Standalone Books

These YA books are meant to be read entirely on their lonesome! They are divided into general genre categories.

(Asterisks indicate the number of times I’ve reread the book and kept it on my favorites list.)

NONFICTION

(Don’t) Call Me Crazy edited by Kelly Jensen: teen nonfiction anthology about mental illness, various diverse authors

Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri: teen autobiography, Iranian-American main character

THRILLER

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley: teen thriller, Ojibwe characters, mixed-race Ojibwe main character, mixed-race Cherokee love interest

The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur: teen historical thriller, set in Joseon Korea, Korean characters

The Obsession by Jesse Q. Sutanto: teen thriller, Singaporean-American main character

Sadie by Courtney Summers: teen thriller

*We Were Liars by E. Lockhart: teen thriller, mentally ill main character

What We Buried by Kate A. Boorman: teen speculative thriller, disfigured main character

HORROR

The Good Demon by Jimmy Cajoleas: teen fantastical horror

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland: teen fantastical horror, bisexual main character, lesbian central character, central Asian-American character

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig: teen fantastical horror inspired by “The Twelve Dancing Princesses”

Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall: teen fantastical horror, bisexual main character, sapphic romance

Shutter by Courtney Alameda: teen fantastical horror

This Darkness Mine by Mindy McGinnis: teen psychological horror, mentally ill characters

When All the Girls Are Sleeping by Emily Arsenault: teen mystery horror

HISTORICAL

Brazen by Katherine Longshore: teen historical

Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina: teen historical, Cuban-American characters

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee: teen historical romance, bisexual main character, Black gay love interest with epilepsy, asexual central character, achillean romance

Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee: teen historical, Chinese-American main character

The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry: teen historical, set in France

This Light Between Us by Andrew Fukuda: teen romantic historical, Japanese-American and French-Jewish main characters, set partially in France

SCIENCE FICTION

The Art of Saving the World by Corinne Duyvis: teen science fiction/fantasy, biromantic asexual main character with anxiety, central characters with endometriosis

The Hive by Barry Lyga and Morgan Baden: teen dystopian science fiction

The Infinite Noise by Lauren Shippen: teen contemporary speculative fiction, achillean romance, mentally ill main character

Munmun by Jesse Andrews: teen speculative allegory

The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He: teen apocalyptic science fiction, Asian-heritage main character, neurodivergent Asian-heritage main character

Queen’s Shadow by E.K. Johnston: teen Star Wars novel

*Stitching Snow by R.C. Lewis: teen science fiction inspired by “Snow White”

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera: teen contemporary speculative fiction, achillean romance, Latino main character, main character with anxiety

Toxic by Lydia Kang: teen romantic science fiction

Waste of Space by Gina Damico: teen contemporary science fiction

Your One & Only by Adrianne Finlay: teen romantic science fiction

FANTASY

****Beastly by Alex Flinn: teen contemporary fantasy inspired by “Beauty and the Beast”

Beyond the Black Door by A.M. Strickland: teen fantasy, asexual main character

*The Blood Spell by C.J. Redwine: teen romantic fantasy inspired by “Cinderella,” Black characters

The Cure for Dreaming by Cat Winters: teen historical fantasy

Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody: teen fantasy, blind bisexual main character with anxiety, asexual spectrum main character

Divided Fire by Jennifer San Filippo: teen fantasy, sickly main character who speaks in sign language

Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger: teen contemporary fantasy, asexual Lipan Apache main character

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margot Rogerson: teen romantic fantasy

Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashardoust: teen fantasy inspired by “Sleeping Beauty” and Persian mythology, sapphic romance

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust: teen fantasy inspired by “Snow White,” sapphic romance

Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters: teen contemporary fantasy, bisexual main character, sapphic romance

Heartless by Marissa Meyer: teen romantic fantasy inspired by Alice in Wonderland

The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones: teen romantic science fiction/fantasy, Latina main character with anxiety

Long May She Reign by Rhiannon Thomas: teen fantasy

The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore: teen magical realism inspired by “The Snow Queen,” pansexual Latina main character

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows: teen historical fantasy

Never Look Back by Lilliam Rivera: teen romantic fantasy inspired by “Orpheus and Eurydice,” Afro-Latine characters, main character with traumatic symptoms

Now Entering Addamsville by Francesca Zappia: teen fantastical mystery

Odd & True by Cat Winters: teen historical fabulism, disabled main character

Our Bloody Pearl by D.N. Bryn: teen fantasy, nonbinary and fictionally disabled main character

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson: teen fantasy

The Secret of a Heart Note by Stacey Lee: teen romantic fantasy

Sing Me Forgotten by Jessica S. Olson: teen fantasy inspired by The Phantom of the Opera, main character with facial disfigurement

