New Release Tuesday: YA New Releases September 23rd 2025

Young Adult New Releases September 23rd 2025

A Very Happy Book Birthday to all the books hitting shelves today! Check out most of today’s Young Adult New Releases below and add some to your TBRs or your shelves! If you appreciate our work you can support us by using our affiliate links to Bookshop or Libro.fm – two of the best alternatives to the massive corporations and they both support indie bookstores with every purchase!

Exquisite Things

by Abdi Nazemian
Published by: HarperCollins
on September 23, 2025
Genres: Historical Fiction, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult
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From Stonewall Award–winning author Abdi Nazemian (Only This Beautiful Moment) comes the epic queer love story of a lifetime. Perfect for fans of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Shahriar believes he was born in the wrong time. All he’s ever wanted is to love and be loved, but 1895 London doesn’t offer him the freedom to be his true self, and Oscar Wilde’s trial for gross indecency has only reaffirmed that. But one night—and one writer—will grant Shahriar what he’s always wished for: the opportunity to live in a time and place where he can love freely. Rechristened as Shams and then as Bram, he finds what feels like eternal happiness. But can anything truly be eternal?

Oliver doesn’t feel that 1920s Boston gives him a lot of options to be his full self. He knows he could only ever love another boy, but that would break his beloved mother’s heart. Oliver finds freedom and acceptance in the secret queer community at Harvard that his cousin introduces him to. When he meets a mysterious boy with eyes as warm as a flame, his life is irrevocably changed, forever.

Spanning one hundred and thirty years of love and longing, this tale of immortal beloveds searching for their perfect place and time is a vibrant hymn to the beauty of being alive, a celebration of queer love and community, and a reminder that behind every tragic thing that ever existed, there is something exquisite.

Try Your Worst

by Chatham Greenfield
Published by: Bloomsbury YA
on September 23, 2025
Genres: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult
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I Kissed Shara Wheeler meets The Agathas in this cozy mystery about two rivals forced to team up to figure out who is framing them for crimes they didn't commit.

Sadie Katz and Cleo Chapman have been rivals since birth. Literally. They entered the world competing to be the first baby born in the new year, a title Cleo ultimately won. And she’s been nonchalantly winning at just about everything since—much to Sadie’s chagrin. Now in the fall of their senior year, Sadie and Cleo are neck-and-neck for valedictorian. But when a string of increasingly serious pranks take over their school, the perpetrator deliberately sets up Sadie and Cleo to take the fall.

Suddenly expulsion is on the line, and the only way to clear their names is to join forces and search for the culprit. As their investigation progresses, the girls begin to question more than suspects. Sadie, struggling with depression and academic burn out, finds that her ivy league dream doesn’t seem as appealing as it once did. Meanwhile, Cleo wonders if it's time she start fighting for what she wants, rather than passively accepting whatever comes easiest.

With their futures on the line, the two grow closer, and both start to ask themselves: Are they really meant to be rivals? Or were they always destined to become something more?

A Steeping of Blood (Blood and Tea, #2)

by Hafsah Faizal
on September 23, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
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The epic conclusion to the #1 bestselling A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal; the gritty fantasy duology about an orphan girl and her crew who get tangled in a heist with vampires, perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows.

She's had her tea, now she's out for blood.

White Roaring is sharpening its fangs after the deadly night that left the city in shambles. The press are dead, the public calls for justice, vampires are in danger, and amid the turmoil, the Ram announces a celebration.

Still reeling from the bloodshed, Arthie Casimir has no time to mourn the death of anyone, let alone her own. She has no time for love, either, but it had saved her life. As Arthie navigates new emotions and new allies, she must reassemble her scrambled crew and scrape what little they have left to fight one last time – and she will need to face the ghosts of her past to do it.

In Ceylan.

After the jaw-dropping ending of #1 bestselling A Tempest of Tea, Arthie and her crew still have plenty of hearts to break and crimson-red secrets to uncover. Hafsah Faizal crafts a deliciously twisty and seductive sequel that will leave readers breathless until the very last page.

Flip

by Ngozi Ukazu
Published by: First Second
on September 23, 2025
Genres: Graphic Novel, Young Adult
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SENIOR YEAR BUCKET LIST? SWITCH BODIES WITH YOUR CRUSH.

Chi-Chi Ekeh has one huge problem: She keeps having crushes on rich white boys who have no idea she exists. Enter Flip Henderson, the most popular boy at school, who receives Chi-Chi’s private video proposal to go to senior prom.

