The Best YA Books of 2020
by Jennifer Garry
From dark thrillers and out-of-this-world sci-fi to new installments in beloved series and sweet rom-coms, 2020 was a good year for YA books. Whether teens are in the mood for drama, romance, or adventure, this list is overflowing with books they’ll love. These are the best YA books of 2020.
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A Sky Beyond the Storm
Available from:The finale of Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes fantasy series, this one will leave readers’ jaws on the floor. It takes place just months after A Reaper at the Gates, picking up where its characters left off as they try to bring about or put a stop to the approaching apocalypse.
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Watch Over Me
Available from:Newly graduated and having aged out of the foster care system, Mila takes a teaching job in a remote part of Northern California. While a beautiful refuge, the farm is also haunted by its past — and Mila’s own buried trauma begins to come to the surface.
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Super Fake Love Song
A new rom-com from the author of Frankly in Love, this book centers around a case of mistaken identity. When Sunny’s dream girl thinks he’s in a band, he leans in — hard. Sunny tells her he’s the front man, gets his friends involved, and starts dressing in his brother’s rock-and-roll hand me downs. Slowly but surely his story comes crashing down. Was it worth it?
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The Kingdom of Back
Available from:This historical YA fantasy imagines what happens when there are two musically brilliant siblings, but there can only be one Mozart. Nannerl Mozart is born with a gift for music, but, as a woman in 18th-century Europe, she will only be able to play until she is married off. As her wish to be remembered forever fades, her younger brother Wolfgang gets better and better. And when a mysterious stranger appears with an irresistible offer, it might cost her everything.
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They Wish They Were Us
Available from:After a tragic start to her high school career at an exclusive prep school, senior year looks like it will be Jill’s best year yet. But when she starts getting texts that proclaim her best friend’s murderer is innocent, everything starts to fall apart. Jill is determined to get to the bottom of these claims — but it could jeopardize everything.
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Goddess in the Machine
When Andra wakes up, she doesn’t know anyone, but they’re all calling her Goddess. It’s been 1,000 years since she went into cryogenic sleep to travel the galaxy. Alone, she’s forced to team up with an exiled prince to figure out her fate and unseat the vicious king.
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Beyond the Break
Available from:Faith and love tangle together in this debut novel. Lovette has two rules: no surfing (not since her brother’s accident) and no dating. Neither of these rules is all that difficult until a boy from her childhood comes back into her life and Lovette begins to question what it means to be faithful to God, her family, and herself.
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The Queen’s Assassin
Available from:The first in a two-part YA fantasy-romance series, this novel brings together a deadly assassin and an apprentice who wants to be revered — but who is expected to serve as a lady of the court. As their undeniable attraction to each other grows, they uncover a web of lies that will change the course of both their lives.
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The Conference of the Birds
Available from:In the newest installment in the bestselling Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series, Jacob is tasked with saving Noor Pradesh — and, thanks to a prophecy, all of peculiardom — by delivering her to an underground operative known only as V. Except V never wants to be found.
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A Phoenix First Must Burn
Available from:Sixteen bestselling and award-winning authors explore the Black experience through fantasy, science fiction, and magic in this incredible collection. Each story centers on complex, relatable Black women and gender nonconforming individuals — witches and scientists, sisters and lovers, priestesses and rebels. From folktales retold to futuristic worlds, you will never be able to forget the heroines within these pages.
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This Is My America
Available from:Tracy has been writing letters every single week to try and get help for her father, an innocent Black man whose time is running out on death row. But then her brother, a promising track star, is accused of killing a white girl. Determined to save him, Tracy starts digging into what happened and uncovers details of her town’s racist history.
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Dear Justyce
Available from:Quan and Justyce grew up in the same neighborhood, but while Justyce is at Yale, Quan is in a youth detention center. Told in a series of series of flashbacks, vignettes, and letters to Justyce, this sequel to Dear Martin takes a hard look at the American juvenile justice system.
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A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
Available from:Unable to shake the feeling that her town doesn’t know the whole story about an infamous murder-suicide that happened there, Pip decides to investigate the case for her senior final project. As it becomes an obsession, Pip unravels dark secrets and finds that not everyone wants her looking into the past.
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The Cousins
Available from:Three cousins whose parents have all been disinherited by their rich, reclusive grandmother get invited to work on her island resort. Their parents are hopeful that the kids will get back on her good side, but it’s quickly apparent that’s not part of her plan. Over the course of the summer, the cousins learn about their family’s dark, mysterious past.
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Breathless
Available from:Recent high school graduate Claudine wants to start college, become a famous writer, and have sex — not necessarily in that order. But when her parents divorce, her world is turned upside down. Instead of spending the summer on an epic road trip with her best friend, she’s on a remote island off the coast of Georgia with no WiFi or cell service. Then she meets Jeremiah and is as annoyed by as she is attracted to him. She decides he should be her first. It’s just sex… right?
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American Royals II: Majesty
Available from:The sequel to American Royals picks up where book one left off: with drama, heartbreak, and secrets. As America adjusts to the idea of a queen, Beatrice tries to come to terms with all that she’s lost, Samantha finds herself in the tabloids again, and Daphne’s plans are threatened by a dark secret.
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Burn Our Bodies Down
This twisty, thrilling mystery follows a girl who returns to her mother’s hometown to learn more about her past. Once there, she realizes her mom left for a reason — and now, she might never escape.
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Aurora Burning
The second book in the Aurora Cycle series follows a ragtag squad of misfits, losers, and discipline cases who are the galaxy's best hope for survival against an ancient evil. With a long list of enemies, shocking revelations, a wild firefight, and more, the fate of the galaxy is totally up in the air.
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Unravel the Dusk
In the sequel to Spin the Dawn, Maia returns to her kingdom and is immediately forced to assume the place of the emperor's bride-to-be to keep the peace. When his rivals learn of the deception, war breaks out. Worse yet, Maia has been noticing dangerous changes in both her body and mind since she was touched by a demon and she fears she’ll soon lose herself completely.
