Young Love: Teen Romantic Comedies

Try these books if you’re looking for:
• Young adult romantic comedies
• Strong characters
• Intriguing relationships
• Happy endings

I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have to Kill You
Ally Carter
YA F CARTER
Gallaghe #1
As a sophomore at a secret spy school and the daughter of a former CIA operative, Cammie is sheltered from "normal teenage life" until she meets a local boy while on a class surveillance mission.

Paranormalcy
Kiersten White
YA F WHITE Paranorm #1
Evie, the only known human with the ability to see through supernatural "glamours," works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency (IPCA) tracking down dangerous creatures. (Really, she finds the work dull and would rather be shopping, watching TV, or at the very least at home painting her weapons pink.) But when a mysterious shape-shifter invades the IPCA and brings news of a string of paranormal murders, things start to heat up. 

Better Off Friends 
Elizabeth Eulberg
YA F EULBERG
Macallan and Levi are best friends from the first day they meet in seventh grade, but over the years their close friendship keeps interfering with their dating life because everyone else regards them as a couple.

Just Like the Movies
Kelly Fiore
YA F FIORE
Pretty, popular Marijke Monti and over-achieving nerd-girl Lily Spencer have little in common--except that neither feels successful when it comes to love. Now they have a budding friendship and a plan--to act out grand gestures and get the guys of their dreams. 

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Jennifer E. Smith
YA F SMITH
Seventeen-year-old Hadley's father is getting remarried, and while Hadley is (much) less than thrilled about it, she's traveling to England to be a part of his wedding. After missing her flight to London by just four minutes, Hadley gets rebooked on another flight...where she meets Oliver.

The Classics Aren't So Bad: Clean Historical Romance to Get Teens into Classic Lit

Try these books if you’re looking for:
• Classics or gateways to classics
• Clean reads
• Historical Fiction
• Romance
• Female protagonists

An Old-Fashioned Girl 
Louisa May Alcott
J F ALCOTT
Polly's friendship with the wealthy Shaws of Boston helps them to build a new life and teaches her the truth about the relationship between happiness and riches.

Edenbrooke 
Julianne Donaldson
ROMANCE DONADSO
When Marianne receives an invitation to spend the summer with her twin sister in Edenbrooke, she has no idea of the romance and adventure that await her once she meets the dashing Sir Philip.  

The Blue Castle 
Lucy Maud Montgomery
YA FICTION MONTGOME
Valancy Stirling, an inhibited twenty-nine-year-old spinster, undergoes a total personality change when a doctor tells her she has no more than one year to live. 

Longing for Home 
Sarah Eden
ROMANCE EDEN
Longing #1
Twenty-six-year-old Katie Macauley has placed all her hope in Hope Springs, a small town in the 1870 Wyoming Territory. But if she wants to return home to Ireland to make amends with her estranged family, she'll need to convince the influential Joseph Archer to hold true to his word and keep her on his payroll as his housekeeper--despite her Irish roots. 

Emma: A Latter-day Tale 
Rebecca H. Jamison
ROMANCE JAMISON
Jane Austen's classic matchmaking tale with a modern twist. Emma isn't so good at the whole life-coaching thing. Her first client ended up with a broken heart and is threatening to relapse in her bad habits. Now Emma has problems of her own to deal with, and they all start with one name: Justin. Justin is her best friend, so it's hard for Emma not to feel betrayed when she suspects he is falling for her childhood rival. And she knows she's losing him despite her best efforts. How is she supposed to help other people when she's drowning in her own failures.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond 
Elizabeth George Speare
YA F SPEARE
Kit Tyler leaves her luxurious home in Barbados to visit her Puritan aunt in colonial Connecticut. While there she becomes friendly with Hannah, the witch of Blackbird Pond. 

YA Historical Novels with Clever Female Leads

Try these books if you’re looking for:
• YA Reads
• Female, teenage protagonists
• Stories set in the past
• Adventure

What I Saw and How I Lied
Judy Blundell
YA F BLUNDELL
In 1947, with her jovial stepfather Joe back from the war and family life returning to normal, teenage Evie, smitten by the handsome young ex-GI who seems to have a secret hold on Joe, finds herself caught in a complicated web of lies whose devastating outcome change her life and that of her family forever. 

Sophia’s War
Avi
JF AVI
In 1776, after witnessing the execution of Nathan Hale in New York City, newly occupied by the British army, young Sophia Calderwood resolves to do all she can to help the American cause, including becoming a spy.

