10 of the Best Fiction Books for Young Adults

Are you a book nerd? Do you love going on journeys with protagonists? Me too, books are a way in which we can explore and go on adventures, sometimes magical ones as well.

Here are my all-time favorite young adult fiction books:

1) It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne

Surprise! Surprise! Romance in the real-world is not over-the-top romantic gestures, love at first sight, or racing to the airport. Though, whether we admit it or not, deep down in each human is a hopeless romantic that wants to experience the same happy ending that is so often witnessed in romance novels. However, the similarity in romance plots can get very predictable and the unrealism creates misogynistic viewpoints that are ingrained in our society, therefore negatively influencing the reader’s analysis of what love and relationships are really like. Holly Bournes’, It only happens in the movies” challenges the unrealistic and problematic notion of rom-coms and their impractical nature by putting-forth familiar real-life situations, featuring pain, embarrassment, and confusion as well as using cliches in a positive feminist way.

The book addresses the unrealistic expectations that films have, as the protagonist, Audrey, decides to create a media project on this matter. The sense of realism Holly Bourne created caused the reader to not only relate to the challenges Audrey faced but to learn from them and grow as a person. Audrey is an average girl whose life has taken a bit of a nosedive: she lost touch with all her friends, her family is falling apart and she’s suffering from a breakup. The only love affair she needed to invest in was one with herself. But can one really choose when and who to love?

2) The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas

Are we born racist? Are children born with pre-perceptions of cultures and ethnicities? Race is a social concept; it is not part of our DNA. Our minds are race agnostic until society teaches us otherwise. In “The Hate U Give”, Angie Thomas paints an eye-opening story about a sixteen-year-old girl, Starr Carter, whose life is turned upside down after being faced with police brutality. Starr witnesses the tragic murder of her best friend due to systemic racism which opens her eyes to the divide between the two separate lifestyles she lives every day. One in the poor Garden Heights neighborhood where rap songs and gunshots are louder than screams and the other in Riverton Hills where money buys happiness. Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give” depicts the vicissitudes of living as an African American minority, the inequalities between blacks and whites in two contradictory social communities, and the failings of a system designed to create injustice and discrimination.

Thomas creates a mixture of the life Starr lives in the “ghetto” and the “typical” life she pretends to have around her white classmates. When her time is spent at Riverton Hills, it is spent gossiping with her friends; Maya and Hailey, or cuddling up to her wealthy, white boyfriend, Chris. Starr spent a lot of her time in Riverton being someone she is not just to fit in with the rest of the school but, she doesn’t harmonize, because her skin is a little darker and her hair is a little more curly than everyone else’s. Luckily her boyfriend Chris seems to understand and share her love for Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, her taste in hip-hop, and her passion for sneakers. However, she fears her father’s reaction to him being white as well as Chris’s attitude towards her background. Being a previous gang member, her father proclaims that the life Starr is living in the suburbs is fake and that she should rather live in the place where she was brought up and familiarized with.

Have you ever been blamed for something you didn’t do? Don’t you wish you were given a chance to explain? Remember, some people die because they are never given that chance.

3) Hate List

This book dives into the aftermath of trauma from so many angles, ones that make you mad as a reader, and ones that make you hopeful. The writing itself changed and matured throughout the book and the subject matter is extremely mature and well handled.

4) The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

This is a series of four books about teenagers who have special powers that have the potential to aid the police. If you are into plot-twists and action I highly recommend reading this series.

5) Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This book is an international love story but don’t worry it has a happy ending! Sometimes reading books that don’t end how we want can be frustrating, but this one is a perfect love story.

6) Monday is Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson

Monday Charles is missing and the only one who seems to realize is her best friend: Claudia. This book is extremely eye-opening and even quite terrifying at times.

7) The Rule of One by Ashlie and Leslie Saunders

This book will have you experiencing a futuristic world and will have you fighting for what is right. It is an eye-opening book and the uniqueness of it will have you asking questions about the government and how it really works.

8) Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

If you have never heard of Harry Potter you must be living under a rock. This is the best series of books that have ever been written and you need to read them. The story is so unique, and a whole universe is created in itself.

You will be relating to Harry and get to experience what he is through sharing his and his friends’ journey.

9) Elanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

This is one of my favorite romance novels because we get both perspectives. Elanor and Park both have opinions and we get to experience both sides of the story with them- literally!

10) Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon

This book is highly emotional and will have you experiencing love, anger, deceit, misunderstanding, and adventure. If you like romance books, this one is far from all the other ones on the market and deserves your read.

It’s a unique interracial love story that is extremely eye-opening.