Teen Book Lists

Don't Let the Forest In meets The Whispering Dark in a queer YA cult horror following a recently diagnosed autistic teen who becomes enmeshed in a community of outcasts harboring sinister secrets.

"One of the best horror novels of the year, full stop. Haunting, heartfelt, and downright creepy." --Kamilah Cole, bestselling author of So Let Them Burn

After a meltdown in her school cafeteria prompts an unwanted autism diagnosis, Cassie Davis moves back to her hometown in upstate New York, where her mom hopes the familiarity will allow Cassie to feel normal again. Cassie's never truly felt normal anywhere, but she does crave the ease she used to have with her old friends. 

Problem is that her friends aren't so eager to welcome her back into the fold. They extend an olive branch by inviting her on their backpacking trip to Hollow Ridge, in the upper reaches of the Adirondacks. But when a fight breaks out their first night, Cassie wakes to a barren campsite--her friends all gone. 

With severe weather approaching and nearing sensory overload, Cassie is saved by a boy named Kaleb, who whisks her away to a compound of artists and outcasts he calls the Roost. As Kaleb tends to her injuries, Cassie begins to feel--for the first time in her life--that she can truly be herself. But as the days pass, strange happenings around the Roost make Cassie question her instincts. Noises in the trees grow louder, begging the question: Are the dangers in the forest, on the trail, or in the Roost itself? 

In a world where autistic characters rarely get to be the hero of their own stories, Cassie Davis's one-step-back, two-steps-forward journey to unmasking makes Hollow as much a love letter to neurodiversity as it is a haunting tale you'll want to read with the lights on.

Read if You Love:

• Don't Go in the Woods
• Deadly Road Trips
• CottageGORE
• Malevolent Masks
• Cults
• Nerd-core
• Wound-tending
• First Love

For Bo and her siblings, the underground fight club may finally provide escape from life with an abusive uncle ― but only if she can win.

Never again. That's what seventeen-year-old Bo Clark has promised her two younger siblings ever since they were put in separate foster homes―a situation that nearly turned deadly for her little brother, and that they have vowed never to repeat. Bo will do anything to keep that promise. Even if it means enduring the abuse of Uncle Jack, their new guardian. When Jack discovers that Bo has a talent for boxing, he signs her up for an underground fight club tournament, which could bring in enough money for her to move out with her siblings as soon as she turns eighteen.

But the ring is a brutal place, and when Bo's cutman is arrested, Jack is forced to bring a new one onto the team. Liam turns out to be a schoolmate of Bo's, and even as the two of them grow closer, she worries that he will go to the authorities if he ever finds out Jack is hurting her.

As Bo makes her way closer to the big prize, Jack starts to set his sights beyond the tournament, and in an explosive finale, the violence moves outside the ring, putting everything Bo loves at risk.

A teen tries to save her quickly gentrifying neighborhood—and make her cynical partner in festival-planning believe in love—in this “sweet, feel-good” (School Library Journal, starred review) opposites-attract romance perfect for fans of Lynn Painter and Sandhya Menon.

Sana Merali is a certified hopeless romantic.

It’s inevitable when she literally lives on Love Street, a cute side-street full of mom-and-pop shops and cozy apartments. With her florist mother, her part-time job at a vintage shop, and her adorably curated wardrobe, Sana knows she’s what meet-cutes are made of—and it’s only a matter of time until her own HEA.

When the neighborhood is threatened by new developments, however, her plans for love get pushed to the backburner as she and her neighbors rally to host a festival that will finally put the neighborhood on everyone’s radar. Because what better way to get people to fall in love with Love Street?

Unfortunately, Miles Desai is also on the planning committee. Miles is contrary, judgmental, and…anti-romance. His hard stance on love inspires Sana with another goal for the summer: to matchmake Miles and knock the cynicism right out of him.

But as her set-up for Miles starts to actually work, Sana realizes that happily-ever-afters, for herself and for her street, aren’t that easy to come by.

Solving her best friend's murder means infiltrating a secret society, resisting a forbidden love, and running from a vengeful ghost in this sophomore novel by the author of Together We Rot.

“An intoxicating blend of romance and horror, darkness and wit. With haunts and twists that leap off the page, this was a rabbit hole I was happy to fall down.” —Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Study in Drowning

Violet Harper knows her best friend was murdered. Even if everyone else has labeled her death a “freak accident,” Vi is sure she’d been trying to tell her something right before she died. Cryptic messages about her friend’s elite boarding school, her whirlwind romance, and the mysterious secret society she was entangled in all point to a more sinister fate.

