Most Anticipated Young Adult SFF/H for March & April 2026 - Reactor

(Page Street YA; March 10, 2026) Recent high school graduate and new astrophysics major Silas keeps accidentally time traveling. These “time trips” drop him in the body he had before transitioning, which is hard enough to deal with the first time around, much less over and over again. He meets Jude, a boy with the same time travel problem and who claims to know a future version of Silas. The two must work together to cure their affliction.

(Norton Young Readers; April 7, 2026) Laurie is stuck reliving the same day over and over. Making matters worse is that he has to do it in a girl’s body. Every day he wakes up just before a terrible car accident and is rescued by Gideon, a stranger who offers Laurie a place to stay. Laurie has no memories of his past life, but knows that he has only a few months to figure out why he’s in a loop… and why he’s not the only one stuck.

(Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); March 10, 2026) Depression can feel like there’s a rain cloud over your head all the time. For Megh, that metaphor is real. Just before starting a prestigious internship in the summer after graduating high school, she’s struck by lightning. When she wakes up, a stormcloud is following her around, broadcasting her emotions. Her parents’ tempestuous relationship makes it hard for Megh to calm down, but kindhearted Lev, a fellow intern, helps her find her way.

(Margaret K. McElderry Books; March 31, 2026) Blending survival, adventure, and fantasy, Reintgen takes us to a crashlanded airship, a crew with dark secrets, and a dragoness with a taste for human flesh. As the survivors of the crash wait for rescue, they are picked off one by one. Pearl, the smuggler who brought the dragoness on board, wants to use Marken, the crew’s wizard prisoner, to stop the dragoness, but they’re stymied at every turn.

(Nancy Paulsen; April 21, 2026) Grace has had a rough time. Her mother died when she was little, and her grandmother recently passed. That plus the stress of her father’s high expectations and plans for her future have exacerbated her panic attacks. As a way to process her feelings, she starts a webcomic inspired by the Korean myths Halmeoni used to tell her. And then one day, one of the gods from her story comes to life. As she works to send him home, she starts to fall for him.

(Labyrinth’s End #1 — Page Street YA; April 21, 2026) Thea is a high school dropout killing time in her small Appalachian town. She’s in a situationship with Callum, the new guy in town who is secretly spying on her as part of his job with the Council. Oliver arrives just in time to rescue Thea and Callum—who once had a thing with Oliver—from marauding fairies. Too bad he saves them from one horror by transporting them to another. They wind up in the Labyrinth, a portal world full of hungry dangers. Getting out might be worse than what drove them in.

(HarperCollins; April 28, 2026) Seven years ago, Ida’s father was given the title Court Luminaire to King Aurel before he disappeared so thoroughly that no one at court remembers who he was. Now, Ida has secured the title for herself and uses it to untangle the mystery of what happened to her father. In between feats of stunning magic, Ida tries to fix the curse that has erased everyone’s memories. Joining her on her investigation is Lenore, the king’s daughter, and Vegard, a winter spirit. 

(Bloomsbury YA; March 3, 2026) In a near-future version of Toronto, water is strictly regulated by the company Hydrexo. Wyatt’s parents are lead engineers there, so to shrug off accusations of being a spoiled rich kid he tries to become a top player in the video game Fathom Fall. But the game isn’t just for fun. Big Bads from the game are appearing in real life, and Wyatt is going to have to step up his game to stop them. For those of you on the hunt for younger YA, this book and the next feature protagonists who are 14 years old.

(Atheneum Books for Young Readers; March 24, 2026) Jess has grown up in a world where honeybees went extinct. In this dystopia, the patriarchy has locked down art, culture, and personal expression. The future for girls like Jess and her friends Ruth, Cass, and Deva is already decided: they will pollinate plants by hand with brushes until they’re married off to produce the next generation of laborers. But Jess was raised outside the patriarchal confines of this new world and longs for a better future. 

(Roaring Brook Press; April 7, 2026) 2120, Trinity, a planet made of metal. Val, a teleporting assassin, works for a local gang. They haven’t told anyone about their abilities, but that secret gets harder to keep when someone kidnaps their sisters as retribution for a job that goes bad. Val reaches out to Orion, their former friend and long-time crush, to help them find their sisters and take on the corrupt forces that run Trinity.

(Page Street YA; March 3, 2026) Charlie has the terrible power to siphon life from anyone they touch, a power exploited by Lou, a ghost. Lou forces Charlie to steal life from others for her benefit by threatening to take it from their sister Sam if they don’t. Charlie finally refuses when Lou chooses Ravi, Charlie’s crush, and Lou, as promised, goes after Sam. The three teens set off on a quest to find more “Death Gods” to save Sam and stop Lou once and for all.