Scarlet 
A.C. Gaughen
YA F GAUGHEN Scarlet #1
Will Scarlet shadows Robin Hood, with an unerring eye for finding treasures to steal and throwing daggers with deadly accuracy, but when Gisbourne, a ruthless bounty hunter, is hired by the sheriff to capture Robin and his band of thieves, Robin must become Will's protector risking his own life in the process.

The Midwife’s Apprentice 
Karen Cushman
YA F CUSHMAN
In medieval England, a nameless, homeless girl is taken in by a sharp-tempered midwife, and in spite of obstacles and hardship, eventually gains the three things she most wants: a full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world. 

Ruby in the Smoke 
Philip Pullman
YAF PULLMAN Sally Lo #1
In nineteenth-century London, sixteen-year-old Sally Lockhart, a recent orphan, becomes involved in a deadly search for a mysterious ruby.

Teen Adventure and Romance with a Female Protagonist

Try these books if you’re looking for:

•    Young adult fiction
•    Teen female protagonists
•    Adventure
•    Romance

Grave Mercy
Robin LaFevers
YA F LAFEVERS His Fair #1
In the fifteenth-century kingdom of Brittany, seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where she learns that the god of Death has blessed her with dangerous gifts--and a violent destiny.

The Winner’s Curse
Marie Rutkoski
YA F RUTKOSKI Winner’s #1
An aristocratic girl who is a member of a warmongering and enslaving empire purchases a slave, an act that sets in motion a rebellion that might overthrow her world as well as her heart.

We Were Liars
E. Lockhart
YA F LOCKHART
Spending the summers on her family's private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her cousins and a special boy named Gat, teenaged Cadence struggles to remember what happened during her fifteenth summer. This brilliant and heartbreaking novel is full of love, lies, secrets, no shortage of family dysfunction, and a shocking twist that you won’t see coming.

Delirium
Lauren Oliver
YA F OLIVER Delirium #1
Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, she falls in love.

The Kiss of Deception
Mary Pearson
YA F PEARSON Remnant #1
On the morning of her wedding, Princess Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive--and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets--even as she finds herself falling in love.

Young Adult Historical Fiction

Try these books if you’re looking for:

•    Historical Fiction
•    Young Adult Fiction
•    Female Protagonists

Belle Epoque
Elizabeth Ross
YA F ROSS
Sixteen-year-old Maude Pichon, a plain, impoverished girl in Belle Epoque Paris, is hired by Countess Dubern to make her headstrong daughter, Isabelle, look more beautiful by comparison but soon Maude is enmeshed in a tangle of love, friendship, and deception.

My Family for the War
Anne C. Voorhoeve
YA F VOORHOEV
Before the start of World War II, ten-year-old Ziska Mangold, who has Jewish ancestors but has been raised as a Protestant, is taken out of Nazi Germany on one of the Kindertransport trains, to live in London with a Jewish family, where she learns about Judaism and endures the hardships of war while attempting to keep in touch with her parents, who are trying to survive in Holland.

The Caged Graves
Dianne K. Salerni
YA F SALERNI
Returning to her hometown of Catawissa, Pennsylvania, in 1867 to marry a man she has never met, seventeen-year-old Verity Boone gets caught up in the a mystery surrounding the graves of her mother and aunt and a dangerous hunt for Revolutionary-era gold.

Prisoner of Night and Fog
Anne Blankman
YA F BLANKMAN Prisonder #1
In 1930s Munich, the favorite niece of rising political leader Adolph Hitler is torn between duty and love after meeting a fearless and handsome young Jewish reporter.

Catherine, Called Birdy
Karen Cushman
YA F CUSHMAN
The daughter of an English country knight keeps a journal in which she records the events of her life, particularly her longing for adventures beyond the usual role of women and her efforts to avoid being married off.

Fantasy with Strong Female Leads

Try these books if you're looking for:

• fantasy 
• strong female lead 

The Fairy Godmother 
Mercedes Lackey
SCI-FI Lackey Five Hun #1
A new Fairy Godmother tries to help three princes find the women of their dreams, while fending off an evil sorcerer who is determined to destroy her kingdom.

Poison Study 
Maria V. Snyder
SCI-FI Snyder Study #1
After she is given a reprieve from her death sentence, Yelena faces mounting disasters as rebels plot to seize Ixia, and the chief of security is attempting to poison her.

Troubled Waters 
Sharon Shinn
SCI-FI Shinn Elementa #1
Zoe Ardelay is a coru prime ruled by the elemental sign of water. As Zoe unlocks more of the mysteries of her blood, she must decide how to use her power to rise above the deceptions of the royal court.

