For a long time, I didn’t appreciate November as a month during the year. It always felt so dreary, so limp, and the slump in the calendar before we reached the end of the year. But I’ve really grown to love November, and part of that is certainly that it’s no longer the dreary, limp month it once was. At least here in the midwest, it’s become the real autumn month. The nights are cool and the days are crisp. The long nights and dark mornings invite slowing down and tucking in.

November has, coincidentally, become one of the months where I tend to read more than other months of the year. When the sun goes down early, what else is there to do but climb into a cozy corner and read during free time?

Whatever this month means to you, I hope that you carve out some time and space to read the new books hitting shelves in this second-to-last month of 2025. The publishing world begins to slow down after this week, so it’s a prime time to also make a nice dent in your TBR.

It was really difficult to narrow down which books to highlight this week because the range of voices, genres, and stories is vast. But gear up for some romance–realistic and fantastic–as well as some action-packed thrillers, a sensitive work in translation, and so much more. You’ll discover some beloved YA authors, as well as a host of newer writers this week. We’ve also got another YA book hitting shelves in both hardcover and paperback simultaneously. That’s a 2025 format trend I hope we continue to see moving forward because giving readers more choice in how they consume there books is a boon to readers.

New Hardcover YA Releases This Week

Coldwire by Chloe Gong

Epidemics and climate charge force people to change their lives completely. Most people move “upcountry,” a virtual reality. Those who are poor, though, are forced to live in “downcountry.” In upcountry, things are far from perfect though, as a Cold War rages between the two nations of Medaluo and Atahua. It’s Medan orphans in Atahua who suffer the most, though, forced to enroll in the Military Academy.

Eirale did everything as she was supposed to and upon graduation, becomes part of the private foces in downcountry. But then an anarchist from Atahua frames her for government assassination and now she’s got to either partner with him for a dangerous assignment or be implicated in treason.

Meanwhile, Lia is nearly finished with her time at the Military Academy when she’s forced to do a final assignment with her nemesis. Lia will work with him, but she’s going to do it better so she can secure the status of valedictorian. Except there’s a lot more at stake that either knows.

When Eirale and Lia’s lives continue to intertwine, despite being in different reality planes, they start to wonder what their connection is . . . and what kind of conspiracy is at hand that keeps bringing them together. This is the first in a trilogy that looks like an awesome read for fans of science fiction, virtual reality, and stories that are not too far-fetched from our own reality plane.

All access members continue below for more of the best new YA.

Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen.

View All posts by Kelly Jensen

Deadly Ever After by Brittany Johnson

Amala’s whole life has been about becoming the perfect princess. But she’s murdered the night of her wedding and everything is out the window.

Kha’dasia has always been “too much.” She doesn’t fit the image of the perfect princess and she’s okay with that. She’s on a quest to fulfill the last wish of her dead brother. But she, too, is killed before she can.

The two princesses meet in the afterlife and they’re given a chance to live again by the gods in the forest. If they kiss their one true love, they’ll be brought back to life. If they kiss the wrong person, though, they’ll be dead and gone forever.

Now Amala and Kha’dasia are growing closer as they pursue this opportunity for their lives. Except, perhaps, the biggest challenge and threat (and love?) is right before their very eyes.

Fade Into You by Amber Smith and Sam Gellar

If you suddenly hear that Mazzy Star song in your head, you’re not wrong: the title is an ear worm and tied to the story itself.

Jessa and Bird aren’t friends, and the two have seemingly little in common. Jessa comes from a dysfunctional home and tries to block everything out through music. Bird is a poet, and last summer, she went away to writing camp. It’s an experience that’s changed her forever.

But the two are forced together when their best friends begin to date. Jessa and Bird are getting tired of being forgotten and decide they have to break their friends up. The problem is as they pursue this quest, they’re finding out how much more they have in common than they thought.

This is a late-90s set romance about the unknowable future.

Girls Who Play Dead by Joelle Wellington

Prophets Lake has secrets.

Mikky’s just left the town to live with his estranged mother elsewhere and he has no plans to return. Except, he’s forced to return when his sister Kyla’s best friend, Erin, is murdered.

Kyla is inconsolable, so moving back makes sense to Mikky. Not only does he want to help his sister grieve, he wants to help her figure out what happened to Erin.

But the deeper they dig into the town’s history and the beauty brand that’s currently taking hold of the community, it seems as though everyone in Prophets Lake has secrets. Kyla may be the one harboring the most.

The House Saphir by Marissa Meyer

Looking for a fresh retelling of Bluebeard? Marissa Meyer’s got you in her latest novel.

Mallory Fontaine comes from a long line of witches, but she herself is a fraud and has never been thrilled with her talent. Seeing ghosts isn’t going to pay the bills. But she and her sister are making ends meet through a little fraud and clever lying. They sell tours to the mansion where the first of the Saphir murders happened.

Mallory does pride herself on being an expert, though, on Count Bastien Saphir (also known as Monsieur Le Bleu). That was the person who killed three of his wives. Little could Mallory ever expect to meet his great great grandson and heir to the Saphir estate, Armand.

Here’s the thing: Armand thinks the girls are the real deal. He offers Mallory a big chunk of cash in exchange for ridding his ancestral home of the ghost of Le Bleu. She’s all in on it until another murder lands upon the House Saphir. Now she’s got to solve both a murder and get rid of the ghost . . . something that might be tough to do as a fraud.

The Secret Astronomers by Jessica Walker

The premise of this book sounds so good, but what’s also really making it unique is that it’s highly designed and decorated. The format is epistolary, too, for readers who love a unique storytelling style.

