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I know how hard it is to look for Stand Alone books, especially nowadays, everything just seems to easily become a series or a trilogy (not that, that’s a bad thing), but still, who doesn’t love a good old stand alone book, right? So don’t fret! I hear you, I ‘am one of you, that’s why I’m sharing you this list, my top five personal favorite YA Stand Alone Books.
A list of Cages by Robin Roe
This tells the story about Adam and Julian. Adam is a star in his senior class; he is just about to graduate and is working as an aid at the school psychologist where he ends up reuniting with his former foster brother, Julian. He was very thrilled with what happened but he noticed that things aren’t exactly right about Julian. It doesn’t seem like he’s happy, he is not the same bubbly kid that he remembered. So Adam takes Julian under his wing and he slowly uncovered scary secrets about Julian’s life. A list of Cages is a wonderful yet heartbreaking book; it teaches you the power of kindness. This book has one big emotional punch.
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
This book follows the story of this girl named Eliza who is famous on the internet for a web comic that she created called monstrous sea. It was so popular that it gets millions of views and people are even writing fan fictions about it. Then one day this boy moves to her school, who turned out to be the most popular fan fiction writer of her web comic. So she definitely knows who he is but he has no idea who she is and that lead to quite a few problems. Apart from the main plot, Eliza also struggles from anxiety and that’s something that she has been dealing with for a long time and this is why I love this book so much, because of how it represents anxiety. It just felt so real and raw and honest. There were other issues tackled in this book and I just love how the author handled it perfectly. Definitely a good read!
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Cath is in her first year of college, she’s an English major and a writer however she feels like her craft is not being appreciated, like no one is taking her seriously just because she is a fan fiction writer. Now she is struggling to show her professors that there is more to fan fiction writing than just taking someone else’s story and making it your own. While doing this she also is trying to discover who she really is a part from her twin sister. So she is trying to discover her own identity and trying to navigate the university for the first time. She’s just completely a fish out of water, lost, but then she ends up meeting Levi, who helped her through those struggles and they eventually end up creating their own adventures (or problems). Crazy, right? This is a story about overcoming all the adversities that comes with life and change. So you are really in for a ride on this one.
The sun is also a star by Nicola Yoon
This book follows the story of two different characters. Natasha, who is a Jamaican immigrant and whose family is about to be deported and there is also Daniel, who is a Korean American boy, who’s just trying to live up to his parents expectations. Then One day their separate world’s collided. The story takes place over that one single day as the two of them explore New York City together. However the story deals with a lot more than just their relationship. This book discusses a lot of very deep and heavy relevant topics. You have discussions about race, immigration, identity and class. There are so many important things that I absolutely love finding in YA contemporaries and this book just simply tied all of those elements and formed it into a simple beautiful story.
The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
This book follows the main character named Molly who has 27 crushes but she never really had the courage to act on one of them and she also doesn’t want to put herself out there. However, her sister, who is very outgoing, encourages her to do all those things. This book is really about her finding her identity, finding her voice, and to not be afraid to take risk. This book has a lot of strengths and would really speak to a variety of readers. So definitely, I HIGHLY recommend this.
Do you have any favorites on this list? Let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear your thoughts.