I am so excited to write another book recommendations post! It’s been a hot minute since I did so and ahh. I can’t wait to scream about all the underrated contemporary books I can’t believe YOU haven’t read, just yet.
There’s something happening on social media with the word “underrated”. Some people feel like some young adult books are underrated while… they’re here with thousandths of ratings and reviews on goodreads. Sorry to break it to you, but for me… that’s not what it is.
What does underrated mean, then, you’ll ask?
It means that these books are GOOD. They’re GREAT. Yet, for some reason they’re sitting here on Goodreads’ shelves with not that many ratings and MORE! PEOPLE! Need to scream about them. So… here I am. Ready to scream.
This list gathers 10 underrated contemporary books: this means they have less than 700 ratings, total, on Goodreads, based on my research. Go add these beauties to your TBR, read them, love them!
Underrated YA contemporary books I recommend
Note: I included the rep and trigger warnings for each of these books to the best of my ability. If you are spotting any mistake, feel free to let me know so I can correct it!
The Truth Project, Dante Medema
The Truth Project is a novel in verse about a girl finding out her father isn’t really her father. It’s about family and secrets, about identity and figuring out who you are, where you belong and who you belong with. It’s beautiful and I devoured it and recommend it, really, read it.
Rep: Half-Asian, lesbian main character, Asian and Indian side characters, main character with Tlingit origins.
Trigger warnings: drinking, mentions of smoking, mention of pregnancy and abortion, cheating. Rep & Trigger Warnings:
☂️ Goodreads
One Way or Another, Kara McDowell
I loved Kara McDowell’s debut, Just for Clicks and One Way or Another won me over. It’s about a girl with anxiety who’s having a hard time picking between two places to spent her Christmas… until parallel universes, and she’s living them both. With its perfect anxiety rep (for me), its adorable best-friends-to-lovers romance, the secret PINING, the adorableness of it all. I just had such a great time reading this book.
Trigger warnings:severe anxiety, panic attacks, mentions of sclerosis, mentions of hypothyroidism, car accident, hospital, blood and twisted ankle.Rep & Trigger Warnings:
☂️ Goodreads
By Any Means Necessary, Candice Montgomery
By Any Means Necessary is a little hidden gem. Torrey, a college freshmen, finds himself dealing with his college life, complex new relationships and the bee farm he left behind. It’s about handling past and present, growing up and moving on. The main character had such a fun, witty voice and I had a great time reading this!
Rep: gay black main character, almost all-black side characters, afro-brazilian and bisexual love interest.
Trigger warnings: racism, ableism, past death of a loved one, homophobia, racist slur, alcohol, underage drinking, kissing, aphobic language, mentions of addiction, hospitals, gentrification, past child abuse, police brutality, panic attack. Rep & Trigger Warnings:
Dating Makes Perfect, Pintip Dunn
While we’re on the topic of fun reads… Dating Makes Perfect was so! good! It’s one of these books that entertains you and makes you smile all the time you’re reading. According to her mother, Winnie must practice fake-dating in high school before starting “the real thing” and… finds herself forced to fake-date her ex-childhood best friend turned enemy. I mean, if this doesn’t make you want to read this…
Rep: Thai-American main character (ownvoices), Thai-American side characters and love interest, bisexual Thai-American side character, Indian-American side characterRep & Trigger Warnings:
Nothing Left To Burn, Heather Ezell
I will ALWAYS scream about Nothing Left To Burn and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. I loved this debut so much it blew me away and it’s the kind of book I hope to write, someday. It’s about navigating an all-consuming relationship while, literally, trying to get to safety from fires raging in California. It’s filled with tension and emotion and it’s just so. damn. good!
Rep: bisexual side character. Trigger warnings: abusive relationship, swearing, sex scene mentioned, psychological manipulation. Rep & Trigger Warnings:
This is what it Feels Like, Rebecca Barrow
I can’t believe you all are sleeping on this book okay. This is what it feels like is one of these contemporaries you’ll devour and love. Told from 3 different POV, you get to know these characters as they deal with their own struggles and with their broken friendship. It has music! friendships! romance! It’s just so good and beautifully amazing.
Rep: Black main character, Black love interest, Black and lesbian main character, f/f relationship. Trigger warnings: one of the main character dealt with alcohol addiction. Mention of a death in a car accident that happened in the past. Rep & Trigger Warnings:
Small Town Hearts, Lillie Vale
I have mentioned this one a bunch of times here, but I thought I’d do it again because it deserves it. Small Town Hearts is one of these perfect summery contemporaries that gives you all the happy feels. It has the small town, the adorable romance, the baked goods, the GREAT main character, the friendships, the sandcastles and fun and just, I loved everything about it.
Rep: bisexual main character. Trigger warnings:manipulative friendship, mention of casual drug usage (weed, not shown on the page), alcohol consumption (on page), alcohol abuse.Rep & Trigger Warnings:
When the Stars Lead To You, Ronni Davis
I personally believe When the Stars Lead To You deserve more publicity than it’s getting. I fell for this beautiful book about first love and how all-consuming falling in love for the first time can be. About loving someone with depression. It has such fantastic characters and emotions and I’m just emotional thinking about this beautiful read.
