It Sounded Better in My Head takes place in Australia, where summer is in January and senior year ends before college admissions are announced. The novel’s narrator, Natalie, feels in between. She’s in between her parents, who have blindsided her with an amicable announcement that they are divorcing, and in between her best friends, Zach and Lucy, who have started dating. But mostly, Natalie is in between being an introvert with severe acne and being an outgoing teenager who goes to parties. And then at one of those parties, she plays a game of spin the bottle and kisses Zach’s brother, Alex.

In this deceptively complex book, superficial questions about the intricacies of texting your crush accompany serious explorations of body image, sibling dynamics and interpersonal trust. Debut author Nina Kenwood hilariously chronicles Natalie’s bumbling attempts to pursue Alex through an awkward first date, unintended mishaps and more. But Kenwood also follows Natalie as she engages in meaningful conversations with Alex about physical intimacy. The pair’s on-the-page discussions of contraception, past partners, STIs and infidelity are frank and honest, and would serve as excellent models for readers in need of a script for such conversations in their own lives. It’s also heartening to read Natalie’s realization that intimacy and intercourse don’t need to be synonymous: “I never thought about how nice it would be to just have someone touch you softly and gently. . . . I thought it was sexy stuff or nothing.”

With candor and affection, It Sounded Better in My Head captures a teenager navigating the final moments of one stage of life and the first moments of the next.

Halle Leavitt, whose parents are filmmakers, has bounced from town to town so many times that she’s never invested in IRL friendships. All her friends are online, where they know her as Kels, a successful blogger who showcases cupcakes she’s baked to accompany book reviews. Frequent among her DMs is Nash, a cute web comic artist who’s never seen Halle’s face.

While her parents film a documentary in Israel, Halle moves in with her recently widowed grandfather. When she runs into Nash at the library in her new town, she’s too shocked to tell him they already know each other. Then “Kels” is offered a publishing opportunity that could guarantee Halle’s spot at her dream college—but could also expose her ruse and cost her the only friend who matters.

Debut author Marisa Kanter, who has worked in book sales and publicity, peppers What I Like About You with publishing in-jokes, which are counterbalanced by Halle’s earnest championing of the books she loves. Snippets of DMs and texts also add personality and levity.

The book’s emotional landscape is deepened by its exploration of Halle’s and her grandfather’s grief at the death of Halle’s grandmother, with whom Halle shared a strong bond. It’s a powerful reminder that everyone processes loss in different ways. Jewish American teens and their families are still uncommon in YA novels with contemporary settings, so What I Like About You contributes welcome diversity to the category. It all adds up to a charming, witty story about authenticity in the social media age, told with a wink and a string of heart-eyes emojis.

This review was updated in January 2022 to more precisely contextualize the novel within the landscape of contemporary Jewish young adult fiction.

The aftermath of World War II is rarely addressed in YA fiction. Narratives typically conclude with scenes of liberation and celebration as good triumphs over evil, and everything returns to normal. Monica Hesse’s They Went Left begins where those narratives end. 

Zofia’s story opens in 1945, a few months after she and thousands of others were liberated from concentration camps and sent back into the world to reclaim what they lost. For Zofia—who witnessed her entire family except her little brother, Abek, being sent into the titular left line that led to the camp’s gas chambers—this is not a simple or easy task.

Zofia is broken, physically and mentally, and has spent the months after liberation in a hospital. She clings to the memory of her final goodbye to Abek, and to the promise she made in that moment that she would find him after the war. Released from the hospital, Zofia returns to her family’s home, only to discover that all of their possessions are gone and their neighbors are openly hostile to the idea of Jewish families reclaiming their residences. Desperate, Zofia sets out across war-torn Europe to find Abek while trying to piece together the truth behind her memories.

They Went Left takes readers deep into Zofia’s thoughts, pulling us along through her experiences, past and present, even as she begins to wonder whether she can trust her own perceptions and memories. Hesse’s meticulous research is evident on every page but never distracts from her propulsive plot. 

Combining history, romance and mystery, They Went Left is a heartbreaking yet hopeful story of what it takes to survive after trauma.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Go behind the scenes of They Went Left with author Monica Hesse.

Enebish, a warrior in the Sky King’s army, is a Night Spinner, capable of bending the darkness to her will. Or she was—until the night that her power broke free and she massacred innocent merchants instead of enemy soldiers. Enebish doesn’t remember that night; all she knows is that her adopted sister, Commander Ghoa, stopped the slaughter by severely injuring Enebish’s arm and leg, and then intervened with the Sky King on her behalf. Instead of being executed, Enebish was given traitor’s marks, cut off from her powers and sentenced to live out the rest of her days in a monastery. Two years later, Ghoa returns from the front lines with an offer: Return to the city, befriend Temujin—the leader of a group stealing vital supplies from the military—and deliver him into custody.

