YA Books You Can’t Put Down
My kid asked me to share some books for teens that are so engaging and gripping, you can’t stop reading them, like The Inheritance Games series. The Inheritance Games books by Jennifer Lynn Barnes are suspenseful and chock full of puzzles, riddles, and mysteries. While lyrical books are lovely as well, there is something thrilling about a book that entices you to keep turning page after page. I’m not sure this will be helpful in getting enough sleep at night, but here are some books that are sure to suck you in.
Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis (2019)
McGinnis has described this survival story as Hatchet, but with a girl. Ashley and friends go into the woods for a party, but catching her boyfriend cheating sends her running. She ends up injured and lost and must survive long enough to make it back to civilization.
Truly Devious series by Maureen Johnson (started 2018)
Stevie wins a place at an exclusive private school because of her interest in a cold case — a murder that took place at the school decades ago. Johnson unfolds the story in two time periods. When the murderer reappears in Stevie’s time, don’t expect to put the book down until it is finished!
Fake ID by Lamar Giles (2014)
Edgar Award winner Giles spins a great mystery in Fake ID. Nick is in the witness protection program. He knows he should stay under the radar to maintain the second chance he’s gotten. But when his friend Eli is killed, most likely because of the conspiracy he was investigating, he has to find out the truth.
Orphan Monster Spy by Matt Killeen (2019)
This intense book is about a Jewish teen asked to spy on the children of Nazis at a boarding school. Sarah’s assignment is to steal the blueprints for a bomb from the scientist father of her classmate. Killeen fills the pages with such suspense that it is hard to put down. The heroine is dedicated to her cause but fears becoming one of the monsters she is fighting against.
Damselfly by Chandra Prasad (2018)
A fencing team is flying over the Pacific toward a tournament and crash on an island. While they first hope for rescue, the girls soon realize that they may need to survive on the island for a long time. Then they discover that they may not be the only humans there. With hints of Lord of the Flies and Lost, this novel will raise your pulse and keep you reading.
Seafire series by Natalie C. Parker (started 2018)
Caledonia is the caption of the ship Mars Navis. Her family was killed by a warlord and his army of Bullets. She has sworn revenge on the warlord and all Bullets, but questions those certainties when a Bullet wants to defect and join her crew. I love the themes of feminism and politics that Parker weaves through out her series.