Whether you’re holding on to the last dregs of warm weather or already breaking out your cozy sweaters, one thing is certain: there’s something in this fall’s diverse young adult releases for every kind of reader.
These books run the gamut from spooky and haunting to sweet and funny—and the most heartening part is that this list could have been much, much longer. As is, this selection samples from multiple genres in addition to featuring authors who range from new debuts to established pros, with only standalones or series opener books here for everyone who likes to start with a fresh slate.
If you love books for all ages, check out our picture book and middle grade round-ups too! Either way, we hope you find some new titles to curl up with as the seasons change.
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September Releases
The Sunbearer Trials (The Sunbearer Duology #1) by Aiden Thomas (Cuban/Mexican/Trans/Non-binary author)
Release date: September 6, 2022 | Feiwel & Friends
Description: Welcome to The Sunbearer Trials, where teen semidioses compete in a series of challenges with the highest of stakes, in this electric new Mexican-inspired fantasy.
ISBN: 9781250822130
Our Shadows Have Claws edited by Yamile Saied Méndez (Argentine American) and Amparo Ortiz (Puerto Rican), illustrated by Ricardo López Ortiz (Puerto Rican), stories by various Latinx writers
Release date: September 6, 2022 | Algonquin Young Readers
Description: Fifteen original short stories from YA superstars, featuring Latine mythology’s most memorable monsters
ISBN: 9781643751832
Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix by Anna-Marie McLemore (Mexican-American/Nonbinary author, Latinx/trans protagonist)
Release date: September 6, 2022 | Feiwel & Friends
Description: Three teens chase their own versions of the American Dream during the Roaring 20s in this YA reimagining of The Great Gatsby.
ISBN: 9781250774934
Lioness of Punjab by Anita Jari Kharbanda (Indian-American author, Indian protagonist)
Release date: September 17, 2022 | Yali Books
Description: A coming-of-age story about Mai Bhago—a woman revered in the Sikh community and beyond—growing to embrace her many roles in a way that was entirely her own.
ISBN: 9781949528718
The Getaway by Lamar Giles (Black author & protagonist)
Release date: September 20, 2022 | Scholastic Press
Description: A teen and his friends contend with unwittingly being trapped into serving the rich clientele at an end-of-the-world oasis in this YA horror.
ISBN: 9781338752014
The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers by Adam Sass (Nonbinary/Queer author, Queer protagonist)
Release date: September 20, 2022 | Viking Books for Young Readers
Description: After a teen who runs a popular Instagram full of drawings of his ninety-nine imaginary boyfriends has a meet-cute with Boy 100 go wrong, he embarks on a quest to find true love for real.
ISBN: 9780593464786
Eternally Yours edited by Patrice Caldwell (Black), stories by various diverse writers
Release date: September 20, 2022 | Viking Books for Young Readers
Description: A paranormal romance anthology filled with tales of the mortal and the monstrous by fifteen writers.
ISBN: 9780593206874
Direwood by Catherine Yu (Chinese author, Asian American protagonist)
Release date: September 20, 2022 | Page Street
Description: In this velvet-clad 1990s gothic horror, 16-year-old Aja encounters a charming vampire who wants to lure her into the woods—just like her missing sister.
ISBN: 9781645676126
Lark & Kasim Start a Revolution by Kacen Callender (Black/Trans/Queer author, Black/Queer protagonist)
Release date: September 27, 2022 | Amulet Books
Description: A contemporary YA story that follows one teen’s journey to speak the truth and discover how their own self-love can be a revolution.
ISBN: 9781419756870
How To Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy (Black/Nonbinary author, Black protagonist)
Release date: September 27, 2022 | G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Description: An overachieving teen witch vies for a prestigious scholarship at her elite high school in this contemporary YA fantasy.
ISBN: 9780593354520
My Name is Magic by Xan van Rooyen (Genderqueer/Nonbinary/Neurodivergent author, Nonbinary protagonist)
Release date: September 27, 2022 | Tiny Ghost Press
Description: A misfit at a magical school has to journey to the space between worlds to battle monsters—external and internal—to rescue their best friend.
