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Young Adult Recommendations

The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

The first book in the ground-breaking Hunger Games trilogy. Set in a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called The Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed. When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her younger sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

We recommend this classic of the genre for all those looking for an exciting read! We love the tension Collins creates in this book and the amazing characters we all love to root for! If you've already the original trilogy we highly recommend the newest and latest addition to the series, the prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes!

 

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Holly Jackson

 

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh.

The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it. But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the crime, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure.

When she chooses the case as the topic for her final project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth ... ?

We recommend this as a young adult thriller novel for those looking for an utterly engrossing read! Once you've done with this one you should definitely read the sequel Good Girl, Bad Blood.

 

 Holes, Louis Sachar

Stanley Yelnats' family has a history of bad luck, so when a miscarriage of justice sends him to Camp Green Lake Juvenile Detention Centre (which isn't green and doesn't have a lake) he is not surprised. Every day he and the other inmates are told to dig a hole, five foot wide by five foot deep, reporting anything they find. Why? The evil warden claims that it's character building, but this is a lie.

Holes is such a classic of the YA genre with a great film to accompany it; definitely give this one a read and then watch the movie afterwards!

 

Shadow and Bone, Leigh Bardugo

Saint. Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Fold - a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashes dormant magic not even she knew she possessed.

The first of the bestselling trilogy, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo has recently been made into a thrilling Netflix production, anyone looking for a great start to an Epic YA Series should read this!

 

Tokyo Ever After, Emiko Jean

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean is a hilarious and heartfelt novel perfect for fans of To All the Boys I've Loved Before and The Princess Diaries. Izumi Tanaka has lived an uneventful seventeen years in her small town, keenly aware of all the ways in which her family is different from most of her classmates. But then Izumi discovers a clue to her previously unknown father's identity... and he's none other than the Crown Prince of Japan. Soon she's traveling overseas to meet the father she never knew and discover the country she's only dreamed of. But being a princess isn't all ball gowns and tiaras.

A lighter read than some of the others on our list yet still brilliant! This is a new release that will keep you gripped right from the start - unable to put down the book to find out what will become of our brand new princess?!

 

The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas

Sixteen-year-old Starr lives in two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she was born and raised and her posh high school in the suburbs. The uneasy balance between them is shattered when Starr is the only witness to the fatal shooting of her unarmed best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. Now what Starr says could destroy her community. It could also get her killed. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, this is a powerful and gripping YA novel about one girl's struggle for justice.

This is a fantastic and inspiring book - we would recommend it to anyone interested books that discuss important social and cultural conflicts in a raw and riveting way.

 

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking), Patrick Ness

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in a constant, overwhelming Noise. There is no privacy. There are no secrets. Then Todd Hewitt unexpectedly stumbles on a spot of complete silence. Which is impossible. And now he's going to have to run... This new edition marks the 10th anniversary of the award-winning modern classic, soon to be a major motion picture starring Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley.

A greatly exciting trilogy starts off with this book here, Ness perfectly creates tension and builds an amazing dystopian world for you to get lost in. Once you've finished this one it'll be time to quickly devour the second in the series, The Ask and The Answer.