Animorphs. Loved those books as a kid and revisited them as an adult, and forgot how dark they got. Child soldiers, war crimes, the horrors of losing yourself to the hive mind or being forced into the body of a small animal (not talking about Tobias here).
Plus the books are also about friendship, which many youths want to see more of than romance.
I didn't even know that was an option, but don't want to get my expectations up.