In an old textbook at Green Bank High School library, Copernicus starts keeping a diary. She’s a transfer student trying to make sense of leaving her life in San Francisco for rural West Virginia, following the death of her mother.

What Copernicus could never expect was to have someone replying to her diary. But Kepler, a lifelong resident of the small town, eager to get out of town for college, is doing just that. Together, the girls begin to work together to solve a long-time mystery in their small town and build a really powerful, meaningful connection.

Self-Portrait by Ludwig Volbeda, translated by Lucy Scott

Jip is an artist. But he’s absolutely flummoxed when presented a homework assignment over spring break. He’s to draw a self-portrait.

What should be an easy assignment gets harder and harder as Jip unravels some of the hidden pieces of himself. Among them are the new boy at school, insects peppering his town, the party on deck for next friend, and a boy who forever changed Jip’s life.

Where There’s Room for Us by Hayley Kiyoko

Kiyoko’s latest YA is set in Victorian England and is a little bit *Little Women *and Pride and Prejudice.

Ivy is outspoken and she’s a daring poet in New York City. But when her brother inherits an English estate, she decides to swap her life for the more proper one in England. It’s difficult for her to keep up with the traditions and the rituals, though, and it only gets harder when she meets Freya Tallon, the most sought-after socialite of the season.

Freya has had little agency in her life. She’s to find a partner, produce heirs, and continue the family’s nobility. Except when she goes out with Ivy, something new and exciting bubbles up within her.

As Ivy and Freya grow closer and closer, it’s becoming more clear that they’re going to need to decide whether to pursue this relationship at the expense of tradition or whether they need to call things off in order to keep the world around them spinning as expected.

New Hardcover Series Releases:

• All The Lost Souls by Amie Jordan
• Eternal Ruin by Tigest Girma
• Gilded in Vengeance by Lyssa Mia Smith
• Lord of Blade and Bone by Erica Ivy Rodgers
• The Queen’s Match by Katharine McGee
• The Same Backward as Forward by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
• Starchaser by R. M. Gray
• We Fell Apart by E. Lockhart
• Witchlight by Susan Dennard

More Hardcover YA Releases This Week:

• Beautiful Brutal Bodies by Linda Cheng
• A Fate So Cold by Amanda Foody and C. L. Herman
• Hear Her Howl by Kim DeRose
• Never Seen the Stars by Kate Korsh
• Reasons We Break by Jesmeen Kaur Deo
• Seven Deadly Thorns by Amber Hamilton
• A Time Traveler’s History of Tomorrow by Kendall Kulper
• Under a Fire Red Sky by Geraldine McCaughrean
• The Writing Room by Marcia Argueta Mickelson

New Paperback YA Releases This Week

Here’s your periodic reminder that you may need to toggle your view after you click the link to see the paperback edition.

24 Seconds From Now by Jason Reynolds

Neon is locked in Aria’s bathroom because, in 24 seconds, they’re going to have sex. But, as much as this book is about the first time experience, it’s more than that. We follow Neon as he recounts the entire two-year relationship with Aria, from their first meeting to her relationship with Neon’s grandmother and so much more. This is a book about two fantastically drawn characters, as well as all of the little and big moments that make up the connections between two people.

You’ll read it in a sitting then want to reread it immediately.

Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng

Sunny is part of a K-pop trio that is rocketing up the charts; the band got its start thanks to a Disney-style television show. Her two fellow bandmates/costars are Candie and Mina, and in the midst of a scandal related to Sunny and another K-pop star, Mina dies right in front of them. Sunny always suspected it had to do with secrets between Mina and Candie.

Fast forward two years, and with questions still remaining about Mina’s death, Sunny hears that Candie might be trying out to be part of a new K-pop band. So Sunny does what anyone would do: she follows Candie to the K-pop workshop. While there, Sunny keeps getting otherworldly visions and experiences and realizes the only way to get to the bottom of Mina’s death is to tell some ugly secrets.

This is a horror-meets-thriller book set in the glossy world of K-pop. It’s a fun one with a supernatural element that layers so nicely atop the world of K-pop and reality TV.

The Loss of the Burying Ground by J. Anderson Coats

Duran and Ariminthian have been warring nations for as long as anyone remembers. So when a ship carrying delegates from both countries and their about-to-be-signed peace treaty wrecks, the only two survivors are teen girls, one from each of the nations.

Cora and Vivienne must now learn how to trust one another in order to survive on the island where they’re stranded. That sounds easier than it is, given the girls have grown up in two very different worlds with very different perspectives. Can they transcend their histories and political upbringings to survive? If they can, will they be able to also prove the war was on its way to a resolution before the shipwreck?

New Paperback Series Releases:

• Charm by Tracy Wolff
• The Davenports: More Than This by Krystal Marquis
• Heartstrings by Ali Novak
• Heist Royale by Kayvion Lewis
• Stranger Skies by Pascale Lacelle
• What The Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez
• What The River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

More Paperback YA Releases This Week:

• The Changeover by Margaret Mahy (a rerelease hitting shelves in hardcover and paperback at the same time)
• A Dark Forgetting by Kristen Ciccarelli
• The Fangirl Project by Beth Reekles
• Kiss of the Nightingale by Adi Denner
• Not Today Satan by Samantha Joyce
• The Reappearance by Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
• We’re Not Safe Here by Rin Chupeco

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Plop some more YA reads on your TBR with this roundup of chosen one fantasies and some great YA space comics.

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