In 2025, teen and young adult novels did their best work by refusing to follow a single path. Thrillers kept the pages turning, romantic comedies ventured into real vulnerability, fantasy grew darker and sharper, and graphic storytelling continued to demonstrate that it can be just as difficult as prose. The lists expanded to include fan-voted polls, trade best-of lists, overlap lists that capture the real magic, and books that connect with readers and critics alike.
Here are some highlights that captured the teens and young adult reading year of 2025 and a preview of the Best young adult action books expected in 2026.
1. The Amazing Four — Ronald Camilleri
Ronald has a series-starter that is bursting with unadulterated, explosive energy going into 2025. The Amazing Four combines the close-knit crew dynamics of a superhero saga with the relentless, clean action of a middle-grade adventure, delivering the fundamental thrill of a meteor shower turning two siblings and their friends into fugitives.
Why The Amazing Four should be on this list: The Amazing Four an engrossing diversion, a Young Adult Superhero Series that offers a high-stakes program free of emotional baggage and has the approachable, breathless pacing of the greatest Middle Grade action novel.
2. Fearless — Lauren Roberts
Roberts remained attached to the YA discussion in 2025, and one of the major contributors to that is Fearless, which has all the elements of high stakes, tension created through romance, and the pacing that manages to make it a one more chapter at 2 a.m.
Why Fearless should be on this list: the book is a pure YA adrenaline with no emotional cost.
3. Oathbound — Tracy Deonn
Oathbound is simple to conclude from Book Riot’s summary that Deonn’s series continues to grow, combining mythology, power, loyalty, and consequence in a way that is both enormous and intimate at the same time.
Why it has made it onto this list: it is a YA fantasy that not only honors the reader but is also complex, tense, and character-centred.
4. The Leaving Room — Amber McBride
Verse novels can be shattering works when they are done well and this one demonstrates why. Book Riot points to its provocative way of addressing grief, transition and being between.
Why The Leaving Room should be on this list: it sounds like a confession spoken in a whisper and thunder at the same time.
5. Angelica and the Prince of Bears — Trung Le Nguyen
It is a beautiful graphic novel romance that has a real emotional backbone of burnout, expectations and tenderness that is not corny. Publishers Weekly lives up to the art and the tone: whimsical, detailed, smart.
Why Angelica and the Prince of Bears should be on this list: it is the evidence that the graphic novel can be as romantic and intricate as it does not blur the lines.
6. A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe — Mahogany L. Browne
This YA best of list by Publisher Weekly features the connected stories and poetry of Browne, based on teen strength and memories together.
Why A Bird in the Air Means We Can Still Breathe should be on this list: because it is like a time capsule which is tender, angry and honest.
7. The Corruption of Hollis Brown — K. Ancrum
Identity, control, and what it is like to have something that wants to drive the car: a queer romantic thriller structure and a supernatural bite. Psychological suspense and intimacy are highlighted by Publishers Weekly.
Why The Corruption of Hollis Brown is on this list: it is haunting in the most positive manner: tension you can feel in your shoulders.
8. On Again, Awkward Again — Erin Entrada Kelly and Kwame Mbalia
A younger YA choice that knows about first crushes and first humiliations, and the particular freshman-year anarchy in which everything seems like the end of the world (and sort of is).
Why On Again, Awkward Again should be on this list: It is a warm, funny and excruciatingly true account of feeling new at the business of being human.
9. Fake Skating — Lynn Painter
There are times when the talk of the best of the year requires a crowd pleaser that truly performs. Goodreads Choice Awards make this one speak to an enormous number of readers.
Why Fake Skating is on this list: Fake Skating is witty, likable, and designed to appeal to people who are willing to engage in banter and heart.
10. Glorious Rivals — Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Barnes continues to show that she has a knack for creating obsession: games, secrets, momentum and the type of plot machinery that causes the reading experience to feel like freefall.
Why Glorious Rivals needs to be on this list: Glorious Rivals is easy to read in terms of twisting YA, but with a smooth and sure voice.
11. This Story is a Lie (World Book Day 2025) — Benjamin Dean
One of the names that Waterstones has targeted this year is Dean, and it is quite logical: he writes teen tension with teeth. The publisher description plays into the keep your friends close paranoia, which feeds on YA thrillers.
Why it is on this list: it is a small, high-stakes game, ideal for a reader who likes a social maze, where the traps are concealed in plain view.
12. A Steeping of Blood — Hafsah Faizal
The succeeding vitality of Faizal is precisely what 2025 YA accomplished with such effectiveness, dark glamour, danger and emotional heat, and genuine plot propulsion. The title and date of release of 2025 are already in the record, and it is being packaged as the sequel to A Tempest of Tea.
Why A Steeping of Blood belongs on this list: It’s stylish, tense, and built for readers who want their fantasy sharp-edged and addictive.
Best young adult action books 2026: What to Read First!
This is where The Amazing Four comes in, well within the discussion. The Amazing Four is a Young Adult Superhero Series, whose genesis lies in the history of Superhero teams: four curious people, a meteor shower, military cold-bloodedness and legal courtroom repercussions that do not get along well.
That combination counts since it aligns with what YA readers continued to value in 2025: action that is not empty calories, stakes that resonate with identity and loyalty, friendship that feels formed, and not dispositively imposed.
Reading order warning: 2025 (although towards the end) is the year to hone your taste (thrillers, fantasy, graphic, verse) and be ready to take action in 2026 that still comes with consequences– and this is exactly what The Amazing Four is actually selling.