As the summer of 2025 approaches, readers of all ages have plenty to be excited about with a stellar lineup of new young adult releases hitting shelves. While marketed to teens, these compelling stories attract diverse audiences with their authentic voices, innovative plots, and universal themes. This summer’s YA offerings promise to deliver unforgettable characters and page-turning plots. Here are ten of the most eagerly anticipated YA books that should be on every reader’s radar this summer.
Audre and Bash are Just Friends by Tia Williams
Audre is the model student as the junior class president, debate team captain, and is a shoo-in for Stanford. To wow admissions counselors, she decides to write a self-help book, which should be a breeze. That is, until she has to spend her summer in a tiny apartment with her mother, stepfather, and baby sister, causing her focus and ideas to go out the window. To help her get some inspiration, she hires Bash, a senior at their school who is known for his wild and mysterious adventures. They agree to complete five dares for the book and then go their separate ways, but as they spend more time together, they wonder if they can stay friends or become something more.
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The Lost Queen by Aimee Phan
When outcast sophomore Jolie Lam saves popular Huong Pham during a supernatural vision, her lonely high school existence transforms overnight. As the girls grow closer, they discover shocking abilities—telepathy, fluency in Vietnamese, and haunting premonitions—revealing their true identities as reincarnations of Vietnam’s legendary Trung Sisters. Suddenly thrust into a world of ancient magic and divine power, Jolie and Huong must recover their immortal elements through dreams and mystical portals before their enemies find them. With betrayal lurking at every turn, Jolie must discern truth from deception as she fights for those she loves and the fate of the world itself.
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You Started It by Jackie Khalilieh
Type-A perfectionist Jamie Taher-Foster’s senior year implodes when her boyfriend Ben dumps her after three years together. The carefully crafted Toronto bucket list? Their planned magical night at Winter Formal? All gone in an instant. Finding him with Olivia Chen the very next day twists the knife deeper. Enter Axel Dahini—younger, TikTok-famous, and owner of the bicycle Jamie just crushed. Despite his laid-back vibe clashing with her anxiety-driven planning, Jamie sees an opportunity. A fake relationship with Axel might be just the ticket to make Ben jealous enough to come back. But as Jamie and Axel bond over their shared Arab heritage, she begins questioning whether crossing Ben off her list is really what her heart needs after all.
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All We Lost Was Everything by Sloan Harlow
Trapped in a small-town existence after her father’s tragic death, River Santos finds her life stalled between grief and monotony. Working shifts at the local diner, she clings to the stability provided by her aunt and best friend Tawny while her mother remains mysteriously absent. When the attractive regular customer Logan suddenly notices her, River glimpses a potential escape from her pain. But complications arise—her unresolved history with ex-boyfriend Noah and Tawny’s suspicious disapproval of both men cloud what should be a simple romance. Everything changes when River discovers shocking new details about her father’s fatal house fire. What seemed like a devastating accident now appears deliberately set. As River unravels this deadly mystery, she realizes the flames of the past are still burning—and someone close to her might be harboring murderous secrets behind their comforting smile.
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Time After Time by Mikki Daughtry
Drawn to an aging Victorian house her entire life, nineteen-year-old Libby makes the impulsive decision to purchase it with her college fund. Within its weathered walls, she discovers Elizabeth Post’s century-old journal chronicling a forbidden romance with her maid Patricia that ended in tragedy. When Tish—a vibrant, cash-strapped student—feels an inexplicable pull toward the house and knocks on Libby’s door, the connection between them is immediate and electric. As they restore the home together, their relationship deepens in parallel with Elizabeth and Patricia’s unfolding story. The women begin noticing eerie similarities between past and present: shared phrases, familiar gestures, and unexplained knowledge of the house.
