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Young Adult Books You Want to Read

As you may or may not know, our company, The Book Report Network, has a number of websites about books and authors in addition to Bookreporter.com. Throughout the year, Bookreporter.com features adult books on Teenreads.com, our site for young adult readers, that we think will have definite appeal to a teen audience. In the spirit of sharing, we are now spotlighting a selection of titles each month from Teenreads.com that we believe are great reads that you might enjoy.

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus

January 2019

Ellery has never been to Echo Ridge, but she has heard all about it. Her aunt went missing there at age 17. And only five years ago, a homecoming queen put the town on the map when she was killed. Now Ellery has to move there to live with a grandmother she barely knows. The town is picture-perfect, but it's hiding secrets. And before school even begins for Ellery, someone has declared open season on homecoming, and another girl goes missing. The longer she's in Echo Ridge, the clearer it becomes that everyone there is hiding something. Secrets are dangerous, and most people aren't good at keeping them. Which is why in Echo Ridge, it's safest to keep your secrets to yourself.

Inventing Victoria by Tonya Bolden

January 2019

As a young black woman in 1880s Savannah, Essie's dreams are very much at odds with her reality. Ashamed of her beginnings, but unwilling to accept the path currently available to her, Essie is trapped between the life she has and the life she wants. Until she meets a lady named Dorcas Vashon, the richest and most cultured black woman she's ever encountered. When Dorcas makes Essie an offer she can't refuse, she becomes Victoria. Transformed by a fine wardrobe, a classic education and the rules of etiquette, Victoria is soon welcomed in the upper echelons of black society in Washington, D.C. But when the life she desires is finally within her grasp, Victoria must decide how much of herself she is truly willing to surrender.

A Sky for Us Alone by Kristin Russell

January 2019

In Strickland County --- a forgotten stretch of land in Southern Appalachia --- there isn’t a lot of anything to go around. But when 18-year-old Harlowe Compton’s brother is killed by the Praters --- the family who controls everything, from the mines to the law to the opioid trade --- he wonders if the future will ever hold more than loss. Until he meets Tennessee Moore. Even as she struggles with the worst of the cards she’s been dealt, Tennessee makes Harlowe believe that they can dare to forge their own path. But as Harlowe searches for the answers behind his brother’s death, his town’s decay and his family’s dysfunction, he discovers truths about the people he loves --- and himself --- that are darker than he ever expected.

The Lying Woods by Ashley Elston

November 2018

When Owen Foster's mother shows up at his elite boarding school, he learns that his privileged life has been funded by stolen money. After using the family business to embezzle millions and drain his employees' retirement accounts, Owen's father vanished without a trace. Owen returns to his small hometown to finish his senior year, where people he hardly remembers despise him for his father's crimes. His only refuge is the sprawling orchard he works at after school, owned by a man named Gus, who seems to know Owen better than he knows himself. As Owen uncovers a terrible injustice, he must face a shocking truth about his past --- and write a better future.

The Color of Lies by CJ Lyons

November 2018

High school senior Ella Cleary has always been good at reading people. Her family has a rare medical condition called synesthesia that scrambles the senses --- her Gram Helen sees every sound, and her uncle Joe can literally taste words. Ella’s own synesthesia manifests itself as the ability to see colors that reveal people’s true emotions…until she meets a guy she just can’t read. Alec is a mystery to Ella, a handsome, enigmatic young journalist who makes her feel normal for the first time in her life. That is, until he reveals the real reason why he sought her out --- he wants to learn the truth behind her parents’ deaths, the parents Ella had always been told died in a fire. Alec turns Ella’s world upside down when he tells her that their deaths were definitely not an accident.

That Night by Amy Giles

November 2018

The year since a mass shooting shook their Queens neighborhood has played out differently for Jess and Lucas, both of whom were affected by that night in eerily similar and deeply personal ways. As Jess struggles to take care of her depressed mother and Lucas takes up boxing under the ever-watchful eye of his overprotective parents, their paths converge. They slowly become friends and then something more, learning to heal and move forward together. But what does it mean to love after an unspeakable tragedy?

Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich

October 2018

When a letter that was never meant to be seen by anyone draws high school senior Evan Hansen into a family's grief over the loss of their son, he is given the chance of a lifetime: to belong. He just has to stick to a lie he never meant to tell, that the notoriously troubled Connor Murphy was his secret best friend. Suddenly, Evan isn't invisible anymore --- even to the girl of his dreams. No longer tangled in his once-incapacitating anxiety, this new Evan has a purpose. And a website. He's confident. He's a viral phenomenon. Every day is amazing. Until everything is in danger of unraveling and he comes face to face with his greatest obstacle: himself.

Dry by Neal Shusterman

October 2018

The drought --- or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it --- has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers. Until the taps run dry. Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbors and families turn against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life --- and the life of her brother --- is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive.

Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by Ari Folman

October 2018

A timeless story rediscovered by each new generation, THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL stands without peer. For both young readers and adults, it continues to capture the remarkable spirit of Anne Frank, who for a time survived the worst horror the modern world has seen --- and who remained triumphantly and heartbreakingly human throughout her ordeal. Adapted by Ari Folman, illustrated by David Polonsky, and authorized by the Anne Frank Foundation in Basel, this is the first graphic edition of THE DIARY and includes extensive quotation directly from the definitive edition.

The War Outside by Monica Hesse

October 2018

It's 1944, and World War II is raging across Europe and the Pacific. The war seemed far away from Margot in Iowa and Haruko in Colorado --- until they were uprooted to dusty Texas, all because of the places their parents once called home: Germany and Japan. Haruko and Margot meet at the high school in Crystal City, a "family internment camp" for those accused of colluding with the enemy. With everything around them falling apart, the teens find solace in their growing, secret friendship. But in a prison the government has deemed full of spies, can they trust anyone --- even each other?