ISBN: 9781739983444
October Releases
The Christmas Clash by Suzanne Park (Korean-American author & protagonist)
Release date: October 4, 2022 | Sourcebooks Fire
Description: In this hilarious YA holiday rom-com, two rivals get together to save their families’ livelihoods, and Christmas, too.
ISBN: 9781728248011
I Miss You, I Hate This by Sara Saedi (Iranian American author & protagonist)
Release date: October 11, 2022 | Little, Brown
Description: A timely story of two best friends navigating the complexities of friendship while their world is turned upside down by a global pandemic.
ISBN: 9780316629829
Everyone Hates Kelsie Miller by Meredith Ireland (Korean American adoptee/Demisexual author & protagonist)
Release date: October 11, 2022 | Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing
Description: A girl embarks on a road trip with her longtime rival to win back her best friend and his girlfriend.
ISBN: 9781665906975
If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang (Chinese-Australian author, Chinese American protagonist)
Release date: October 11, 2022 | Inkyard Press
Description: A Chinese American girl monetizes her strange new invisibility powers by discovering and selling her wealthy classmates’ most scandalous secrets.
ISBN: 9781335915849
Nothing Sung and Nothing Spoken by Nita Tyndall (Nonbinary/Queer author, Queer protagonist)
Release date: October 18, 2022 | HarperTeen
Description: A heart-wrenching queer historical YA romance set in the Swing Youth movement of World War II Berlin.
ISBN: 9780063087446
Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers, illustrated by Jeff Edwards (Cherokee author, artist, & protagonists)
Release date: October 18, 2022 | Levine Querido
Description: A collection of horror stories that draw upon long-told Cherokee stories and follow one extended Cherokee family across the centuries.
ISBN: 9781646141791
Somebody That I Used to Know by Dana L. Davis (Black author & protagonist)
Release date: October 18, 2022 | Skyscape Pub
Description: An aspiring musician is forced to reunite with her ex-best friend—who just happens to be the world’s biggest teen star.
ISBN: 9781542038744
The Whispering Dark by Kelly Andrew (Deaf author & protagonist)
Release date: October 18, 2022 | Scholastic Press
Description: A dark, atmospheric fantasy about a Deaf college student with a peculiar connection to the afterlife.
ISBN: 9781338809473
Night of the Raven, Dawn of the Dove by Rati Mehrotra (Indian author & protagonist)
Release date: October 18, 2022 | Wednesday Books
Description: A young guardswoman struggles with her unwitting role as a major pawn in the deadly games between two kingdoms.
ISBN: 9781250823694
We Are the Scribes by Randi Pink (Black author & protagonist)
Release date: October 18, 2022 | Feiwel & Friends
Description: A teenage activist is visited by the ghost of Harriet Jacobs, an enslaved woman.
ISBN: 9781250820327
Road of the Lost by Nafiza Azad (Indo-Fijian Muslim Canadian)
Release date: October 18, 2022 | Margaret K. McElderry Books
Description: A girl discovers she’s spent her life under an enchantment hiding her true identity on her quest into the magical Otherworld to unlock her powers and discover her destiny.
ISBN: 9781534484993
When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb (Jewish author & protagonist)
Release date: October 18, 2022 | Levine Querido
Description: An angel and a demon who study Talmud together go to America to find a missing girl from their shtetl, and find the country more complicated than they anticipated.
ISBN: 9781646141760
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee (Young Readers Adaptation) by David Treuer (Ojibwe/Jewish)
Release date: October 18, 2022 | Viking Books for Young Readers
Description: Adapted for young adults from the adult nonfiction book of the same name, this book looks at Native American culture as it exists today—and the fight to preserve language and traditions.
ISBN: 9780593203477
The Sevenfold Hunters by Rose Egal (Black/Muslim author, Muslim protagonist)
Release date: October 25, 2022 | Page Street Kids
Description: Hijabi alien hunter Abyan wants nothing more than to graduate from Carlisle Academy and finally rid the Earth of aliens, the Nosaru. Everything is going to plan until the Nosaru kill one of Abyan’s squad mates.
ISBN: 9781645676164
Strike the Zither by Joan He (Chinese-American author, Chinese protagonist)
Release date: October 25, 2022 | Roaring Brook Press
Description: An epic YA fantasy about found family, rivals, and questions of identity, reimagining the Three Kingdoms Chinese Classic.
