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The 40 Most Popular Recent Young Adult Novels
The young adult genre continues to lead literature in embracing new voices, championing all types of diversity, and, well, just really appreciating riveting tales that range from the magical to the more down-to-earth.
To get a better idea of where YA novels are now, we combed through our data to find the genre’s most popular reads published within the past three years. We measured popularity based on how many reviews these books have. Then we narrowed down the contenders further by only including books with at least a 3.5-average star rating from your fellow readers.
A 2017 debut novel by the then-unknown Angie Thomas leads this list with a beloved novel that was quickly adapted into a film. You’ll also find lots of other names familiar to those who love YA, including John Green, Jenny Han, Tomi Adeyemi, Sarah J. Maas, and Becky Albertalli.
Be sure to share some of your favorite newer YA novels in the comments!
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What are some of your favorite new YA novels? Let us know in the comments!
Comments Showing 1-50 of 56 (56 new)
message 1:
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Graham
(new)
Aug 04, 2020 03:55AM
What about League Against Witches and Wizards? I read it for free on kindle unlimited.
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Would really love to see The Great Library on this list.
“Every Missing Piece” is Melanie Conklin’s latest and it’s a great read. Her debut book was “Counting Thyme” which also tells an interesting story with memorable characters.
To change the subject, I am upset by the rise in gun killings of children & teenagers by their siblings or peers (accidentally or on purpose). The most riveting YA book I've read recently is Alex Richards' "Accidental." The author manages to handle the subject with power, delicacy, and humanity, and is a must read, no matter where you stand on the issue of guns.
Claudia wrote: "To change the subject, I am upset by the rise in gun killings of children & teenagers by their siblings or peers (accidentally or on purpose). The most riveting YA book I've read recently is Alex Richards' "Accidental." The author manages to handle the subject with power, delicacy, and humanity, and is a must read, no matter where you stand on the issue of guns. "Given that guns are not a part of the culture for the vast majority of us in the UK, I find the whole issue highly disturbing. Thanks for mentioning this book, I'm going to look it up and see if it's something I want to add to my TBR.
I'm glad to see that GR have deleted the bigotry that was recently shared (and argued thankfully) here. Such a shame the same thing didn't happen on the An Anti-Racist Reading List which got to over 1000 posts, many of them extremely ignorant and highly bigoted with a ton of gaslighting and plain old lies. I'd love to see the deletion police out in force on that one.
Milkshakes for the Almost Dead by Lulu Wood - brilliantly dark - it’s YA but at age 46 I loved it!
I'm surprised that House of Salt and Sorrows isn't on here, that was a great Fantasy Horror book. Four Dead Queens was a great murder mystery. One book that is right now leading for best book in 2020 for me is Woven in Moonlight.
Meg wrote: "It's obvious that there is a propaganda behind these books - to portray the sin of homosexuality as "normal". Talk about bigotry...you are the ones who are intolerant to anyone who disagrees. This ..."Seriously haven't y'all heard of "don't like, don't read". Or in my case, I don't read romance books, and while I might cringe at some of the covers, I don't go around complaining about the romance genre.
Sukriti wrote: "1. Crooked Kingdom2. Red, White & Royal Blue
3. Normal People
4. All the Bright Places"
isn't rwrb a new adult novel tho ? the characters are in their twenties:)
Sukriti wrote: "1. Crooked Kingdom2. Red, White & Royal Blue
3. Normal People
4. All the Bright Places"
isn't rwrb a new adult novel tho ? the characters are in their twenties:)
Why have I only read 11 of these books? I have to catch up! And only 16 on my To-Read list??? Here are a few other amazing YA books:Fantasy:
Four Dead Queens
All the Stars and Teeth
House of Salt and Sorrows
Crown of Coral and Pearl
The Shadows Between Us
House of Dragons
Sea Witch
Science and Realistic Fiction:
Be Not Far from Me
This Lie Will Kill You
Girls with Sharp Sticks
A Danger to Herself and Others
We'll Never Be Apart
message 20:
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Sushie || "To gain your voice, you must forget about having it heard" -William Ginsberg
(new)
I love so many of these books! This list is amazing and every time goodreads posts a new list I get over a hundred new books in my to-reads! XDI'll never finish them all... *sigh*
City of brass by S A Chakraborty ☺️☺️☺️ Was just lovely to read have to the read the next two though 🥰📚
Graham wrote: "What about League Against Witches and Wizards? I read it for free on kindle unlimited."It's probably not on the list because it has one rating on goodreads
Graham wrote: "What about League Against Witches and Wizards? I read it for free on kindle unlimited."... or more likely it's written by you!
