The 20 Best Books for Teens: 2023 Picks

Wren usually minds her own business and follows a set of logical rules that have helped her get by since her mother abandoned their family years ago. But when she sees a boy named Asher, who has obviously been catfished and is waiting for a blind date, she pretends to be Gemma, the girl he is waiting for. What she thought would be a one-time good deed transforms into a full-blown relationship. But Asher still thinks Wren is Gemma. And the lie threatens their new closeness and the future of their relationship.

Aristenes are the female warriors who help heroes rise to the challenge and become victorious. Reed has always wanted to be an Aristene: she believes this is where the true power in her world lies. But when she meets her first hero, Hestion, and learns secrets about the Aristenes she never could have imagined, her worldview is shaken. She doesn’t know whether to continue down the life she always planned for herself or forge a new destiny with Hestion by her side.

In a world where the gods are at war, mortal teens Iris and Roman are competing against each other for a columnist position at a local paper by day. But at night, they are writing each other deep, thoughtful letters that get exchanged through a magical wardrobe. It’s fun to read the difference between their chemistry-filled banter at the newspaper office and the way they earnestly pour their hearts out through the secret letters. But the story is more than just a romance. It also deftly deals with themes of war, loss, and grief.

Suren is the daughter of the queen of the Court of Teeth, who has fled to the human world to escape the cruelty of her mother and the rest of the court. There, she lives alone in the woods, hoping everyone from back home has forgotten her. But then a storm hag finds her, and she’s saved by Prince Oak, whom she was betrothed to as a child. He wants her help on an expedition north. Surren is the only one with power over her mother. Surren doesn’t trust Oak, and she has no desire to return to her former home. But Oak might not give her a choice.

In a future where only the elite are protected from constant environmental catastrophes, Rumi has spent his entire life inside the walls of St. Iago. But when rebels break through and infect his father with a deadly virus, Rumi will do anything to save him. This leads him out of the city that protects him to Paz, who agrees to lead him on a journey to find a cure. Paz has her own agenda and feelings about their deeply uneven society. The two are from completely different worlds and might also be on opposite sides, but throughout the journey, their feelings keep pulling them together.

Coping with the death of his father, at age 17, James is the new King of England and the first Black monarch. He’s also keeping his romance with a palace intern and the fact that he’s queer a secret from everyone except those closest to him. But when his boyfriend disappears, and his secrets start spilling over the pages of the tabloids, James knows that someone he trusts has betrayed him. His journey to find out who is full of twists and turns. And there’s a fair bit of romance thrown into this thriller as well!

This book markets itself as Bridgerton for teenagers, and it delivers! Set in Regency England, Lady Ela returns to London in the disguise of a mysterious heiress in order to get revenge on a friend who betrayed her. She didn’t plan on falling for a handsome Marquess, who now doesn’t even know her real name. And soon, Ela isn’t even sure if revenge will feel as good as she imagined. Set against a truly diverse backdrop, this Regency romp will delight fans of historical romance and intrigue.

This Secret Garden retelling leans hard into gothic themes. When Mary’s parents die, the 15-year-old must move to her uncle’s mysterious estate in Toronto. There, Mary finds a domineering stepmother, a chronically ill cousin kept in the attic, and a locked-up garden. With the help of Sophie, a local Indigenous girl, Mary starts digging into family secrets and trying to make a plan to free her cousin from the attic. But disobeying her stepmother’s rules comes with the risk of being sent away from her new home to boarding school.

Clementine gets her dream job when she moves from Earth to Mars and begins working in a famous artificial intelligence lab. She partners up with Kye, an AI humanoid who is more independent and human-like than she’s ever seen before. The chemistry between them grows, and Clementine begins to question all her former beliefs about AI. If Kye can have very real feelings, should he be able to have more autonomy over his life? This look into the future is both romantic, thrilling, and deeply thought-provoking.