YA Want to Be an Adult?: 17 Authors Who Write Both YA and Adult Books
I’ve always been a voracious reader since I was little, but as I grew older, my parents encouraged me to start branching out into adult books more and more. I’m a stubborn soul, though, and the YA section of my local library remained my happy place. I didn’t start adventuring into adult spaces until I was older, and now, the transition out of YA into Adult is only made easier by the authors who write in both spaces. Instead of the daunting need to discover new authors and books to love, there are authors whose books can bridge that gap, helping readers find their space in the overwhelming amounts of books in the world, so I worked with some other booksellers to compile a list of a few of our favorite authors who fit the bill!
Fantasy Authors
So many authors have been grabbing the attention and love of readers in fantasy spaces. Authors like Holly Black, Scarlett St. Clair, and Sarah J. Maas have been #Booktok sensations on TikTok, becoming the center of viral fandoms that boosted sales of their books. Holly Black made her adult debut this year (one of our Best Books of the Year So Far titles) with Book of Night, and Sarah J. Maas has long been beloved in both spaces. Scarlett St. Clair will be making her YA debut with When Stars Come Out this month!
TJ Klune and V.E. Schwab have been longtime crossover authors, paving their own paths. TJ Klune’s next YA book in The Extraordinaries Series releases this month, closing out the series with a magnificent bang. It’s no secret that we love his adult books, with The House in the Cerulean Sea being one of our former monthly picks, and Under The Whispering Door as our Speculative Fiction Book of the Year in 2021. V.E. Schwab has captured our fantasy loving hearts with her YA titles like Gallant while capturing adults with stories like The Invisible Life of Addie Larue and A Darker Shade of Magic.
Both Adrienne Young and Shea Ernshaw are YA authors who have made their adult debuts within the past year. Adrienne Young has historically captivated us with stunning stories of sea, spirit and spells with her Fable series (get ready for the newest in the series, Saint, coming this November), and her upcoming adult debut, Spells for Forgetting is coming in September and will bring all the things we’ve always loved about Adrienne’s books but with the addition of a sprinkle of mystery and a second chance at love. Shea Ernshaw’s debut adult mystery/thriller doesn’t depart all that far from her YA titles. Bringing her signature spellbinding stories set in the real world with a speculative or supernatural twist, A History of Wild Places will keep you just as enchanted as Winterwood or The Wicked Deep did with their remote settings full of witchy happenings. Plus, don’t miss her upcoming YA that we’re super excited for: Long Live the Pumpkin Queen where Nightmare Before Christmas fans can pick up where the film left off but with Ernshaw’s signature style.
Authors with Pen Names
If you’ve fallen in love with Olivie Blake as an adult author and Rachel Hawkins in both YA and Adult, we have good news for you! Both authors also write under a pen name, expanding their reach to more audiences! You can find Olivie Blake’s debut YA My Mechanical Romance, under her name, Alexene Farol Follmuth, and if you’re looking for robots and romance, then this a must-read. Plus, it’s a great time to catch up on her titles with The Atlas Paradox releasing in October. We loved The Atlas Six so much that we simply had to get an exclusive edition for the sequel, so get ready for a stunning read with an amazing cover!
Rachel Hawkins writes both YA and Adult Mysteries/Thrillers, but she also has a pen name, Erin Sterling, for her adult romances! Her YA books, the ever-charming, rompy romances of the Royals series are must-reads. And her adult mystery and thrillers are all at once gothic, fun, and suspenseful, and it’s a perfect time to read her backlist to prepare for The Villa to release in January. Her adult romances are witchy romps that will cast a spell on you in the best of ways. If Stars Hollow had been full of magic and witches, you would get the joy that is Graves Glen, and while we fell in love with The Ex Hex, we are excited to find ourselves back in its world this September with The Kiss Curse.
Romance Authors
Romance definitely seems to attract a lot of crossover between the YA and Adult spaces. In fact, two of our recent fiction OMP authors publish both YA and Adult books. Our current fiction OMP, The Dead Romantics, is by Ashley Poston who is also the author of the Once Upon a Con series as well as other YA fantasy titles like Among the Beasts and Briars. Our May fiction OMP, Birds of California, is also by an author who writes YA too. Katie Cotugno has also written YA titles like the New York Times Bestseller 99 Days and You Say It First. We can’t talk enough about either of these amazing authors!
Casey McQuiston took the world by storm with her adult romances, and this year she joined the ranks of authors publishing in both Adult and YA with her YA debut, I Kissed Shara Wheeler. And we couldn’t talk about Casey McQuiston without specifically talking about how Red, White & Royal Blue is one of those titles that no one can get enough of, so we’re absolutely thrilled about the Collector’s Edition coming out in October!
With romances out in both the YA and Adult spheres, authors like Lynn Painter, Rachel Lynn Solomon, and Erin Hahn make the transition from YA to Adult so smooth! Lynn Painter’s YA debut, Better Than the Movies has been a big title on Tiktok full of so many swoon worthy moments, and her adult debut, Mr. Wrong Number is a fun romcom full of banter that makes it the perfect summer read! She has already announced sophomore novels for both, but we’re especially excited for The Do-Over coming this November! Rachel Lynn Solomon has captured our hearts with her novels full of witty banter, romance, and relationships, and with her most recent YA, See You Yesterday and adult romcoms like The Ex Talk and Weather Girl, we simply can’t get enough of her! If you’ve read these and are looking for more, make sure to check out her stellar backlist. Finally, Erin Hahn’s debut adult romance, Built to Last, releases this October, and it’s everything you love about her YA and more! She has three YA titles, and she’s been teasing that the couple from her first YA book, You’d Be Mine, will be making an appearance in her sophomore adult romance novel, so go ahead and catch up on her YA titles and fall in love with her characters that are all so full of love while also struggling hard through life.
Mystery and Horror Authors
Our final two authors write adult books in the mystery and horror genres, but their YAs fall into a few categories. Bethany C. Morrow’s first adult book, Cherish Farrah, came out earlier this year, and it will send chills down your spine. Her YAs span historical fiction with her most recent, So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix, and fantasy with A Song Below Water and its sequel, A Chorus Rises, making her an author with a little something for everyone. And Jessie Q. Sutanto also falls into the same category with YA titles falling into the mystery/thriller (The New Girl and The Obsession) and romance (Well, That Was Unexpected) categories as well as her adult cozy mysteries like Dial A for Aunties. So, if you like a variety of genres, these two authors are perfect options for you!
