A Lake with History, A High School Trial Romance, and More New YA Books for October 21, 2026

Meng Wu, a legendary auction house, is run by Meng Lingxi and her grandmother. The auction house is often called the House of Dreams, but everything unravels the day a traveler brings in a fragment of a soul. Lingxi’s grandmother disappears and spirits have descended upon the auction house.

Things take an even more astonishing turn when two guardians of hell, Yan Jun and Yan Shan, come to Lingxi’s aid and inform her that the auction house actually sits upon the gateway to hell. Oh, and Lingxi’s grandmother served the god of the underworld.

Lingxi then goes with these two guardians in search of her grandmother and the secrets and history hidden within the House of Dreams.

This is the first in a new duology.

If you like time travel stories, this is one for your TBR.

Tia fell in love with Natty two years ago. Their love seemed perfect until it ended tragically. Though Tia’s plans included Columbia, she’s now working as a dog walker in New York City and doing all she can to ignore the future before her.

Then she discovers a hidden tunnel in Central Park that, when she enters, takes her back to the summer of her and Natty. Except every time she goes back to try to change the past, when Tia returns to the present, something else has changed or is gone.

That includes a break for a future she’s longed for and a potential new love story waiting before her. Does she stay in the past or does she work through her grief in the present to unravel what’s next?

Ella Washington’s life is far from easy. Not only is she a Black girl struggling with bipolar disorder, but she is also dealing with someone at her school who wants to make her life harder. Ella’s also just lost her sister.

Mired in grief, Ella doesn’t know how to move forward. But through art, through new friendships, and through a commitment to remember her sister, she’s able to find a way through.

Sidney Cromwell lived in Atlanta until he was forced to move to rural Forsyth County, Georgia. His only desire is to fit in at his new school, but that won’t happen. He’s become a social pariah because of his near-drowning in Lake Lanier, the legendary haunted lake. It’s not the drowning that makes him an outcast; it’s the voices and visions Sidney can’t stop experiencing after the accident.

So he does what he has to. Sidney returns to the lake for answers.

In the lake, he meets the spirits of former residents of Oscarville, the all-Black town that once stood where the man-made lake was created. Those residents want Sidney to remind the people of Forsyth of their history so they can finally get the rest they deserve.

But people don’t want to remember their racist past or legacy and the residents of Oscarville are ready for revenge.

This sounds so good and like it’d be a great read for fans of Kim Johnson’s The Color of a Lie. The publisher’s comps include Internment and She Is a Haunting, too.

Violet’s goals are simple. She’s going to go to Harvard and become a big-shot lawyer. It’s an opportunity to pursue her dreams and help her single dad catch a break.

She’s on track for achieving these goals, too. Violet is a member of her school’s elite law society and has successfully defended her peers against the disciplinary board.

There’s just one person she refuses to defend, though, and that’s Theo. He’s a rich golden boy, and even when Violet’s bribed by other students to take the case and tank it, she won’t do it.

Theo’s not dumb, though. He’s uncovered a secret that Violet wants to keep quiet, and now, he’s managed to manipulate her into defending him. Fine, Violet thinks, but she’s going to play the role of good lawyer while losing evidence and twisting Theo’s story so she doesn’t actually have to defend him. She gets paid no matter what.

But the closer Violet gets to Theo, the more she realizes he might not be the person he seems on the surface. The person he really is may be something she really wants to get to know. Too bad her perfectly laid plans include revenge on him. Maybe it’s not too late for her to change her tune.

Morgan Slaughter, a 17-year-old trans boy, is why his father was put into jail years ago for serial killings. Too bad everyone thinks Morgan is following in his dad’s footsteps, including his mom and the documentary crew that follows his family around.

Morgan thinks he might be down that path, too.

Morgan believes if he unravels the mystery of his dad’s last victim–one who was never identified–he’ll be able to prove to himself and others that he’s not like his dad. But then there’s Felicity, a classmate who knows about Morgan’s childhood and believes Morgan was an accomplice to his father. Felicity insists on helping the investigation or they’ll tell everyone the truth about Morgan’s past.

As Morgan and Felicity become more tightly connected, and as both the film crew and Morgan’s mother become more than he can handle, everything Morgan has tried to control about his past may quickly unravel.

Juliet Ripley doesn’t believe in fairy tales, and that’s why she’s got no problem running a dating show. None of it is real in her mind.

Enter Garrick Walsh. His family owns a fairytale theme park, and he works as a knight. He’s able to put on an act as a shallow character who enjoys breaking people’s hearts.

There’s no question when Juliet and Garrick meet there are sparks. But the problem is neither believes they are there–or that they should pursue those feelings at all.