2015

Students are encouraged to read as many of the 24 books nominated for YALSA's Teens' Top Ten before voting begins on August 15th. Voting will continue until the end of Teen Read Week - October 18-24. The 10 nominees that receive the most votes will be named the official Teens' Top Ten.

And the nominees are . . . .

Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid--Four teens across the country have only one thing in common: a girl named Leila. She crashes into their lives in her absurdly red car at the moment they need someone the most.

Hudson, Bree, Elliot and Sonia find a friend in Leila. And when Leila leaves them, their lives are forever changed. But it is during Leila's own 4,268-mile journey that she discovers the most important truth—sometimes, what you need most is right where you started. And maybe the only way to find what you're looking for is to get lost along the way.

Don't Look Back by Jennifer Armentrout--Seventeen-year-old Sam seems to have everything until she and her best friend, Cassie, disappears one night and now Sam has returned with amnesia, striving to be a much better person and aware that her not remembering may be the only thing keeping her alive.

Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne--Kyra, a highly skilled seventeen-year-old thief, joins a guild of assassins with questionable motives. Tristam, a young knight, fights against the vicious Demon Riders that are ravaging the city.

Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake--The escalating war between the gods takes Athena and Cassandra across the globe, searching for lost gods, old enemies, and the great warrior, Achilles, and although their alliance is fragile, they must find a way to work together or all is lost.

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare--Fans of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices can get to know warlock Magnus Bane like never before in this collection of New York Times bestselling tales, in print for the first time with an exclusive new story and illustrated material.

The Inventor's Secret by Andrea Cremer--In this steampunk world, the British have won the Revolutionary War, and they are not making it easy on the losers. Deep in the forest lives 16-year-old Charlotte and her older brother, Ash, who is the leader of a group of young people, children of revolutionaries, who will move to the front at age 18.

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira--When Laurel starts writing letters to dead people for a school assignment, she begins to spill about her sister's mysterious death, her mother's departure from the family, her new friends, and her first love.

Into the Dark: The Shadow Prince by Bree Despain--In this modern retelling of the Persephone myth, Haden Lord, the disgraced prince of the Underrealm, is sent to the mortal world to entice a girl into returning with him to the land of the dead.

To All The Boy I've Loved Before by Jenny Han--Lara Jean writes love letters to all the boys she has loved and then hides them in a hatbox until one day those letters are accidentally sent.

Unhinged by A.G. Howard--Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole. She was crowned Queen of the Red Court and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the boy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly appealing Morpheus. Now all she has to do is graduate high school

The Young Elites by Marie Lu--Adelina Amouteru survived the blood fever, a deadly illness that killed many, but left others with strange markings and supernatural powers. Cast out by her family, Adelina joins the secret society of the Young Elites and discovers her own dangerous abilities.

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas--In the last installment of Maas’ best-selling series, Celaena discovered long-held secrets not only about her heritage and destiny but also her immense inborn power. Almost all of the tantalizing questions posed in that volume are answered in this hefty follow-up, and it doesn’t disappoint. After wallowing in hopelessness while on the run, Celaena is scooped up by a gruff fae warrior who helps her shape and control her terrifying power, a power great enough to crumble the tyrannical regime she served as King’s Champion.

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson--Quiet Emily's sociable and daring best friend, Sloane, has disappeared leaving nothing but a random list of bizarre tasks for her to complete, but with unexpected help from popular classmate Frank Porter, Emily gives them a try.

The Shadow Throne by Jennifer A. Nielson--Young King Jaron has had nothing but trouble with his advisors and regents since he ascended the throne of Carthya, and now King Vargan of Avenia has invaded the land and captured Imogen--and Jaron must find some way to rescue her and save his kingdom.

My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak--Devastated when her parents are killed in a car accident, sixteen-year old Jackie moves from New York City to Colorado to live with her mother's best friend, who has twelve children, including two boys who start to show an interest in Jackie that goes beyond brotherly.

The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson--"On the morning of her wedding, Princess Lia flees to a distant village. She settles into a new life, intrigued when two mysterious and handsome strangers arrive--and unaware that one is the jilted prince and the other an assassin sent to kill her. Deception abounds, and Lia finds herself on the brink of unlocking perilous secrets--even as she finds herself falling in love"

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski--An aristocratic girl who is a member of a warmongering and enslaving empire purchases a slave, an act that sets in motion a rebellion that might overthrow her world as well as her heart.

Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott--Tella's brother Cody is sick and getting worse, so when she finds instructions on how to become a contender in the dangerous Brimstone Bleed race where she can win a cure for him, she jumps at the chance--but there is no guarantee that she will win, or even survive.

I Become Shadow by Joe Shine--Abducted at age fourteen and trained by the F.A.T.E. Center to become a Shadow, guardian of a future leader, Ren Sharpe, now eighteen, is assigned to protect college science student Gareth Young, but with help from her secret love and fellow Shadow, Junie, she learns that F.A.T.E. itself is behind an attack on Gareth.

Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith--Austin Szerba narrates the end of humanity as he and his best friend Robby accidentally unleash an army of giant, unstoppable bugs and uncover the secrets of a decades-old experiment gone terribly wrong"

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith--Sparks fly when sixteen-year-old Lucy Patterson and seventeen-year-old Owen Buckley meet on an elevator rendered useless by a New York City blackout. Soon after, the two teenagers leave the city, but as they travel farther away from each other geographically, they stay connected emotionally, in this story set over the course of one year.

Boys Like You by Juliana Stone--When Monroe Blackwell, who is spending the summer at her grandmother's Louisiana bed-and-breakfast, meets Nathan Everets, who has a court-appointed job there, they share, and begin to recover from, their respective feelings of loss and guilt.

We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist--At the age of twenty-five, Josh Sundquist, who had Ewing's sarcoma as a child and is now a paralympic ski racer, looks back to try to understand why he has never had a steady girlfriend.

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley--In 1959 Virginia, Linda Hairston, who has been taught all her life that the races should be kept "separate but equal," must work on a school project with Sarah Dunbar, one of the first African-American students at the all-white Jefferson High School.