YA Standalone Books

Sick of so many series? Every book here is its own self-contained story—no sequels in sight.


Compiled by:
Sam O. and Fern S.
Agnes at the End of the World

Kelly McWilliams
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Mcwilli)

Agnes must escape a cult and a Prophet as she attempts to save the world from a pandemic.


The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge

M.T. Anderson
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Anderso)

Uptight elfin historian Brangwain Spurge is on a mission: survive being catapulted across the mountains into goblin territory, deliver a priceless peace offering to their mysterious dark lord, and spy on the goblin kingdom⁠—from which no elf has returned alive in more than a hundred years.


Be Not Far From Me

Mindy McGinnis
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Mcginni)

Lost in the Great Smoky Mountains, rising high school senior Ashley Hawkins must fight for survival without any tools, growing in awareness that the world is not tame, and neither are people.


Beneath the Citadel

Destiny Soria
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Soria)

Cassa, the orphaned daughter of rebels, and friends Alys, Evander, and Newt, fight back against the high council of Eldra, which has ruled for centuries based solely on ancient prophesies.


The Darkness Outside Us

Eliot Schrefer
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Schrefe)

Earth's population is divided between only two existing countries which cannot manage to cooperate in any way, until a distress signal arrives from Titan's first settler. Ambrose wakes up on board the Coordinated Endeavour under strange circumstances: he doesn't remember the launch, the ship's OS is voiced by his mother, strangers have been aboard, and Kodiak, the only other person on this mission, has barricaded himself away from sight.


Don't Date Rosa Santos

Nina Moreno
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Moreno)

Rosa Santos, works to save her Florida town, seeks admittance to study abroad in her homeland, Cuba, and wonders if love can break her family's curse.


Early Departures

Justin A. Reynolds
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Reynold)

What if you could bring your best friend back to life, but only for a short time? Jamal's best friend, Q, doesn't know that he died, and that he's about to die again. He doesn't know that Jamal tried to save him. And that the reason they haven't been friends for two years is because Jamal blames Q for the accident that killed his parents. But what if Jamal could have a second chance?


Furia

Yamile Saied Méndez
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Mendez)

Camila Hassan, a rising soccer star in Rosario, Argentina, dreams of playing professionally, in defiance of her fathers' wishes and at the risk of her budding romance with Diego.


Girl, Serpent, Thorn

Melissa Bashardoust
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Bashard)

Soraya, a princess cursed to be poisonous to the touch, has lived eighteen years in the shadows but as her twin brother's wedding approaches, she faces choices with unimaginable consequences.


Highly Illogical Behavior

John Corey Whaley
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Whaley)

Agoraphobic sixteen-year-old Solomon has not left his house in three years, but Lisa is determined to change that⁠—and to write a scholarship-winning essay based on the results.


Hold Back the Tide

Melinda Salisbury
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Salisbu)

Alva's been forced to live in Ormscaula, Scotland, being raised by the man she holds responsible for her motherlessness. His family has been called guardians of the loch for generations, and now it falls to her to monitor the water levels, despite not knowing what she's watching for⁠—or what may be watching her back.


Kate In Waiting

Becky Albertalli
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Alberta)

Best friends Kate Garfield and Anderson Walker share a love of theater and crushes on the same guys, but when one of their long-distance crushes shows up at their school, real feelings might end their friendship.


The Lost Coast

Amy Rose Capetta
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Capetta)

Danny didn't know what she was looking for when she and her mother spread out a map of the United States and Danny put her finger down on Tempest, California. What she finds are the Grays: a group of friends who throw around terms like queer and witch like they're ordinary and everyday, though they feel like an earthquake to Danny.


Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe

Preston Norton
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Norton)

Cliff 'Neanderthal' Hubbard has nobody at school, and life in his trailer-park home has gone from bad to worse ever since his older brother's suicide. Then quarterback Aaron Zimmerman returns to school after a near-death experience with a bizarre claim: while he was unconscious he saw God, who gave him a list of things to do to make Happy Valley High suck less. And God said there's only one person who can help: Neanderthal.


Now That I've Found You

Kristina Forest
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Forest)

Following in the footsteps of her überfamous grandma, Evie Jones is poised to be Hollywood's next big star. That is until a close friend's betrayal leads to her being blacklisted. With time running out and her comeback on the line, Evie reluctantly enlists the help of Milo Williams, a cute musician Evie isn't sure she can trust.


On the Come Up

Angie Thomas
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Thomas)

When sixteen-year-old Bri, an aspiring rapper, pours her anger and frustration into her first song, she finds herself at the center of a controversy.


Patron Saints of Nothing

Randy Ribay
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Ribay)

When Jay Reguero learns his Filipino cousin and former best friend, Jun, was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, he flies to the Philippines to learn more.


Punching the Air

Ibi Zoboi, Yusef Salaam
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Zoboi)

With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.


Rayne and Delilah's Midnite Matinee

Jeff Zentner
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Zentner)

Every Friday night, best friends Delia and Josie become Rayne Ravenscroft and Delilah Darkwood, hosts of the campy creature feature show Midnite Matinee on the local cable station TV Six. But with the end of senior year quickly approaching, the girls face tough decisions about their futures.


The Red Palace

June Hur
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Hur)

While investigating a series of grisly murders, the palace nurse Hyeon navigates royal and political intrigue and becomes entangled with a young police inspector.


Rise to the Sun

Leah Johnson
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Johnson)

Three days. Two girls. One life-changing music festival. Toni is reeling in the wake of the loss of her roadie father and desperate to figure out where her life will go from here. Olivia is a hopeless romantic whose heart has just taken a beating (again), and is beginning to believe that someone like her may never find "the one."


Sia Martinez and the Moonlit Beginning of Everything

Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Vasquez)

Sia's mother was deported to Mexico by ICE and disappeared in the Sonoran Desert trying to make it back to her American family. Sia believes that she was as-good-as murdered by ICE and the sheriff, and wants revenge against him and his son, Jeremy, but her search for the truth will uncover many more secrets than she counted on.


Sisters of Sword and Song

Rebecca Ross
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Ross)

Halcyon faces a fifteen-year sentence after being charged with murder, so her younger sister Evadne offers to carry part of her sentence and tries to uncover the truth behind the supposed crime along the way.


The Stars Beneath Our Feet

David Barclay Moore
(Juvenile Fiction - J Moore)

It’s Christmas Eve in Harlem, but twelve-year-old Lolly Rachpaul and his mom aren’t celebrating. They’re still reeling from his older brother’s death in a gang related shooting just a few months earlier. Then Lolly’s mother’s girlfriend brings him a gift that will change everything: two enormous bags filled with Legos. Lolly’s always loved Legos, and he prides himself on following the kit instructions exactly. Now, faced with a pile of building blocks and no instructions, Lolly must find his own way forward.


The Voting Booth

Brandy Colbert
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Colbert)

The first year they are eligible to vote, Marva and Duke meet at their polling place and, over the course of one crazy day, fall in love.


Warrior of the Wild

Tricia Levenseller
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Levense)

How do you kill a god? As her father's chosen heir, Rasmira has trained her whole life to become a warrior and lead her village. But when her coming-of-age trial is sabotaged and she fails the test, her father banishes her to the monster-filled wilderness. To win back her honor, Rasmira must fulfill an impossible quest: kill the oppressive god who claims tribute from the villages each year...or die trying.