to speak out, he must choose between playing football and seeking justice.
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Into the Deep Blue
by Jennifer E. Archer
Nick and Fiona are best friends bound by shared grief--both lost their mothers in senior year and have since leaned on each other for emotional support. Though they insist their relationship is purely platonic, there's an undercurrent of unresolved feelings. Fiona accidentally reveals more than she intended, threatening their delicate friendship. As they embark on a long-planned weekend trip, Fiona seeks closure on the anniversary of her mom's death, while Nick grapples with his disbelief in happy endings. The trip forces them to confront their grief, their bond, and the possibility of love if they can find the courage to be honest with each other.
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A Match Made in Hell
by Charlotte Ingham
After dying unexpectedly, Willow White strikes a deal with Hell's ruler, King Sath, to earn her way back to life by resisting the seven sins in a hell-like realm, but as she faces demonic trials and unexpected feelings for Sath, she must choose between returning to the life she lost or staying to stop a deadly uprising.
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The Others
by Cheryl Isaacs
Only weeks ago, Avery pulled her best friend Key from ... deadly black water. The cycle from her family's Kanyen'kehâa ka (Mohawk) stories is finally broken, the black water is now a harmless lake, and her problems are far from supernatural. All Avery wants is a normal summer with Key, her now-boyfriend. The trauma, however, casts a long shadow over the town. Some victims never returned.
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Right Where We Belong
by Farrah Penn
When a wish to stop her boarding school from closing results in a visitor from nineteenth century London, Delaney must work with her rival, Sumner, to return the handsome time-traveler to where he belongs.
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Seven for a Secret
by Mary E. Roach
Seventeen-year-old Nev, the only girl to return from a group home where eight girls disappeared, embarks on a relentless quest for answers, peace, and revenge when the men responsible for the home begin turning up dead.
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Showstopper
by Lily Anderson
Seventeen-year-old Faye and her friends find themselves thrust into a real-life horror show when a series of murderous attacks plague their theater camp's cast and crew.
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A Time Traveler's History of Tomorrow
by Kendall Kulper
A time-bending, supernatural love story where a prickly young woman and a carefree stranger travel back in time to the Worlds Fair and must save the universe after accidentally destroying it in the first place.
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The Wicked Lies of Habren Faire
by Anna Fiteni
When her sister vanishes into the woods leaving only an iron ring behind, it is up to Sabrina to find her by venturing into fairyland.
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Unending
by Ivelisse Housman
Isolde Graygrove has always put her changeling twin sister first. But ever since Seelie returned from the faerie realms with a newfound confidence in her magic and secrets she's keeping even from her twin, Isolde can't help but wonder: who is she, if not her sister's protector? Seelie knows there are some problems even magic can't solve. Like the distance between her and Isolde, the terror of her growing and unfamiliar emotions for Raze, or the fact that the world's last firedrake has imprinted on her like a baby duckling.
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