Welcome to another edition of Must Read Monday!

This feature is where I spotlight older, recent, or upcoming releases I am looking forward to. The lists will include all genres I like to read, everything from picture books to comics, children’s lit to adult fiction!

This week: contemporary young adult lit! First up is With Malice, the upcoming release from popular Canadian YA author Eileen Cook. Turning her hand to the mystery genre, Cook’s latest young adult offering sounds like it has the makings of a surprising and taut thriller…and I adore a well-done contemporary suspense with twists and hooks! Full disclosure here: I’ve had With Malice on my TBR for weeks now, though I very recently had the pleasure of meeting the lovely (and very funny) author at an event! Hearing Eileen talk about With Malice only spiked my eagerness to get my hands on her latest book! Second up is Jeff Zentner‘s debut novel, The Serpent King. Categorized as a contemporary, coming-of-age drama, I have heard and read nothing but solid praise for The Serpent King from authors and reviewers I follow and trust. The description alone grabbed my attention initially, and now after reading so many favorable comments, I cannot wait to sink into this YA read. Here’s to strong contemporary YA lit!

With Malice by Eileen Cook
Expected publication: June 7, 2016 by HMH Books for Young Readers

A read about a teenage girl who wakes up in a hospital bed and cannot remember the last six weeks of her life, including the accident that killed her best friend–only what if the accident wasn’t an accident?

Eighteen-year-old Jill Charron wakes up in a hospital room, leg in a cast, stitches in her face and a big blank canvas where the last 6 weeks should be. She comes to discover she was involved in a fatal accident while on a school trip in Italy three days previous but was jetted home by her affluent father in order to receive quality care. Care that includes a lawyer. And a press team. Because maybe the accident…wasn’t an accident. Wondering not just what happened but what she did, Jill tries to piece together the events of the past six weeks before she loses her thin hold on her once-perfect life.

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
Publication: March 8, 2016 by Crown Books for Young Readers

Dill has had to wrestle with vipers his whole life—at home, as the only son of a Pentecostal minister who urges him to handle poisonous rattlesnakes, and at school, where he faces down bullies who target him for his father’s extreme faith and very public fall from grace.

The only antidote to all this venom is his friendship with fellow outcasts Travis and Lydia. But as they are starting their senior year, Dill feels the coils of his future tightening around him. The end of high school will lead to new beginnings for Lydia, whose edgy fashion blog is her ticket out of their rural Tennessee town. And Travis is happy wherever he is thanks to his obsession with the epic book series Bloodfall and the fangirl who may be turning his harsh reality into real-life fantasy. Dill’s only escapes are his music and his secret feelings for Lydia—neither of which he is brave enough to share. Graduation feels more like an ending to Dill than a beginning. But even before then, he must cope with another ending—one that will rock his life to the core.