Author: Kelly Jensen

Hey YA Readers!

Let’s dive into this week’s YA book news and new books. I don’t know about you, but I’m having a hard time believing it’s May, especially as here in the upper midwest, it still feels like March weather-wise. Give me sun and heat for outdoor reading, please!

YA Book News

• Jenny Han has signed an overall deal with Amazon Prime, meaning we will likely see more of her stories coming to screen.
• Speaking of Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty will drop on Prime June 17.
• Netflix acquired the rights to The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith.
• Emma Pasarow, who plays Auden in the upcoming Netflix adaptation of Sarah Dessen’s Along for the Ride, talks about the film and doing good by Dessen’s fans.
• Sweet Valley Twins is getting a graphic novel adaptation.
• A queer YA graphic novel from one of the co-creators of Lumberjanes? Yes, please!

New YA Books

Please note that with supply chain issues, paper supply challenges, and the pandemic more broadly, publication dates are changing at a pace I can’t keep up with. Some release dates may be pushed back. If a book catches your attention, the smartest thing to do right now is to preorder it or request it from your library. It’ll be a fun surprise when it arrives.

Hardcover

An Unreliable Magic by Rin Chupeco (series)

Ballad and Dagger by Daniel José Older (series)

The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson

Bravely by Maggie Stiefvater

Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado

Confessions of an Alleged Good Girl by Joya Goffney

The Dove in the Belly by Jim Grimsely

Family of Liars by E. Lockhart

If You Change Your Mind by Robby Weber

Inheritance by Elizabeth Acevedo, illustrated by Andrea Pippins

Nate Plus One by Kevin van Whye

The Noh Family by Grace K. Shim

See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon

The Waiting Place by Dina Nayeri, illustrated by Anna Bosch Miralpeix (nonfiction)

When You Call My Name by Tucker Shaw

Paperback

All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue (series)

Curse of the Specter Queen by Jenny Moke (series)

Grace and Glory by Jennifer L. Armentrout (series)

Misfit in Love by S. K. Ali (series)

Between the Bliss and Me by Lizzy Mason

Breathless by Jennifer Niven

The Castle School for Troubled Girls by Alyssa Sheinmel

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

Girl Overboard by Sandra Block

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

The Lost Coast by A. R. Capetta

The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin

One Great Lie by Deb Caletti

Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai

This Is My America by Kim Johnson

We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon

When The World Was Ours by Liz Kessler

YA at Book Riot

• Go on a scavenger hunt and find your next queer YA read.
• AudioSync is here. Go get your free weekly audiobooks!
• Here are 10 of the most popular YA books on TikTok.
• Love Sabaa Tahir? You’ll love these goods.
• Can’t get enough Heartstopper? Here are some more feel-good queer YA reads.
• Why sex ed books protect kids–not harm them.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

Enjoy your favorite iced beverage out of this fun fantasy-themed tall glass. $15 and up, and you can add a bamboo lid and straw.

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Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you on Saturday with a fresh batch of book deals.

I hope you’re reading something great in the mean time.

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram.

Hey YA Readers!

Back in my time as a librarian, I was pretty on top of manga. I wasn’t reading it much, but I had dedicated teen readers who were great about telling me what was popular, what I should buy more of, and what they didn’t like. It was super helpful as I navigated the format.

It’s been a long time since, though, and manga is even more popular now than it was then. This deep dive into the history of manga in America highlights the huge uptick in readership during the 2020 COVID lockdowns and the market has continued to grow in the years since.

Because I know YA readers love knowing a wide range of formats and that many subscribers here work with teens directly, I wanted to talk about manga right now and specifically, the manga that is popular with teens right now. I asked around and got some great answers and insight and hope this helps you find some new reading like it did me. (It also made me feel good knowing how many of these are perennial favorites so I am not entirely out of the loop and note, too, it’s still a male-creator dominated landscape).

