45 Hidden Gems for YA Superfans

Posted by Marie on July 30, 2018
From the sprawling territories of Erilea to the 12 districts of Panem, YA superfans have covered a lot of familiar ground. To help take these seasoned explorers off the beaten path, we skipped the classics and bestsellers and put together a list of hidden gems just waiting to be discovered.

For this roundup, we chose books that have been added fewer than 200,000 times on Goodreads members' shelves. To put this in perspective, members have added The Hunger Games to their shelves more than 6 million times. From there, we only included titles with a minimum four-star rating. Then we broke down the results into recommendations for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Suzanne Collins, John Green, Jenny Han, and Cassandra Clare.

This list is far from exhaustive, so make sure to add your own under-the-radar recommendations in the comments. And don't forget to add what catches your eye to your Want to Read shelf!


If you love Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass series
(or epic fantasies featuring swords, sorcery, and kingdoms in peril)…








If you love John Green's The Fault in Our Stars
(or tear-inducing contemporary fiction about catharsis and self-discovery)…













If you love Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy
(or thrilling sci-fi with dystopian regimes and terrifying tech)…









If you love Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before
(or tender romances with humor, drama, and "adorkable" mishaps)…













If you love Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments series
(or urban fantasies with paranormal activity in modern-day cities)…








What's your favorite under-the-radar YA novel? Share it with us in the comments!


Comments Showing 101-106 of 106 (106 new)

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message 101: by Elizabeth (new)

Elizabeth One of us is Lying!


message 102: by Elizabeth (new)


message 103: by Nicole (new)

Nicole Collins Olivia wrote: "Elias wrote: "Love that you said Throne of Glass OR epic fantasies featuring swords, sorcery and kingdoms in peril.

Because Throne of Glass does not fit that description and is actually a frothy r..."


Yes I agree they are fantasy and they are incredible but the fantasy definitely builds up through out the series. I think they either only read the first book or none at all because its clearly fantasy and they are the top fantasy books every year!!!


message 104: by Whitney (new)

Whitney Elias wrote: "Fall of a Kingdom
The Singer of All Songs
The Naming
The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray
Bartimaeus: The Amulet of Samarkand
[book:F..."


Mortal Engines had too low of a rating. Also, nothing happens until 3/4 of the book has past :\


message 105: by Whitney (new)

Whitney Starfish is great and I’m so glad you recommended it (less thrilled you recommended it for fans of John Green, because I feel the writing is much better, but whatever gets it some attention, I guess :) )
Also, Tiger Lily, which is a really interesting Peter Pan retelling


message 106: by Afra (last edited Apr 27, 2021 07:54AM) (new)

Afra Lexie wrote: "Six of Crows needs to be on here!"

I think SoC isn't hidden gem. It is a gem, but not hidden


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