WHAT TO READ NEXT IN YOUNG ADULT
JANUARY 2026
by Sydney Spell
Welcome to Texas Reads YA! As a teen who loves to read YA, I sometimes have a hard time finding quality YA novels.
If you love fantasy books with a side of romance then these books are for you! Both of these books are very different though, with one focusing on relationships and deadly secrets and the other on worldbuilding and rebelling.
Thana is the strange sixteen-year-old girl who no one wants anything to do with. Everyone who looks at her sees the quiet gothic girl who hates the world and everyone in it, which is just how it needs to be. The only people who know the truth, that she can kill with just her touch, are her family members. So, she spends her days alone, and keeps her distance from everyone around her because it’s the only way to keep them safe.
At least, she does her best to until Chase comes around. Unlike the other kids at school who cast her skeptical, sideways glances in the hallways, or bully her over her appearance, Chase is the first to make a genuine effort to become her friend. And, as dangerous as that is, Thana has a much harder time avoiding him than she wishes she did.
She knows the risks of having a friend who she has to keep such a big secret from, but she’s never had a real friend before, and the companionship, and the way he’s able to so easily make her feel carefree and happy is something she’s never experienced in this way before.
But what happens if she gets too close to him? What happens if she kills him?
Death’s Touch is a story about family, relationships, and secrets. Thana and Chase depict classic friends to lovers, but with a layer of secrecy and rules. It is fast paced, especially in the middle, and has good character development throughout.
Mase Evans is a fantasy and romance author who grew up in Houston, Texas and began writing at the age of 10, finishing her first full length novel when she was 14. She continues to live in Texas with her husband and her four fur babies.
The elementals have decided they’re gods, and humans are nothing but fuel for their fire.
A starving trapper.
Merciless drought withers Kira’s ranch, leaving her family hungry—and desperate enough to cross the border into the forbidden forest to trap wild game.
But the forest is infested with tree-scorpions and giant cats that wield elemental invisibility, and they’re hungry, too. When Kira mistakes one elemental creature for another, she ends up with the last thing she wants in her trap: an enemy soldier.
An invisible spy.
Ryon can’t afford to be a prisoner of war. If the Malaano Empire extracts his secrets, the rumors of war will be confirmed—and the tribes stand little chance against the Empire unless they can put aside generations of bad blood for the sake of a Tribal Alliance.
When Ryon’s escape leaves Kira injured and her livelihood in flames, Ryon must choose between aiding her… or returning to his chieftess with vital information. But can he survive the trek when an elemental pursues him for his rejected heritage?
A sacrificial princess.
Imperial Princess Vylia is given a powerful ancient stone as her wavesinger trials approach. But is the stone’s whispering voice from the water goddess, or a masquerading elemental the creator god imprisoned millennia ago?
When Vylia’s diplomatic mission to the tribal lands erupts in fiery revenge, she, Kira, and Ryon must work together to survive—or become pawns in the battle of the gods.
Emberhawk contains a beautifully crafted world with fleshed out characters and plot points. The novel is complex without being confusing and this allows for readers to be fully immersed in the world and story.
Jamie Foley is a fantasy author who loves strategy games, gardening, and making lembas bread. When she’s not writing, she’s working for Enclave Publishing or the Christian Writers Institute, typesetting, or drawing maps to Cair Paravel. They live between the Texas Hill Country and the family cattle ranch, where their hyperactive spawnling and wolfpack roam.
Sydney Spell is a college freshman at UT Austin. She has enjoyed reading through adolescence and is a big fan of YA novels specifically.