Books Young Adult Spotlight Most Anticipated Young Adult SFF/H for May & June 2026 Romantasy dominates the summer schedule, but there’s a lot of variety in these 21 upcoming titles. By Alex Brown | Published on April 30, 2026 Comment 0 Share New Share And we’re back with a new batch of upcoming science fiction, fantasy, and horror young adult novels. I feel like I’ve been repeating myself the last year or so, but guess what, this summer there’s a lot of romantasy coming up. Much to my pleasant surprise, we also have a few science fantasy genre blends too. Horror is on a downswing, and science fiction remains tantalizingly rare. Nevertheless, queer authors are doing some really interesting things with identity. I have 21 new books to add to your TBR. Thrills & Chills That Which Feeds Us by Keala Kendall (Random House Books for Young Readers; May 5, 2026) Kōpaʻa Island Resort is an exclusive wellness getaway for the rich and idle, but for Lehua it’s the place where her twin sister Ohia vanished without a trace. The girls didn’t have a strong relationship, but that doesn’t mean Lehua isn’t going to go looking for her. After a storm strands her on the island, she’s at the mercy of the horrifying colonial history of the land stolen from her ancestors. There is very little in the way of ownvoices Native Hawaiian speculative fiction, so this is a welcome addition.  The Saw Mouth by Cale Plett (Delacorte Press; May 12, 2026) A decade ago, advanced technology became sentient and lashed out in agony and torment. They destroyed themselves in a cataclysmic event known as Autumn. Now, genderqueer teen Cedar has arrived at the hometown of their missing father, Sawblade Lake searching for their last known relative. Something monstrous harasses them on the outskirts of town, something that is connected to Cedar in ways they don’t yet understand.  The Monsters We Made by Peyton June (Norton Young Readers; June 23, 2026) Every town has a legend about a local cryptid, and in Scarberry, Nebraska, it’s an alien called Old Lucky. Lenny and her boyfriend Evan run a YouTube channel where they investigate paranormal activity. They’re drawn to Claire’s hometown with her claim that aliens landed on her family farm. What they don’t know is Claire faked it to try and attract new customers to the ailing business. But when strange and terrifying things start happening, well, that hoax may not be a hoax after all.  Magic with a Twist The Electric Life of Lavender Lewis by Kara Storti (Union Square & Co.; May 5, 2026) Epilepsy has always been something Lavender has just had to deal with. She’s had every kind of symptom and seizure, but after her mom’s death, her seizures change. Now she’s seeing—hallucinating?—a boy named Eli who also has epilepsy. She could get surgery to resolve the worst of her medical issues, but she fears not only that she won’t wake up the same person she was when she went in but also that she’ll lose her connection to Eli.  Folklore & Mythology The Hanging Bones by Elle Tesch (Feiwel & Friends; May 12, 2026) The legendary Breimar Stag appears only every few years when the Scavenge Moon rises. If it is caught before the moon sets, the victor can wish for the death of anyone in the world, but if it escapes then the stag will take the life of one of its hunters. Katrín knows exactly who she wants dead: her employer, a wealthy baron, who has set his abusive sights on her cousin Alma. Her hunt is hampered by unexpected violence and more corpses than she knows what to do with. German folklore isn’t something we have too much of in YA fantasy, so I am very intrigued by this. Also! Katrín is asexual and aromantic! The Lustrous Dark by Loretta Chefchaouni (Peachtree Teen; May 19, 2026) Shay is an apprentice midwife in the city of Nezjar. Her mother’s addiction to the drug Snow not only caused her death, but passed her forbidden magic to her daughter. Or so Shay thought. Turns out her mother is still alive, but their reunion is a tragic one. Now abandoned and far from home, she seeks safety from the dangers in Ard Al-Ghul with activists working to restore women’s magic to its rightful place. Inspired by “Snow White” and the Moroccan folktale “The Jealous Mother.” Anthologies Everything Under the Moon: Fairy Tales in a Queerer Light edited by Michael Earp (Affirm Kids; May 12, 2026) This anthology does a queer remix on twelve classic fairy tales. The stories cover a wide range of speculative