What Teens Are Reading

Assassination Classroom by Yusei Matsui

Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama

Boruto by Ukyō Kodachi and Masashi Kishimoto, and illustrated by Mikio Ikemoto

Beastars by Paru Itagaki

Black Butler by Yana Toboso

Blue Exorcist by Kazue Kato

Boys Run the Riot by Keito Gaku

Demon Slayer by Koyoharu Gotouge

Full Metal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

Handa-Kun by Satsuki Yoshino

Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi

Jujutsu Kaisen by Gege Akutami

My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi

Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto

One-Punch Man by ONE and Yusuke Murata

Rising of the Shield Hero by Aneko Yusagi.

Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi

Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Ōima

Soul Eater by Atsushi Okubo

Spy X Family by Tatsuya Endo

Sweetness & Lightning by Gido Amagakure

Tegami Bachi by Hiroyuki Asada

Tokyo Ghoul by Sui Yamazaki

Yona of the Dawn by Mizuho Kusanagi

Trends in Manga Over the Last Couple of Years

“Teeens are really interested in finding the books of new popular series they are watching (example: SpyXFamily).”

“Waaaaay more students are asking for manga than ever before. Basically anything I can get they want.”

“Huge increase in interest for manga books.”

“There has been an increase of students checking out manga versions of famous English novels.”

“They’re coming from streaming anime first so there’s less knowledge of how manga works or even what it’s called (heard a lot of teens call it anime). Also an increasing number of teens wanting queer manga.”

“More students are becoming interested in manga. It is hard to find manga that is “appropriate” for a school setting. These need to be read in order–so it can take awhile to get through holds for the books.”

“They are reading so much more this year because we were virtual all last year and 1. They wanted shorter books and 2. Many watched the shows online and wanted to read the books.”

“It has picked back up in popularity.”

“The trend is towards more heavy action manga.”

“It’s become more mainstream and if it has a popular anime or new seasons are coming, better stock up!”

Essential YA Manga Reads for Newcomers

I picked from the responses a mix of titles, as some suggested going with newer, shorter series to dig into everything all at once. Others suggested going back for classics, even if they’re lengthy, to get a sense of the scope of the stories.

Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya

Full Metal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi

My Hero Academia by Kohei Horikoshi

Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto

Orange by Ichigo Takano

Our Dreams at Dusk by Yuhki Kamatani

Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi

A Silent Voice by Yoshitoki Ōima

Silver Spoon by Hiromu Arakawa

Manga Insights and Pro-Tips

“I would recommend when purchasing any series to own multiple copies of vol 1 & 2 (more than your normal), because they always go missing.”

“It is still difficult to figure out if manga is “appropriate” for my young teens – much of what students want is labeled “adult” in our vendor’s lists, but I have no idea why they qualify it that way.”

“We have seen so many more students willing to read and come to our library now that we have a decent amount of manga volumes for them to check out!”

“This has been a fantastic way to grab some of my self proclaimed non readers. They think manga is fantastic and they analyze it which is something we want all readers to do. I am so happy to have been able to feed this need. I only wish I could buy them all!”

“Manga hasn’t really made it to library ebook vendors yet, which is a shame. My hope is that manga starts becoming available for librarians to purchase via OverDrive, cloudLibrary, etc. because I think teens would respond well to being able to read manga on their phones. Physical copies of manga aren’t bound very well and they tend to fall apart fast, and manga is also stolen from the library quite a bit, so it can be hard to keep it on the shelf.”

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

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Big thank you to everyone who responded to share their insights into teens and manga right now. I hope this helps everyone find not only good titles for their schools or libraries but for themselves as well.

Until later this week, happy reading!

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram.

Hey YA Readers!

It’s kind of hard to believe we’re at the end of April already and that [insert Justin Timberlake GIF here]. I hope when YA authors write their historical fiction set in the early aughts that there are lengthy descriptions of the frosted hair trend.

Enough about my teen years. Let’s dive into this week’s YA news and new books.

