Read it and Weep

A list of books that are emotional YA reads. YA novels are made up of books for a wide age range (12-18 years old) and includes a variety of different topics and interests. Not all titles will be appropriate for all readers*

Showing 1 - 20 of 20  There are a total of 70 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe"
Star rating for Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe
Series:
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Description:
Fifteen-year-old Ari Mendoza is an angry loner with a brother in prison, but when he meets Dante and they become friends, Ari starts to ask questions about himself, his parents, and his family that he has never asked before.
Book cover for "Barely missing everything"
Star rating for Barely missing everything
Series:
Description:
"Three Mexican-Americans--Juan, JD, and Fabi--each try to overcome their individual struggles as they all grapple with how to make a better life for themselves when it seems like brown lives don't matter"--
Book cover for "The beauty that remains"
Star rating for The beauty that remains
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Description:
Autumn, Shay, and Logan, whose lives intersect in complicated ways, each lose someone close to them and must work through their grief.
Book cover for "Bright burning stars"
Star rating for Bright burning stars
Author:
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"Best friends Marine Duval and Kate Sanders have trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School since childhood, where they've formed an inseparable bond forged by respective family tragedies and a fierce love for dance. When the body of a student is found in the dorms just before the start of their final year, Marine and Kate begin to ask themselves what they would do to win the ultimate prize: to be the one girl selected to join the Opera's prestigious...
Book cover for "Code name Verity"
Star rating for Code name Verity
Series:
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
In 1943, a British fighter plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France and the survivor tells a tale of friendship, war, espionage, and great courage as she relates what she must to survive while keeping secret all that she can.
Book cover for "Darius the Great is not okay"
Star rating for Darius the Great is not okay
Series:
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
Clinically-depressed Darius Kellner, a high school sophomore, travels to Iran to meet his grandparents, but it is their next-door neighbor, Sohrab, who changes his life.
Book cover for "Each night was illuminated"
Star rating for Each night was illuminated
Description:
The day the train fell in the lake, Cassie stopped believing in much of anything, despite growing up in a devout Catholic family. Then she set her mind to forgetting the strange boy named Elias who was with her when it happened. When Elias comes back to town after many years away, Cassie finds herself talked into sneaking out at night to follow him ghost-hunting--though she knows better than to believe they will find any spirits. Still, the more time...
Book cover for "Early departures"
Star rating for Early departures
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"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? A new technology allows Q to be reanimated for a few weeks before he dies permanently. And Q's mom is not about to let anyone ruin this miracle by...
Book cover for "I was here"
Star rating for I was here
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
In an attempt to understand why her best friend committed suicide, eighteen-year-old Cody Reynolds retraces her dead friend's footsteps and makes some startling discoveries.
Book cover for "If you could be mine"
Star rating for If you could be mine
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
In Iran, where homosexuality is punishable by death, seventeen-year-olds Sahar and Nasrin love each other in secret until Nasrin's parents announce their daughter's arranged marriage and Sahar proposes a drastic solution.
Book cover for "Like a love story"
Star rating for Like a love story
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
The acclaimed author of "The Authentics" pens a big-hearted, epic love letter to the LGBTQ community about three friends falling in love and finding their voices as activists during the height of the AIDS crisis.
Book cover for "A list of cages"
Star rating for A list of cages
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Adam,a high school senior, rescues Julian, a freshman, from an abusive situation.
Book cover for "Our year of maybe"
Star rating for Our year of maybe
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Aspiring choreographer Sophie Orenstein, eighteen, wonders if seventeen-year-old Peter Rosenthal-Porter, gifted pianist, best friend, and secret crush, will love her back after receiving her kidney.
Book cover for "The serpent king"
Star rating for The serpent king
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
The son of a Pentecostal preacher faces his personal demons as he and his two outcast friends try to make it through their senior year of high school in rural Forrestville, Tennessee without letting the small-town culture destroy their creative spirits and sense of self.
Book cover for "Sorry for your loss"
Star rating for Sorry for your loss
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
As the youngest of eight, painfully average Pup Flanagan is used to flying under the radar. He's barely passing his classes. He lets his longtime crush walk all over him. And he's in no hurry to decide on a college path. The only person who ever made him think he could be more was his older brother Patrick. But that was before Patrick died suddenly, leaving Pup with a family who won't talk about it and acquaintances who just keep saying, "sorry for...
Book cover for "Turtles all the way down"
Star rating for Turtles all the way down
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
It all begins with a fugitive billionaire and the promise of a cash reward. Turtles All the Way Down is about lifelong friendship, the intimacy of an unexpected reunion, Star Wars fan fiction, and tuatara. But at its heart is Aza Holmes, a young woman navigating daily existence within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.
Book cover for "Vampires, hearts, & other dead things"
Star rating for Vampires, hearts, & other dead things
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
As her father lies gravely ill with pancreatic cancer, eighteen-year-old Victoria's last hope is to find a vampire in New Orleans, an impossible mission that rekindles a special friendship.
Book cover for "We are okay"
Star rating for We are okay
Author:
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
After leaving her life behind to go to college in New York, Marin must face the truth about the tragedy that happened in the final weeks of summer when her friend Mabel comes to visit.
Book cover for "We were liars"
Star rating for We were liars
Author:
Series:
We were liars volume 1.
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy. A group of four friends -- the Liars -- whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth. Spending the summers on her family's private island off the coast of Massachusetts with her cousins and a special boy named Gat, teenaged Cadence struggles to remember what happened during...
Book cover for "When we were infinite"
Star rating for When we were infinite
Description:
"All Beth wants is for her tight-knit circle of friends--Grace Nakamura, Brandon Lin, Sunny Chen, and Jason Tsou--to stay together. With her family splintered and her future a question mark, these friends are all she has--even if she sometimes wonders if she truly fits in with them. Besides, she's certain she'll never be able to tell Jason how she really feels about him, so friendship will have to be enough. Then Beth witnesses a private act of violence...