So, Violet does what no one else seems willing to do: She transfers to the same fancy school to dig into the society’s murky history and find out what really happened to her friend. She knows the truth might not be pretty, but what she doesn’t bargain for is the handsome boy at the center of it all—Calvin Lockwell, the brother of her prime suspect and descendant of the school’s founder. He’s obnoxious and privileged, and Violet can’t deny their haunting attraction. It soon becomes clear his family is hiding a dark secret that may not be of this world, and suddenly Violet’s following her friend’s doomed footsteps down the rabbit hole. Even as details emerge of a deadly curse plaguing the school, she can’t escape her true feelings for Calvin. But loving him may be the last thing she ever does.

Clown in a Cornfield meets The Cabin in this twisty, blood-curdling delight from acclaimed author Kat Ellis about a group of rivals stranded in an abandoned house that seems to have its own plans for them.

When Haden Romero and her rival, Deacon Rex--alongside their bands, including Haden's ex, Cairo--are stranded on their way to a rock festival, she thinks missing the gig is the worst thing that could happen.

She's wrong.

Marooned in treacherous swamplands with no way out, the group stumbles upon an eerie, decaying house. It seems like a safe haven, a place to wait out the storm.

The house, however, isn't just abandoned--it's been waiting for them.

Bodies begin to pile up. The walls start to close in. Twisted secrets come to light. And unless Haden and the others can survive long enough to escape, the house will claim them--forever.

True horror in the most fun sense of the word, The Devouring Light will have readers on the edge of their seats, bracing themselves for jump scares, flinching with every plot twist, and--most importantly--reading with the lights on.

• Perfect for Halloween reading
• Ideal for fans of the supernatural
• For teens who love dark and scary stories

From bestselling author Guadalupe García McCall comes the first book in the Seasons of Sisterhood trilogy, in which twins Velia and Delia take on a divine assignment to be monster-hunting warrior women and save their father's life.

From Pura Belpré Award--winning author Guadalupe García McCall comes the first in the Seasons of Sisterhood trilogy: a reimagining of Sophocles' Antigone set in the world of her bestselling Summer of the Mariposas.

As fifteen-year-old twins Delia and Velia plan the launch of their Magic-Twin Tour with their father's Tejano band, a sudden supernatural attack on their father derails the family. Papá is delirious with a susto, a fright so awful that it allows a mysterious supernatural being to begin slowly sucking the life out of him.

As the twins hunt down his attacker, a wider world of borderland monsters opens up to them. Each twin has her own decision to make, with her own guide from the Aztec pantheon--Quetzalcoatl guiding Velia, and Xolotl advising Delia. Soon the girls must choose: Should they follow a divine mandate to become monster hunters for the goddess of death?

Can the sisters obey the will of the gods while saving their father's life? Anything can happen within the magical realm of the borderlands.

A thoughtful and gripping exposé of the troubled teen industry, this supernatural thriller explores how a haunted past collides with a traumatized presentto reveal truths that were meant to stay hidden.

Welcome to The Farm.

Hazel Perez thinks her school project on the abandoned Oakwell Farms School for Girls—the Farm, as it’s known to locals—will be just another assignment. But after a late-night research trip ends with her falling unconscious, she awakens with a desire for revenge that isn’t her own.

Desperate to free herself from these sudden violent urges—and the haunting visions of an unknown girl she sees in the mirror—Hazel decides to investigate.

As she delves deeper into Oakwell Farms’ past, Hazel discovers theharrowing experiences of the girls who were once forced to live under thewatch of sinister men and encounters the spirits who still linger there. With the help of some unlikely allies, Hazel must navigate a treacherous path of corruption, history, and the supernatural to bring peace to the restless spirits and learn the truth about her family’s involvement.

Jennifer's Body meets Heartstopper in this terrifying, tender, and bitingly hilarious supernatural horror about a boy who must save his best friend from a demon that wants to steal his heart--literally.

Ren says he's in love, but Colin knows better.

Sure, he can't remember much about how it all began. But he remembers dancing at a club he and Ren were too young to dance in. He remembers the boys who harassed them on their way home. He remembers a ghost emerging from the trees, and a white hand reaching for Ren through a thick fog. What Colin can't remember is what happened next. Only two things are clear to him: Ren is different now, and the new guy vying for his heart is not who he claims to be.

With the help of two unlikely allies and a cranky old medium, Colin must learn to conquer his self-doubt and save his best friend from a love that could cost him his life.

Equal parts campy and bewitching, Corey Liu's debut YA novel explores predation, isolation, and what happens when a childhood dream of fairytale romance turns into a deadly nightmare.

