Supernatural Fiction and Urban Fantasy (YA)

So many people are writing supernatural books! So many! They’re also called paranormal (which makes us think of ghooosts). Urban fantasy, similarly, is the name given to fiction of a fantastical nature that is set in a real (specifically urban) world. Urban fantasy often has supernatural characters, and also often romance. Here are some selections from this genre.

Updated June 19, 2024
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Wellington City LibrariesYouth team at Wellington City Libraries
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The beautiful
Ahdieh, Rene?e
Paper Book
Now in paperback, the first book--an instant bestseller--in the sumptuous, sultry, and romantic YA vampire series from New York Times bestselling author Renee Ahdieh. In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans is a...
Half a creature from the sea : a life in stories
Almond, David
Paper Book
Master storyteller David Almond presents a beautiful collection of short fiction, interwoven with pieces that illuminate the inspiration behind the stories. May Malone is said to have a monster in her house, but what Norman finds there may just be the angel he needs. Joe Quinn's...
Tithe : a modern faerie tale
Black, Holly.
Paper Book
In the realm of very scary faeries, no one is safe. Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother's rock band until an ominous attack forces the sixteen-year-old back to her childhood home. There, amid the...
White cat
Black, Holly.
Paper Book
The first in a trilogy, this gritty, fast-paced fantasy is rife with the unexpected. Cassel comes from a shady, magical family of con artists and grifters. He doesn't fit in at home or at school, so he's used to feeling like an outsider. He's also used to feeling guilty--he killed his best friend,...
Season of the witch
Brennan, Sarah Rees
Paper Book
From the creator of Riverdale comes the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a new Netflix eries based on the classic Archie comic series. This prequel YA novel tells an all-new, original story.It's the summer before her sixteenth birthday, and Sabrina Spellman knows her world is about to...
Marked
Cast, P. C.
Paper Book
Enter the dark, magical world of the House of Night series by bestselling authors P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast, a world very much like our own, except here vampyres have always existed. One minute, sixteen-year-old Zoey Redbird is a normal teenager dealing with everyday high...
City of bones
Clare, Cassandra.
Paper Book
Discover this first installment of the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series and "prepare to be hooked" (Entertainment Weekly). When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder--much less a...
The Luminaries
Dennard, Susan
Paper Book
From Susan Dennard, the New York Times bestselling author of the Witchlands series, comes a haunting and high-octane contemporary fantasy about the magic it takes to face your fears in a nightmare-filled forest and the mettle required to face the secrets hiding in the dark corners of...
Legendborn
Deonn, Tracy
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times Bestseller! Winner of the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe for New Talent Author Award Filled with mystery and an intriguingly rich magic system, Tracy Deonn's YA contemporary fantasy Legendborn offers the dark allure of...
Euphoria kids
Evans, Alison
Paper Book
Ever since the witch cursed Babs, she turns invisible sometimes. She has her mom and her dog, but teachers and classmates barely notice her. Then, one day, Iris can see her. And Iris likes what they see. Babs is made of fire. Iris grew from a seed in the ground. They have friends,...
The last dragonslayer
Fforde, Jasper
Paper Book
In the good old days, magic was indispensable. But now magic is fading: Drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and magic carpets are used for pizza delivery. Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for magicians--but it's hard to stay in business when magic is drying up....
Hush, hush
Fitzpatrick, Becca.
Paper Book
Nora finds forbidden love with her fallen angel, in the first in the New York Times bestselling Hush, Hush saga. For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee,...
Horror hotel
Fulton, Victoria
Paper Book
This addictive YA horror about a group of teen ghost hunters who spend the night in a haunted LA hotel is The Blair Witch Project for the TikTok generation. "Fast-paced and freaky."-Kendare Blake, #1 NYT bestselling author of All These Bodies
Beautiful creatures
Garcia, Kami.
Paper Book
Secrets, strangers, and curses will lure you into the first book of the instant New York Times bestselling contemporary gothic fantasy series--where a stirring paranormal romance unfolds in an isolated southern town. Lena Duchannes is unlike...
The dead and the dark
Gould, Courtney
Paper Book
"Imagine Riverdale crossing streams with Stephen King's The Outsider and you'll get a sense of this gripping supernatural mystery...Gould's debut begins as a snappy paranormal yarn and unspools into a profound story about the complex interplay between grief, guilt, and identity."...