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Nobody In Particular by Sophie Gonzales
Princess Rosemary of Henland works tirelessly to repair her scandal-damaged reputation at Bramppath College. Enter Danni, a talented pianist on scholarship whose authenticity instantly captivates the guarded royal. Despite their different worlds, the two grow closer until whispers of their relationship reach beyond campus walls. When rumors threaten to create another royal scandal, palace officials make their position clear: this connection must end. Caught between duty and desire, Rose faces an impossible choice. Standing together means risking everything—her fragile public image, her royal standing, and possibly her future. But walking away might mean losing the first person who sees beyond her title to her true self.
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Summer Girls by Jennifer Dugan
Townie Cass has one dating policy: no summer girls. Working-class and proud, she resents the wealthy seasonal visitors who invade her beach town each year, treating locals like background scenery in their privileged lives. Birdie embodies everything Cass despises—daughter of a real estate tycoon and an influencer mom, with a talent for trouble. After wrecking her boyfriend’s luxury car, Birdie’s punishment is a summer with her stern father and a humbling job as a parking attendant, supervised by none other than Cass. Forced together, the girls discover unexpected common ground beneath their surface differences. As their connection deepens into something undeniable, they face the ultimate challenge—can their summer romance survive their vastly different worlds, or will it fade like the season that brought them together?
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The Blood Phoenix by Amber Chen
Two years after fleeing the Engineer’s Guild, Ying’s retreat from politics ends when the Blood Phoenix pirates devastate the Nine Isles, forcing her to reunite with High Commander Ye-yang. Together they hunt the elusive mastermind controlling the pirate fleet. Meanwhile, Ying’s sister Nian awaits her political marriage to Ye-yang in the capital. Befriending the fourteenth prince Ye-kan, she discovers both her aptitude for governance and a dangerous conspiracy threatening the High Command from within. As enemies close in from all sides, the sisters face devastating choices and betrayals. With the Nine Isles on the brink of destruction, their fight for survival may cost them everything they love.
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A Forgery Of Fate by Elizabeth Lim
When her father disappears at sea, Truyan Saigas turns to art forgery to support her family, using her unique ability to paint prophetic images of the future. But this talent isn’t enough to escape the gangsters demanding payment for her mother’s gambling debts. Desperate, Tru accepts a marriage contract with a mysterious dragon lord who offers protection for her family and clues about her father’s fate. The catch: she must join him in his underwater palace and create treasonous paintings capable of overthrowing the Dragon King. As Tru’s brushstrokes weave dangerous futures, she questions her enigmatic husband’s true motives—and her role in the coming storm.
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We Won’t All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall
Two years after a mall shooting, Mercy Gray remains haunted. A bullet fragment lingers in her back. Medical debt crushes her family. Guilt consumes her for ignoring her sister’s warnings about the shooter. Celebrity billionaire Damien Dare offers an escape. Compete on his survival show. Win enough money for her sister’s college. Mercy can’t say no. The remote filming location seems off. No crew appears. Gates lock without warning. Then a contestant dies. What looked like an accident quickly turns sinister. More deaths follow. Mercy realizes they’re pawns in someone’s deadly game. No cameras. No help coming. Just desperate contestants fighting to survive whatever—or whoever—is hunting them.
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Hit Me With Your Best Charm by Lillie Vale
Every year since her father’s mysterious disappearance, Nova has tried harder to suppress her belief in magic and myth—along with her inconvenient crush on Kiara Mistry, the girl she pretends to hate. Kiara seems to have everything: luck, popularity, and a talent for winning over every crush Nova sets her heart on first. When Nova accidentally places a hex on Kiara during the Fall Festival, a series of escalating misfortunes threatens Kiara’s life. Desperate to save her, Kiara’s former crushes (now her best friends) propose a desperate solution—finding the legendary wishing well that might break the curse. The only person who can guide them there is Nova, forcing her to confront both her feelings for Kiara and the magical heritage she’s been denying. As they embark on this perilous journey, Nova realizes this quest might not only save Kiara but also uncover the truth about her missing father.
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