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I recently looked back at my very first piece for Book Riot, a post I wrote over nine years ago after reading Zoraida Córdova’s Labyrinth Lost for the first time. I wrote giddily about the novelty of seeing a Latina character in a work of witchy fantasy, and having had a taste of that experience, of a sincere hope to see more of these stories in the future.
Reading the piece makes me a little sad for my younger self, but also thankful for the progress I’ve witnessed since then. It’s been slow going, and there is much more work to do there, but there are so many fantastic YA stories in so many genres now, enough that I can’t keep up! I’ve rounded up seven fantastic YA books by Latine authors, a mix of newer books and backlist titles I’ve loved. Each of these will satisfy Task #3 of the Read Harder challenge: Read a YA book by a Latine author.
 On the Wings of La Noche by Vanessa L. TorresRound of applause, y’all: this book won the Pure Belpré Award at the 2026 Youth Media Awards! By day, Estrella “Noche” Villanueva is a lonely science nerd. By night, she’s a Lechuza, a jet-black owl who helps shepherd the spirits of the departed into the afterlife. When her human girlfriend, Dante, dies in an accidental drowning, Noche can’t seem to let go, visiting her spirit each night to get a little more time with her love. But with each encounter, Dante’s soul fades a little bit more, and Noche can’t figure out how to stop it. When Noche finds herself drawn to someone new in her human form, she is torn between these two loves and duty. |
 If We Were a Movie by Zakiya N. JamalThis is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance set against the backdrop of a historic Black-owned movie theater. The enemies and lovers in question are an overachiever with her sights set on Wharton and her nemesis, who not only works at the theater she just got a job at—she’s her boss. |