City of a Thousand Dolls 
Miriam Forster
YA F FORSTER Bhinian #1
Nisha lives in the City of a Thousand Dolls, a remote estate where orphan girls in the Empire become apprentices as musicians, healers, and courtesans. When girls begin to die, Nisha uncovers the secrets that surround the deathers—jeopardizing not only her own future within the city, but her very life as well.

Looking for Adventure? Try Adventure Non-Fiction

Try these books if you're looking for:

• adventure
• non-fiction
• no graphic/violent scenes
• no strong language
• strong female protagonists
• under 250 pages
• young adult

Pure Grit: How American World War II Nurses Survived Battle and Prison Camp in the Pacific 
Mary Cronk Farrell
YA NF 940.5475 FAR
A tribute to the American nurses trapped in the Philippines by the attack on Pearl Harbor describes the harrowing conditions under which they treated soldiers before being captured and forced to endure starvation and disease for three years. 

Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina 
Michaela DePrince with Elaine DePrince
YA BIO DEPRINCE 2014
The memoir of Michaela DePrince, who lived the first few years of her live in war-torn Sierra Leone until being adopted by an American family. Now seventeen, she is one of the premiere ballerinas in the United States.

Clean Reads that Have It All

Try these books if you're looking for:

• clean reads
• good story/plot
• strong female characters
• some action
• some romance

The Woman in White 
Wilkie Collins
MYSTERY COLLINS
One of the greatest mystery thrillers ever written, Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White was a phenomenal bestseller in the 1860s, achieving even greater success than works by Dickens, Collins's friend and mentor. Full of surprise, intrigue, and suspense, this vastly entertaining novel continues to enthrall readers today. The story begins with an eerie midnight encounter between artist Walter Hartright and a ghostly woman dressed all in white who seems desperate to share a dark secret. The next day Hartright, engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie and her half sister, tells his pupils about the strange events of the previous evening. Determined to learn all they can about the mysterious woman in white, the three soon find themselves drawn into a chilling vortex of crime, poison, kidnapping, and international intrigue. Masterfully constructed, The Woman in White is dominated by two of the finest creations in all Victorian fiction: Marion Halcombe, dark, mannish, yet irresistibly fascinating, and Count Fosco, the sinister and flamboyant Napoleon of Crime. This is one of my all-time favorite classic books.

A Duty to the Dead 
Charles Todd
MYSTERY TODD Bess Cr #1
Bess Crawford, a nurse in World War I, promises Lieutenant Arthur Graham that she will carry his request to his dying brother, a request that is treated with skepticism, leading Bess to carry it out herself, putting her own life at risk for Arthur’s sake and thrusting her into a maelstrom of intrigue and murder. I also really loved his The Walnut Tree, which is not a mystery but is set in the same period and has some really great characters.
 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society 
Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
F SHAFFER
As London is emerging from the shadow of World War II, writer Juliet Ashton discovers her next subject in a book club on Guernsey-a club born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi after its members are discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island. Another book with great characters and a new look at World War II.

The Forgotten Garden 
Kate Morton
F MORTON
“Nell,” abandoned as a child, leaves her adoptive parents in Australia and travels to England to trace her story, to find her real identity – a quest that ultimately leads her to Blackhurst manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Montrachet family. Kate Morton writes beautifully and her plots are so complex - without taking anything away from her compelling characters - that you have to read to the last page to really solve the mystery.

New Chick Lit

Try these books if you're looking for:

• chick lit
• new releases (last 2 years)
• female characters

Great Aunt Sophia's Lessons for Bombshells 
By Lisa Cach
F CACH
Agreeing to be a companion to her elderly former actress great-aunt, frumpy Ph.D. student Grace becomes the center of her great-aunt's Pygmalion-style project to transform her into an empowered and desirable woman.

Chose the Wrong Guy, Gave Him the Wrong Finger 
By Elizabeth M. Harbison
F HARBISON
Running away with her fiance's brother after he convinces her that he loves her more and that the man she was about to marry has been unfaithful, Ashley Barton takes a job at a bridal shop when the ensuing relationship also fails, a situation that leads to an explosive confrontation 17 years later.

Beautiful Day 
By Elin Hilderrand
F HILDERBR
Gathering on Nantucket for a wedding planned to the letter by the bride's late mother, the Carmichaels and the Grahams hide their scandal-ridden, crumbling lives from the blissfully unaware, happy couple.

Don't Go 
By Lisa Scottoline
MYSTERY SCOTTOLI
Fleeing home from his military service in Afghanistan when his wife dies in an apparent freak household accident, Dr. Mike Scanlon struggles with the tragedy, his inability to bond with his new baby daughter and a downsizing in his medical practice only to discover a shocking secret that changes his understanding of everything.