But when Flip rejects Chi-Chi in front of their entire class, what happens next is completely unexpected: Chi-Chi―shy nerd and scholarship student―switches bodies with Flip. Suddenly Chi-Chi is 6’1” and cool, while Flip gets a crash course on Chi-Chi’s life―that is, k-pop, hair-braiding, and being a poor kid of color at a rich white private school.

With graduation looming and their body swaps lasting longer and longer, Chi-Chi and Flip must form the most unlikely friendship their school has ever seen. But will they survive senior year? And, most importantly, can they find a way back to themselves?

From bestselling author of Check, Please! comes Flip, a thrilling and fantastical tale about self-acceptance, black girlhood, and how walking a mile in someone else’s shoes can teach you how to finally see yourself.

Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches

by Kayla Cottingham
Published by: Delacorte Press
on September 23, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult
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After accidentally cursing his ex-boyfriend, a reluctant hero must complete a dangerous quest to undo his spell . . . all while falling for a brooding new crewmate with dark secrets.

Kieran has never had much luck in love or magic. Other than being freed from a family curse that would have killed him and doomed his twin sister, life isn’t going his way.

So, after getting put on notice by his boyfriend and accidentally writing a poem so bad (and magically hazardous) that it makes him invisible to the guy, of course Kieran returns home to find the Witches Council sitting in his living room, demanding he complete his magical training. Panicked, he blurts out that his Calling—a kind of magical thesis—will be to find a magical cure-all that can break any curse . . . an enormous task that he absolutely doesn’t have the power to pull off.

Nevertheless, Kieran sets off on this dangerous journey, accompanied by his sister Briar, her girlfriend Delilah, and a swoony new crewmate, Sebastian. If he survives, he may just learn how to turn his luck around and figure out what kind of witch, person, and boyfriend he wants to be.

Hello Sunshine

by Keezy Young
on September 23, 2025
Genres: Graphic Novel, Horror, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult
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In this lush and creepy young adult graphic novel about mental health, healing, and romance, a troubled teen suddenly disappears from his small town—sending his loved ones on a paranormal journey to save him from his inner demons.

Noah is heartbroken. He returns from bible camp to find that Alex, his secret boyfriend, has had a breakdown and disappeared. He wishes more than anything that he hadn’t left that day.

Sky is determined. She’ll stop at nothing to find her childhood friend, even if it means alienating the people she loves.

Izzy is ashamed. She knew something weird was going on with Alex, and she didn’t say anything to her boyfriend, Jamie—Alex’s twin brother. If she had, would Alex still be here?

Jamie is angry. Angry at Alex for being gone, angry at himself for not noticing something was wrong, and angry at his long-dead mother, Desdemona, who had problems of her own.

But what if there was something more to Desdemona’s demons than just mental illness? Why is Jamie seeing her ghost? And can he get past his hatred of her if it means finding out what happened to his brother?

Unending (The Unseelie Duology, #2)

by Ivelisse Housman
Published by: Quill Tree Books
on September 23, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
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In this high-octane conclusion to the Unseelie duology, two sisters discover that the things that make them different can lend them more power than they ever imagined.

Isolde Graygrove has always put her changeling twin sister first. But ever since Seelie returned from the faerie realms with a newfound confidence in her magic and secrets she’s keeping even from her twin, Isolde can’t help but wonder: who is she, if not her sister’s protector?

Seelie knows there are some problems even magic can’t solve. Like the distance between her and Isolde, the terror of her growing and unfamiliar emotions for Raze, or the fact that the world’s last firedrake has imprinted on her like a baby duckling. Still, she can’t help but try.

When Seelie accidentally splinters the three realms, tangling the human and faerie worlds together into something new, the vicious faerie Gossamer is determined to take full advantage of the chaos unleashed. Seelie and Isolde will need to spill their secrets, decide who they can trust, and navigate the sinister glamour of the faerie courts to save humankind and fae alike.

This Raging Sea

by De Elizabeth
Published by: Holiday House
on September 23, 2025
Genres: Fantasy
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18-year-old Briar Winters must untangle the horrifying eldritch secrets of her picture-perfect coastal town in order to save the boy she loves after he disappears from time itself in this YA dark fantasy for fans of Bly Manor.

Historic Loch Creek is a witchy New England tourist trap—but it’s just a trap for Briar, who’s convinced she’ll die there among the waves that devoured her twin brother thirteen years ago. But when her best friend who she's loved since childhood, Finn, vanishes from the seaside carnival, there’s only one person who can help Briar find him: Morgan, her biggest enemy who knows her darkest secret.

As Briar uncovers hidden truths as deep and dark as the water that haunts her, it quickly becomes clear that Finn has gone much further than anyone could have imagined. He’s lost in time, and neither of them are safe. If Briar and Finn look too hard, they might find terrifying answers—not just about what’s buried beneath the shores, but also the threads tying them to each other. As past and future collide, the seductive yet evil underwater entity that intends to claim Briar still needs its sacrifice . . .
And it’s too hungry to go unsated.

