Best Romance Novels Young Adults

Young‑adult romance has evolved far beyond sim­ple crush sto­ries. Today’s authors tack­le iden­ti­ty, men­tal health, inter­sec­tion­al diver­si­ty, and even spec­u­la­tive twists, all while deliv­er­ing the heart‑fluttering beats read­ers crave. This blend of real‑world rel­e­vance and swoon‑worthy escapism makes YA romance a unique­ly pow­er­ful genre for teens and nos­tal­gic adults alike. Whether you’re look­ing for sun‑drenched first love, rivals‑to‑lovers ban­ter, or inclu­sive nar­ra­tives that reflect every kind of heart, the shelves are brim­ming with titles that do much more than spark butterflies—they encour­age empa­thy, crit­i­cal think­ing, and healthy con­ver­sa­tions about rela­tion­ships. Below you’ll find ten stand­out nov­els, rang­ing from brand‑new 2025 releas­es to mod­ern clas­sics that con­tin­ue to top rec­om­men­da­tion lists. Each pick comes with a deep­er dive into why it’s worth your time and key high­lights to help you match the right book with the right mood. Clear a space on your TBR pile; these sto­ries promise late‑night page‑turning, audi­ble sighs, and the kind of emo­tion­al pay­off that lingers long after the last chap­ter.

1. Audre & Bash Are Just Friends — Tia Williams (2025)

Why You Should Read It?

Set dur­ing one unfor­get­table New York City sum­mer, Williams’s lat­est fol­lows Audre, a 16‑year‑old bud­ding poet try­ing to bal­ance fam­i­ly expec­ta­tions, first love, and her own cre­ative voice. Writ­ten with the same wit­ty warmth that made Sev­en Days in June a best­seller, the nov­el cap­tures how friend­ships can blur into romance in ways that feel both exhil­a­rat­ing and ter­ri­fy­ing. Williams drew on con­ver­sa­tions with real teens—including her own daughter—to nail today’s slang, social‑media rhythms, and broad­er ques­tions about iden­ti­ty. The result is a fresh, culture‑rich snap­shot of Gen Z life that still boasts a time­less coming‑of‑age core.

Key Highlights

• Authen­tic Black teen rep­re­sen­ta­tion in a vibrant Harlem set­ting
• Friends‑to‑lovers ten­sion fueled by spoken‑word poet­ry nights
• Hon­est explo­ration of mother‑daughter dynam­ics
• Breezy sum­mer pac­ing per­fect for beach‑day read­ing

2. Better Than Revenge — Kasie West (2025)

Why You Should Read It?

Pro­lif­ic YA favorite Kasie West returns with a podcast‑tinged rivals‑to‑lovers romp. When ambi­tious senior Jules’s football‑hero ex lands her dream host­ing gig, she hatch­es a revenge plan that pairs her with his snarky neme­sis. What begins as strate­gic col­lab­o­ra­tion morphs into unex­pect­ed chem­istry, forc­ing Jules to exam­ine ambi­tion, account­abil­i­ty, and how online per­sonas can warp real feel­ings. West’s trade­mark humor pro­vides laugh‑out‑loud moments, yet she also threads in thought­ful com­men­tary on com­pe­ti­tion and self‑worth, mak­ing the romance both frothy and ground­ing for read­ers nav­i­gat­ing their own future plans.

Key Highlights

• Fast‑paced ban­ter rem­i­nis­cent of clas­sic screw­ball come­dies
• Insight into teen pod­cast cul­ture and con­tent cre­ation
• Sub­ver­sion of the “mean‑girl revenge” trope
• Sat­is­fy­ing emo­tion­al pay­off with­out sac­ri­fic­ing humor

3. Love on Paper — Danielle Parker (2025)

Why You Should Read It?

Two schol­ar­ship win­ners at an elite writ­ing retreat are forced to share cri­tique sessions—and maybe their hearts—in this clever homage to lit­er­ary rivals. Pro­tag­o­nist Izzy longs to prove her­self as the next big YA author, while her cocky coun­ter­part Liam seems to have every­thing hand­ed to him. Their prick­ly part­ner­ship evolves through anno­tat­ed drafts, clan­des­tine mid­night read­ings, and a shared love of sto­ry­telling, deliv­er­ing meta delights for book­ish read­ers. Park­er expert­ly con­trasts exter­nal con­fi­dence with inter­nal inse­cu­ri­ties, show­ing how vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty and cre­ativ­i­ty often go hand in hand.