Laura wrote: "City of brass by S A Chakraborty ☺️☺️☺️ Was just lovely to read have to the read the next two though 🥰📚"I believe according to Chakraborty herself City of Brass is adult fantasy.
I've only read seven from this list- my favourite is probably The Hate U Give.I also love Dark Blue Rising by Teri Terry which is new, but not on this list.
What about Dear Martin by Nic Stone?
Or The Burning by Laura Bates? Or Emily Barr's books? I love all of those!
Graham wrote: "What about League Against Witches and Wizards? I read it for free on kindle unlimited."Why would you do that when you wrote it yourself? ;)
Sukriti wrote: "1. Crooked Kingdom2. Red, White & Royal Blue
3. Normal People
4. All the Bright Places"
RW&RB isn't YA.
Sword of Light By J.C. LucasThis is a great read. Can't wait for the 2nd in the series to come out
Erin wrote: "Would really love to see The Great Library on this list."Yes! That was a fantastic series!
The Fountains of Silence is one of the best books I've ever read, it's beautiful and a real gut punch.
My OG favorite fantasy/fiction YA books are Hunger Games, Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, but recently I've been obsessed with all of Karen M. McManus's books!
The Fablehaven seriesthe series by James Patterson with the new book Hawk
Artemis Fowl
Cora wrote: "Why have I only read 11 of these books? I have to catch up! And only 16 on my To-Read list??? Here are a few other amazing YA books:Fantasy:
Four Dead Queens
[book:All the Stars a..."
Yes, these are all great choices!
Love some of this!!!! Some of my other contemporary faves include: Holding up the Universe, Words in Deep Blue, Red White & Royal Blue, Everything Beautiful is Not Ruined, Love from A to Z, My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologizes, The Raven Boys, Emergency Contact, Daughter of the Pirate King, The Hearts We Sold, This is Kind of an Epic Love Story, Saints and Misfits, etc 😍
I can't believe no one has mentioned any Laini Taylor! I am in the middle of Strange the Dreamer and am totally enthralled! The story is so complex, imaginative and touches on so many real issues, I would put it way at the top of the list.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
Beth wrote: "I can't believe no one has mentioned any Laini Taylor! I am in the middle of Strange the Dreamer and am totally enthralled! The story is so complex, imaginative and touches on so many real issues, ..."That's on the top 100 YA list. This is the 40 MOST RECENT popular YA novels. Strange the Dreamer is a few years old now.
What about Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children books? They are new, and AMAZING.Although not marketed to YA, I would put Charlaine Harris's Gunnie Rose books down. Her protagonist is young enough for them to focus on YA or at least NA, and they are fabulous.
Melliott wrote: "What about Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children books? They are new, and AMAZING.Although not marketed to YA, I would put Charlaine Harris's Gunnie Rose books down. Her protagonist is young enough f..."
Absolutely yes on Wayward Children!
I'll have to look into Gunnie Rose.
Definitely going to have to read that one!!! Sounds great! And your review makes me want to reread the Harper series. Wish that one hadn’t ended so soon.
Steven wrote: "Definitely going to have to read that one!!! Sounds great! And your review makes me want to reread the Harper series. Wish that one hadn’t ended so soon."There is apparently one more book still to come, probably next year?