Sorcery of Thorns by Margot Rogerson: teen romantic fantasy

Stain by A.G. Howard: teen romantic fantasy inspired by “The Princess and the Pea” and other fairytales

The Steep & Thorny Way by Cat Winters: teen historical fabulism inspired by Hamlet, Black main character, gay central character

Still Life With Tornado by A.S. King: teen fabulism, main character with depression

To Best the Boys by Mary Weber: teen fantasy

A Thousand Beginnings and Endings edited by Ellen Oh: teen fantasy short stories inspired by Asian mythology, non-white characters

Vessel by Sarah Beth Durst: teen romantic fantasy, non-white characters

*The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma: teen fantastical thriller

We Were Restless Things by Cole Nagamatsu: teen contemporary fantasy, asexual Asian-American main character

*The Wish Granter by C.J. Redwine: teen romantic fantasy inspired by “Rumpelstiltskin,” same universe as The Blood Spell

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo: teen DC novel, Black main character

Woven in Moonlight by Isabel Ibanez: teen fantasy inspired by Bolivia, non-white characters

*17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma: teen fabulist thriller, mentally ill main character

CONTEMPORARY

All Our Worst Ideas by Vicky Skinner: teen romantic contemporary, Latina main character

The Birds, the Bees, and You and Me by Olivia Hinebaugh: teen romantic contemporary

**Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman: teen contemporary, schizophrenic main character, mentally ill characters

Dear Haiti, Love Alaine by Maika and Maritza Moulite: teen contemporary, Black characters, set in Haiti

The Disturbed Girl’s Dictionary by NoNieqa Ramos: teen dark contemporary, neurodivergent mentally ill Afro-Latina main character, other neuroatypical characters of color

Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah: teen contemporary, Muslim Arab-Australian characters

*Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone: teen contemporary, OCD main character

Frankly in Love by David Yoon: teen romantic contemporary, Korean-American characters

From Twinkle, With Love by Sandhya Menon: teen contemporary romance, Indian-American characters

Gemini by Sonya Mukherjee: teen contemporary, conjoined twin main characters

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake: teen contemporary, bisexual main character

Girl on the Line by Faith Gardner: teen contemporary, bipolar bisexual main character, sapphic romance

*Golden by Jessi Kirby: teen contemporary

How It Feels to Fly by Kathryn Holmes: teen contemporary, main character with body image issues

How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon: teen contemporary, Black characters

I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maureen Goo: teen contemporary romance, Korean-American characters

If I’m Being Honest by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka: teen romantic contemporary inspired by The Taming of the Shrew

I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal: teen contemporary, Black main character

Kiss of Broken Glass by Madeleine Kuderick: teen contemporary, main character who self-injures, mentally ill characters

Let’s Call It a Doomsday by Katie Henry: teen contemporary, bisexual Mormon main character with anxiety

Light It Up by Kekla Magoon: teen contemporary, Black disabled main character, Black characters

Little Do We Know by Tamara Ireland Stone: teen contemporary

*Lola Carlyle’s 12-Step Romance by Danielle Younge-Ullman: teen romantic contemporary

A Match Made in Mehendi by Nandini Bajpai: teen contemporary romance, Indian-American characters

Noteworthy by Riley Redgate: teen romantic contemporary, Asian-American bisexual main character

The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed: teen contemporary, queer Mexican-American main character, autistic main character

*OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu: teen romantic contemporary, OCD characters

One Way or Another by Kara McDowell: teen contemporary romance, main character with anxiety

Pride by Ibi Zoboi: teen contemporary romance inspired by Pride and Prejudice, Afro-Latine characters

A Psalm for Lost Girls by Katie Bayerl: teen contemporary

*Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley: teen contemporary, main character with dissociative disorder

Run by Kody Keplinger: teen contemporary, blind main character, bisexual main character

*Shut Out by Kody Keplinger: teen romantic contemporary inspired by Lysistrata

Slay by Brittney Morris: teen contemporary, Black characters

The State of Grace by Rachael Lucas: teen romantic contemporary, autistic main character

The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon: teen contemporary romance, Black main character, Asian-American main character

There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon: teen contemporary romance, Indian-American characters

*The Truth Commission by Susan Juby: teen contemporary

Two Like Me and You by Chad Alan Gibbs: teen romantic contemporary, set partially in France

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B by Teresa Toten: teen romantic contemporary, OCD main character, mentally ill characters

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson: teen contemporary, Black bisexual main character with anxiety, central character with sickle cell disease, sapphic romance

10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston: teen contemporary romance
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