ISBN: 9781250258588
Eight Nights of Flirting by Hannah Reynolds (Jewish author & protagonist)
Release date: October 25, 2022 | Razorbill
Description: A sixteen-year-old girl is on a mission to find the perfect boyfriend this Hanukkah, but love might not go according to plan.
ISBN: 9780593349755
The Art of Insanity by Christine Webb (Author & protagonist with BPD)
Release date: October 25, 2022 | Peachtree Teen
Description: This heartfelt and candid contemporary YA novel explores the stigma surrounding mental illness and offers an uplifting narrative of resilience.
ISBN: 9781682634578
We Are All We Have by Marina Budhos (Indo-Guyanese/Jewish author)
Release date: October 25, 2022 | Wendy Lamb Books
Description: When a teenage girl’s single mom is taken by ICE, everything changes—all of her hopes and dreams for the future have turned into survival.
ISBN: 9780593120200
November Releases
My Good Man by Eric Gansworth (Haudenosaunee author & protagonist)
Release date: November 1, 2022 | Levine Querido
Description: A coming of age story about a young Indigenous man who finds himself suddenly having to return to the life he left behind.
ISBN: 9781646141838
Jasmine Zumideh Needs a Win by Susan Azim Boyer (Iranian American author & protagonist)
Release date: November 1, 2022 | Wednesday Books
Description: When an international incident crashes into a high school election, a teen girl is caught between doing the right thing and chasing her dream.
ISBN: 9781250833693
Notes from a Sickbed by Tessa Brunton (Author with myalgic encephalomyelitis)
Release date: November 1, 2022 | Lerner Publishing
Description: A graphic novel memoir that collects previously released and brand-new, unseen comics about Tessa Brunton’s experiences with chronic fatigue syndrome.
ISBN: 9781728419480
How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow (Jewish/Queer, Jewish Lesbian protagonist)
Release date: November 1, 2022 | HarperTeen
Description: A sapphic Jewish twist on the classic Christmas rom-com in a read perfect for fans of Kelly Quindlen and Casey McQuiston.
ISBN: 9780063078727
Salt and Sugar by Rebecca Carvalho (Brazilian author & protagonist)
Release date: November 1, 2022 | Inkyard Press
Description: The grandchildren of two rival Brazilian bakeries fall in love despite their families’ feud in this delicious debut rom-com.
ISBN: 9781335454331
Whiteout: A Novel by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon (Black authors & protagonists)
Release date: November 8, 2022 | Quill Tree Books
Description: Atlanta is blanketed with snow just before Christmas, but the warmth of young love just might melt the ice in this novel of Black joy, and cozy, sparkling romance.
Reader, I Murdered Him by Betsy Cornwell (Bisexual author, Queer protagonist)
Release date: November 15, 2022 | Clarion Books
Description: A girl becomes a teenage vigilante who roams Victorian England using her privilege and power to punish her friends’ abusive suitors and keep other young women safe.
ISBN: 9780358306641
Briarcliff Prep by Brianna Peppins (Black author & protagonist)
Release date: November 15, 2022 | Disney Hyperion
Description: Set at a luxe, aspirational boarding school inspired by Spelman College, this debut is a celebration of the friends we choose, the family we protect, and the love we owe ourselves.
ISBN: 9781368078375
House of Yesterday by Deeba Zargarpur (Afghan-Uzbek American/Muslim author & protagonist)
Release date: November 29, 2022 | Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Description: Inspired by the author’s own heritage, this debut is a journey into the grief that lingers through generations of immigrant families, and what it means to confront the ghosts of your past.
ISBN: 9780374388713
We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds (Black/Biracial/Queer author & protagonist)
Release date: November 29, 2022 | Roaring Brook Press
Description: Family secrets, romance, and a slow-burn mystery collide in this debut that explores how racial violence can ripple down through generations.
ISBN: 9781250816566
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JoAnn Yao is the Social Media Manager for We Need Diverse Books. Among other things, she has conducted research for the American Film Institute, provided book and script coverage for a Hollywood agency, designed an online narrative game, and written a comic for a New Frontiers anthology. She lives in New York City with her dragon’s hoard of books. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram.
