New Adult fiction is one of the most exciting and fast-growing areas of publishing today. Sitting between Young Adult and Adult, these books capture the exhilarating, messy, and transformative years of early adulthood. That time when we’re stepping out into the big, wide world, dipping our toes into independence, falling in and out of love, and learning who we are. Who we are meant to be. Who we want to be.

From college romances and coming-of-age adventures to bold epic fantasies and thought-provoking contemporary dramas, New Adult fiction offers stories that are as relatable as they are imaginative. It’s a category that embraces intensity, passion, and discovery. A category tackling everything from first jobs and friendships to identity, sexuality, and the challenges of growing up in today’s world.

And it’s not just readers who are taking notice. This year marked the launch of the New Adult Fiction Book Awards, celebrating the very best voices in this groundbreaking category. The awards are shining a spotlight on a generation of storytellers redefining what it means to write for readers in their late teens and twenties. And helping this once-niche label take its rightful place at the heart of modern publishing.

At LoveReading, we’re thrilled to bring you our curated collection of New Adult must-reads. Whether you’re drawn to swoon-worthy romance, gripping fantasy, dark academia, or heartfelt contemporary fiction, you’ll find books here that deliver the thrill of possibility and potential and highlight the unique challenges of finding your way in the world. 

What is New Adult Fiction?

New Adult (NA) fiction is a relatively modern category of fiction that sits between Young Adult (YA) and Adult literature. It focuses on characters in the 18–29 age range, exploring the challenges, freedoms, and conflicts of early adulthood.

The characters are typically college-age, in their first jobs, or navigating independence for the first time. Often aged late teens to late twenties the stories are categoriased by transition from adolescence to adulthood with themes of identity, independence, and self-discovery.

More mature than Young Adult (YA), they often include sex, complex relationships, and darker issues like trauma, addiction and mental health.

Why Does “New Adult” Exist?

Many Young Adult readers wanted stories that grew up with them. That aged with them. That hold their hand beyond high school but not yet into the “married-with-kids” territory often found in adult fiction.

Publishers recognised this bridge category in the early 2010s, especially with the boom of eBooks and self-publishing and as lots of New Adult romance thrived online first. And today, it’s one of the fastest-growing segments of commercial fiction, especially in romance and fantasy.

New Adult Fiction Recommendations

It's Colleen Hoover's heartland. High-emotion, high-stakes contemporary romances about 18–25-year-olds on the cusp. It's trauma, healing and big, big love, written for binge reading and BookTok conversation. Check out It Ends With Us and Maybe Someday.

Sarah J. Maas' A Court of Thorns and Roses series straddles Young Adult and and New Adult with explicit romance and fantasy adventure.

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire was one of the early breakout New Adult romances that you must check out. College “good girl” Abby Abernathy meets campus bad boy/underground fighter Travis Maddox at Eastern University. A bet pulls them into a live-together, can’t-stay-apart relationship while Abby’s past surfaces. New Adult? College setting, protagonists ~18–21, themes of identity, independence, sex, and messy first love. Tick, tick, tick.

Elle Kennedy's Campus Diaries Series delivers a trio of sporty, college-set romances. Set at Briar U, think high-heat, high-chemistry New Adult stories about ambitious students, tangled feelings, and team drama. Sold.

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo is a cracking example of New Adult fiction, her first foray from YA. Awarded a LoveReading Star Book. Liz Robinson commented: "A blazing storm of a novel, big, bold, different, and so readable the words left the page and entered my entire being. The Ninth House was formed at Yale in 1898 to monitor the top eight secret societies using magic (of the deep and dark kind). When a murder darkens the door to Yale, newcomer to Ninth House Alex Stern investigates."

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros is another New Adult Read. Although many class it as adult, it has a war-college setting with college-age leads, on-page romance, and high violence. Classic NA markers if we ever saw them. Released in January 2025, the third installment in the Empyrean Series took the world by storm - selling 2.7 million copies in its first week, making it the fastest-selling adult novel in two decades.  

We love a bit of Casey McQuiston here at LoveReading who mostly writes adult romance but with a strong New Adult sensibility. Protagonists are typically early-20s, post-Uni, first jobs, first flats, first love - classic NA territory. In Red, White and Royal Blue after a royal wedding fiasco, U.S. First Son Alex and Britain’s Prince Henry fake a friendship—then fall in love. With an election and royal duty looming, they must choose secrecy or truth in this queer enemies-to-lovers rom-com about identity, politics, and choosing love.

Bethany Rutter publishes in YA and adult romance/women’s fiction. Her new book Ask Me Anything is firmly New Adult territory - and we are loving it. Out in November, it's a gorgeously sassy campus-set romcom, where problem pages and parties turn enemies to lovers.

Normal People by Sally Rooney is the beautiful albeit painful story of the 4 year on-off relationship between two Irish teenagers. You feel the highs and the lows, the awkwardness yet exquisite nature of first love as well as the agony. Oh, the agony. Bravo to Rooney for her stunning narrative and writing which elevates this to another level. Be prepared to be heartbroken, just like the first time.

In Borderline Fiction award-winning author Derek Owusu paints a vivid picture of a young black British male at two stages of his life, 19 and 25, as he lives through the complications of self-understanding and growth, mental health, and relationships. Utterly compelling, and exquisitely written, Borderline Fiction is a powerful and immersive read, says Liz Robinson who awarded this a LoveReading Star Book.

Centred on a devilishly entertaining premise, Charlotte Ingham’s A Match Made in Hell is YA romance at its most grown-up and comes recommended for readers who relish quirky, lusty novels that build to flaming-hot climaxes. Joanne Owen commented: "outlandishly entertaining, A Match Made in Hell reels with race-against-time thrills and sizzling temptations."

The grown-up themes of Sarah Holding’s Road to True North are handled with empathy in an edgy, edge-of-your-seat coming-of-age story that sees a troubled father and son undertake a life-changing road trip around Iceland, where dramatic landscapes serve as a metaphor for the emotional journey of its protagonists. Joanne Owen shared: "addiction, identity and fractured family dynamics are sensitively handled in this gripping road-trip novella."

And finally, check out The Wicked Lies of Habren Faire by Anna Fiteniirresistible - a dark fae romantasy, inspired by Welsh mythology and perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Faebound, Leigh Bardugo and Holly Black's The Cruel Prince.

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New Adult fiction is about the messy, thrilling, sometimes painful journey of becoming an adult - with stories that are more mature than YA but more immediate, emotional, and relatable than many adult novels. What are your favourite NA reads? What else do we need to be adding to this collection?

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