The lost girls : a vampire revenge story
Hartl, Sonia
Paper Book
Getting over Your Vampire Ex is as Easy as Killing Him and Stealing His Girlfriend Holly Liddell has been stuck with crimped hair since 1987 when she agreed to let her boyfriend, Elton, turn her into a vampire. But when he ditches her at a gas station a few decades into their...
The buried and the bound
Hassan, Rochelle
Paper Book
A contemporary fantasy YA debut from Rochelle Hassan about monsters, magic, and wicked fae, perfect for fans of The Darkest Part of the Forest and The Hazel Wood. As the only hedgewitch in Blackthorn, Massachusetts--an uncommonly magical place--Aziza El-Amin has...
The drowning summer
Herman, Christine Lynn
Paper Book
In this contemporary fantasy by the New York Times bestselling author of All of Us Villains, two girls find themselves drawn to each other while using their supernatural powers to solve a crime--until things take a deadly turn. Six years...
Fallen
Kate, Lauren.
Paper Book
The worldwide sensation that's both dangerously exciting and darkly romantic--soon to be a TV series from the director of The Handmaid's Tale! #1 New York Times bestseller  A USA Today bestseller One of NPR.com's 100 Best-Ever Teen Novels ...
Elatsoe
Little Badger, Darcie
Paper Book
Locus Award Winner--Best First Novel A National Indie Bestseller Nebula Award Finalist Lodestar Award Finalist Ignyte Award Finalist TIME's Best 100 Fantasy Books of All Time NPR Best of the Year Booklist's...
Spell bound
Lukens, F. T.
Paper Book
An instant New York Times bestseller! Two rival apprentice sorcerers must team up to save their teachers and protect their own magic in this "charming and engaging" (School Library Journal) young adult romantic adventure from the author of In Deeper Waters...
The changeover
Mahy, Margaret
Paper Book
When her little brother seems to become possessed by an evil spirit, fourteen-year-old Laura seeks the help of the strangely compelling older boy at school who she is convinced has supernatural powers.
When the moon was ours
McLemore, Anna-Marie
Paper Book
Winner of the 2016 Tiptree Award Longlisted for the 2016 National Book Award for Young People's Literature Stonewall Book Award Honor "McLemore dances deftly across genres, uniquely weaving glistening strands of culture, myth, dream, mystery,...
Vampire Academy
Mead, Richelle.
Paper Book
NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES ON STAN 'We're suckers for it!' Entertainment Weekly 'Humorous, kick-ass, action-packed.' The Guardian ONLY A TRUE BEST FRIEND CAN PROTECT YOU FROM IMMORTAL ENEMIES . . . St...
Twilight
Meyer, Stephenie
Paper Book
Fall in love with the addictive, suspenseful love story between a teenage girl and a vampire with the book that sparked a "literary phenomenon" and redefined romance for a generation (New York Times). Isabella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually...
The Ravens
Morgan, Kass
Paper Book
From New York Times best-selling authors Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige comes a thrilling, dark contemporary fantasy about a prestigious sorority of witches and two girls caught up in its world of sinister magic and betrayals. At first glance, the sisters of ultra...
Release
Ness, Patrick
Paper Book
Inspired by Judy Blume's Forever and Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway, this novel that Andrew Smith calls "beautiful, enchanting, [and] exquisitely written" is a new classic about teenage relationships, self-acceptance--and what happens when the walls we build start coming down. A Kirkus Best Book...
All our hidden gifts
O'Donoghue, Caroline
Paper Book
Maeve's strangely astute tarot readings make her the talk of the school, until a classmate draws a chilling and unfamiliar card--and then disappears. After Maeve finds a pack of tarot cards while cleaning out a closet during her in-school suspension, she quickly becomes the most...
The witch haven
Peyton Smith, Sasha
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller The Last Magician meets The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy in this "spectacular, singular, and spellbinding" (Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue) historical fantasy...
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Riggs, Ransom.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times best-selling series. A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage.A strange collection of very curious photographs.It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and...
Blood like magic
Sambury, Liselle
Paper Book
"High stakes, big heart, and lots of Black Girl Magic...unputdownable." --Aiden Thomas, New York Timesbestselling author of Cemetery Boys A rich, dark urban fantasy debut following a teen witch who is given a horrifying task: sacrificing her first love to save...
