Ten Underrated YA Contemporaries

Underrated books are one of my favorite subjects to talk about, because I can blab endlessly about my excitement and chances are you haven't heard it all before from literally everyone. Sure, I love SIX OF CROWS! But so does pretty much everyone else, so you don't need much help finding that book.

I've based this list on a combination of the number of Goodreads ratings, the number of to-reads on Goodreads, when the book was published, how much hype I'd heard about the book, and just a general feeling of what I had to put on the list. They all have fewer than 4,000 ratings, and most of them have fewer than 2,000.

If you want to see some more books that I think are underrated, check the list below for posts I've done on:

• books with under 2,000 ratings on Goodreads
• an "If You Liked X" gift guide based on more popular books
• recent underrated reads (as of this January)

As it turns out, I've had a substantial bit of overlap in my underrated books posts - especially those last two - so I've tried to make this list entirely unique. I haven't 100% succeeded, but I'm satisfied with the list I've come up with.

WONDERFUL FEELS LIKE THIS by Sara Lovestam: I was lucky enough to get an eARC of this on NetGalley. It was originally published in Swedish in 2012, and the Spanish and German translations were published in 2015, but the English edition wasn't published until this year. And I'm so happy it was! It makes me wonder what wonderful books we might be missing out on. Anyway, this took me a while to get into, but by the end, I was thoroughly engrossed in Steffi's story. You can read my full review here.

NORTH OF HAPPY by Adi Alsaid: I absolutely flew through this! I was invested from the beginning, and by chapter eight or so I knew I'd picked up something really special. The subjects of loss and self-discovery are handled so incredibly, and the food focus made me really hungry while I was reading.

10 THINGS I CAN SEE FROM HERE by Carrie Mac: This book is so important to me because it's a realistic portrayal of a character with an anxiety disorder. However, that's not all that the novel's about, and the different aspects are balanced so beautifully that it really feels like the main character's life instead of just a bunch of things wrapped together.

THE CHANCE YOU WON'T RETURN by Annie Cardi: This is the first book that popped in my head when I thought about doing a post on underrated contemporaries. It's the first of two books in this post that I've mentioned in a previous post, and I'm really sad that it still has fewer than a thousand Goodreads ratings because it deserves so much more! It's so unique and so beautiful, and I keep saying that I'm going to reread it soon but I really am, and how many other contemporaries talk this much about one of the best people ever, Amelia Earhart? Plus, the Kindle edition is $2.99 right now! (Not sure how much longer that will last.)

NOTEWORTHY by Riley Redgate: This is one of the most laugh-out-loud funny books that I've ever read. I had a smile on my face almost the whole time I was reading. It definitely falls into the category of "I never knew I wanted this, but yes, absolutely." Words tend to totally fail me when I'm trying to sell this book, but it's really, really good. You can read my mini-review here.

I BELIEVE IN A THING CALLED LOVE by Maurene Goo: This is one of my most recent reads (and favorites), and I'm still mentally kicking myself for almost taking it off my TBR! Based on the synopsis, I thought the secondhand embarrassment was going to be too much for me. But this book did something absolutely magical - it took those moments where I really should have been feeling that, and turned it into me just laughing. And there were plenty of those moments. It's also that rare light, fluffy contemporary where the main character is an ambitious, unapologetic Slytherin, and I LOVED that!

BEEN HERE ALL ALONG by Sandy Hall: This is the other book that I talked about in another underrated books post. In that one, I recommended it for fans of SIMON VS THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA. While that's definitely true, I want it to stand on its own here. It might not have been my favorite, but it kept me interested in the main characters, it kept things moving without being rushed, and it was an adorable love story. It would be a really great book to get out of a reading slump. You can read my full review here. 

GIRL OUT OF WATER by Laura Silverman: One of the reasons that I was so excited for this book (besides the great synopsis) was that I've been following Laura Silverman on Twitter for a while now (as I mentioned in this post), and she's amazing. So when I was approved for an eARC, I was ecstatic. And it was pretty great. The focus on surfing and skateboarding really intrigued me, and Anise and Lincoln are both really amazing characters. You can read my full review here.

GEORGIA PEACHES AND OTHER FORBIDDEN FRUIT by Jaye Robin Brown: This was a pretty recent read, but it's one I'd been looking forward to reading for a while. I loved the way it explored Joanna's character, and the way she learned to fight for what she believed in.

THE MUSEUM OF INTANGIBLE THINGS by Wendy Wunder: I'm going to be totally honest here: I read this long enough ago that I don't remember the plot 100%. But there are certain parts that have stuck in my head for so long that I wanted to give the book a shout-out here. It also taught me the word insouciance, which has been a really good one. There are a few things I remember that are a little raised-eyebrow-worthy in retrospect, but I'd have to reread to really reflect.

Have you read any of these? What are some of your favorite underrated books that you think I should read? Tell me in the comments!