As Enebish gets closer to Temujin, she discovers that he’s been distributing the stolen supplies to impoverished shepherds whose winter grazing fields are damaged, while the Sky King and his army are doing nothing. She also learns that Temujin, like her, still prays to the forbidden First Gods rather than to the Sky King. Although Temujin’s cause may be just, Enebish still isn’t sure whether she can trust him. Caught between yearning for her freedom, loyalty to her family and her desire to know and do what is right, Enebish must learn how to be a warrior again, despite her fear of losing control.

Author Addie Thorley conjures a social setting drawn from an intriguing mix of cultures, in an environment that combines wintry tundra and harsh steppe, along with hints of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Its twisty plot, intriguing blend of magic and religion, and a vulnerable but noble narrator make Night Spinner perfect for readers looking for a slightly offbeat YA fantasy.

Sharon Cameron’s The Light in Hidden Places is based on the true story of Holocaust heroine Stefania Podgórska, a 16-year-old Catholic girl in Poland who not only took care of her younger sister but also hid 13 Jewish people in the attic of her tiny apartment.

In order to tell Stefania’s story, Cameron (The Dark Unwinding, The Knowing) did extensive research, which included interviewing several of the attic’s survivors, gaining access to Stefania’s unpublished memoir and traveling with Stefania’s son to Poland. There, they visited the places in which this incredible tale unfolded. Cameron saw for herself the minuscule, cramped space where 13 people cowered for more than two years with no electricity, water or toilet, and which Stefania and her sister could only access via a ladder to bring them food and water and carry out their waste in buckets. 

What’s more, an SS officer lived in an adjacent apartment for months, and by the end of the war, two German nurses had moved into Stefania’s apartment. The nurses often brought their SS boyfriends home for the night, making Stefania feel like she was not only secretly and illegally hiding Jewish people but also “running a Nazi boarding house.”

Cameron’s wide-ranging research and deft storytelling abilities combine to create an astoundingly authentic first-person narration. Her exquisite prose conveys in riveting detail exactly what it was like for Stefania to live through the horrors she witnessed, as well as the difficult decisions that had to be made by both survivors and those who did not, ultimately, survive.

Though it at times reads like a memoir, The Light in Hidden Places is a tense and gripping novel, full of urgency, in which death seems to wait around every corner. Although it’s still early in the year, it seems destined for my list of the best books of 2020.

Ashley Hawkins has always felt at home when she’s outside in nature. She’s grown up around the mountains and trails of Tennessee, and wilderness survival skills run in her blood. She even earned the nickname “Ass-kicker Ashley” from her old friend Davey—before he mysteriously disappeared on a solo hiking trip.

Unlike many of her friends, Ashley is intimately aware of the woods’ pragmatic ruthlessness, not just their potential for keggers and drunken hookups. Against her better judgment, Ashley agrees to go to the Smoky Mountains with friends for a weekend of hiking and partying—only to stumble upon her new boyfriend in a compromising position with his ex. 

Stunned and heartbroken, Ashley flees into the night, completely alone, without her backpack, phone or even her shoes. When she suffers a fall in the darkness and her injuries cause her to become increasingly disoriented, the forest that’s always been a place of solace for her becomes instead a site of mortal danger. Will Ashley suffer the same fate as Davey? 

Be Not Far From Me, a brutal survival tale from Edgar Award-winning author Mindy McGinnis (A Madness So Discreet, This Darkness Mine), doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the harsh realities Ashley encounters in the woods or the excruciating decisions she must make in order to stay alive. As Ashley summons reserves of strength she didn’t know she had, she also comes to terms with the difficult circumstances of her past that have made her stronger—and given her the resilience she will need to keep going. 

Readers will be utterly captivated by Ashley’s harrowing, hopeful fight to survive. 

In her second novel, Ashley Woodfolk (The Beauty That Remains) offers a powerful close-up view of what it means to lose a best friend and to feel like you’re facing the world alone. 

For years, best friends Cleo and Layla were everything to each other. But over the summer, Layla began to drift in a new direction, leaving Cleo behind bit by bit. Then, nearly a month before the start of the novel, in a rash moment of anger, frustration and vengefulness, Cleo imploded what remained of the friendship. 

Anchorless and distraught, Cleo begins to form friendships with other classmates (and a budding romance with Dom, the gorgeous new boy in school). Despite these steps forward, she has been shaken to the core by what happened. The experience has left her unable to truly trust others until she learns to forgive Layla—and herself.

