2024 has been an amazing year for literature, and the young adult genre has been no different. Whether it’s a book from an author you know and love or a new author you have never heard from before, this definitive list of the most iconic YA books of the year 2024 will not leave you disappointed.
The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson
Sixteen years ago, Bel’s mother, Rachel Price, disappeared when Bel was just two years old, leaving her alone in the snow. Present day, a documentary is filming a piece on the mystery of Bel’s mom. But, as they are starting to draft a story, Rachel shows back up out of the blue, and, no matter how much she is questioned, she will not reveal where she had been. From the author of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, you will be unable to predict how this book will end.
Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier
In this world, seadragons are hunted and poached for their scales, oil, and, most importantly, their eggs. It is known that the egg of a seadragon, dragonfruit, holds inside it the power to undo a person’s greatest sorrow, but at a terrible price. Hanalei knows this better than most. When she was 8 years old, she and Princess Olliana, a mother-like figure to her, were poisoned and left in a sleeping curse.
To wake her, her father stole an egg meant for the princess and fed it to his daughter; she survived, but he did not. After ten years, the princess remains in a sleeping curse, and her son, Sam, has been searching for a cure ever since. When Hanalei returns to the island after a decade of exile, she embarks on a quest to help Sam save his mother.
Wisteria by Adalyn Grace
Book three in the Belladonna series, a romantic and gothic-infused young adult trilogy. The first book, Belladonna, follows Signa, a nineteen-year-old orphan who has been passed from one house to the next her whole life. Her only remaining relatives are the Hawthornes, an eccentric family that lives in a gloomy estate, Thorn Grove. When her mother’s spirit shows up, claiming that she has been poisoned, Signa enlists the help of a stable boy to find the killer. But, her best chance of solving this mystery is to ally with Death, a dangerous shadow that she is starting to get closer and closer to.
Off With Their Heads by Zoe Hana Mikuta
Five years ago, young witches and lovers Caro Rabbit and Iccadora Alice Sickle were sentenced to Wonderland, a dark forest housing Saints and monsters, for a crime they did not commit. Now, Caro is a successful royal Saint-harvester and lives in the glittering capital while also pretending not to notice the monster experiments her beloved Red Queen hides in the dungeons. But to Icca, Caro’s betrayal has hardened her from a timid girl to a ruthless hunter. And she will stop at nothing to exact her vengeance.
Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson
Marlowe Wexler is having a good summer when she finally convinces the girl she has been in love with for years to go on a date with her. But, when she accidentally burns down her family friend’s cabin, Marlowe looks to lay low until the heat dies down. Now working a cushy job giving tours at Morning House, a mansion built on an island in the 1920s and abandoned ever since. Accidentally uncovering a mystery, Marlowe must solve it before history repeats itself.
When Haru Was Here by Dustin Thao
After the death of his best friend, Eric Ly deals with his grief by creating imaginary scenarios. One of them becomes real when a boy he met last summer in Japan enters back into his life. When Haru Tanaka walks into a coffee shop and sits down next to Eric, it becomes clear that no one else can see him. Now, finally having someone to connect with, Eric feels less alone in the world. But the more time that Eric spends with Haru, he begins to question what is real. Beginning to lose control of the very thing holding him together, Eric must confront his reality, even if it means losing Haru forever.
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and the owner of a prestigious tearoom. But by night, it is transformed into an illegal bloodhouse, catering to vampires feared by society. When her establishment is threatened, Arthie must make a deal with an alluring adversary to save it. With some of the city’s most skilled outcasts, Arthie comes up with a plan to infiltrate the sinister vampire society, Athereum. But can she trust everyone in her crew?
Reckless by Lauren Roberts
This is book two in the Powerless series by Lauren Roberts, a popular TikTok content creator. In the kingdom of Ilya, only the exceptional belong — the Elites. The powers the Elites have possessed for decades were given to them by the Plague, but not all were fortunate enough to survive. And those born Ordinary are just that. So, when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished to preserve the Elite society, Paedyn Gray becomes a felon by fate and a thief by necessity.
When she unsuspectingly saves one of Ilya’s princes, Paedyn finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials, a brutal competition that exists to showcase the Elites’ powers, something Paedyn does not have. If the Trials and her opponents don’t kill her, the prince she has feelings for will certainly when he discovers that she is entirely Ordinary.
A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft
In a Regency-England-inspired fantasy world, Niamh Ó Conchobhair is a designer, and the magic in her blood allows her to stitch emotions and memories into her fabric. Given the chance to design the wardrobe of a royal wedding in Avaland, Niamh soon finds out that Avaland is not the fairytale she had envisioned. While nobles attend extravagant balls and elegant garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class.
The groom, Kit Carmine, is abrasive and unwillingly dragged to the altar as a political pawn. When Niamh and Kit grow closer, an unlikely friendship starts to become something more — until a columnist starts buzzing about their chemistry, promising to only leave them alone if Niamh helps to uncover the royal family’s secrets. The rot at the heart of Avaland runs deep, but exposing it could risk a future she never let herself dream of and a love she never thought possible.
Fate Be Changed: A Twisted Tale by Farrah Rochon
This is one of the latest installments in the Twisted Tales series, Disney books that explore alternate versions of Disney or Pixar animated films. Following Merida’s story from the movie Brave, this book explores the question: what if the witch had given Merida a different spell? We all know about Merida’s disregard for the tradition of marrying a man she had never met and that, determined to write her own story, Merida follows magical wisps to a witch’s cottage, where she is given a magical pastry that promises to incite a “great transformation” in her mother, Queen Elinor. But, instead of giving the pastry to her mother, Merida eats it herself.
Merida is then transported to a time when the Clans MacCameron and DunBroch are bitter enemies. And, with her mother, a now-teenager, holding a knife to her throat and accusing her of espionage, Merida accidentally prevents Elinor and Fergus from meeting each other. She must now help to bridge the rival clans, make her parents fall in love, and change her fate. This year, we have also seen two other Twisted Tales releases: Sally’s Lament (The Nightmare Before Christmas inspired) and Be Prepared (The Lion King inspired).
Some of the best young adult books to come out of 2024, every one of these are must-reads. And now you have a definitive list to pass over to your friends and family for Christmas! Have you read any of these? Let us know in the comments!
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Read this interview with Zoe Hana Mikuta about Off With Their Heads next!