May the best witch win in this sapphic enemies-to-lovers romcom, where rival witches hex for the affections of the new boy in school... but are vexed by their interest in each other.

Welcome to Thornhaven, a quaint coastal town where witches hide in plain sight. 

Lily Allerton is descended from Thornhaven's most illustrious magical family. When her tarot cards tell her that acquiring a boyfriend is essential for a successful senior year, she decides to do whatever it takes to bag the cute new boy at school--including overcoming her total lack of interest in him. Determined to make her parents proud, appear "normal" (the fact that she's never liked a boy is a closely guarded secret), and stay on top of the popular-kid food chain, future valedictorian Lily makes sure that nothing stands in the way of her goals.

But Chrysanthemum Quinn might. 

When Chrys moved to town three years ago, she had high hopes that she'd no longer be the outcast with weird powers--hopes that Lily quickly dashed by ostracizing her from the other witches at school. She was too poor, too grunge, and too sarcastic for Lily's tastes, with a major resting witch face. Nothing like a proper Thornhaven witch. Since then, she and Lily have despised each other and competed relentlessly. Chrys is going to beat Lily for valedictorian--and if Lily wants the new boy, then Chrys is going to win him first. 


But when Lily's and Chrys's attempts to hex each other create a curse that threatens the town, they'll have to put aside their animosity to stop it... and reckon with some deeply buried emotions. Because breaking the curse will take more than magic--it'll take acknowledging that it's not the boy either of them wants. This fresh, playful, witchy romcom from USA Today Bestselling author Tori Anne Martin (This Spells Disaster) is sure to appeal to fans of sapphic charmers like I Kissed Shara Wheeler and She Gets the Girl.

Finalist for the 2025 National Book Award for Young People's Literature

From the critically acclaimed author of All the Fighting Parts comes an empowering and defiant novel in verse in which a teen poet grapples with an unplanned pregnancy and determines what happens to her body in a world that wants to take the choice away from her.

Seventeen-year-old Truth Bangura wants nothing more than to know a life beyond her hometown. Writing and performing is her only solace in a life overwhelmed by a drifting relationship with her best friend, an emotionally turbulent home environment, and the reality that her below average grades make her true dream--escaping her mother's grasp after graduation--uncertain.

When Truth learns she's pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, she makes one decision she's finally sure about: an abortion.

Determined to move forward, Truth turns to the pages in her notebook with the support of her slam poetry team--including the poet with a voice smooth as summer jazz, who's been catching her eye during practice.

At an open mic night, Truth finally gains the courage to perform a piece that dives into her rocky relationship with her mother-and reveals the choice she never told her. But when a video of Truth's performance is posted online and starts going viral, her decision quickly becomes everyone's business-including her mother's.

Told through searing free-verse, journal entries, and interspersed fill-in-the-blank poetry prompts, Hannah V. Sawyerr's Truth Is reminds us there is always a choice. There is always hope. And there is always a way forward.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • She has always known the rules: Never resurrect anything larger than the palm of her hand. But that was before her sister died. . . .

The stunning hardcover of And the River Drags Her Down features gorgeous stenciled edges and a matching case stamp!

“Yun beautifully captures the haunting of family myths in this slow-burn horror. Eerie and poignant, And The River Drags Her Down will sweep readers into its relentless current.” —Trang Thanh Tran, New York Times bestselling author of She Is a Haunting

A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

When her older sister is found mysteriously drowned in the river that cuts through their small coastal town, Soojin Han disregards every rule and uses her ancestral magic to bring Mirae back from the dead. At first, the sisters are overjoyed, reveling in late-night escapades and the miracle of being together again, but Mirae grows tired of hiding from the world. She becomes restless and hungry . . .

Driven by an insatiable desire to finish what she started in life, to unravel the truth that crushed her family so many years ago, Mirae is out for revenge.

When their town is engulfed by increasingly destructive rain and a series of harrowing, unusual deaths, Soojin is forced to reckon with the fact that perhaps the sister she brought back isn’t the one she knew.

**NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST!**

"Intimate and astonishing."--Jason Reynolds, New York Times Bestselling Author

For fans of You've Reached Sam and If I Stay, a hauntingly beautiful, ultimately hopeful novel-in-verse about a girl in between life and death, by National Book Award Finalist Amber McBride.

Gospel is the Keeper of the Leaving Room—a place all young people must phase through when they die. The young are never ready to leave; they need a moment to remember and a Keeper to help their wispy souls along.

