The Vampires Are Back In Town! (A Reading List)

Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma

If you love your vampires with a heavy dose of dark academia vibes and an enemy to lovers romance, check this one out. Did I mention some of the greatest morally grey characters I’ve read in a while?

It’s about a sister who will do whatever it takes to find her kidnapped sister — even if that means finding her way back in society and infiltrating an elite university where she will have to live with the vampire she suspects killed her family and took her sister.

Out September 3.

A Vile Season by David Ferraro

Queer regency romance meets The Bachelor meets VAMPIRES. It’s about a vampire who must infiltrate the Duke’s marriage games for a suitor — being turned mortal in the process to do so — and the stakes are high on this mission. Success makes him the most powerful vampire ever and failure means being tortured by the god of vampires forever.

Out October 8.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

A staple YA vampire romance series that is an absolute favorite (despite feeling kind of lukewarm on the first book but I’m glad I pressed on). With a vampire boarding school setting and an interesting take on vampire mythology, this is a most bingeable YA book series about a friend who is training to protect her best friend who is a powerful vampire princess.

P.S. do not even bother with the VA book to movie adaptation. So bad. BUT KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE TV SHOW WHICH I HAVE HIGHER HOPES FOR!!

Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

This series came out around the same time as Twilight but definitely didn’t get quite the same cultural lift that Twilight did. It definitely was a popular series so if you were really into vampires you probably devoured it but IF NOT — binge this ASAP because Rachel Caine (RIP) knew how to write a compelling teen vampire series!

It’s about a small town run and owned by vampires and the teen girl who moves into this town and a house with roommates, without knowing this, for her freshman year of college since graduating high school 2 years early. It had a lot of great twists and reveals and characters!

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

This is one of the best young adult vampire books out there if you are looking for something different in the vampire genre that is dark and gory. Part vampire book, part dystopian (US human population was mostly wiped out by a disease and vampires came out of hiding), some romance.

It’s about a girl, who lives on the fringes of a walled city run by vampires , who spends her days scavenging and trying not to get eaten by vampires versus being “registered” which would mean she’d be well fed but would exist as blood source for vampires. One day she gets attacked and has a choice given to her, by a vampire, to either die forever or become one of the vampires she loathes. She chooses to turn and needs to learn how to survive as a vampire and flee from her former home. On her way out, she falls in with a group of humans (passing as human) who on their way to find the legend of a cure.

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Crave by Tracy Wolff

If a more Twilight-esque teen vampire romance series is what you crave (bah I actually didn’t mean to do this and didn’t realize it til later) — look no further! Full of that kinda cheesy, angsty goodness, high entertainment/addictive value.

Girl becomes an orphan and moves to live in Alaska with relatives where she goes to her uncle’s academy and falls for the hot broody guy who tells her she is in danger. FUN! SO MUCH FUN. Felt very “in on the joke” on tropey-ness while still holding its own ground as far as vampire stories go.

The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle

If you are looking for your typical YA vampire paranormal romance book, this isn’t it. This one is more a vampire apocalypse — with a dash of Amish culture? Very different and more on the vampire horror side versus paranormal/urban fantasy. No swoony vampires here.

It’s about an Amish teen girl ready to go off on her Rumspringa to get a taste of life outside her community. But soon it becomes clear something really BAD is happening in the Outside and the community is forbidden from leaving or letting anyone in. But soon whatever is happening Outside comes to her door and she makes a choice to go against her community to save a life.

Evernight by Claudia Gray

If Twilight was your jam, this series will be a welcome dive back into a teen vampire series that is more in that vein. Set at an eerie Gothic boarding school FOR VAMPIRES, it’s about a girl who feels like she doesn’t fit in at her new school that her parents are also now teaching at. Until she meets another outsider named Lucas. Things aren’t what they seem at this academy or with Lucas — secrets are a plenty! The first book is real good (especially because it’s not altogether what you think it’s going to be once you get a little further in) but the series gets even better!

The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black

Looking for a vampire book for young adults that isn’t part of a series? One that is dark and where vampires are not romanticized? Holly Black, one of the best in YA urban fantasy/paranormal, will definitely deliver for you on this one.

It’s about a girl who wakes up at a house party, hungover, and realizes she escaped the fate of most all the others at the party — a complete massacre executed by vampires. After saving her ex boyfriend (who has been bitten) and a mysterious boy, she sets off on a road trip to a Coldtown — a walled city corralling vampires, infected humans waiting to turn and those who choose to be there — FOR REASONS you’ll find out when you read the book. (Don’t wanna give everything away).

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Jessica’s Guide To Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey

A quick & fun oldie but goodie in the genre of vampire books for teenagers — just ignore the corny sounding title! Jessica’s senior year is turned upside down when a hot exchange student tells her that they both descend from rival vampire families and she’s actually a Romanian vampire princess betrothed to him from birth and their union will stop an impending war between their families and bring peace. She’s unconvinced and he tries his best in the meantime to win her over. What is a girl to do???

The Fell of Dark by Caleb Roehrig

Looking for a teen vampire book that features queer characters (bc let’s be real — a lot of YA vampires are hetero couples)? Like funny and something more Buffy-esque? The main character, the only out gay guy in his town, lives in a town that has a lot of supernatural happenings and he’s super over the vampires that seem to collect there. Once worrying about things like algebra, he suddenly finds his life turned upside when a hot (and mysterious!) vampire gives him a cryptic warning that catapults him into the center of a battle for humanity.

The Coldest Touch by Isabel Sterling

A contemporary fantasy follows Elise, a mortal girl who feels the death of anyone she touches, and Claire, the vampire assigned to help her master her powers. Though Elise is reluctant to work with a vampire, they team up when a local teacher is murdered and they realize they have a paranormal serial killer on their hands — while also fighting their feelings for one another. Out December 7.

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