New YA Book Releases for November 19, 2025

⚓ Books    📅 2025-11-19    👤 surdeus    👁️ 12      

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We’re really hitting our downhill slide to the end of the year in the world of new young adult book releases. Where it was once difficult to pick and choose which titles to highlight each week, this week and next week’s choices are much less difficult simply because there are fewer titles.

Because of the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. next week, this week’s new releases also include titles hitting shelves then. I’ve indicated which titles those are with the publication date beside them; any books without a date next to them are available this week.

On deck this week are a fun K-pop take on Pride and Prejudice, a story of a girl finding her place in roller derby, a short story collection set in the world of a popular series by a beloved YA author, and so much more. This week, we’ve also got another pair of book doing simultaneous releases in paperback and hardcover. I suspect that will continue to happen with frequency into the new year, and it’s a much-needed publishing trend that allows readers to pick the format that best fits their needs (and their budgets!).

Note that this week’s releases are not as diverse as usual, and that’s a product of fewer releases hitting shelves. That said–and as noted before–there is some fear that we’ll begin to really see fewer diverse titles beginning next year due to the ongoing attacks on books by or about marginalized people. It’s our responsibility to watch what’s happening in publishing and call it out if this fear begins to bear out.

New Hardcover YA Releases This Week

the cuffing game book cover

The Cuffing Game by Lyla Lee

In this K-Drama remix of Pride and Prejudice with queer lead characters, readers who love reality TV and YA books with older teens will find a lot to like.

Mia got a full ride to film school behind her mom’s back, and it’s her way out of an unfulfilling small town life. She’s now working to produce a dating show, but all of her plans are challenged when she’s forced to ask her secret crush Noah to help her. She’d much rather just hate him instead.

Noah’s one of the most eligible bachelors on campus, and despite pressure from his peers, he’s okay with that. He doesn’t need a relationship right now. But his eyes are on Mia, and he’s delighted when she asks him to help her on her show. He’ll be one of the eligible contestants.

But watching Noah go on dates from behind the scenes isn’t sitting well with Mia. And those feelings are reciprocated by Noah, who wonders if he’s really meant to be dating the girl behind the camera.

how girls are made book cover

How Girls Are Made by Mindy McGinnis

McGinnis’s latest novel is being pitched as Sex Education meets Euphoria and sounds like it tackles a whole lot of right-now issues in an intense and compelling way.

The book follows three girls. There’s Fallon, a girl who thinks she’s got everything all figured out. But when her younger sister asks her a basic question about sex and Fallon realizes she doesn’t know the answer, she creates an off-campus group to get some practical answers.

Shelby is a girl who fights, but things take a turn when her boyfriend hits her. After that happens, it’s a new guy who wants to court her. He’s saying everything right and flattering, and Shelby is willing to change some of the things he thinks could be better about her.

Then there’s Jobie, who wants to be a social media influencer but never quite gets the traction she thinks she deserves. So when she gets a DM from someone who suggests an audience of open and receptive guys who’d be eager to help her career flourish.

All three of the girls get to know each other in Fallon’s secret group. But while they all fight to achieve the things they think that they want, not all of them will get out of this alive.

I'll find you where the timeline ends book cover

I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends by Kylie Lee Baker

Yang Mina was born with the power to travel through time. This is because she is the descendant of a Japanese dragon god, and she’s spent her life preparing to join the Descendants. The Descendants are charged with protecting the timeline.

There’s just one, err, many problems. Mina’s moved to Seoul and discovered that the Descendants are corrupt. That doesn’t touch upon her sister being literally erased from existence and her bad grades in calculus. It also doesn’t touch upon her dream of kissing the cutest boy in her class feeling more and more impossible.

Mina has to do something. That something is teaming up with Yejun, a dangerous proposition, as he’s a rogue agent. But Yejun wants to help remove corrupt influence from the Descendants and he promises Mina he’ll restore her sister to the timeline. Mina and Yejun are meeting between classes in time travel dates, and all seems like it’s going well. At least, it did. Now Mina’s beginning to see the truth about Yejun, and all of his promises are sounding less and less, well, promising.

New Hardcover Series Releases:

More Hardcover YA Releases This Week:

New Paperback YA Releases This Week

out of air book cover

Out of Air by Rachel Reiss

Phoebe “Phibs” Ray loves being underwater. It was only six months ago when she and her friends were on a dive and found some ancient gold coins. That gave them a rush of social media fame, even. Now it’s their final summer together before college and life post-high school, and Phibs and her friends are going to take one more dive together.

Phibs finds an underwater cave on this dive, and it’s a cave rumored to have some sunken treasure. But when Phibs and her friend Gabe surface, strange things are happening to them. They’re hearing whispers in their head. They have wounds that aren’t healing. They’re being invaded from the inside out.

Now treasure hunters have arrived, eager to find the bounty that Phibs and her friends think they may have stumbled upon. Those hunters plan to take the teens for ransom. But it won’t be long before Phibs and those wanna-be criminals discover the true monster lurking right beneath the surface.

red as royal blood book cover

Red As Royal Blood by Elizabeth Hart

Ruby loves a puzzle, but she was not prepared to put together why, when destined to the role of servant to the royal family, she was then named the heir to the throne before the king’s death.

She’s now left to clean up an unbelievable mess. It begins with the king’s wife being angry. It continues with the king’s three sons being irate that they aren’t his successor. It only gets worse when she discovers a note from the king that he’s actually been murdered and that she, Ruby, will be next.

To solve the king’s murder–to figure out if it was a murder at all–Ruby must work with the three princes. But her time is short because if they can’t figure out whether or not there’s a killer on the loose, her life may be the next one taken.

New Paperback Series Releases:

More Paperback YA Releases This Week:


Want more YA book recommendations? Of course you do. Here are some excellent recent queer takes on Jane Austen, as well as some of the biggest books of the fall.

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