When a random door opens and a Keeper named Melodee arrives, their souls become entangled. Gospel's seriousness melts and Melodee’s fear of connection fades, but still—are Keepers allowed to fall in love? Now they must find a way out of the Leaving Room and be unafraid of their love. In a novel that takes place over four minutes, National Book Award finalist Amber McBride explores connection, memory, and hope in ways that are unforgettable and poignant.

An instant New York Times bestseller!

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Chloe Gong comes the start of a daring new dystopian series where humanity has moved to virtual reality to flee their deteriorating world, following two young soldiers who must depend on unlikely allies in their fight for survival.

The future is loading…

To escape rising seas and rampant epidemics, most of society lives “upcountry” in glistening virtual reality, while those who can’t afford the subscription are forced to remain in crumbling “downcountry.” 

But upcountry isn’t perfect. A cold war rages between two powerful nations, Medaluo and Atahua—and no one suffers for it more than the Medan orphans in Atahua. Their enrollment at Nile Military Academy is mandatory. Either serve as a soldier, or risk being labelled a spy.

Eirale graduated the academy and joined NileCorp’s private forces downcountry, exactly as she was supposed to. Then Atahua’s most wanted anarchist frames her for assassinating a government official, and she’s given a choice: cooperate with him to search for a dangerous program in Medaluo or go down for treason.

Meanwhile, Lia is finishing her last year upcountry at Nile Military Academy. Paired with her academic nemesis for their final assignment, Lia is determined to beat him for valedictorian and prove her worth. But there may be far more at stake when their task to infiltrate Medaluo and track down an Atahuan traitor goes wrong…

Though Eirale and Lia tear through Medaluo on different planes of reality, the two start to suspect they are puzzle pieces in a larger conspiracy—and the closer they get to the truth, the closer their worlds come to a shattering collision.

Sawkill Girls meets Twin Peaks in a page-turning queer supernatural thriller, where four teens must track down a local cryptid that's feeding off secrets, before their own hidden truths are exposed.

"Alex Crespo thrills with a meticulously crafted page-turner. A feast of twists, tension and secrets." --C.S. Pacat, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Rise

On the dreary Oregon coast, an all-seeing beast--known as the Watcher--lies in wait. When Shay and her girlfriend, Lauren, get into a fight over whether to go public with their clandestine relationship, they awaken the creature. Although Lauren is badly injured, the girls escape with their lives but can't shake the feeling of the creature's eyes tracking them. 

Meanwhile, aspiring photographer Zoe is desperate to put together a portfolio worthy of earning a scholarship to attend art college. Her photography teacher praises her skill but urges her to select more daring subjects for her submissions--a tall task when Zoe's camera acts as a barrier between herself and the rest of the world.

As rumors swirl about Lauren's injuries, Shay remains steadfast in that the Watcher is to blame, not her. She asks for Zoe's help in snapping a photo of the local legend. Proof would help Shay clear her name and certainly be daring enough for Zoe's scholarship. Together with their friends Jack and Parker, they set out to expose the Watcher before its ever-creeping eyes cast the secrets they're all keeping from the town--and one another--into the light. 

Eerily atmospheric and as piercing as a pair of eyes on the back of your head, Alex Crespo's LGBTQ+ supernatural thriller is a poignant story about the prices we pay to keep our secrets hidden--sometimes for good reason. Through creeping tension and mounting horror, readers will furiously turn the pages with their breaths held.

Perfect for readers who love:

• Sapphic yearning
• Popular girl/ Unpopular girl romance
• Slow Burn
• Secret Relationship
• Small Town with a Dark Secret
• Found Family
• Eldritch Abomination
• Hunter Becomes the Hunted

One of Us Is Lying meets Knives Out--with beasts, murder, and magic--in this first book in a thrilling locked-room whodunnit YA fantasy duology by Andrea Hannah and New York Times bestseller Rebecca Mix.

After a decade of war, the kingdoms of Avendell and Istellia have finally agreed to peace. As nobles and magic wielders from both countries arrive at remote Castle Avendell for a historic all-night masquerade to celebrate, King Costis summons an unlikely group to his chambers: the crown prince, his Istellian bride-to-be, his personal guard, a wild beast tamer, and the palace's questionable new healer. But before Costis can reveal why he has gathered them, the castle goes dark.

When the lights come back, the king is dead--murdered with the princess's knife, in a weak spot only his guard knew of, and with venom from one of the beast tamer's monsters lacing the blade.

With no clear killer--and everyone a suspect--they make a risky pact: Tell no one until the treaty is signed. But when a winter storm seals everyone inside and someone aware of the king's untimely death begins to pick off guests one by one, the six suspects must work together to discover who killed the king . . . before one of them is next.