YA Book News

• The Ignyte Awards, which celebrate diversity in science fiction and fantasy, just named their shortlists. Check out that incredible YA slate.
• On the subject of awards, A Sitting in St James took home the LA Times Book Prize this past weekend. Finally, this book is getting the kind of awards I imagined it seeing.
• One more award list, this time for Canadian crime writing. The YA list is a nice one!
• Along for the Ride hits Netflix May 6. I’m so excited for this one.
• Survival thriller Ski Weekend has been optioned for adaptation.
• This one is for the folks who work with teens in schools and libraries, but I wrote a piece over at School Library Journal about how summer library programs have changed and adapted.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

New YA Books

Please note that with supply chain issues, paper supply challenges, and the pandemic more broadly, publication dates are changing at a pace I can’t keep up with. Some release dates may be pushed back. If a book catches your attention, the smartest thing to do right now is to preorder it or request it from your library. It’ll be a fun surprise when it arrives.

Hardcover

Arden Grey by Ray Stoeve

Chasing After Knight by Heather Buchta

Harley Quinn: Reckoning by Rachael Allen

Jagged Little Pill by Eric Smith, Alanis Morissette, Diablo Cody, and Glen Ballard

Someday We’ll Find It by Jennifer Wilson

Some Mistakes Were Made by Kristin Dwyer

The Code Breaker (Young Reader Edition) by Walter Isaacson, adapted by Sarah Durand

Veil by Dylan Farrow (series)

Paperback

Anna K Away by Jenny Lee (series)

Chaos on CatNet by Naomi Kritzer (series)

Muse by Brittany Cavallaro

What I Want You To See by Catherine Linka

YA on Book Riot

• Movie novelizations you may have forgotten existed.
• New YA books about debate.
• Badass female heroines in YA fantasy.

There are so many cute Heartstopper goods on Etsy right now that picking one to share was tough. But…how about a Nick and Charlie kiss sticker? $7 and up, depending on size.

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Thanks for hanging out, pals, and we’ll see you again on Saturday with your rad ebook deals.

Until then, happy reading.

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram.

Hey YA Readers!

One of my favorite podcast requests back in the day was from an author I was going to do a book read along and discussion with. Lev Rosen, author of Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts), specifically requested a mystery featuring a queer main character published before 2015. The request was surprisingly hard when limited to mystery, as opposed to mysteries or thrillers. We settled on Tess Sharpe’s excellent Far From You. It was a really great conversation, which you can listen to here, but one of the reasons it stands out to me is because finding a book that fit the bill was challenging.

I thought I’d revisit the question now, but instead of staying limited to mysteries or titles prior to 2015, this roundup will also include queer YA thrillers, since there are more of those to choose from, as well as more recent titles. It’s clear this has been an area of growth, especially since 2015. (And if you’re wondering what the difference is between mystery and thriller, I have always found this particular definition to be a nice explainer.)

Let’s dive in. This is not in any way comprehensive because we’re lucky to be in an era of more queer genre fiction than ever before. Consider it a sampler platter.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

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Before signing off, a request. If you work with teenagers or have teenagers, I’d love to know what they’re reading in the world of manga. Next week’s YA newsletter will be a look at popular teen manga, so your insights will help deliver a look at a topic I’ve lost a lot of knowledge on by no longer being a teen librarian. You can fill out this short form to help out.

As always, thanks for hanging out. We’ll see you later this week for YA book news and new books.

Until then, happy reading!

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram.

Hey YA Readers!

It is a slower week on YA book news, which just means you have plenty of more time to hunker down with some new YA books. Let’s dive in.

YA Book News

• Here is the trailer for Netflix’s adaptation of Heartless.
• LGBTQ+ YA books hitting shelves this spring.
• The filming of the Turtles All The Way Down adaptation is underway.

New YA Books

Please note that with supply chain issues, paper supply challenges, and the pandemic more broadly, publication dates are changing at a pace I can’t keep up with. Some release dates may be pushed back. If a book catches your attention, the smartest thing to do right now is to preorder it or request it from your library. It’ll be a fun surprise when it arrives.

