Glossary:
YA - Young Adult. An age range that usually describes 15-18 year olds. Books in this genre will contain adult themes but won't go into much detail regarding gore, swearing, or sex.
Paranormal romance - often confused with urban fantasy. Paranormal romance and urban fantasy are very similar. The main distinction being paranormal romance usually has romance as the base of the plot, whereas urban fantasy has it as a secondary plot or can be without it and focus mostly on the world building.
Ya (young adult) books dominated the late noughties and 2010’s. Blockbusters like Twilight, Vampire Academy, The House of Night series and so many more! There are countless articles detailing how over-saturated the genre became and how hard it would be for new authors to make their debut.
As we (the ya audience) have grown, so have our tastes. 18+ and adult romance books are now all the rage, many going viral on TikTok. However, there’s a new generation emerging, ready and eager to read all the hits. To make your lives easier, I’ve compiled a list of the top 15 ya, paranormal romance books. Because it’s ya, we’re keeping it strictly pg, any books with smexy content will have a content warning, just in case there are any parents wanting to buy books.
1. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
No paranormal romance list would even be a paranormal romance list without the inclusion of Stephanie Meyer’s iconic, Twilight. For my generation, this was the book that introduced us to paranormal romance and started our obsession with brooding vampires.
Perfect for anyone who loves:
Forbidden love
Slow burn
Soulmates
vampire/human
2. Vampire Academy - Richelle Mead
There are going to be a lot of vampires on this list. The chokehold that young adult vampire romances had on my generation was insane. As a result, there are going to be a lot of vampire recommendations. However, they all vary in quite nice way!
Perfect for anyone who loves:
Dark Academia
Forbidden love
Age gap romance
student/teacher
Strong female lead
vampire/vampire
3. City of Bones - Cassandra Clare
Another blockbuster hit, the City of Bones series by Cassandra Clare. Whilst I actually prefer her other series, Clockwork Princess, which is a prequel to City of Bones, this series is the one that launched Clare’s career. Inspiring one film series and one tv series (arguably both not great, but it depends on who you ask), The City of Bones series is up there with the legends. Please keep in mind that this series is in no particular order of preference, but I am trying to space out the vampires… even though this series has vampires… but they’re side characters, it doesn’t technically count.
Perfect for anyone who loves:
Strong female lead
Forbidden love (I hated this and if you haven’t read it, you’ll see why when you do)
Urban fantasy setting
Intricate plot
4. The Fallen by Thomas E. Sniegoski
This is definitely one of my favorite series on this list and is so slept on! The Fallen is loosely paranormal romance. The romance is definitely a backseat plot that blossoms later in the books, but I can’t help but recommend this series whenever I can! This series focuses on angels vs nephilim and truly has a villain you hate but also can empathise with. Plus there’s a talking golden retriever who sounds exactly how you’d expect a golden retriever to sound. It also sparked a film with the young Paul Wesley who you would recognise as Stefan Salvatore from the Vampire Diaries TV series.
Perfect for anyone who loves:
Angels vs nephilim
Not as much romance
Brothers
Cool action scenes
5. House of Night by P C. Cast
This is for those of you who love shows like Love Island and The Bachelor. It’s a got a certain, reality feel to it. It’s set in a world definitely our own but add vampires. It’s a really cool concept where the vampires are ‘marked’ (the title of the first book), during their teen years. This mark then appears as a half moon crescent tattoo in the middle of their forehead. Once marked, the teens transition into adult vampire has started.
However, there’s a catch. Not everyone makes it through the change. For whatever reason (which I think gets explained later in the series), some people don’t make it through the change and they end up dying. It’s actually really sad when we see it happen.
Perfect for anyone who loves:
High school drama
Strong female lead
Strong friendship bonds
Mildly spicy
Love triangles
6. Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
Another one for you angel lovers, Hush Hush was a relatively underrated series. And by underrated I mean it never really reached my book obsessed radar. However, my sister who’s 4 years older than me loved this series! Had all the books in hardback, which for a 16 yr old, is serious dedication. I’m actually unsure of the plot of this, having read the first book only once, but as an ode to my sister, I’ve included it on the list. From what I remember, the main character meets Patch who’s a fallen angel and shenanigans ensue. You’ll have to remind me in the comments about what happens.
Perfect for anyone who loves:
Angels
Romance
7. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Wohoo we’re finally breaking the mold! Shiver features neither vampires nor angels, instead focusing on werewolves! Shiver actually manages to be quite independent within the werewolf genre, but I’ll leave that for you guys to find out. This is one of the books that definitely managed to stick with me as I’ve grown, mostly for its unique plot.
Perfect for anyone who loves:
Werewolves
Twists and turns
Smart female lead
8. My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent
Another series that’s breaking the mold, the Soul Screamers series is about banshees! But not the hag banshees, of course they’re attractive teen banshees. It’s a really sweet moment when the two leads eventually get together so I recommend it just for that.
Perfect for anyone who loves:
Something different
Mystery
Strong female lead
9. The Morganville Series by Rachel Caine
I did say there would be a lot of vampires on this list. But the Morganville vampires are definitely some of my favourites! As I said, each of these vampires do vary in premise. Morganville is slowburn romance with a cute bad boy mixed with dangerous vampires, plot twists, and bitchy teens. It helps that Claire, our protagonist, is a genius and actually doesn’t make many stupid decisions.
Plus morally grey characters and villains you love to hate. It really is an awesome series! However, I think it got dragged out way too long!
My suggestion is to keep it to books 1-7. Another suggestion would be to actually buy the books if you can, as opposed to thrifting or pirating them. Caine died recently of cancer and her family are still paying off her medical bills. Buying her books outright will help them a lot.
Perfect for anyone who loves:
Smart female lead
Bad boy
Slow burn
Smart villains who are actually threatening and scary
10 The Dance of Lost Souls by Kelli Call
You can’t blame us for putting a self plug in here, but The Dance of Lost Souls by Kelli Call truly belongs on this list. And guess what? No vampires. The Dance of Lost Souls features the goddess of death and her reaper, Rogan. If you love historic romance, pirates, and crying your heart out, you’ll love The Dance of Lost Souls.
Perfect for anyone who loves:
Pirates
18th century shenanigans
Island romance
Poc rep
Plot twists
Forced marriage