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Young Adult Books You Want to Read

As you may or may not know, our company, The Book Report Network, has a number of websites about books and authors in addition to Bookreporter.com. Throughout the year, Bookreporter.com features adult books on Teenreads.com, our site for young adult readers, that we think will have definite appeal to a teen audience. In the spirit of sharing, we are now spotlighting a selection of titles each month from Teenreads.com that we believe are great reads that you might enjoy.

People Kill People by Ellen Hopkins

September 2018

A gun is sold in the classifieds after killing a spouse, bought by a teenager for needed protection. But which was it? Each has the incentive to pick up a gun, to fire it. Was it Rand or Cami, married teenagers with a young son? Was it Silas or Ashlyn, members of a white supremacist youth organization? Daniel, who fears retaliation because of his race, who possessively clings to Grace, the love of his life? Or Noelle, who lost everything after a devastating accident, and has sunk quietly into depression? One tense week brings all six people into close contact in a town wrought with political and personal tensions. Someone will fire. And someone will die. But who?

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When Elephants Fly by Nancy Richardson Fischer

September 2018

T. Lily Decker is a high school senior with a 12-year plan: avoid stress, drugs, alcohol and boyfriends, and take regular psych quizzes administered by her best friend to make sure she’s not developing schizophrenia. When she was seven, her mother, who had paranoid schizophrenia, tried to kill her. And a secret has revealed that Lily’s odds are even worse than she thought. But when a newspaper internship results in Lily witnessing a mother elephant try to kill her three-week-old calf, Swifty, Lily can’t abandon the story or the calf. With Swifty in danger of dying from grief, Lily must choose whether to risk everything --- including her sanity and a first love --- on a desperate road trip to save the calf’s life.

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Mary Shelley: The Strange True Tale of Frankenstein's Creator by Catherine Reef

September 2018

The story of FRANKENSTEIN’s creator is a strange, romantic and tragic one, as deeply compelling as the novel itself. Mary ran away to Lake Geneva with the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley when she was just 16. It was there, during a cold and wet summer, that she first imagined her story about a mad scientist who brought a corpse back to life. Success soon followed for Mary, but also great tragedy and misfortune. Catherine Reef brings this passionate woman, brilliant writer and forgotten feminist into crisp focus, detailing a life that was remarkable both before and after the publication of her iconic masterpiece.

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#MurderTrending by Gretchen McNeil

August 2018

Welcome to the near future, where good and honest citizens can enjoy watching the executions of society's most infamous convicted felons, streaming live on The Postman app from the suburbanized prison island Alcatraz 2.0. When 17-year-old Dee Guerrera wakes up in a haze, she realizes she's about to be the next victim of the app. Knowing hardened criminals are getting a taste of their own medicine in this place is one thing, but Dee refuses to roll over and die for a heinous crime she didn't commit. Can Dee and her newly formed posse prove she's innocent before she ends up wrongfully murdered for the world to see? Or will The Postman's cast of executioners kill them off one by one?

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I'm Not Missing by Carrie Fountain

August 2018

It’s senior year, and Miranda Black’s best friend, Syd, has run away --- suddenly and inexplicably, leaving behind nothing but a pink leopard print cell phone with a text message from the mysterious HIM. Everyone wants to know why Syd left, but the truth is, Miranda has no idea. When Miranda’s mother abandoned her as a child, Miranda had found shelter in her friendship with Syd, who wore her own motherlessness like a badge of honor. Now Miranda has been left behind again, left to untangle the questions of why Syd left, where she is --- and if she’s even a friend worth saving, all while stumbling into first love with the most unlikely boy in school.

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This Story Is a Lie by Tom Pollock

August 2018

Seventeen-year-old Peter Blankman is a math genius. He also suffers from devastating panic attacks. Pete gets through each day with the help of his mother --- a famous scientist --- and his beloved twin sister, Bel. But when his mom is nearly assassinated in front of his eyes and Bel disappears, Pete finds himself on the run. Dragged into a world where state and family secrets intertwine, Pete must use his extraordinary analytical skills to find his missing sister and track down the people who attacked his mother. But his greatest battle will be with the enemy inside: the constant terror that threatens to overwhelm him.

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The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

July 2018

Romy Silvers never knew how isolating the universe could be until her parents' tragic deaths left her alone on The Infinity, a spaceship speeding away from Earth. Romy tries to make the best of her lonely situation, but with only brief messages from her therapist on Earth to keep her company, she can't help but feel like something is missing. It seems like a dream come true when NASA alerts her that another ship, The Eternity, will be joining The Infinity. Romy begins exchanging messages with J, the commander of The Eternity, and their friendship breathes new life into her world. But as The Eternity gets closer, Romy learns there's more to J's mission than she could have imagined.

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Tradition by Brendan Kiely

July 2018

Jules Devereux just wants to keep her head down, avoid distractions and get into the right college, so she can leave Fullbrook Academy and its old-boy social codes behind. She wants freedom, but ex-boyfriends and ex-best friends are determined to keep her in place. Jamie Baxter feels like an imposter at Fullbrook, but the hockey scholarship that got him in has given him a chance to escape his past and fulfill the dreams of his parents and coaches. When Jamie and Jules meet, they recognize in each other a similar instinct for survival. Ultimately, they are faced with a difficult question: Can they stand together against classmates --- and an institution --- who believe they can do no wrong?

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Letting Go of Gravity by Meg Leder

July 2018

Parker struggles to reconnect with her twin brother, Charlie --- who’s recovering from cancer --- as she tries to deal with her anxiety about the future. Now that Charlie is officially in remission, life couldn’t be going better for Parker. She has landed a prestigious summer internship at the hospital and is headed to Harvard in the fall to study pediatric oncology. Enter Finn, a boy who’s been leaving strange graffiti messages all over town. Parker can’t stop thinking about those messages, or about Finn, who makes her feel free for the first time: free to doubt, free to make mistakes, and free to confront the truth that Parker has been hiding from for a long time --- that she keeps trying to save Charlie, when the person who really needs saving is herself.

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Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl

June 2018

Once upon a time, back at Darrow-Harker School, Beatrice Hartley and her five best friends were the cool kids. Then the shocking death of Jim --- their creative genius and Beatrice's boyfriend --- changed everything. One year after graduation, Beatrice is returning to Wincroft --- the seaside estate where they spent so many nights --- hoping she'll get to the bottom of the dark questions gnawing at her about Jim's death. Then a mysterious man knocks on the door. Blithely, he announces the impossible: time for them has become stuck, snagged on a splinter that can only be removed if the former friends make the harshest of decisions. Now Beatrice has one last shot at answers…and at life.

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