Equal parts epic bisexual romance and pulse-pounding horror, This Raging Sea is a dual POV dark fantasy as sweepingly powerful as the ocean that threatens to consume everything and everyone Briar has ever loved—prepare to be devoured.

Truth Is: A Novel in Verse

by Hannah V. Sawyerr
Published by: Amulet Books
Genres: In Verse, Poetry, Young Adult
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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.

Moonsick

by Tom O'Donnell
Published by: Wednesday Books
on September 23, 2025
Genres: Horror, Paranormal, Young Adult
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Scream meets Stephen King in this fast paced debut YA horror novel about a girl trying to survive a world where becoming a werewolf is a contagious disease.

High school senior Heidi Mills seemingly has it all: a charming (arrogant) boyfriend, loving (wealthy) parents, and an acceptance letter to Harvard (well, not yet). With her mom and stepdad away on vacation, she’s going to host a rager at their mansion to celebrate the end of high school.

The party is tomorrow. But the full moon is tonight—when the worldwide werewolf epidemic that has run rampant for the past few years turns deadly, and the infected transform into beasts.

Safe in her home, with its state-of-the-art lockdown system to keep the monsters out, Heidi expects to wait out the night. But when two intruders show up to rob what they think will be an empty home, the life of privilege, ease, and safety that Heidi has taken for granted comes crashing down. Suddenly exposed to the realities of this virus and the way that the rest of the world has been living all this time, Heidi embarks on a dark adventure accompanied by the mysterious--but intriguing--boy who broke into her house. As she fights to survive the underbelly of a post-pandemic society, she'll learn that not all monsters have fangs.

With flourishes of Wes Craven and The Purge, this comedic horror novel is perfect for fans Grady Hendrix, Adam Cesare, and things that go bump in the night.

Fawn's Blood

by Hal Schrieve
Published by: Random House
on September 23, 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, Young Adult
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Vampires, vampire slayers, and a bloodthirsty underground resistance converge in a campy YA fantasy about being a queer teen in a world that wishes they did not exist.

The librarian and critically acclaimed author of Out of Salem puts a pulpy spin on vampire fiction, and bites back at anti-trans moral panic.

Fawn and Silver share nearly everything: coming out together as trans in their small Maryland town, clocking a copious number of hours in detention, and spending their sleepovers secretly making out. They’re also uniquely obsessed with vampires, who are being hunted, imprisoned, and executed for the danger they allegedly pose to human life.

Meanwhile in Seattle, Rachel's relationship to her girlfriend and her membership in her mother's vampire-slaying vigilante group is thrown into question when she's bitten by her mother's nemesis and awakes with a craving for blood. When Silver disappears and Fawn goes west in search of him, her and Rachel’s fates converge, both falling into the hands of Cain, an edgelord vampire known for his proselytizing for the drinking of human blood.

But in discovering hidden tunnels and secret bars, youth shelters and punk shows and safe houses, Fawn find herself in the middle of a vampire underground in Seattle—an organized resistance keeping each other alive through a network of blood distribution and protection from slayers.

Fawn’s Blood is a timely antidote to the anti-trans moral panic of today. Playing with tropes about monstrousness, predation, and villainy, this multi-voiced vampire novel offers a paranormal YA fantasy full of complicated queer characters—human and monster alike—all of whom are simply trying to survive in a world that wants them dead.

Scarlet Morning (Scarlet Morning, #1)

by N.D. Stevenson
Published by: Quill Tree Books
on September 23, 2025
Genres: Middle Grade, Paranormal
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From the powerhouse creator of Nimona comes a breathtaking illustrated novel following two orphans who leave the only home they’ve ever known to sail with an eccentric crew of pirates.

Viola and Wilmur have been waiting for their parents for fifteen boring years in the colorless town of Caveat. Their lives are a drudge of salt, trash, pirate stories, and what-ifs . . . until one very stormy night, when Captain Cadence Chase breaks down their door. They cut a deal with the Chase can take their most prized possession, a mysterious book, but only if she takes them, too. After all, if their parents aren’t coming, Viola and Wilmur might as well have a grand adventure to find them.

Setting sail into the treacherous and beautiful world beyond Caveat, the two inseparable friends must uncover the facts behind legend—and the key to saving all of Dickerson’s Sea from obliteration—before the truth tears them apart.

Wickedly funny, deeply emotional, and sharply incisive, Scarlet Morning is a tale of love, betrayal, and the extraordinary lengths we’d go to save a world broken beyond repair.