The Best YA Books to Read in Summer 2025

Jenna hates feeling out of control. But everyone around her, including her father and Olivia—her BFF/cousin—are moving away from her. She feels like the only person who isn’t planning for the future, which is why she decides to host a final week-long party before everything changes.  

At the same time, Olivia has just discovered her boyfriend cheated on her, and she must decide whether she wants to stay with him or call it off. Told through the dual POVs of Jenna and Olivia, the pair embark on a weeklong summer adventure like never before, where relationships are tested and love prevails. 

Sarah Greene and her seventh-grade best friends, West and Hannah, are obsessed with escape rooms. But things get complicated when Sarah’s home risks foreclosure, and her father, who has been sick for two years, can’t do anything about it. Hoping to make Sarah feel better, Hannah tells her about a treasure said to be hidden in an abandoned 1950s funhouse. The legend goes that three orphaned siblings, Hans, Stefan, and Karl Stein, eventually came together to build the magical home after being raised apart in different families during their childhood. 

In the present day, once Sarah and her friends are inside, they come to realize the house is different from any escape room they’ve been in before—that the rooms seem to know them. Afraid but recognizing that it’s too late to turn back now, Sarah and her friends must find the treasure, but more importantly, a way out.

Merriment Feast acts like life is a party. However, she must accept the responsibility of protecting her family’s generational power, which her aunt prepares her for through relentless training. Meanwhile, Rue Famine knows that only Feasts benefit from Feast reign—which she plans to change in the upcoming duel as the heir of House Famine.

It is a tradition that the next in line of Feast and Famine compete on their 13th birthday to rule the land of Fauret. Rue has been raised to use her magic to help others, while Merri and her family covet their power—they are known rivals. With the duel imminent, tensions rise, and the pair are forced to realize they may have more in common than they were led to believe. 

Growing up, Jude and her twin brother Noah are attached at the hip despite being opposites. Noah spends his time drawing and silently harboring a crush on the boy next door, while Jude is a characteristic daredevil—cliff-diving, wearing bright lipstick, and marching to the beat of her own drum.

But years later, something has happened—the twins are no longer on speaking terms. Neither is open to hearing the other’s side of the story, despite both being equally devastated by what passed. They must find a way to come together again if they have any hope of moving on and rebuilding their world. 

Lennie’s sister Bailey’s sudden passing sends her spiraling into the arms of Toby—Bailey’s boyfriend, who understands what Lennie is going through—and Joe, the new guy in town who makes her forget her troubles with his musical genius. She’s torn: the boys complete her in different ways, but she knows if they were to find out about the other, she’d lose them both. In a heartbreaking and joyful exploration of love and loss, Lennie comes to terms with not only her grief but what she wants out of life. 

18-year-old River Santos lost everything in a house fire—her clothes, her guitar, and lyrics, but most devastatingly, her father. However, it seems her luck has begun to change when she receives a two million dollar donation to her GoFundMe page. She can’t help but wonder if each new customer at the diner she works at is the benefactor.

One thing she knows for sure is that it wasn’t her equally attractive and cold coworker, Logan Evans, who’s always acted like he hates her. But when he helps her during an awkward run-in with an ex, she starts to think that maybe she was wrong—not just about him, but about her not-so-perfect dad and her chaotic mother. Secrets will be unearthed, and River will come to realize that there is always more to lose...

Criminal mastermind Arthie Casimir is well-known in the streets of White Roaring. At night, her esteemed tea house becomes an illegal bloodhouse, where she welcomes the vampires who were ousted by society. Despite tending to go about things alone, the terrorization of her establishment leads her to enlist the help of an unlikely adversary.

Recruiting the city’s castaways, Arthie comes up with a plan to infiltrate Athereum, an exclusive, alluring vampire society. But as the heist unfolds, she’ll learn that not everyone is on her side—and that the empire she’s spent her life building may be at risk of collapse. 

Sunho remembered little about his past life after waking up in the Under World two years ago. The only things he holds for certain are his name and sword—until he discovers a job that could score him a chest of coins. All he has to do is find a girl who wields silver light.

Meet Ren, an acrobat who travels with her adoptive family between villages performing. One day, everything changes when, at one of their performances, a demon attacks Ren’s family. In a moment of crisis, Ren strikes and kills the monster with a blast of silver light—a power she’s kept hidden since childhood. Too late to save her family, except her uncle, who has only been wounded, she decides to embark on a mission to heal him. 

While on the journey, she’ll encounter Sunho, and the pair will form an unlikely bond—with neither of them knowing the other’s pasts and that their destinies are more aligned than they could imagine…

Tom and the other inhabitants of Weatherly Orphanage all have one thing in common: nobody is coming to rescue them. But a life-changing secret in Tom’s file at Weatherly may be the key to setting him free—his parents could be alive! The only clue? The word “Britfield”.

With his best friend Sarah by his side, Tom makes a daring escape, determined to outsmart Scotland Yard’s most famous detective. What follows is a thrilling adventure across England, filled with unexpected twists that could change their lives forever. 

Perry Firekeeper-Birch has always been sure of herself—as the down-to-earth twin, the rascal, and the best fisher on Sugar Island. She knows her destiny is to stay close to home. But as an increasing number of Indigenous women begin to go missing in her town, she starts looking for answers to keep the place she loves safe. 

At the same time, Perry must fight off a group of greedy grave robbers who are trying to take what belongs to her Anishinaabe tribe. In order to restore peace to her island, Perry must turn to her high-strung sister, the enchanting new boy, and most importantly, within herself, for a truth that was never meant to stay buried. 

When Dawson Sumnter goes missing, leaving behind only a splattering of blood in his motel room, no one seems to care. It isn’t uncommon for people to disappear in the rural Georgia town of Carrion, especially given that every 13 years, a cicada brood returns. 

But Neera Singh, whose family owns the motel, decides to investigate, forming an unlikely allyship with three other teens. Soon enough, they become entangled in a never-ending web of lies, leading them to the rich community of Lake Clearwater, whose beautiful facade is masking something altogether sinister…

Emma and Violette are sisters with a shared dream: attending Paris’ most esteemed dancing school. But when Violette nails her first audition, and Emma doesn’t, their hopes for the future shatter. In a coming-of-age story, the sisters will learn that there is more than one way to not only dance, but find yourself. 

Detective Yuan Feng Liang is shocked to discover the murderer of over a dozen people overnight is 18-year-old Jin Xi Cheng—and that he actually confesses to the crimes. Seven years later, bizarre murders with similar circumstances take place, prompting Officer Liang to call upon Cheng for answers.