Hardcover

The Genesis Wars by Akemi Dawn Bowman (series)

The Drowning Summer by Christine Lynn Herman

Flirting With Fate by J. C. Cervantes

Getting Over Max Cooper by Marcelle Karp

I Am The Ghost In Your House by Mar Romasco-Moore

My Sister’s Big Fat Indian Wedding by S. A. Patel

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf

Sofi and the Bone Song by Adrienne Tooley

What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson

With and Without You by Austin Siegemund-Broka and Emily Wibberley

Paperback

The Infinity Courts by Akemi Dawn Bowman (series)

The Witch King by H.E. Edgmon (series)

The Brave by James Bird

Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds

The Half-Orphan’s Handbook by Joan F. Smith

How to Pack for the End of the World by Michelle Falkoff

Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales

Prom Theory by Ann LaBar

She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen

Smash It by Francina Simone

Some Other Now by Sarah Everett

Sweet and Bitter Magic by Adrienne Tooley

When We Were Infinite by Kelly Loy Gilbert

Where Secrets Lie by Eva V. Gibson

Your Heart, My Sky by Margarita Engle

YA Book Talk at Book Riot

• 11 LGBTQ+ books that every high school library should have.
• A thoughtful and thought-provoking dive into the state of polyamory in YA.
• What would the queer YA canon look like?

Indeed: you’re never too old to read young adult. This cute bookmark belongs in your next read. $3 and up.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

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As always, thanks for hanging out. I hope you’re having a good week and can spend some time with a good book.

We’ll see you on Saturday for some sweet YA book deals.

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram.

Hey YA Readers!

If you’ve been a YA reader for any amount of time, you’ve seen trends come and go in cover design, in genre, and in title structures.

For a while, the one word title was popular and now, that’s pretty rare to see. We’ve had a lot of thorns, thrones, and ashes over the last five or so years, and one of the trends I’ve enjoyed in titles, which is the full name. I prefer knowing, say, the book follows Lara Jean or Margot Sanchez, as opposed to “the girl”–another trend that got its claws in YA following the explosion in popularity for Gone Girl.

Another fun title trend in recent years I’ve been particularly keen on is the full sentence. These are titles that, as you might have guessed, make a complete sentence. They’re memorable for being different, and they stand out because it’s a little unusual to see.

Let’s take a look at a handful of recent YA book titles that form a complete sentence. If you’re in a library or classroom, these would make a really fun display (imagine a display of one word titles paired with a full sentence title). Note that these books include some genre, but the bulk are realistic. I’d love to see this title convention make its way into more fantasy and sci-fi, for sure.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

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Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you on Thursday for your YA book news and new releases for the week.

Until then, happy reading (& sorry if you now are fixated on book title sentences!).

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram.

Hey YA Readers!

No fancy introduction this week: let’s just dive right into this week’s book news and new books.

YA Book News

• Liliam Rivera’s Never Look Back is slated for Netflix.
• YA author Huntley Fitzpatrick died last week after a long illness.
• A graphic novel based on the banning of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis will be published.
• The Nimona adaptation will come to Netflix in 2023.
• The YA Hugo Finalists are pretty stellar.
• The spinoff series from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before titled XO, Kitty has started to film.

New YA Books

Please note that with supply chain issues, paper supply challenges, and the pandemic more broadly, publication dates are changing at a pace I can’t keep up with. Some release dates may be pushed back. If a book catches your attention, the smartest thing to do right now is to preorder it or request it from your library. It’ll be a fun surprise when it arrives.

Hardcover

An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X.R. Pan

Blaine for the Win by Robbie Couch

Ebonwild by Crystal Smith (series)

Gone Dark by Amanda Panitch

Ready for Launch by Scott Kelly (nonfiction)

So Much for Love by Sophie Lambda

The Well by Jake Wyatt, illustrated by Choo

This May End Badly by Samantha Markum

We Have a Dream by Mya-Rose Craig, illustrated by Sabrena Khadija (nonfiction)

Year On Fire by Julie Buxbaum

You Should Have Seen This Coming by Shani Michelle

Paperback

Flamefall by Rosaria Munda (series)

Gilded Serpent by Danielle L. Jensen (series)

Running by Natalia Sylvester

The Sky Blues by Robbie Couch

The Stepping Off Place by Cameron Kelly Rosenblum

Sunkissed by Kasie West

This Will Be Funny Someday by Katie Henry

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

YA at Book Riot

• Your giant roundup of spring 2022 YA releases hitting shelves between April and June.
• The best new YA vampire books.
• A new report from PEN America highlights the state of book bans across US schools.