In Cleo’s voice, Woodfolk captures the raw, messy emotions that accompany the unique heartbreak of expired friendships. The book’s chapters alternate seamlessly between “then” and “now,” whisking readers along through Cleo’s and Layla’s intense journeys. In effortless prose, Woodfolk illustrates the depth of their friendship, the chaos of its unraveling and the devastation of its aftermath as Cleo tries to pick up the pieces and find a way forward without her other half.

When You Were Everything is a beautiful ode to friendship in all its stages: brand new, breaking apart and weathered. Its exploration of love and loyalty is sure to resonate with any reader who’s experienced the loss of a friend.

In Jenny Lee’s retelling of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, wealthy East Coast teen Anna K trades her staid, old-money lifestyle for ever-increasing risks and romance.

Anna’s longtime boyfriend, Alexander W., is perfect, if a bit stuffy. Independent-minded Anna doesn’t mind that he’s away at college. Her horses and show dogs keep her occupied in Greenwich, away from the rich-kid antics often led by her brother, Steven, in New York City. But when Steven’s girlfriend discovers he’s been cheating on her, Anna rushes to the city to run interference. 

At the train station, she encounters the notorious playboy Alexia “Count” Vronsky, and the trajectory of her life, which she has planned out in meticulous detail, begins to wobble. As other dramas unfold around them, Anna and Vronsky are powerless in the face of their intense chemistry. In a world where reputation is everything, will Anna survive her life-changing love story?

TV writer and middle grade novelist Lee skillfully weaves beats of the classic Russian novel into the contemporary plot of her first YA novel, but readers will need no previous knowledge of Tolstoy to appreciate the social stakes, heartbreak, humor and moral complexity of Anna K. Wonderfully observed details of characters’ clothing, music, technology and slang add to the immersive, effortless flow of these teens’ glittering world, and secondary characters shine as they deal with their own family issues. 

While its melodrama is high and the tragedy of the source material looms large, Lee’s version, tweaked and updated for today’s teens, makes for addictive reading.

Pippa Fitz-Amobi’s senior project is ambitious and risky. She wants to research the crime that rocked her small town five years ago, a crime from which the community still hasn’t completely recovered. When Andie Bell disappeared, suspicion fell on Sal Singh. His death by suicide seemed to close the case, but Sal’s family—and Pippa—never doubted his innocence. Revisiting it all will be painful, and there’s no guarantee of what she’ll find. This is A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.

Debut author Holly Jackson gives readers a stake in the investigation, as the story unfolds in a mix of narrative chapters interspersed with interviews and case documents. By the time Pippa makes a wall chart with red string to connect potential leads, we’re right there with her, trying to figure out what really happened. Pippa reaches out to Sal’s brother, Ravi, and he quickly gets involved in the search for the truth. His family members have been treated like pariahs since Andie’s disappearance, and he wants to not only clear his brother’s name but also wake people up to their cruelty.

The mix of case files and crime story keeps the plot moving at a steady clip, but there’s quality time spent with Pippa’s friends and family as well. When she begins to get notes warning her away from the investigation, she’s eager to protect the people close to her, but also worried that one of them may be trying to throw her off the trail. 

Fans of true crime will be hooked by the hunt for a killer, but there’s more to this Guide than just a whodunit. It’s a story of families, community and the ways a crisis can turn them against one another in the blink of an eye.

A young woman learns that politics and love can be ruthless games in Alexa Donne’s The Stars We Steal. 

Centuries in the future, humanity lives on national fleets of spaceships, some in luxury, others starving to death on overcrowded heaps of junk. Princess Leo Kolburg, her sister Carina and their father, a bankrupt royal, make their home on the Scandinavian, thanks to the generosity of its commander, Captain Lind, who happens to be Leo’s aunt. While on board, Leo and Carina must participate in the Valg, an antiquated matchmaking event. Leo has no desire to marry, but if she can’t find an investor for her water-filtration system, she might not have a choice. 

When Leo’s ex-fiancé, Elliot Wentworth, arrives on the Scandinavian, wealthier and wiser than when they parted, she must unpack her complicated feelings toward him, even as her sister and cousin vie for his affections. In the meantime, Captain Lind runs for reelection in a bid to preserve her ship’s luxury status. 

At first glance, The Stars We Steal seems like a mere sci-fi retread of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, but Donne has rooted her story in a thoughtful exploration of how politics and corruption remain intertwined even hundreds of years in the future. Like today’s teens, Leo and Elliot are forward-thinkers who find themselves at odds with the establishment, and they’re willing to fight any change that comes at the expense of the impoverished and disenfranchised. 

Add in a murder, blackmail and betrayal, and readers are in for one heck of an interstellar ride. 

