Nova Ren Suma is a fiction writer from the Hudson Valley now living in New York City. She has been awarded fiction fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the MacDowell Colony.
The Lost Queen (2025) Aimee Phan "A fearlessly told epic tale with a gleaming modern edge. Aimee Phan brings an enthralling legend to brilliant life, exposes and explores the tangled bonds of sisterhood, and does it all with the mesmerizing power of her sharply honed prose. I am now impatiently awaiting the sequel."
Honeysuckle and Bone (2025) (Honeysuckle and Bone, book 1) Trisha Tobias "Immersive, beguiling, and teeming with sinister secrets, Honeysuckle and Bone is a tense coil of a mystery that crackles with energy and haunting, vivid beauty. The voice is magnetic, the setting is undeniably alive, and the ghosts are insistent with devastating truths. This is a gorgeous, pulse-pounding debut."
The Wilderness of Girls (2024) Madeline Claire Franklin "A searing fairy tale that blooms with ferocious magic and mystery. To all readers like me who revel in the wondrous, ominous, and strange: you have just found your next great literary obsession."
The Vanishing Station (2024) Ana Ellickson "A spellbinding thriller full of fantastical feats of imagination and perilous, world-traveling magic. At each breathless stop on the journey of reading this book I was struck by vivid moments of romance, deception, and grave danger as Ruby does all she can to save her father, her home, and herself."
Clever Creatures of the Night (2024) Samantha Mabry "A riveting whiplash of a mystery set in a landscape full of threat and unsettling beauty. Clever Creatures of the Night ignites Samantha Mabry's sinister skill in surrounding you in rising unease until you're left trusting no one and nothing. I couldn't put it down."
The Insatiable Volt Sisters (2023) Rachel Eve Moulton "A ferociously reimagined fairy tale of cursed birth rights, guarded family history, and the lure of a mythic, monstrous place called home. The voices of the Volt sisters and every woman who forms the furious heart of this story gleam on the page, creating something deeply exhilarating and terrifyingly close to true."
What's Coming to Me (2022) Francesca Padilla "Propulsive, fearless, and filled with heart-aching revelations, What's Coming to Me is a beautiful debut by a scorching new voice in YA fiction. This is a thrill ride of a coming-of-age story, one that grabbed me by the throat but most of all moved me to the core."
Our Crooked Hearts (2022) Melissa Albert "Melissa Albert's signature storytelling is once again pure sorcery. This book has everything I love: girls with tremendous power at their fingertips, mothers with unforgivable secrets, horrors left on the doorstep, and best of all, writing that sings and stuns. To those with a crookedness inside you: You are about to be enthralled."
Trashlands (2021) Alison Stine "Alison Stine’s visionary novel Trashlands is beautiful and painful at once, much like the devastating world of the future that she sees to the page here. I was left in awe of her imagination and deeply moved by her brave and unforgettable characters."
Gem & Dixie (2017) Sara Zarr "GEM & DIXIE is a beautiful, poignant, and ultimately hopeful story from one of the finest YA authors writing today. An exploration of the complicated love and loyalty between sisters that is at once profoundly moving and unflinchingly real."
I'll Give You the Sun (2014) Jandy Nelson "This is a stunning, artfully woven story. My heart burst open at the blazing, unforgettable end. Magnificent."
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (2013) (Between, book 1) April Genevieve Tucholke "Like something between a disturbed dream and a wicked fantasy, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea will slip under your skin and capture the darkest corners of your imagination. This is a hypnotic, terrifying debut that won't soon escape my mind."