Rep: biracial main character (half black & half white), main character dealing with depression (both #ownvoices rep). Trigger warnings:depression, suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, microagressions, classicism, codependant relationship, discussion of self-harmRep & Trigger Warnings:
Just Visiting, Dahlia Adler
Just Visiting is a book people should talk about more, especially as it deals with SO many themes so many readers of young adult books are yearning for. College applications and visits, growing up and growing apart, taking off for college and leaving the life you’ve always known behind. Carried by two incredible main characters and the friendship they share, Just Visiting is a great read I think a lot of people would really enjoy.
Rep: Mexican American MC, Indian, Asian – Jew side characters, MC fluent in ASL (her mother is deaf). Trigger warnings:sex scenes, mentions of birth control, bullying, slut-shaming, racism.Rep & Trigger Warnings:
☂️ Goodreads
Now That I’ve Found You, Kristina Forest
Now That I’ve Found You is such an incredibly entertaining read, I loved it. Following a scandal threatening her Hollywood career, Evie seeks out her grandmother in New York to help… but she disappears. A wild chase in New York City, an adorable romance with a cute musician, this book just made me smile so much, I loved it.
Rep: full cast of POC characters.Rep & Trigger Warnings:
📌 Pin 10 underrated ya contemporary books on Pinterest!
Did you read any of these books? Do you want to? You should!
Do you have any recommendations of underrated reads I should add to my TBR? Feel free to let me know in comments!
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I’m so excited to read One Way or Another!
Ahhh I hope you’ll love it! 🙂
I read 7 of these and five of them earned a 5-star rating from me. I thought they all were great. I think the first two may pick up steam. They have not been out in the world that long, but I am sad about the others. I think it’s been difficult for authors who released during the pandemic too. They missed out on book tours, conventions, and festivals, which I think help spread the word about their books.
YAY! I love how often we read the same kind of books and love them, it makes me so happy. <3
I so agree with you on that, it's so sad and I hope that us book bloggers helping them the best that we can do them some good <3
Ahhhhh I love this post Marie!!! I’m adding so many of these to my TBR. Thank you for these amazing recommendations 😍💗
Ahh this makes me so, so happy, thank you, Abby! Hope you’ll find books you’ll love there 😀
I didn’t know The Truth Project was in verse. Now I definitely need to read it. I’m always looking for good novels-in-verse.
Ooooh yes! I hope you’ll enjoy it 🙂
I hadn’t heard of most of these, but they all sound so good! I’ll definitely be adding some of them to my TBR list. I especially like the sound of Small Town Hearts and Nothing Left To Burn!
Ohh thank you, Laura! I really really hope you’ll love them! 😀
Definitely added some of these 👌 And I’ll add a recommendation for 100 Days off Sunlight by Abbie Emmons, a girl goes blind in an accident and has to figure out how to cope with it, with an assistant to help her who becomes a friend
YAY my job here is done 😀 Oh thank you so much for this recommendation, I’ll have to check it out!
Great post! I love your name. I’ve nominated you for the Bookish Snob Tag 🙂 https://hundredsandthousandsofbooks.blog/2020/10/25/the-bookish-snob-tag/
Thank you so much! 🙂
Now That I’ve Found You is on my wish list! It sounds amazing! 😍
Ahh it really is amazing, I hope you’ll love it 🙂
the way i’m also working on a post i want more people to read… we are so powerful! but first of all, i love the formatting of this post, and second of all, i really need to read so many of these! dating makes perfect, this is what it feels like, and now that i’ve found you are books i’m really looking forward to reading (especially dating makes perfect 🥺). the fact that these have less than 700 ratings to me is just mind-blowing!
Y e s ! I saw your post quickly and will stop by it more attentively soon, but yes I love that you did this kind of post as well! There are so many books deserving all the love. <3
Thank you, I'm so happy you like it, it took me...way longer than I'd like to admit to put it together so thank you! 🥺 I can't wait for you to read all of these, they're so wonderful! 🥺
Why do you insist on adding more books to my tbr! I definitely feel like the term underrated is carlessly thrown out for some books, but it sounds like you’ve found some real hidden treasures here. I remember seeing By Any Means Necessary pop up a couple of times on my feed, but admittedly it got lst in the shuffle of all the other books haha. Small Town Hearts also sounds like an adorable contemporary that’ll just put anyone in a good mood.
I’m sorry? 🥺 ahah I’m really happy I can make your TBR grow! I so agree with you, underrated is a term thrown around here and there and, more often than not, people use it to talk about books that are actually popular.
I hope you’ll give some of these a try and will love them! <3
I do want to read The Truth Project and By Any Means Necessary. Some of these are still fairly new though, so hopefully more people will find them and read them!
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
Ahh yay! Let’s hope so 🙂 Thank you, Lauren!
