The most recommended young adult books

I absolutely loved this series! The heroine is a young woman struggling to survive the harsh streets of Victorian England. Caught stealing, Mary Quinn is convicted and sentenced to hang. However, the Agency rescues her from the noose and provides her with an education. In return, she trains to work as an investigative agent among the upper-class society of London. These books expose the realistic darker side of that world, but if you could handle Oliver Twist, you can handle these. Lee captured the mystery and intrigue so brilliantly I could not put them down.

This is an edge-of-the-seat mystery that will keep you reading long past bedtime. The story begins in a grimy underworld beneath the Battersea power station, but rapidly expands into the sky. I’d recommend this book to readers who like their magic with a thrill—the stakes are high and it’s an absolute page-turner. I particularly love the fact that Alma (a friendly ghost who befriends the main character), can change the shape of clouds. How many hours have I spent trying to do that through sheer willpower!

An absolute must-read for everyone who looks at villains and goes “I want their story.” Nita dices up monsters and sells their magical parts on the black market with her narcissist mother. And that’s just the beginning. The real conflict starts when mommy dearest brings her a body that’s still alive. This is a book with propulsive, edge-of-your-seat energy. Raw, gory, morally ambiguous, and every other unsettling box YA fantasy should check more often. It’s even got a Webtoon adaptation for visually-inclined readers.

I first saw the movie that this book was adapted into, Stand By Me, and the book works every bit as well.

When I was a kid, I had a deal with my parents that I could watch R-rated movies if I read the book first, but for some reason, this was one of the rare exceptions that was turned the other way around.

It’s just such a compelling read, and I wanted to start it over again as soon as I finished it.

I adore an anti-heroine story, and Dao delivers in this Asian-inspired reimagining of the Evil Queen about one peasant girl’s quest to become Empress by unleashing the darkness inside her.

The worldbuilding is lush, full of vivid details. The characters have amazing depth, never becoming one-dimensional stereotypes.

The protagonist is wonderfully complex. You sympathize with her at one point and then, in the next, she does something totally hateful. Her dark jealousies and obsession with her own beauty would make you despise her, but you’d also feel her frustration for having her ambition smothered as a woman in a patriarchal world.

Two words: Wesley Rush. I’m a sucker for a bad boy with charisma. And Bianca—my girl!—definitely gives Wesley a run for his money. I love her feistiness. Wesley dubs Bianca the “Designated Ugly Fat Friend” which is a huge no-no, but somehow he and Bianca began a steamy enemies with benefits fling and I lived for it. Naturally, their walls began to come down the closer they got, and there’s a line in the book (I will not spoil it) that took my breath away and made me fall completely in love with Wesley. Skip the movie, read the book! I loved Keplinger’s authentic uncensored teen voice in this. It made me a fan.

Okay, so this book is predominantly about the struggles of a boy going through puberty but its depiction of the magnetic older characters of Bert and Queenie in the Alderman Cooper Sunshine Home are among the funniest scenes in the book. 

Of every book I’ve ever read, it remains one of the most hilarious and if you’ve read it previously, it’s well worth another visit.

My grandson, Kenny, could not put this book down. He loves all animals and especially dogs.

Reading a true story about a dog born with no front legs and small in size as well as sick, Kenny’s heartstrings were pulled into Nubby’s story of obstacles and how the little dog overcame them with creativity, a lot of hard work, and love from his family.

Sorcery and Cecelia is a kissing-only fantasy romance I’ve read many times over—it’s one of my comfort reads.

This hilarious fantasy of manners has the setting and tropes of a Georgette Heyer novel, except for the existence of magic and magicians. Wrede and Stevermer wrote the book by playing “The Letters Game,” exchanging letters that each wrote from the viewpoint of a different character. Cousins Kate and Cecily stumble upon a plot threatening their neighbor, the Mysterious Marquis.

As they unite their magical and intellectual talents to prevent a horrible misuse of magic, they uncover new talents, form new alliances, and fall in love. Sometimes considered a YA novel, the book definitely has crossover appeal.

Spark is a story with a mystery at its heart, but also a lot of out-doors stuff, not least because the lovable hero – Twitch – is a keen bird watcher (who isn’t?!), and brings his schoolmates along with him.

A second book by M.G. Leonard, I know, but we read a load of books by her this year because she writes consistently great books that our son can’t stop reading, alone or with us.