Key Highlights

• Enemies‑to‑lovers arc set against a dreamy lake­side retreat
• Pas­sages of “story‑within‑a‑story” that show­case each teen’s voice
• Nuanced dis­cus­sion of imposter syn­drome in cre­ative spaces
• Sweet, slow‑burn romance steeped in lit­er­ary ref­er­ences

4. Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda — Becky Albertalli (2015)

Why You Should Read It?

Sixteen‑year‑old Simon is hap­pi­ly pen‑pal‑flirting with the mys­te­ri­ous “Blue” until an email falls into the wrong hands, leav­ing him vul­ner­a­ble to black­mail. Albertalli’s debut is equal parts roman­tic mys­tery and heart­felt coming‑out sto­ry, invit­ing read­ers to expe­ri­ence the thrill of first love along­side the stress of secret iden­ti­ties. Despite its internet‑age trap­pings, the novel’s core—anxious but­ter­flies over whether your crush likes you back—remains uni­ver­sal. Its ten­der humor and affir­ma­tion of queer joy have cement­ed it as a mod­ern clas­sic, mak­ing it essen­tial read­ing for any­one crav­ing sin­cer­i­ty and sero­tonin in equal mea­sure.

Key Highlights

• Whole­some LGBTQ+ rep­re­sen­ta­tion with zero tragedy tropes
• Addic­tive “Who is Blue?” guess­ing game
• Relat­able explo­ration of friend­ship dynam­ics under pres­sure
• Adapt­ed into the beloved film Love, Simon

5. The Sun Is Also a Star — Nicola Yoon (2016)

Why You Should Read It?

Told over one high‑stakes day in New York City, Yoon’s nov­el pairs Natasha, a logic‑driven daugh­ter of undoc­u­ment­ed Jamaican immi­grants fac­ing depor­ta­tion, with Daniel, a Korean‑American dream­er wrestling with parental expec­ta­tions. Their chance meet­ing spi­rals into deep philo­soph­i­cal debates about fate, physics, and the bruis­ing pow­er of hope. Yoon’s cross‑cultural lens and time‑pressure struc­ture keep pages fly­ing while illu­mi­nat­ing sys­temic injus­tices teens con­front dai­ly. Read­ers seek­ing more than a fluff romance will find a thought‑provoking, tear‑jerking tale that argues a sin­gle day can still change every­thing.

Key Highlights

• Real‑time nar­ra­tive that height­ens roman­tic ten­sion
• Smart dis­cus­sions of immi­gra­tion, iden­ti­ty, and des­tiny
• Lyri­cal prose alter­nat­ing between both pro­tag­o­nists’ voic­es
• Nation­al Book Award final­ist and film adap­ta­tion

6. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before — Jenny Han (2014)

Why You Should Read It?

When Lara Jean’s secret love let­ters acci­den­tal­ly mail them­selves, her qui­et life turns into a whirl­wind of fake dat­ing, sis­ter­ly dra­ma, and unex­pect­ed feel­ings for charis­mat­ic Peter K. Han’s charm­ing blend of Korean‑American fam­i­ly life and rom‑com hijinks revi­tal­ized the “fake rela­tion­ship” trope, prov­ing that sweet clichés can feel fresh with nuanced cul­tur­al lay­ers. Beyond swoons, the nov­el unpacks grief, sib­ling loy­al­ty, and self‑acceptance, show­ing that some­times the biggest romance les­son is learn­ing to val­ue your own heart first.

Key Highlights

• Icon­ic bak­ing mon­tages and pas­tel aes­thet­ic
• Heart‑warming por­tray­al of inter‑generational Asian fam­i­ly life
• Fake‑dating set­up that spawned a Net­flix phe­nom­e­non
• Empha­sis on sis­ter bonds and per­son­al growth

7. Divine Rivals — Rebecca Ross (2023)

Why You Should Read It?

Set in a World War I–inspired fan­ta­sy world, two rival jour­nal­ists secret­ly write each oth­er via enchant­ed type­writ­ers while cov­er­ing a god‑waged war. Ross weaves atmos­pher­ic mag­ic with raw wartime emo­tion, cre­at­ing a romance where words them­selves are life­lines. The epis­to­lary angle ampli­fies yearn­ing, and the high‑stakes back­drop asks whether love can sur­vive bru­tal­i­ty. For read­ers who like their swoons served with epic world‑building and trench‑coat dra­ma, this mash‑up of You’ve Got Mail and 1917 deliv­ers.