(G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers; March 10, 2026) Alexis Henderson makes her YA debut with this story about a teen encountering Death. The death of her sister Adeline throws Roslyn into a spiral of grief. The girls who Adeline had spent the summer with arrive in Roslyn’s hometown and reveal that they work for Death himself, killing people at his behest. Adeline offers to join them in exchange for Death revealing the truth about what happened to her sister, but some bargains should not be struck.

(Infinity Courts #3 — Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; April 14, 2026) After dying in the real world, Nami is trapped in Infinity. The afterlife was once controlled by Ophelia, an AI hellbent on destroying all of humanity. At the start of the last book in the trilogy, decades have passed since Nami stood up to Ophelia. Humans in Infinity have thrown off the shackles from their AI oppressors, but peace is far from guaranteed. Ophelia is not done yet.

(Wednesday Books; April 14, 2026) When someone dies, Siying, a ganshi, comes to collect the corpse. Using a special talisman, she can reanimate the body enough to transport it to its final resting place. Her latest job turns out to be the prince of Sian, and instead of being an obedient corpse he’s almost alive. To keep him alive, they need to gather qi. As they journey to the capital, the prince’s secrets put their quest at risk.

(Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; April 21, 2026) A queer teen tries to navigate a haunted house of generational trauma. Deep in the redwoods of Northern California stands a historic house called the Heights. Catie and her family live there alone until Hunter and his scientist father move into a cottage on the property. At first, she’s charmed by Hunter’s talent for bringing animals back from the dead, but he turns cruel the longer the darkness of the Heights digs its claws into him. If you’re going to indulge in only one story loosely inspired by Wuthering Heights this spring, make it this one.

(The Gravewood #1 — Scholastic Press; March 3, 2026) Years ago, as climate change ravaged the world, a new disease emerged. There are two ways to become infected: drinking contaminated water and being bitten by an infected person. For some, like Shea Parker’s mom, the infection “hollows” them out until they’re nothing but Rot, bloodthirsty creatures who kill without hesitation. Others, like Oliver Lysander, Turn into vampire-like creatures who survive by drinking blood. Shea has made a deal with Lys. She’ll serve as his “bloodbag” and he’ll bring her batteries for her hearing aids. That truce works until her friend Camille goes missing and her brother, Asher, convinces them both to head south in search of her. 

(Feiwel & Friends; March 3, 2026) In the 19th century, the ancestors to the present-day people calling themselves the Kinfolk escaped slavery and built a new life on a hidden island off the coast of South Carolina. They mostly keep to themselves and honor their blended African cultural traditions. Addae, who is in an apprenticeship to learn to become the next leader of the Kinfolk, disappears one day. Her bestie Naira is determined to find her before she ends up dead like the other victims of the adze, vampire-like creatures from Ewe mythology.

(Viking Books for Young Readers; March 31, 2026) Ishara Ming barely survives when her spaceship is destroyed by Ballena, a whale-like Mech-Operated Bio-Integrated Spacecraft. As she sails off into the great beyond in search of the elusive whale with her new crew, Ishara is lured in by the mysterious Augustus and her first mate Quinn. Ishara will take down Ballena or die trying. Come on, you know you want a Moby Dick-inspired queer YA novel set in space. 

(The New World #1 — Candlewick; April 7, 2026) This new series returns to the world established in Ness’ late 2000s YA dystopian series Chaos Walking. It’s been almost twenty years in terms of both when each series was published and how much time has passed in-universe. Todd and Viola, the protagonists we first met in The Knife of Never Letting Go, have children of their own now, Ben and Max. Things have mostly been peaceful, but when burning gods start appearing on New World and a massive, unidentified object appears in the sky, the alien species native to the planet are blamed. As the mysteries deepen, Ben, Max, Todd, and Viola are pulled in different directions.

(F/K Teen; March 10, 2026) Kenzie has had an unrequited crush on Hayden for a while now. When Hayden ends up in the hospital after bonking his head, Kenzie makes the impulsive choice to pretend they were dating this whole time. That plan backfires when they get feels for Hayden’s brother, Zach. With its While You Were Sleeping vibes and cozy queer romantasy trappings, this sounds delightful.

(Joy Revolution; March 24, 2026) Monroe lives in Fair Glen, Illinois, and is training to become an agent at the Bureau of Mystical Affairs. Agents manage the magic in the town, and Monroe is excited for her first assignment: uncovering the origin of some charms running amok at her school. Her boss’ daughter, Iris, complicates her work-life balance when she asks Monroe to fake-date her to make her ex jealous. Trust me, you need this cozy queer romantasy in your life.

(Sarah Barley Books; March 17, 2026) Although this book isn’t technically speculative fiction, it has enough orca-related strangeness in it that I’m counting it anyway. Lee is known for crafting compelling historical YA, and this is no different. It’s 1918 and Lucy Nowhere has spent her whole life on Orcas Island, Washington, under the care of her wealthy guardian. When he is brutally killed, she learns she is heir to his estate. Not only does she have to figure out who killed her patron but she must do it before she ends up next on the chopping block.