This savage song : a monsters of Verity novel
Schwab, Victoria
Paper Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller * An Amazon Best Book of the Year There's no such thing as safe in a city at war, a city overrun with monsters. In this dark urban fantasy from acclaimed author Victoria Schwab, a young woman and a young man must choose whether to become heroes or villains--and...
A cruel and fated light
Shuttleworth, Ashley
Paper Book
Half-fae Arlo becomes entangled in the courtly intrigue at the Seelie Summer palace as danger for ironborns mounts in this "beautifully written and deliciously complex" (Nicki Pau Preto, author of the Crown of Feathers trilogy) sequel to A Dark and Hollow Star that's The Cruel Prince<...
A dark and hollow star
Shuttleworth, Ashley
Paper Book
"Beautifully written and deliciously complex...I couldn't get enough." --Nicki Pau Preto, author of the Crown of Feathers series The Cruel Prince meets City of Bones in this thrilling urban fantasy set in the magical underworld of Toronto that follows a queer...
The Raven Boys
Stiefvater, Maggie
Paper Book
An all-new series from the masterful, #1 New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.His name is Gansey,...
Shiver
Stiefvater, Maggie
Paper Book
From a dazzlingly talented young writer, a haunting and original supernatural romance in the vein of TWILIGHT.For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived...
Court of the undying seasons
Strickland, AdriAnne
Paper Book
Sarah J. Maas meets A Deadly Education in A.M. Strickland's lush, queer YA dark fantasy novel. In becoming a vampire, I'm less than a girl. And more. Or maybe I'm becoming what I always have been, deep inside.A blade. When nineteen...
What big teeth
Szabo, Rose
Paper Book
A Strand February 2021 Book of the Month "With a layered mystery, a haunting setting, and thrilling tension, What Big Teeth has an otherness to it that pulls you in and forces you to keep reading." --Tricia Levenseller, Publisher's Weekly-bestselling...
Tales from the inner city
Tan, Shaun
Paper Book
The visionary Shaun Tan returns to show us the soul-opening work he's been doing for the past five years.Tales from the Inner City is a collection of incredibly original stories, rich with feeling, strangely moving, almost numinous. And when the reader comes to the artwork, it's like walking...
Cemetery boys
Thomas, Aiden
Paper Book
A trans boy determined to prove his gender to his traditional Latinx family summons a ghost who refuses to leave in Aiden Thomas's New York Times-bestselling paranormal YA debut Cemetery Boys, described by Entertainment Weekly as "groundbreaking." ...
Delicates
Thummler, Brenna
Paper Book
"An original exploration of what it means to be seen and accepted." -- Kirkus Following the events of the bestselling graphic novel, Sheets, Delicates brings Brenna Thummler's beloved characters, artwork, and charm back to life. Marjorie Glatt's life...
Squad
Tokuda-Hall, Maggie
Paper Book
An IndieBound Bestseller "Squad is a fast-paced and feminist horror story for every girl who's ever felt like prey, and asks how far a girl should go to hunt the hunters."--Laura Ruby, author of National Book Award Finalist Thirteen Doorways, Wolves Behind Them All "Squad is a story...
Lola : a ghost story
Torres, J.
Paper Book
Jesse sees dead people, monsters, demons, and lots of other things that go bump in the night that no one else can see. No one except his ailing grandmother--a woman who used her visions to help those living in her small town... the same rural community in all the scary stories Jesse's heard as a...
Mooncakes
Walker, Suzanne
Paper Book
"Mooncakes is that spellbinding, magical-girl queer romance you've been looking for." --Readers Digest "If Mooncakes were a spell, it would be a housewarming charm that settles with care into the softest parts of a home and makes the houseplants grow. I wish I...
Crave
Wolff, Tracy
Paper Book
The instant #1 New York Times Bestselling Series Glitter Magazine's #1 Pick for Best YA of 2020 Optioned for Film by Universal My whole world changed when I stepped inside the academy. Nothing is right about this place or the other students in it....
In Nightfall
Young, Suzanne
Paper Book
In the quaint town of Nightfall, Oregon, it isn't the dark you should be afraid of-it's the girls. The Lost Boys meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this propulsive novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Treatment. Theo and her brother,...

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