The recommendations below are drawn from Tamora’s favorite book lists, starting with her Favorite Books of 2016. For her previous  YA recommendations, compiled from reading lists from 2005 through 2015, click here. The archives also include an LGBT-focused YA reading list, a young reader list, a gifted young reader list, and more!

Mainstream/Contemporary | Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Mainstream/Contemporary

• Christopher Paul Curtis – Bud, Not Buddy (1999, Historical).
• Kate Evangelista – No Love Allowed (2016, Contemporary Romance).
• Justine Larbalestier – My Sister Rosa (2016, Thriller).
• Chris Lynch – Inexcusable (2005, Contemporary, Warning: Rape).
• Marieke Nijkamp – This Is Where It Ends (2016, Contemporary, Warning: Shooting).

Sci-Fi & Fantasy

• Katherine Arden – The Bear and the Nightingale (2017, Fantasy: Russian).
• Reneé Ahdieh – The Wrath and the Dawn (2015, Fantasy: Reimagining of Arabian Nights).
• Kelly Barnhill – The Girl Who Drank the Moon (2016, Fantasy).
• Jen Blood – The Darkest Thread (2016).
• Leah Bobet – An Inheritance of Ashes (2015, Sci-Fi: Post-Apocalyptic).
• Lila Bowen – Wake of Vultures (2015, Fantasy: Western).
• J. L. Bryan – Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper (2014, Paranormal).
• Rae Carson – Like a River Glorious (2016, Fantasy: American History).
• Katherine Coville – Ivy (2017, Young Reader, Fantasy).
• Laurie Forest – The Black Witch (2017, Fantasy).
• Adam Gidwitz & Hatem Aly – The Inquisitor’s Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog (2016, Fantasy: French History).
• Alison Goodman – The Dark Days Club (2016, Fantasy: Regency Era), The Dark Days Pact (2017, Sequel, Fantasy: Regency Era).
• Alwyn Hamilton – Rebel of the Sands (2015, Fantasy).
• Faith Erin Hicks – The Nameless City (2016, Graphic Novel, Fantasy) and sequel: The Stone Heart (2017).
• Matthew J. Kirby – A Taste for Monsters (2016, Fantasy: Historical).
• Sarah Glenn Marsh – Fear the Drowning Deep (2016, Fantasy).
• J. A. McLachlan – The Occasional Diamond Thief (2014, Sci-Fi) and sequel: The Salarian Desert Game (2016).
• Richelle Mead – The Glittering Court (2016, Fantasy: Historical).
• Chris Moriarty – The Watcher in the Shadows (2013, Fantasy: Steampunk).
• Nnedi Okorafor – Binti (2015, Sci-Fi), The Book of Phoenix (2015, Sci-Fi Fantasy).
• Jewell Parker Rhodes – Bayou Magic (2013, Young Reader, Contemporary Fantasy).
• Marie Rutkoski – The Winner’s Curse (2014, Fantasy).
• Sharon Shinn – The Safe-Keeper’s Secret (2004, Fantasy: Historical) and sequels: The Truth-Teller’s Tale (2005) and The Dream-Maker’s Magic (2006).
• Kristen Simmons – Article 5 (2012, Sci-Fi).
• Shanna Swendson – Rebel Mechanics: All Is Fair in Love and Revolution (2015, Steampunk).
• Sabaa Tahir – A Torch Against the Night (2016, Sequel, Fantasy).
• Rachel Vincent – Menagerie (2015, Contemporary Fantasy).
• Robin Wasserman – The Waking Dark (2013, Contemporary Horror).