topics and YA themes, but the connective tissue here is queer joy and being your true self. Given that the government is currently trying to pass a national book ban that targets stories just like these, this collection couldn’t be more timely. Authors: Michael Earp, Alison Evans, Helena Fox, Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner, Will Kostakis, Jes Layton, Gary Lonesborough, Amber McBride, Abdi Nazemian, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Alexandra Villasante and Lili Wilkinson. Interior and cover art by Kit Fox. These Kindred Hearts: A YA Romantasy Anthology edited by Shari B. Pennant (Sweet July Books; June 30, 2026) Romantasy, like the rest of publishing, tends to involve mostly white people (and mostly cis, allo, and het people). This anthology centers on BIPOC characters with different intersectional identities, including class and queerness, to explore fantasy and romance from the YA perspective. Within these seventeen stories is a solid mix of fantasy subgenres. Authors: Alexene Farol Follmuth, Angela Montoya, Brent Lambert, Chelsea Padilla, Cheryl Isaacs, Jamar J. Perry, Jennifer Helen, Jill Tew, Kalynn Bayron, Kwame Mbalia, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Nia Davenport, Nikki T. Grant, Shari B. Pennant, Sophie Li, Vanessa Montalban, and Zoraida Córdova.  Past Is Present We Could Be Anyone by Anna-Marie McLemore (Feiwel & Friends; May 26, 2026) Mexican siblings Lola and Lisandro are conning their way through Hollywood’s Golden Age, with Lola pretending to be a ghost and Lisandro pretending to be a spiritualist who can banish her. Their latest mark is Rockafeller-esque Bixby Fairfax and his glamorous actress girlfriend Blythe Belle. At his extravagant hilltop estate, the teens’ grift takes off. Lisandro catches feelings for Bixby’s son and Lola for a member of the staff, but at the same time the mystery of what really happened to Bixby’s dead daughter is a truth someone will do anything to keep from being revealed. Where You’ll Find Us by Jen St. Jude (Bloomsbury YA; June 2, 2026) Calla is having a rough go. Kicked out by her parents. Can’t afford to go to college. Confessing she might be trans to her girlfriend, Ramona. Said girlfriend expressing reluctance to date a trans person. The two end up at a magical house called Amaranth, an oasis out of time whose occupants are queer kids from all across history. But when their refuge is threatened, the teens face the real and terrifying possibility that they will have to return to the real world.  The Game of Oaths by S. C. Bandreddi (Candlewick; June 2, 2026) Paris, 1896. To avenge her sister’s death, Falan, a trapeze artist from India, joins the same competition that killed Lavanya: the Game of Oaths. Every year, 12 teens sign magical contracts binding them to the Enchanteur Jean-Pierre and compete at the pleasure of the wealthy. One wins, the rest die awful deaths. With the help of new allies, Falan will take on Jean-Pierre’s powerful connections and racist intentions. Now, all she has to do is survive. Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost The Last Best Quest Ever by F.T. Lukens (Margaret K. McElderry Books; May 26, 2026) Ellinore is famous throughout the land for never having lost a quest. No one knows that she won them not through violence and bravery but conversation and basic problem-solving. And with the help of a chipper dragon. Now she has to do one last quest before she can retire at the ripe old age of seventeen: find the Elder Beast to save her brother from a deadly curse. She’s joined by her brother, a reckless noblewoman, a bard-in-training, and Princet Aven, Ellinoe’s competition and secret crush. A cozy fantasy with a heart of gold. Their Will Undone by R.J. Valldeperas (Their Will Undone #1 — HarperCollins; June 2, 2026) In the acllahuasi, Nina awaits her future. Her ill younger sister was initially chosen for the annual harvest, but Nina volunteered as tribute. She expects to train to become a servant to a wealthy family, but is instead chosen to become the new bride of the emperor of Amaru. Lieutenant Kasik is sent to collect her, and their journey is beset by dangers. As her hidden magic reveals itself, sinister motives as to why the emperor is interested in a commoner girl come to light. Kasik and Nina may despise each other, but they’re all they have left. A Great and Powerful Tyranny by Victoria Carbol (Song of the Ghost Queen #1 — Page Street YA; June 23, 2026) The Wizard of Oz gets reimagined as a queer portal fantasy. Thia tumbles from her oppressive home in Kansas into a strange new world. After killing a witch, she is joined by three traveling companions to find the Mage King. Only he can send her home, but he is no great and powerful leader. Along the way, Thia learns about her late mother’s rebellious past and falls for the girl without a heart.  