Realistic Fiction For Teens

It’s just that telling the truth is so . . . tricky. She knows she shouldn’t be making out with a drama club hottie behind her football-player boyfriend’s back. She should probably admit that she can’t stand eating quahogs (clams), especially since she’s running for Quahog Princess in...

A propulsive YA novel in verse that blends the contemporary magic of Jandy Nelson with the simmering feminist rage of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Shout As far back as anyone can remember, the women of the Strand family have been magical. Their gifts manifest when they each turn fifteen, always in...

When a Korean American teenage artist gets sucked into the world of her own web comic, she must find a way out with the help of a cute boy all while facing off against a villainous corporation. Inspired by the A-ha's "Take on Me" music video, this entertaining YA novel is a grounded speculative...

Seven months ago, on a rainy March night, sixteen year- old Willow’s parents died in a horrible car accident. Willow was driving. Now her older brother barely speaks to her, her new classmates know her as the killer orphan girl, and Willow is blocking the pain by secretly cutting herself. But...

Just One Day. Just One Year. Just One Read. Before you find out how their story ends, remember how it began.... When he opens his eyes, Willem doesn’t know where in the world he is—Prague or Dubrovnik or back in Amsterdam. All he knows is that he is once again alone, and that he needs to...

The Sun Is Also a Star meets Jumanji when two teens meet and fall in love during a layover-gone-wrong at the Atlanta airport in this thrilling new novel from the author of Let's Get Lost! James and Michelle find themselves in the Atlanta airport on a layover. They couldn't be more different, but...

Deeply moving and authentic, this debut novel in verse—winner of a Schneider Family Book Award Honor—follows teenage Evie through her eating disorder treatment and recovery―a perfect choice for readers of Wintergirls and Louder Than Hunger. Evie has just barely acknowledged that she has an...

When the mayor of a small Alabama town starts targeting Pride events, bad boy Zeke begins hosting a series of “Pride Speakeasies” in this joyful queer coming-of-age! "A book that demands to be read, shared and celebrated."—PinkNews There’s nothing Zeke Chapman wants more than to tarnish...

An ambitious teen novelist must play nice with her talented—and annoyingly handsome—rival at an exclusive writers’ retreat in this heartfelt romance from the author of You Bet Your Heart. “Moving and memorable. A book you’ll want to return to again and again.” —Kristy Boyce...

In this haunting companion to Bittersweet in the Hollow, a girl who can smell the lies of others uncovers the incendiary mysteries of her small Appalachian town. Everybody lies. And in knowing their lies, I become the keeper of their secrets. As Caball Hollow slowly recovers from a tumultuous...

When the daughter of a diplomat fake dates a Scottish celebrity in Italy, she soon finds herself living her own Roman Holiday until the feelings get real and the paparazzi's knives come out. Introverted, slightly anxious Astoria “Story” Herriot knows everything about Rome—her mom’s an...

Boy plus boy. Two weeks in Johannesburg. A summer of music, adventure, self-discovery . . . and definitely not love. What could go wrong? Nate needs a date to his cousin’s wedding. Jai is Nate’s best friend and secret crush. Could Jai be Nate’s plus-one—and only? Nate Hargraves is a...

From the New York Times bestselling author of EVERY DAY, this is a queer love story for the ages--told over the course of a couple's first ten dates. When a blue-haired boy (Ryan) meets a pink-haired boy (Avery) at a dance--a queer prom--both feel an inexplicable but powerful connection. Follow...

Hilarious, heartbreaking, and sneaky suspenseful, Just Do This One Thing for Me is a timely novel about a rule-following daughter trying to hold her family together after her scammer mother disappears. “Just do this one thing for me.” Drew's mother says it more often than good morning. Heidi...

An explosive dark academia thriller set in the world of the BookTok sensation Win Lose Kill Die, where secret societies and lethal ambition run the show. "A thriller author to watch!"—Karen M. McManus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying Chloe Roberts is on top of the...

A pitch-perfect K-pop rom com! Fame and friendship can get complicated, especially when there are more than platonic feelings at play. Seventeen-year-old Lulu Li has her last summer before college all planned out. But her plans go awry when she learns that Kite Xu, her old next-door neighbor and...

In this contemporary thriller, National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestselling author Paolo Bacigalupi explores the timely issue of how public information is distorted for monetary gain, and how those who exploit it must be stopped. Everything Alix knows about her life is a lie. At...

"Some books are downright fun, and Right Where I Left You is one . . . Winters sends a quiet but important message that queer Black and brown kids deserve to live happily ever after too. . . Winters weaves all of these threads—the romance, the relatable anxiety, the message — into a book...

Adventures in Babysitting meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this funny, action-packed sequel about a coven of witchy babysitters who realize their calling to protect the innocent and save the world from an onslaught of evil. Esme Pearl's life used to be all about bumming rides and babysitting...

In the tradition of Jordan Peele and Tiffany Jackson’s The Weight of Blood, a YA thriller about a Black teen whose fight for survival forces a small southern vacation town to face its dark history of racial violence. When sixteen-year-old Naomi Ward and her family head to a secluded cabin in...