Do you have a stack of emotional support books? You might like this vinyl sticker to honor those hard-working tomes. $4. (Note: We utilize Etsy to highlight the work of small businesses and independent artists. This week, numerous shops are participating in a strike for better terms from Etsy. Click here to read more about their efforts.)

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As always, thanks for hanging out. We’ll see you on Saturday for the best YA ebook deals around.

Until then, happy reading!

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram.

Hey YA Readers!

Let’s dive into a celebration of all things poetry this April with a look at a handful of new and forthcoming YA verse novels. Verse novels have been a staple in YA lit for decades, but we’ve absolutely seen a swell of powerful new voices on shelves in the last five years in particular.

This isn’t a comprehensive roundup of 2022 verse novels, but it’ll give you a sense of the wide range of stories, all told in poetry.

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

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I hope you found some great new books for your TBR. I am hoping to get to Nothing Burns as Bright as You this week.

Until Thursday, happy reading!

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram.

Hey YA Readers!

Aside from being sick (womp womp), I spent my week off work devouring books. I blew through Ain’t Burned All The Bright by Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin–a total masterpiece of art and poetry. I also plowed through Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquardt’s Does My Body Offend You? which would be a read for those who enjoyed Watch Us Rise and Moxie, as well as Trigger by N. Griffin, described aptly as Speak meets The Hunger Games meets Educated.

Now that I’m back and have caught up on some of my reading, you better believe I’m itching to pile on more YA books to my TBR.

Let’s take a look at this week’s YA book news and new releases so we can do just that.

YA Book News

• Huge and positive news: the Batchelder Award, given to books for young readers in translation, will require translators to be credited in order to be honored.
• The story behind Sabaa Tahir’s All My Rage.
• Everything you need to know about Heartstopper, the YA comic coming to Netflix soon.
• Laurinda by Alice Pung, published in the US as Lucy and Linh, is getting a TV adaptation. No word on whether US audiences will have access or if it will be limited to Australia.
• An interesting piece about the YA author who let TikTok choose her debut book cover. The amount of money spent on the cover reveal is something I cannot comprehend.

New YA Books This Week

Please note that with supply chain issues, paper supply challenges, and the pandemic more broadly, publication dates are changing at a pace I can’t keep up with. Some release dates may be pushed back. If a book catches your attention, the smartest thing to do right now is to preorder it or request it from your library. It’ll be a fun surprise when it arrives.

Hardcover

Belle Morte by Bella Higgin (series)

Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak by Charlie Jane Anders (series)

Omens Bite by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast (series)

Sense and Second Degree Murder by Tirzah Price (series)

All The Best Liars by Amelia Kahaney

Alone Out Here by Riley Redgate

Does My Body Offend You? by Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquardt

Gold Mountain by Betty G. Yee

Heartbreak Symphony by Laekan Zea Kemp

High Spirits by Camille Gomera-Tavarez

Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor

Love From Scratch by Kaitlyn Hill

Nothing Burns as Bright As You by Ashley Woodfolk

Scout’s Honor by Lily Anderson

She Gets The Girl by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick

The Color of the Sky Is the Shape of a Heart by Chesil, translated by Takami Nieda

The Queen Is Dead by Abigail Owen (series)

The Silent Unseen by Amanda McCrina

The Woman Who Split The Atom by Marissa Moss (nonfiction)

This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke

Very Bad People by Kit Frick

You Are More Than Magic by Minda Harts (nonfiction)

Paperback

Perfect Score by A. M. Ellis (series)

Counting Down With You by Tashie Bhuiyan

Dancing At The Pity Party by Tyler Feder

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

How To Be a Difficult Bitch by Halley Bondy, Mary C. Fernandez, and Sharon Lynn Pruitt-Young

Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon

K-Pop Revolution by Stephan Lee

Kisses and Croissants by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau

The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed

The Matchbreaker Summer by Annie Rains

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

YA Book Talk at Book Riot

• The best YA books with a second-chance romance.
• YA comics hitting shelves this spring.
• Excellent paranormal comics for teens.
• Books like We Were Liars for fans of twisty thrillers.
• Adult memoirs for teen readers.

