What Makes Up the YA Genre?
Young adult books are hugely popular for a lot of reasons. Aimed at readers between the ages of 14 and 18, they explore themes:
- Identity
- Belonging
- Falling in Love
- Finding Yourself
Those are themes many of us can relate to (even if we’re well past eighteen).
Additionally, for readers who prefer clean reads (no explicit language, sexual content, or violence), young adult books can often be a safe place to land. Not every YA book is no spice/no language, but many of them will be more so than new adult or adult novels.
Top YA Books for the Teen & the Young at Heart:
Here is a list of ten must-read YA books and series in all shapes and sizes:
- The Hunger Games series (Suzanne Collins) – Arguably one of the most popular YA series of our time. The Hunger Games is a brilliant dystopian story in which a brutal capital requires its districts to send their children to an arena for a fight to the death.
- Arc of a Scythe series (Neal Shusterman) – Another ingenious dystopian series, Scythe is equally dark and gritty as The Hunger Games but stands on its own as starkly unique. In a perfected world, scythes exist to glean individuals to control the population.
- The River of Time series (Lisa T. Bergren) – A delightfully romantic, action-packed time-travel series! Sisters Gabi and Lia find themselves transported to 14th century Italy, where they not only must fight for their lives but also fight for love.
- Between Shades of Gray (Ruta Sepetys) – A beautifully written, sorrowful historical novel about the true story of Stalin’s purge in Lithuania during WWII. Technically advertised as middle grade, I put this as YA due to the intensity of the content.
- Flameheart (Dalton & Emily Debequette) – An engaging, heart-warming debut, Flameheart is a portal fantasy, perfect for fans of Narnia and Inkheart. It’s clean, romantic, and a tribute to the book lover.
- Prisoner of Night and Fog (Anne Blankman) – A WWII novel, Prisoner invites readers into Hitler’s inner circle through the eyes of his niece.
- The Book Thief (Markus Zusak) – A classic WWII novel from the narrator Death that every young adult should read.
- Angel Eyes (Shannon Dittemore) – Christian fiction about angels and demons. Clean and thought-provoking, it’s an excellent alternative to Twilight.
- Love & Other Great Expectations (Becky Dean) – A clean, contemporary rom-com filled with beloved tropes. An American girl goes on a scavenger hunt across England, not expecting to discover bookish Luke Jackson.
- To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (Jenny Han) – A contemporary rom-com series triggered by lost love letters, full of heart, family, and the pains of growing up.
The Noticeably Absent YA Books
You may be wondering… Where is Twilight on the list? What about Divergent? Or, Ms. Lee, where on earth is the deeply beloved Harry Potter (and it is beloved!)?
Great questions, reader. I’ll take them one at a time.
- I have a hate-hate relationship with Twilight. That’s the short answer of why it’s not on the list. While I appreciate a guilty-pleasure book as much as the next person, I cannot recommend Twilight due to its glaring glorification of toxic relationships.
- As for Divergent and other comparable series (Mortal Instruments, Maze Runner, et cetera), I find them to be shadows of the genius Hunger Games. They are interesting and worth reading, but they don’t make top ten.
- While I could classify Harry Potter (and similarly aged series like Percy Jackson) as YA due to the latter books, I will be classifying it as middle grade due to the ages of the characters in the first 4+ novels within the series. Keep an eye out for a middle grade book list in due time! I promise they’re on there! How could they not be?
Interested in an Original, YA Story to Add to the List?
You may want to check out my debut novel Shift! Releasing Spring 2026, Shift straddles a lot of genres and pulls from many well-loved books, including some on these lists.
A YA low fantasy, Shift is about a criminal shapeshifter who accepts a high stakes job that could alter the course of her life and her peoples’ forever.
Some YA tropes you’ll find in Shift include:
- Morally Ambiguous Protagonists & Antagonists
- A Flirtatious, Kissing-Only Romance
- Wrestling with Identity
- Questioning Right & Wrong
- Survival
- High Stakes & Paying the Price
- Betrayals & Loyalty
What makes Shift unique to the genre of YA fantasy?
- 1950s Setting
- A Grand Gala
- An Undercover Plot
- Sibling Duo
- Low fantasy style (a reimagined magical world, somewhat in between Harry Potter and Red Queen)
Follow along on social media for all the updates! Sign up to my newsletter for exclusive content!
Which are You Adding to Your TBR?
Have you read any of these YA books? Let me know which ones and what you think of them!
As always, happy reading!
J.P. Lee