Key Highlights

• Enemies‑to‑lovers let­ters drenched in mag­i­cal real­ism
• Com­men­tary on pro­pa­gan­da, jour­nal­ism ethics, and truth
• Rich sec­ondary cast and vivid bat­tle­field imagery
• First in a duol­o­gy, so more romance awaits

8. While We’re Young — K. L. Walther (2025)

Why You Should Read It?

Inspired by Fer­ris Bueller’s Day Off, this breezy nov­el chron­i­cles four seniors who ditch class for an epic skip day, only to con­front tan­gled crush­es and loom­ing good­byes. Walther cap­tures that bit­ter­sweet edge between ado­les­cence and adulthood—the thrill of rebel­lion tem­pered by the fear of change. As pranks, rooftop con­certs, and sur­prise detours unfold, two long­time friends inch toward admit­ting deep­er feel­ings. Per­fect for fans who want a single‑day romance burst­ing with movie‑montage ener­gy, it’s equal parts laugh­ter, nos­tal­gia, and earnest reflec­tions on let­ting go.

Key Highlights

• One‑day time­line keeps stakes high and tem­po quick
• Friendship‑to‑romance arc with no unnec­es­sary dra­ma
• Pop‑culture East­er eggs for eighties‑movie lovers
• Cel­e­brates mak­ing mem­o­ries before grad­u­a­tion divides paths

9. A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow — Laura Taylor Namey (2020)

Why You Should Read It?

After a fam­i­ly tragedy, Mia­mi bak­er Lila Reyes is sent to drea­ry Win­ches­ter, Eng­land, for a “reset”—only to meet Ori­on, a tea‑shop clerk deter­mined to show her the town’s qui­et mag­ic. Namey’s sen­so­ry writ­ing turns pas­tries and Earl Grey into love‑language metaphors, spot­light­ing food as a bridge between cul­tures. The slow­er pace allows grief and heal­ing to unfold authen­ti­cal­ly, prov­ing that hap­pi­ness doesn’t erase loss but can coex­ist along­side it. Read­ers crav­ing cozy atmos­pheres and mouth‑watering descrip­tions will fall for this trans‑Atlantic romance steeped in hope.

Key Highlights

• Vivid culi­nary imagery and Cuban‑American her­itage
• Gen­tle explo­ration of grief, men­tal health, and mov­ing for­ward
• Pic­turesque Eng­lish vil­lage per­fect for arm­chair trav­el
• Uplift­ing mes­sage about rebuild­ing dreams abroad

10. Anna and the French Kiss — Stephanie Perkins (2010)

Why You Should Read It?

Shipped off to a Parisian board­ing school, film‑obsessed Anna feels stranded—until charis­mat­ic Éti­enne St. Clair takes her under his wing. Perkins lay­ers clas­sic roman­tic tropes with authen­tic teen awk­ward­ness: cul­tur­al mis­steps, com­pli­cat­ed exes, and big dreams about the future. Paris becomes a char­ac­ter in its own right, from late‑night cin­e­ma walks to Nutella‑laden cafés, mak­ing read­ers fall in love with the city as fierce­ly as Anna falls for St. Clair. A peren­ni­al gate­way into YA romance, it still enthralls new­com­ers over a decade lat­er.

Key Highlights

• Enchant­i­ng Paris back­drop brim­ming with cin­e­mat­ic ref­er­ences
• Slow‑burn chem­istry that respects bound­aries and friend­ship
• Real­is­tic por­tray­al of parental expec­ta­tions and inde­pen­dence
• Starter to an inter­con­nect­ed companion‑novel tril­o­gy

Conclusion

Young‑adult romance thrives because it mir­rors the exhil­a­ra­tion and uncer­tain­ty of first love while offer­ing safe space to rehearse real‑world emo­tions. The ten nov­els above demon­strate the genre’s vast range: his­tor­i­cal epics, heart­felt con­tem­po­raries, mag­i­cal war­zones, and breezy rom‑coms. Yet each shares com­mon threads—respectful rep­re­sen­ta­tion, lay­ered char­ac­ters, and the unshak­able belief that love can spark self‑discovery. Whether you pick up a just‑released title for a taste of 2025 buzz or revis­it an early‑2010s favorite, you’ll find sto­ries that hon­or teenagers’ feel­ings as valid and vital. So grab a blan­ket, brew your bev­er­age of choice, and let these pages remind you that, in every era and every set­ting, young hearts con­tin­ue to beat—in fic­tion and in life—with wild, hope­ful rhythm.