Del has had a crush on Kiera for forever. So when Kiera joins a group at First Missionary Church and takes a purity pledge—promising to abstain from sex until marriage—Del stands up and joins, too. The pledge group will have classes and activities together, so it’ll be a great way for Del to spend time with Kiera, right? Between working at his fast-food job and secretly running a sexual-health Q&A service, Del throws himself into memorizing scripture—and dodging questions about his romantic escapades, about which he’s been intentionally lying for years. 

Two-time Edgar Award finalist Lamar Giles tells two stories at once in Not So Pure and Simple. One is a comedy of errors, as Del’s attempts to spend time alone with Kiera go increasingly awry. The other is a story of whether clever schemes are the best way for a young man to get closer to a young woman. Where does the line fall between appropriate and inappropriate attention? 

When Del’s sister’s YouTube channel becomes a social media sensation amid online pushback against the prevailing discourse surrounding a series of local teen pregnancies, Del realizes he may not be alone in having some learning to do. Perhaps First Missionary Church and Del’s small-town community could all benefit from a shift in perspective.

Dialogue between Del and his father, older sister and other characters gives readers a view of gender politics from balanced perspectives without interfering with Del’s authentic narrative voice. Sharp readers will find Easter egg references to some of Giles’ favorite contemporary books and authors embedded in the text, providing pointers for what to read next. 

Giles successfully integrates social justice themes into Del’s story while maintaining a genuinely engaging and often hilarious tone.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Lamar Giles talks toxic masculinity, teen sex ed classes and his love for ’80s rock ballads.

David is a popular senior, class president, on the fast track to college and part of a power couple with A-list girlfriend Sharon. After being home-schooled until eighth grade, Jamie is a loner sophomore who has never been kissed and who is still grieving the loss of her father. These two seemingly mismatched teens meet when David’s usually manageable cystic fibrosis lands him in the hospitable indefinitely and Jamie, a Smile Awhile volunteer, makes her rounds on his floor. In Just Breathe, Cammie McGovern (A Step Toward Falling) traces the development of their tenuous relationship in alternating perspectives.

David and Jamie’s interactions begin with light banter, making origami and watching classic movies. But they turn to deeper discussions as David must confront life-or-death decisions. While ruminating about his future, David decides what really matters in the time he has left. At the top of his growing list is spending more time with Jamie.

At the beginning of this authentic novel, made all the more gripping by David and Jamie’s candid conversations, readers may get the impression that David’s dilemma is the story’s focus. But as they discover more about Jamie’s background, they’ll realize that Jamie is no stranger to being a hospital patient either, and that there’s more going on behind her ability to connect with David’s need for healing.

Just when David and Jamie’s relationship is about to flourish, reality strikes, leaving both teens’ health in precarious situations. The effect is intense, and it pushes the boundaries of friendship and love. Although the future is uncertain for David and Jamie, McGovern leaves readers with a sense of hope in the face of adversity.

As high school student Rosella Oliva rekindles a friendship with her childhood friend Emil, she notes how “in his house, fairy tales were neither just the sparkle of fairy lights nor blood on glass slippers. They were beautiful and dangerous all at once, the glossed candy red of a poison apple.”

Indeed, in Dark and Deepest Red, Anne-Marie McLemore’s riveting retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Red Shoes,” a fairy tale seems to have possessed Rosella, who belongs to a Mexican American family of shoemakers. During her town’s annual autumn week known as the Glimmer, when mysterious things always happen, a pair of red shoes suddenly attach themselves to Rosella’s feet, making her dance wildly and igniting her passion for Emil.

Emil, the son of two history professors, tries to avoid history at all costs, while keeping his own Romani heritage secret from fear of hateful repercussions. Nonetheless, his family’s past seems to be “reaching across five centuries to grab hold of him” as he begins having visions of a young woman in medieval Strasbourg. That young woman is Lavinia, who finds herself in the midst of Strasbourg’s 1518 dancing plague. Romance blossoms between orphaned Lavinia, who is also Romani, and Alifair, a trans boy her aunt has taken in. As Rosella and Emil try to navigate these strange events, they both begin to realize that Rosella “was the girl the red shoes had come for, and that some thread of the dancing plague had come back for.”

McLemore skillfully weaves together these parallel medieval and modern tales in alternating chapters. The resulting novel is not only fascinating but one that seamlessly and thoughtfully explores themes of heritage, prejudice and sexual identity while racing toward its tension-laced yet satisfying ending.

In a powerful author’s note, McLemore, who identifies as nonbinary and whose husband is trans, writes, “Girls like me were here five hundred years ago. So were boys like the one alongside me right now. Much has changed in five hundred years. And so much has held. Both the good in the human heart, and the vicious insistence on finding someone to blame.”

Dark and Deepest Red’s provocative, insightful collision of fairy tale and history is a powerful demonstration of McLemore’s immense talent.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our interview with Anna-Marie McLemore.