Books
7 YA Books If You <3 'The Girl On The Train'
If you had to name the "It Book" of last year, hands down it would be Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train. So, of course, so many adult fiction new releases were falling all over themselves to align themselves with the global phenomenon. Luckily for us young adult fans, there are already so many great YA books to read if you loved The Girl on the Train.
Psychological thrillers with twists and turns and readers never really knowing who to trust are a hallmark of young adult lit. And that definitely doesn't seem to be stopping any time soon, because even this year, YA thrillers abound. The list below contains some super new releases as well as some older hits, so if you haven't read them yet, it's time to prep a new pile of books for your commute home from work, if you know what I mean.
Plus, it's the perfect time to reinvigorate your The Girl on the Train love because the Emily Blunt-starring movie (which also stars the totally swoonworthy Justin Theroux and Luke Evans) is hitting theaters October 7. That's plenty of time to gather up these seven young adult books and tear through them to put you in the right mood.
1. Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas
A BFFs trip to Aruba goes haywire when one of the friends winds up dead in her hotel room. One of the other girls, Anna, ends up trapped in a foreign country facing accusations of murder. But did she do it? Much like The Girl on the Train, readers never know who they should trust in Abigail Haas' twisty and turny Dangerous Girls.
2. Never Missing, Never Found by Amanda Panitch
Yet again, Amanda Panitch gives us an endlessly clever, flashback-ridden thriller that keeps us on the edge of our cozy reading seats. Scarlett was abducted when she was young, but she fought to escape her captor and she returned to a "normal" life. Now, as a teen, she begins working at an amusement park when another girl is reporting missing. As her memories come flooding back, Scarlett begins to worry that her own escape set in motion the series of events that led to his girl's disappearance.
3. Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver
YA queen Lauren Oliver outdoes herself in this captivating slow burn of a thriller. Vanishing Girls follows sisters Dara and Nick, who have survived a horrific car accident that shattered their close bond. But when Dara vanishes on her birthday — around the same time as another young girl named Madeline Snow disappears — Nick sets off to find her sister and figure out what's going on. Just like The Girl on the Train, secrets are revealed slowly, and the atmosphere will truly keep you turning pages.
4. Beware that Girl by Teresa Toten
Mysteries hit you from every angle in Teresa Toten's Beware That Girl, set in an uber-rich neighborhood of New York City. Kate isn't wealthy, but she receives a scholarship to attend an elite Manhattan school. (Think Gossip Girl-level rich.) But Kate is calculating. She's an experienced con artist, and she targets the It Girl at school to get in with the popular crowd and network her way into her dream school: Yale University. Secrets start to unfold, and readers are never quite sure who they can trust along the way.
5. We'll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean
Nothing is at it seems in Emiko Jean's thriller. Alice has been committed to a mental ward because she can't get over the fire her twin sister Cellie set. The fire that killed Alice's boyfriend, Jason. While Allie is in with the general population, Cellie is assigned to a heavily guarded ward at the mental institution. Worried that Cellie is going to do something dangerous, Alice decides she has to strike first and kill her sister. But this isn't the first time the sisters have been institutionalized, and secrets bubble up to the surface as Alice starts to put her plan in motion.
6. Complicit by Stephanie Kuehn
Jamie Henry's sister, Cate, has been in juvie since she burned down the neighbor's horse barn and hurt a classmate, but now that she's out, she's coming after Jamie. It's terrible timing for Jamie, because he's been working out his complicated symptoms with his therapist, starting a new relationship, and going off his meds. All Cate wants to do, however, is let her little brother know the truth about their past.
7. Twisted Fate by Norah Olson
Ally and Syd are sisters, but they are complete opposites. So when they both meet their neighbor Graham, they see him completely differently. Ally sees him as shy and awkward, just like her. Syd thinks his behavior is far more in line with a psychopath, but that doesn't stop her from falling for him a bit too. In alternating chapters, their two sides of the story illuminate a reality that readers will have to figure out for themselves.
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