‘Must Read’ Young Adult Books

Read these YA books before 2017! Photo Credit / Kathleen Kraemer Read these YA books before 2017! Photo Credit / Kathleen Kraemer
Read these YA books before 2017! Photo Credit / Kathleen Kraemer
Read these YA books before 2017!
Photo Credit / Kathleen Kraemer

By Alexa Stephens
Staff Writer

1. “Holding Up the Universe” by Jennifer Niven

After the release of her first young adult novel “All the Bright Places” in 2015, Jennifer Niven followed up quickly with this quirky tale about finding that person who sees you for who you truly are.

Jack is known for being charming and intelligent, but no one knows he cannot recognize faces. Libby is known for once being “America’s Fattest Teen,” but no one knows the problems she faces after her mother’s death.

The two get pushed together in a cruel high school game, and after being pissed at the situation, they begin to realize that together they do not feel so alone.

2. “The Girl from Everywhere” by Heidi Heilig

This story blends history and fantasy together to create a stunning story filled with suspense.

The main character, Nix, is a 16-year-old girl who has spent her life traveling from different places and different times aboard her father’s time-traveling ship.

However, when her father’s obsession with acquiring a map of 1868 Honolulu that could take him back to Nix’s mother is finally accomplished, Nix’s existence is threatened.

Nix is treading in uncharted waters, awaiting her fate of finding lost family or her own disappearance.

3. “The Way I Used to Be” by Amber Smith

This extraordinary novel follows a young girl, Eden, in the aftermath of an assault as she struggles to find strength to move forward.

The story is told in four parts coinciding with Eden’s four years of high school. Her freshman year failed to change who she was as a person, until she was raped by her brother’s best friend.

With her world turned upside down, Eden tries to find her strength and learn to embrace the power of survival that was always within her.

4. “Ever the Hunted” by Erin Summerill

Britta always felt safe and at ease hunting in the woods with her bow and dagger and tracking criminals alongside her father – a legendary bounty hunter for the King of Malam.

But when her father is killed, she flees to the woods where she is captured for stealing from the royal guard. In exchange for her life, she is offered a deal.

She will be set free if she gives up her father’s killer.

With the alleged killer being her father’s own former apprentice, and the only friend Britta has ever had, things get messy. She faces a dangerous quest to find the real killer in hopes of sparing her friend’s life, and finds a secret force that lies within her along the way.

Email Alexa at:
astephens@live.esu.edu