Do you like to track your reading? If you haven’t tried a reading tracker bookmark, I pulled together a bunch of cool ones that might interest you. The above is $3, available here.

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Thanks for hanging out, and we’ll see you on Saturday for some sweet YA book deals.

Until then, happy reading!

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram.

Hey YA Readers!

I’m on a much-needed staycation this week. Much as I wish I could say I’m doing anything even remotely fancy, I plan mostly to catch up on school work–I’m in a second masters program–and to take my baby out to the local petting zoo to celebrate her first birthday. Of course, I’ll also be reading as much as possible, and if the weather holds, it’ll be outside in the hammock.

All of that is to say today’s newsletter is a little different than normal in that it’s from a post I wrote back in January on site that I think y’all would enjoy reading. Perfect if you missed it the first time or if you’re looking for that perfect Gothic YA.

See you next week and I hope you find a new great read here.

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Whether you consider yourself a horror fan or not, chances are you’ve read or viewed something that falls under the horror umbrella: gothic literature. Defined as a writing style that employs atmosphere, dark and startling scenery and imagery, and even though it’s typically associated with horror, gothic literature often has a romantic undertone — or even overtone — to it as well. That romance can be among the main characters of the story or a romantic appreciation of the language and visual aspects of the story itself. Gothic YA books in recent years have really leaned into this marriage of horror and romance, with a whole host of variations on tropes including the haunted house, the unknown, and the sublime.

Gothic literature is believed to have originated in England, with many crediting Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otrano as the first gothic novel. Romanticism was at its height then, and the growth of gothic literature from that era makes sense. It continued to grow into popularity in the 1800s, with books like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Edgar Allan Poe’s work, and Dracula among some of the biggest names. Though gothic literature was popular across England and Germany at this time, when it emerged in the U.S., it relied on those foundations, but it found its own flavor as well.

Stephen King, Toni Morrison, and Shirley Jackson are among the most well-known American authors of gothic horror. Though many of the traditional elements of gothic literature are present in its American cousin, American gothic often includes settings and situations which are uniquely American: slavery, environmental destruction, colonization, and genocide are among the big, meaty cultural elements explored in these stories. The settings are also American, with southern gothic and midwestern gothic playing into the horroresque settings and regional norms and practices.

There’s less romanticism in American gothic, though it’s still present. This is especially true in YA gothic books, as is another common element: the exploration of mental illness, the experiences of strange things, and either or both may or may not be accompanied by supernatural beings. In some cases, mental illness acts as a “gotcha,” wherein the reader is led to believe something is happening in a story but instead learns it’s all inside the protagonist’s head (depending on the reader and their own experiences with mental illness, this can feel damaging or it can feel empowering — every individual’s read is different). In others, though, mental illness ends up being a tool that serves as protection or one of power. Still others allow the presence of mental illness to have no defining mark on the exterior experiences of the characters.

Let’s take a dive into some of the best YA gothic books, ranging from titles in the YA backlist to those which are newer. What makes gothic YA books especially fascinating is how these stories combine all of the above-noted elements, while also adding in the strange foreignness of adolescence. Is it normal to feel so abnormal when you’re in the midst of the biggest physical, mental, and emotional changes in your life? This reflection on the disembodied reality of being a teenager is but one of the many questions these books explore.

Chills, Thrills, and Questions Abound in These Gothic YA Books

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

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There are dozens upon dozens more YA gothic novels, so if any of the above books excite you, know you can find plenty more where these came from. You can dive into some more with these neo-gothic YA books and read through outstanding diverse YA horror.

Thanks for hanging out, y’all, and we’ll see you later this week!

— Kelly Jensen, @heykellyjensen on Instagram.