Any 2019 YA books you think are underrated?

There’s so many, but I recently finished The Light At The Bottom Of The World by London Shah and feel its definitely gone under the radar! Its an absolute gem more people should read! Its set in Great Britain 2099 underwater & follows Leyla, a sub racer whose on a mission to find/rescue her father! Its also an #OwnVoices debut with British Muslim rep.!

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Here are a few 5 star 2019 reads I think need more love:
A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy
The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
Stranger Things: Runaway Max by Brenna Yovanoff
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells
The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert

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Definitely Stepsister by Jennifer Donnelly. It went deeper into the story of Cinderella and spoke of the sisters lives. And I related so much to them. I wasn’t expecting that.

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I’m reading Light at the Bottom of the World right now, actually! Only about a third of the way in so I don’t have a full-formed opinion yet, but it’s one of the better YA fantasy books I’ve read this year.

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin Craig was probably my favorite from that genre, but I did like Descendant of the Crane by Joan He and Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro & Cornelia Funke.

I’ve also heard good things about Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim, but haven’t gotten to it yet.

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Missing, Presumed Dead by Emma Berquist which was a gritty paranormal novel featuring ghosts, witches, and mystery, I usually don’t enjoy these types of novels but this one was so good! It also had a f/f relationship!

Another one is You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn, a contemporary novel that was sweet, yet covered some more heavier topics about two teens in the spotlight. I loved this one a lot, and it became one of my new favorite books.

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I loved The Good Luck Girls!! :heart_eyes:

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The Good Luck Girls was a fantasy story that captured me from the first few pages. It starts of very dark and we’re immediately thrown into this adventure between this bad ass group of women. The world was ripe for expansion and I’m interested in seeing how they explore it in book 2.

Kingdom of Souls is still very underrated. It is lengthy but it has solid world building. Arrah was a well developed lead and unlike most YA fantasy she was not a chosen one. Rather she couldn’t wield magic at all which was a source of frustration to her.

Color Me In was one of the best reads of 2019. There were some parts that made me cry as Neveah navigated through her new life while trying to bridge the gap between her old one.

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I’d started Shatter The Sky & been meaning to finish it! I loved it so far after just a couple chapters in! & Yes! A lot of these are books I’ve been meaning to read, The Good Luck Girls is next on my list, so excited!!

Wow, I’d seen the book cover floating around didn’t know this was a Cinderella story! I just checked out the summary and it sounds really good!

@ellerudy Absolutely! Light is really good and I’m bummed its gone under the radar! The depth of the world building, characters, & sense of adventure were some of my many favorite parts! I’ve been looking forward to Descendant, House Of Salt & Sorrows too! Also, Spin The Dawn sounds good, I’ve been meaning to check it out too, but with so many TBR books, its always tough to keep up with all the awesome new releases!

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@jnic30 Both of those are on my to-read list! I’ve been in a fantasy mood lately, so I haven’t picked up too much YA Contemporary yet. But, those 2 have had good buzz from what I’ve seen, looking forward to them!

@vvena I’m really looking forward to all 3 of those, they sound fantastic! And agreed about Kingdom Of Souls, I saw a lot of buzz around it before release but then it sort of died down. I’m hoping to read Kingdom Of Souls next month & Color Me In too, when I’m in more of a contemporary mood!

Both @rmtroyer93 @vvena have told me how amazing The Good Luck Girls is and I had read just the first chapter so far, but I loved it so much! Its next on my list and I can’t wait to get back to reading it! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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I’m a sucker for a retelling/reimagining/ based on fairy tale situations lol. But this one is about their lives after Cinderella marries the prince. It’s so good. SO GOOD. LOL

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I got an ARC of Spin the Dawn and loved it! I hope you like it.

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I have an earc of Color Me In. I’ll have to put it further up on my tbr!

Realm of Knights by Jennifer Anne Davis

This was one of my 2019 favorites, and barely anyone knows about it. :frowning: Book two is coming out in December … just in time for a good Christmas gift!

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YES! House of Salt and Sorrows is one of my favorite books of 2019. I requested a copy from NetGalley months and months ago and as soon as I finished it I contacted the author and raved to her about it. She is so sweet and was so happy to hear back from me.

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I haven’t read it yet, but one YA book that came out this year that I think has gone under the radar is On The Come Up by Angie Thomas. I just find it weird that The Hate U Give can have everyone essentially frothing at the mouth about how good it is, but her second book didn’t seem to get as much, if any, of that same energy.

Maybe I just haven’t looked hard enough for people talking about it, like on YouTube, but you’d think it’d at least leak into all of my social medias. :woman_shrugging:

I know this thread is old now but I have to throw my love for Jennifer Anne Davis out there! :tada:

Also to add to the list, Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay was one of my top reads all year. Irs powerful and moving and addresses a boy learning about his estranged family from the Philippines and the state of the country when his cousin is suddenly dead and no one wants to talk about how he died. It’s truly incredible and so far I have not seen any mention of it anywhere. :weary:

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