The Best Fiction for Young Adults list is compiled annually by a committee of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and comprises fiction appropriate for ages 12 to 18. All titles were published in 2023 unless otherwise noted. The committee’s top 10 choices are identified with an asterisk (*).
Always the Almost. By Edward Underhill. St. Martin’s/Wednesday, $18.99 (9781250835208).
Miles makes a New Year’s resolution to win back his ex-boyfriend and defeat his piano rival. When he meets Eric, a kind and thoughtful new kid, and starts practicing with a new piano teacher, Miles begins to learn more about himself and what he really wants.
Ander & Santi Were Here. By Jonny Garza Villa. St. Martin’s/Wednesday, $18.99 (9781250843999).
Nonbinary teen Ander is preparing to leave for college but is spending one last year working at their family’s taqueria and painting murals in San Antonio. When they meet the new waiter Santi, everything changes. A 2024 Stonewall Honor Book and a 2024 Top 10 Rainbow List selection for Teens.
As You Walk On By. By Julian Winters. Viking, $18.99 (9780593206508).
Seventeen-year-old Theo finds himself hiding in a bedroom during a party following his promposal that goes horribly wrong. As, one by one, Theo’s fellow classmates pop into that bedroom seeking refuge of their own, an unlikely group forms that changes the status quo.
*Becoming a Queen. By Dan Clay. Roaring Brook, $19.99 (9781250843098).
Mark Davis wore a pretty dress, and his boy-friend broke up with him. Now Mark is on the road to a new romance and self-acceptance when tragedy strikes, and he must figure out who he wants to be in order to move on.
Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything. By Justine Pucella Winans. Clarion, $18.99 (9780358721642).
Bianca Torre enjoys watching birds and people from their bedroom window. After they witness the murder of their neighbor, they start a bizarre journey to solve the murder, despite having a long list of fears. Through the process, they also find themselves and valuable relationships.
Bittersweet in the Hollow. By Kate Pearsall. Putnam, $18.99 (9780593531020).
One year after Linden James returns from the woods with no memory of what happened on the summer solstice, another girl is found murdered in the same woods. Linden and