Home Safe 
By Elizabeth Berg
F BERG
After the death of her husband, Helen Ames is shocked to discover that he spent their retirement savings before he died, but what he did with their money leads Helen and her twenty-seven-year-old daughter Tessa to embark on new adventures.

Multicultural Books with Female Protagonists

Try these books if you're looking for:

• female protagonist
• focus on characters and relationships
• multicultural
• characters face difficult circumstances
• explicit content

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 
By Stieg Larsson
MYSTERY LARSSON Millenni #1
Harriet Vanger, a scion of one of Sweden's wealthiest families disappeared over forty years ago. All these years later, her aged uncle continues to seek the truth. He hires Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently trapped by a libel conviction, to investigate. He is aided by the pieced and tattooed punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander. Together they tap into a vein of unfathomable iniquity and astonishing corruption.

Farishta 
By Patricia McArdle
F MCARDLE
An American diplomat is forced to confront the devastation of her past when she is assigned to remote northern Afghanistan.

A Tale for the Time Being 
By Ruth Ozeki
F OZEKI
Nao Yasutani is a Japanese schoolgirl who plans to kill herself as a way of escaping her dreary life. First, though, she intends to write in her diary the life story of her great-grandmother Jiko, a Zen Buddhist nun. But Nao actually ends up writing her own life story, and the diary eventually washes up on the shore of Canada's Vancouver Island, where a novelist called Ruth lives.

Sold 
By Patricia McCormick
F MCCORMICK
When she is tricked by her stepfather and sold into prostitution, thirteen-year-old Lakshmi becomes submerged in a nightmare where her only comfort is the friendship she forms with the other girls, which helps her survive and eventually escape.

Clean Historical Romance

Try these books if you're looking for:

• romance
• historical fiction
• strong female characters
• clean read

The Blue Castle 
By L.M. Montgomery
YA F MONTGOME
When Valancy Stirling is diagnosed with a heart condition, she decides to throw aside her family’s overbearing standards and live exactly as she likes, much to her staid family’s dismay. But it’s when her rebellion puts her in contact with Barney Snaith, the town pariah, that Valancy’s new life truly begins.

Snobbery With Violence 
By Marion Chesney
MYSTERY CHESNEY Edwardia #1
When a marriage proposal appears imminent for the beautiful--if rebellious--Lady Rose Summer, her father wants to know if her suitor's intentions are honorable. He calls on Captain Harry Cathcart to do some intelligence work. But when Harry suspects a murder has been committed, he must seek help from Superintendent Kerridge of the Scotland Yard and Lady Rose herself.

Courting Miss Lancaster 
By Sarah Eden
ROMANCE EDEN
Harry Windover knows he can never make an offer for his adored Athena Lancaster, but when her brother asks him to help find a suitable suitor for Athena, Harry concocts a plot to help her see his own sterling qualities against a backdrop of alarming suitors.

Replica 
By Jenna Black
YA F BLACK
Sixteen-year-old Nadia lives a privileged life in the Corporate States, formerly the United States of America, but when her betrothed is killed and then wakes up in the replication tanks, the pair sets out to find a killer while keeping the secrets of human replication technology from the dangerous people who run their world.

Teen Adventures with a Female Lead

Try these books if you're looking for:

• teen books
• adventure books
• female lead

Keturah and Lord Death 
By Martine Leavitt
YA F LEAVITT
When Lord Death comes to claim sixteen-year-old Keturah while she is lost in the King's Forest, she charms him with her story and is granted a twenty-four hour reprieve in which to seek her one true love.

Wither 
By Lauren DeStefano
YA F DESTEFAN Chemical #1
After modern science turns every human into a genetic time bomb with men dying at age twenty-five and women dying at age twenty, girls are kidnapped and married off in order to repopulate the world.

Birthmarked 
By Caragh M. O’Brien
YA F O’BRIEN Birthmar #1
When her midwife mother is forcibly taken away by the very people she serves, sixteen-year-old Gaia Stone starts to question the role of the Enclave and whether it deserves the loyalty her family has so faithfully given.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox 
By Mary Pearson
YA F PEARSON Jenna Fo #1
In the not-too-distant future, when biotechnological advances have made synthetic bodies and brains possible but illegal, a seventeen-year-old girl, recovering from a serious accident and suffering from memory lapses, learns a startling secret about her existence.

Under the Never Sky 
By Veronica Rossi
YA F ROSSI Under #1
Aria and Perry, two teens from radically different societies--one highly advanced, the other primitive--hate being dependent on one another until they overcome their prejudices and fall in love, knowing they can't stay together.