This column was submitted by Evangeline Cessna, Local History Librarian at the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library.

This week we are featuring new titles in our Young Adult collection.

A Song of Ash and Moonlight is the second book in Claire Legrand’s fantasy series. Finally, the curse looming over the Ashbourne and Bask families has been broken, but Farrin, the eldest Ashbourne daughter has not found peace. Farrin has been the family’s rock ever since her mother abandoned them. She has been busy managing her father’s temper, running the estate, keeping her dangerous musical power in check, and ignoring her own personal needs—grief, rest, relaxation, and, most of all, love. Ryder Bask infuriates Farrin to no end. He’s boorish, arrogant, and handsome. He is also as tired of their feuding parents as Farrin is. They both mask a quiet rage, but they need to work together. Anointed magicians are disappearing even as the Middlemist weakens, and ancient gods are awakening. Farrin and Ryder must work together to rescue stolen loved ones and uncover who is hunting them.

Karen M. McManus has penned the heist thriller Such Charming Liars. Mother-daughter grifter duo Jamie and Kat are setting out to pull their final job. For all of Kat’s life it’s just been the two of them, except for the forty-eight hours when Jamie was married, and Kat had a stepbrother named Liam. But that ended in an epic divorce, and they haven’t seen one another since. Jamie is a jewel thief trying to go straight, but her last job will be at billionaire Ross Sutherland’s birthday party. Unknown to Jamie and Kat, Liam and his father are also in attendance. Liam’s father is a serial scammer who has his eye on Sutherland’s youngest daughter. Sutherland dies unexpectedly at the party and Kat and Liam realize that they too may be in the killer’s sights. These two can’t trust anyone except each other. Or can they? If there’s one thing both Kat and Liam can do, it’s lie—and they learned from the best.

The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry is by Ransom Riggs. Seventeen-year-old Leopold Berry has been seeing some weird things around Lost Angeles lately. A man pops a tooth in a parking meter. A glowing trap door appears in a parking lot. Then there is the cyborg raccoon with his tail on fire that won’t leave Leopold alone. Each of these hallucinatory moments seems to be plucked from a campy 1990s fantasy show called Max’s Adventures in Sunderworld—and that’s because they are. This isn’t a good sign. Young Leopold found VHS tapes of the one and only season just after his beloved mother’s death and became obsessed. He would become lost in the world of Sunder for two reasons: he was grieving his mother, and he didn’t want to continue to be a disappointment to his overbearing father. These visions have come on the worst day and at the worst possible time. Together with his friend Emmet they discover that Sunderland is much more than an old television show; it’s a real place and it’s in danger.

Finally, we have two books in the Bluford High Series by Anne E. Schraff. In A Matter of Trust, Darcy Wills and Brisana Meeks used to be friends in grade school, but now they have come to Bluford High and all that has changed. Darcy began hanging around the “zeros” –a group of students that Brisana hates. This has turned the former friends into bitter rivals and the tension between them is palpable. Darcy manages to stay calm and ignores her old friend’s daily taunting. When she learns that Brisana is after her boyfriend, Hakeem, Darcy knows that she must act, but what should she do?

In Until We Meet Again, Darcy Wills is looking forward to the best summer ever, but her carefully laid plans fall apart after a series of unexpected events. First, she receives some horrible news that threatens to rip her boyfriend, Hakeem away from her. Then, someone new enters her life, and Darcy feels anxious and confused. Before the end of the summer, Darcy will certainly have to make some choices that will change her life and her world forever.