One Way or Another is hopefully going to be on my holiday TBR – it sounds so good!
It’d be a perfect holiday read! I hope you’ll love it 😀
These definitely are underrated. I hate to say that I haven’t heard of a single one of these! Thanks for the rec list. It’s always fun to find those hidden gems 🙂
Ahh I’m glad I could make you discover some new books, I hope you’ll give some of them a try 🙂
I haven’t heard of any of these.. Need to check them out!
(www.evelynreads.com)
I hope you will! 🙂
Marie, why did you do this to my TBR? 😅 This is such a great list and I haven’t read any of these yet! I already had some of them on my TBR, but I immediately added the rest. I trust your recommendations, so I am so happy you decided to do a recommendation post! 🙂
Again, great list, thank you for sharing! 💛
Oops 🥺 I’m so, so, happy you trust my recommendations, thank you SO much! I hope you’ll love these as much as I do!
Hey, speak of the devil! I just started By Any Means Necessary, and I’m already really delighted by it. I totally agree that the protagonist has a wonderful voice, and I am excited for more BEES content.
AH YAY! So happy you’re enjoying it! 😀
The Truth Project!! I couldn’t agree more 🙂 I love this book so freaking much
Ahhh same! It’s such a stunning read! <3
It is! I cannot wait for whatever she writes next
Same here! 😀
The only one of these that I’ve read is By Any Means Necessary, and you’re 100% right, it is an actual hidden gem. There are so many other wonderful-sounding ones on here, though, so I’m off to go check them all out!
Ahh I’m so happy you read this one and I hope you’ll check out the others. They’re wonderful <3 Thank you, Mary!
I haven’t actually read any of the books on this list, but a few of them have been on my TBR for a while! I’m definitely going to have to bump them up on my reading list now 🤩 Thanks for sharing an amazing recommendation list once again!!
AHH yay I hope you will and will love them, Jessica! Thank you so, so much <3 <3
Your contemporary recs are always so good! True to what you said, I have not heard of most of these!
Ohh thank you so, so much, this means the world! I hope you’ll love these <3
I literally haven’t heard of any of these books so you did a good job choosing some underrated ones! But YAY! I have new books to add to my TBR because I’ve been needing some contemporary recommendations 🙂
Oh yay, so happy to hear this 🙂 I hope you’ll love these books and please, feel free to come to me if you need more contemporary recs, I’m always happy to help 😀
Such a great list!! ❤ I haven’t read any of the books, but I’m So excited for One Way or Another, I have been eyeing it ever since it was announced! I’m very happy to hear that you loved the book and related to the anxiety representation, I hope this is the book for me as well 🥰
Thank you so much, Caro! I can’t wait for you to read One Way or Another, it’s so so good and I hope you can relate to it, too <3
All of these reads sound so great!! I’m definitely drawn to Small Town Hearts; it sounds so cosy and warming xx
Ohh you should read it, Macey, it’s such a wonderful read, I loved it soo much! Thank you <3 <3
I had no idea Dating Makes Perfect didn’t have that many reviews/ratings!! But I’ve been seeing its cover everywhere and fake-dating?? Sign me in, I’m adding it to my TBR right now!! Thank you so much for these recommendations <3 <3
This book deserves all the love, it was so much fun to read! I hope you’ll love it. Thank you so, so much Marta <3
I always love your book recommendation posts. 🙂 Oooh, I need to read One Way or Another because I loved Just for Clicks. I have Now That I’ve Found You and can’t wait to read that one. <3
Ahh thank you so much Ashley! I hope you’ll love these as much as I did <3
I recently read Small Town Hearts and Dating Makes Perfect and absolutely loved them! I will definitely check the rest out and am so excited to read them!
Thank you for the recs and well, now I have someone to blame for adding 8 books to my TBR so 🙂
An underrated book I loved is When Summer Ends!
Ah yay I’m so glad you loved them, they’re such fantastic reads! <3 Thank you so much, this means so much <3
Oh, I'm not familiar with that book, I'll have to check it out, thank you so much for the rec!
Excuse me whilst I bookmark this page for later, so many of these books are already on my TBR and I definitely want to get to them. I did read This Is What It Feels Like a year or so ago and I adored it so much. Small Town Hearts has been on my TBR for a year I think by now, Will definitely be coming back to this post, to make sure I read all these wonderful books eeep! 💜
Oh Clo thank you so, so, so much, I hope you’ll get to read a lot of these and will love them as much as I do! <3
Yes hello I am back. And indeed I have not read any of these. But aye aye captain I SHALL DO IT. Especially excited about Dating Makes Perfect because it sounds SO CUTE *insert heart eyes*
AH YES YES you should, I hope you’ll read and will love all of these, they are so wonderful <3 Thank you! <3
Well, I haven’t read any of these and some of them I haven’t even heard of, so I guess they definitely quailfy as being underrated. I’ll have to check these out!
Ahh yay! I hope you will love them 🙂