WHAT TO READ NEXT IN YOUNG ADULT
SEPTEMBER 2025
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.
One of these books contains mystery, intrigue, and complex puzzles and the other is a story of navigating identity, coming of age, and falling in love despite it all.
Seven tickets. An island of dreams. The chance of a lifetime.
Welcome to the Grandest Game, an annual competition run by billionaire Avery Grambs and the four infamous Hawthorne brothers, whose family fortune she inherited. Designed to give anyone a shot at fame and fortune, this year’s game requires one of seven golden tickets to enter. With millions on the line, those seven players will do whatever it takes to win.
Some of the players are in it for the money. Some for power. Some for reasons all their own. Every single one of them has secrets. Amidst it all is Grayson Hawthorne, tasked with a vital role in this year’s game. But as tensions rise and the mind-bending challenges push the players to their limits—physically, mentally, and emotionally—it soon becomes clear that not everyone is playing by the rules.
The Grandest Game is a novel with mindbending puzzles, games, and mysteries. It features complex characters that feel like they could be your best friends. This novel is the first book in a new interconnected series to Inheritance Games set in Texas. But The Grandest Game contains even more layers of secrecy and motivations.
Jennifer Lynn Barnes is the author of more than a dozen critically acclaimed young adult novels. She has advanced degrees in psychology, psychiatry, and cognitive science, including graduate degrees from Cambridge University, where she was a Fulbright Scholar, and Yale University, where she received her Ph.D. in 2012. Jen wrote her first published novel when she was nineteen-years-old and sold her first five books while still in college. Jen is an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma, where she holds a dual appointment in Psychology and Professional Writing.
Jess is everything Gabe wants. Gabe is everything Jess doesn’t know she needs. Some accidents were meant to be.
Gabe isn’t a werewolf. He just plays one on TV. Jess has never been kissed. She just writes romance online.
TV heartthrob Gabriel Wade has never met a party he couldn’t rock, a problem he couldn’t dodge, or a crowd he couldn’t play. Homeschooled Jessica Thorne has never met a party she couldn’t wallflower, a problem she couldn’t stress over, or a crowd she couldn’t escape. But they both know what it’s like to lose someone . . . someone who’s still here.
After a hotel escalator dumps Jess into Gabe’s spotlight and he unknowingly hijacks her first kiss, he decides she’ll be the perfect decoy for the paparazzi. If he can convince her to play his “girlfriend of the week.”
Except Jess isn’t about to be anyone’s fangirl and doesn’t care about TV’s Hottest Hairball or his Hollywood ego. And by the time she figures out Gabe isn’t who she thought, it might be too late to say she needs him as much as he needs her. Even if he wants her for real.
The Accidental Boyfriend is funny, sweet, and emotional. The family dynamics are real and raw leading to characters that are relatable and that you just want to root for. It is written in dual POV and this writing choice just adds to the complexity of the emotions.
Lori Freeland wrote her first story at age five. It wasn’t good, but it left her with the belief that everyone has a story to tell. An author, editor, and writing coach, she writes everything from articles to novels, has taught at conferences across the country, and helped many new writers find their voices. A mood reader, she loves happy endings, thrills and chills, unexpected twists, and anything a little weird—as long as it has a touch of romance. When she’s not curled up on the couch with her husband and her dog drinking too much coffee, you can find her messing with the lives of the imaginary people living inside her head.
Sydney Spell is a college freshman at UT Austin. She has enjoyed reading through adolescence and is a big fan of YA novels specifically.