Best teen and young adult books for 2021

As Good as Dead, Holly Jackson (£8.99) 

The third and final book in the incredible A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. This book sees amateur sleuth Pip Fitz-Amobi about to head for Cambridge University when she’s hit by threats from a stalker who knows where she lives. The police refuse to take her seriously, and then Pip discovers a link between her stalkers and a local serial killer who was apparently arrested six years ago… but what if the wrong man is behind bars? The perfect choice for young thriller fans.

Witches Steeped in Gold, Ciannon Smart (£8.99) 

A gorgeously evocative debut from Ciannon Smart, Witches Steeped in Gold is a Jamaican-inspired fantasy about two witches: one the exiled heir of an overthrown dynasty, and the other the daughter of a self-crowned doyenne whose very existence is a threat to her mother’s rule. They team up to take down the same woman – but their alliance is an uneasy one.

Flash Fire, T J Klune (£17.99) 

The explosive sequel to The Extraordinaries by bestselling author TJ Klune. Nick has bagged himself a superhero boyfriend despite having no powers of his own, but now there are new heroes arriving in Nova City, including siblings who can manipulate smoke and ice, a mysterious hero who can move objects with their mind, and a drag queen superhero wearing a whole lotta sequins. But who is villainous and who is virtuous?  

Endgame, Malorie Blackman (£7.99) 

Twenty years after Malorie Blackman’s groundbreaking dystopian series Noughts & Crosses began, her latest book Endgame brings the story to a close – and it’s clearly inspired by global events in recent years. The first Nought Prime Minister, Toney Durbridge, is about to go on trial for murder, but he insists he’s being framed. There were many suspects in the case – and Noughts & Crosses protagonist, Sephy Hadley, is one of them.

Heartstopper Volume Four, Alice Oseman (£10.99) 

This best-selling LGBTQ+ graphic novel by YA Book Prize winner Alice Oseman is about to become a live-action Netflix series, so get to know adorable main characters Charlie and Nick, two teen boys who fall in love, ASAP. This is a continuation of the story so new readers should put Volume One on their Christmas list.

Ace of Spades, Faridah Abike-Iyimide (£8.99) 

This debut novel from 22-year-old author Faridah Abike-Iyimide netted her an impressive seven-figure book deal, and is, according to the writer herself, ‘a cross between Get Out and Gossip Girl‘. Students at Niveus Private Academy, Devon and Chiamaka, are having their darkest secrets revealed by an anonymous texter in a heart-racing, twisted high school thriller.

House of Hollow, Krystal Sutherland (£7.99) 

Everyone knows the mysterious and beautiful Hollow sisters – Vivi, Grey and Iris – especially as when they were children, all three of them disappeared without a trace. They returned a month later, with no memory of the event, and all with odd half-moon scars at the base of their throats. Now eldest sister Grey has disappeared again, and it’s up to Iris to find out why. A dark and twisted fairytale that’ll keep teens hooked.

This Poison Heart, Kalynn Bayron (£7.99) 

If your teen always has their nose stuck in a fantasy series, then this might be their new obsession. Briseis has had a power over plants for as long as she can remember – as have her adoptive mothers. But when she inherits a house with a garden full of poisonous plants from her birth mother, she starts to uncover an inherited generation of secrets along with it.

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