For the last few years, I have been writing and revising a contemporary young adult novel, so, naturally, I’ve been reading a lot of contemporary YA novels. Some are good, some are OK, and occasionally, you’ll come across one that will knock your socks off.
Here are a few of my favorite contemporary young adult novels that I’ve read in the past year or two.
Note: If you decide to purchase a book using a link on this page, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
Sugaring Off by Gillian French (2022)
Sugaring Off by Gillian French is about a young, partially deaf teen nicknamed Owl who lives and works on her aunt and uncle’s maple sugar farm in rural Maine. When they hire the neighbor’s city-raised grandson for the sugaring off season, Owl is both frustrated by and drawn to him. But what she doesn’t know is that he’s moved to rural Maine for a reason: to escape a harrowing past that just might catch up and drag Owl and her family down, too.
My Assessment: While Sugaring Off has a slow start, it escalates beautifully, building a meaty middle and a satisfying ending. Gillian French’s writing is strong and confident, weaving details and imagery throughout the book in a delicate way that connects everything without feeling heavy handed or over-plotted. The book unfolds in an organic way but every piece feels intentional. The ending is satisfying without being cliché or sappy. I don’t know how else to say it, except that this book has breadth. These aren’t characters but real people. I can feel this story.
The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (2010)
At its heart, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson is a teen love story couched in a larger narrative about grief. Lennie is coping with her sister Bailey’s death when she meets Joe, who has recently moved to town and never knew Bailey. But Lennie isn’t ready to move on. She and her sister’s boyfriend, Toby, have started hanging out, remembering all the good times they had with Bailey. But one thing leads to another, and Lennie gets caught between her new crush, her sister’s boyfriend, and her sister’s memory.
My Assessment: I was impressed with the writing in this book. It’s much meatier than most YA I’ve read. The author seems to pay special attention to the prose, more so than most YA. While there were some aspects of the story I found not quite believable, I felt the characters were developed enough to assuage my skepticism. The author also deftly avoided fulfilling a couple potential tropes, while still fulfilling the reader’s need for closure. In all, this book kept me engaged until the end and left me feeling satisfied.
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon (2016)
Nicola Yoon’s YA novel The Sun is Also a Star is a teen love story in an urgent setting. Natasha is desperately searching for a way to avoid her family’s deportation to Jamaica when she runs into Daniel on the streets of New York City. The universe wills them together, and they spend the day resisting each other and coming together while their individual family dramas play out in the background.
My Assessment: The Sun is Also a Star greatly exceeded my expectations. Yoon tells an engaging story with deeply explored characters in an original and engrossing way. I was struck by the depth of empathy Yoon has for her characters—how she understands that even the “worst” people have serious and deep motivations, and she conveys these people empathetically on the page. That is not a skill I have seen often in YA writing. The character work is exceptional.
Words We Don’t Say by KJ Reilly (2018)
Debut novel Words We Don’t Say by KJ Reilly follows troubled teen Joel, who is trying to make sense of the world after the loss of his best friend Andy. Through school, he volunteers at a local soup kitchen, where he vies for his crush Eli’s attention, deflects the antics of new kid Benj, and digs into the history of the soup kitchen regulars. One of those regulars, Rooster, is a veteran with a tragic past and severe PTSD. When Joel comes across Rooster’s encampment on a local farm, he vows to help, but he doesn’t understand the depth of Rooster’s mental illness–or that getting involved will lead him down a dangerous path.
My Assessment: It’s been a long while since I’ve read a book like this that’s made me both laugh out loud and cry, sometimes in the same scene. While Words We Don’t Say had a slow start, the story picked up in the middle, and by the final third, I couldn’t put it down. I was so impressed with the intricate way in which the author wove together each scene and developed the characters. It never felt contrived or preachy and yet it dealt with a lot of serious, difficult subjects. This book felt real. And it was still entertaining, introspective, and satisfying.
Hole in the Middle by Kendra Fortmeyer (2017)
Hole in the Middle is Kendra Fortmeyer’s debut novel. The story follows sixteen year-old Morgan Stone, a young woman with a literal hole in her middle. Ashamed of her deformity, Morgan has spent her life covering up, but she’s sick of hiding and decides to bare her middle for all to see. The ensuing chaos is both heartbreaking and hilarious, and the press interest pushes her toward Howie, a boy with an opposite, complementary deformity. Thrown into the limelight, the two have to navigate their difficult histories while coming to terms with the fact that maybe, finally, there’s someone else who understands.
My Assessment: It’s hard to say exactly what I enjoyed about Hole in the Middle–perhaps the sheer strangeness of it. It unfolds like a modern art exhibit, refusing to shy away from hard subjects while also avoiding overtly subverting norms. For me, it’s the main character, Morgan, who sold the story. I believed her as a character, even if I didn’t always believe the story. An engrossing if at times uncomfortable narrative.
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour (2017)
In We Are Okay by Nina LaCour, protagonist Marin’s life has been turned upside down by her discovery of a deep betrayal. She deals with it by alienating herself from her best friend (and one-time love interest) Mabel and moving across the country to attend college in New York. In alternating flashbacks and present-day story, Marin and Mabel slowly repair (and evolve) their relationship, while the author reveals the events leading up to Marin’s discovery and the significant impact it has had on her life.
My Assessment: We Are Okay is beautifully written with a heartbreaking (and heartwarming) story. LaCour strikes a good balance between past and present narrative to give the book more movement and to prevent it from getting bogged down in the feelings of grief and depression that dominate the present day narrative.