Cursed Ever After by Andy C. Naranjo (Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); June 30, 2026) Risa is cursed. Born on a Bad Day, bad luck follows her around and plaguing her hometown of Barrow in a series of unfortunate events. On her seventeenth birthday, Brunhilda the witch sends Risa on a quest to transport Prince Javi, the least important prince in a long line of princes, to his betrothed. Bad Things follow Risa on her journey and things quickly spiral out of control. Much to her surprise, she also starts to fall for Prince Javi, even if he is a bit of a cad. The River She Became by Emily Varga (The River She Became #1 — Wednesday Books; June 30, 2026) By day Yaseema is a scholar of ancient artifacts for the Empire. By night she uses magic to find artifacts from her conquered people with the goal of eventually restoring them to their former glory. One of those relics grants her entry to the Fae land across the River where a dangerous item waits. She’s not the only one with eyes on recovering it. Captain Kiyan also wants the artifact for his own purposes, and the two forge a tenuous alliance. Who will betray who first? The cover copy comps this to The Cruel Prince meets The Mummy, and you know what? Sold. Genre blends Between Sun and Shadow by Laura Genn (Peachtree Teen; May 5, 2026) In this reimagining of “Beauty and the Beast,” two teen girls from opposing forces try to stop a war. Adria is from the Shadowlands where humans evolved into supernatural monsters after their planet was struck by a radioactive asteroid. Kori is from the Daylands, humans who fled underground after the cataclysm and who keep their memories of the Before Times stored in microchip implants. When Kori inadvertently becomes Adria’s prisoner, they uncover a conspiracy that will either unite their people or destroy them. You Pierce My Soul by Jessica Mary Best (Quirk Books; May 5, 2026) In New Ionia, a faux Regency utopia with Big Brother technology, Zada is about to meet her soulmate. An algorithm called Heartsong determines everyone’s soulmate for them, and when Zada is introduced to hers, she feels…nothing. At all. He’s fine but he’s not Daphne, her ex-bestie she can’t stop thinking about. The two young women dive into the history of the surveillance tech that runs their lives and try to forge a path all their own. Goldenborn by Ama Ofosua Lieb (Goldenborn #1 — Scholastic Press; June 2, 2026) With her father in a magically-induced coma, Akoma makes money investigating magic crimes with the San Francisco Police Department. During one such investigation, she discovers a body surrounded by molten gold and ash. A series of crimes in AfricaTown seem to be connected, and Akoma is the key to solving them. The trickster god Anansi offers to heal her father and stop the killer in exchange for her tapping into her ancestral magic. A near-future urban fantasy inspired by Ghanaian folklore.  Novels-in-verse Under a Carnivore Sky by Brianna Jett (Page Street YA; May 12, 2026) The small town of Saltview is surrounded by a swamp where a monster roams. For generations, the adults of Saltview are cursed by this monster and one-by-one they succumb to it. Lili, a loner, joins forces with Caleb, a boy on the verge of turning eighteen and contracting the curse like everyone else. He wants out of town and she wants to kill the monster. Maybe the two of them can finally do what no one else has been able to.  Doe by Rebecca Barrow (Nancy Paulsen Books; June 23, 2026) Maris’ life is miserable and empty. School sucks, her homelife is lonely, and her girlfriend is probably going to dump her soon. All she has is the cheer team, and she relishes her role as captain. New student Genevieve is her only competition, and Maris will do anything to remove the threat. Up to and including making a deal with an ancient creature that comes to her in her dreams in the form of a decomposing deer.[end-mark] The post Most Anticipated Young Adult SFF/H for May & June 2026 appeared first on Reactor.