28 Excellent YA Mental Health Books I Loved And Recommend

One Way or Another, Kara McDowell

Kara McDowell writes some of my favorite YA contemporary reads! I loved One Way or Another so much. This story’s about Paige, paralyzed by anxiety everytime she has to make a decision. Soo when she needs to decide whether to spend Christmas in New York (dream city) or at a lovely cabin with her best friend (crush), she’s… well, paralyzed. Until destiny comes in… this is such a fun, heartwarming read with excellent anxiety rep.

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You Asked For Perfect, Laura Silverman

Performance anxiety, anyone? You Asked for Perfect kind of saw into my soul and I loved it for that. Also, it hurt. Ariel has the perfect grades, the perfect extra-curriculars, the perfect everything to get into college and… he’ll do everything to keep it that way. Even lose himself a little bit. This book was excellent, anxiety rep and romance and family vibes, my heart.

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Final Draft, Riley Redgate

One of my favorite, underrated reads, if you ask me. It’s about Laila, a writer who doesn’t really take risks, or steps outside of her comfort zone until her writing teacher asks her to. I absolutely adored this book, its soft f/f romance, its anxiety, perfectionnism-ridden main character. Such a fantastic gem.

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How to Disappear, Sharon Huss Roat

How to Disappear is another underrated, one-of-a-kind book, if you ask me. When Vicky’s best friend moves away, she invents a social life thanks to Photoshop and a brand new instagram account… This is an excellent book that tackles social anxiety, isolation and loneliness in such a real, raw way. Highly relatable and important, I loved it.

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Between You, Me and the Honeybees, Amelia Diane Coombs

One of my favorite authors of all times! In this story, Josie wants to keep the beekeeping family business and not go to college… a news her mom wouldn’t take, that well. Another news she wouldn’t take well? The fact that she’s falling for the son of her mother’s nemesis. This is such a heartwarming book with an excellent inclusion of mental health rep (anxiety). Loved it!

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I Was Born For This, Alice Oseman

Alice Oseman, oh. I think this might be my favorite book by hers, though I do love them all. I Was Born For This is about Angel, a die-hard fan of the boys band, The Ark. It’s also about Jimmy, The Ark’s frontman, dealing with anxiety on top of everything celebrity brings to his plate. I found this book to be absolutely lovely, the anxiety rep on point and… well, as a fan girl personally, it really spoke to me, as well.

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A Quiet Kind of Thunder, Sara Barnard

This book is a gem, oh I loved it. Steffi’s a selective mute. Thanks to her knowledge of sign language, she’s assigned to look after Rhy, the new deaf boy at her school. This is such an adorable tale about finding your voice (literally and metaphorically), falling in love and the anxiety rep was, for me, on point.

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Starfish, Akemi Dawn Bowman

In Starfish, our main character has social anxiety and I found it so, so wonderfully done. This is Kiko’s story, living with anxiety, a narcissist mother and an abusive uncle, taking the first opportunity to get away with her childhood friend. This is such a good book, tough to read at times, but so, so worth it.

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When We Were Infinite, Kelly Loy Gilbert

Confession time: I had a hard time reading this book. It’s here because obviously, I recommend it, but yeah be warned that it’s a tough read! In this story, all Beth wants is for her group of friends to stay together, but sometimes life and terrible things happen… this is a great story about friendships, holding on to the past, dealing with anxiety, loyalty, people-pleasing. It’s raw and oh, so real.

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Eliza and her Monsters, Francesca Zappia

My heart forever with this book. In real life, Eliza’s a loner, shy and friendless. Online, she’s a super popular webcomic creator. This has internet friends, excellent anxiety representation, fandom and family and it’s just, one of my favorite books of all times okay.

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The Sound of Stars, Alechia Dow

A science-fiction book with anxiety rep! I don’t know that many (give me recs? please?),so I’m so happy to feature this one. Set in a dystopian, post-alien invaded New York city, this story is about Janelle, a human girl and an alien boy, finding each other through their love of music and books. It’s a wonderful, hopeful, emotional, lovely story overall and I absolutely loved the anxiety rep in this one.

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Radio Silence, Alice Oseman

Another Alice Oseman book! Radio Silence is yet again excellent. It’s about Frances, a study machine putting obviously way too much pressure on herself. It has incredible friendships, fandom and nerd vibes, as well as anxiety and depression representation that felt super accurate. This is just an incredible story overall okay read it.

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The Cartographers, Amy Zhang

I found The Cartographers hard to read, at times, mostly because it’s a raw representation of depression in the upper-YA category. I appreciate that, so much. It’s about Ocean, forever feeling the pressure to succeed, having struggled with depression in high school and finding herself completely lost while starting college. She defers it for a year and ends up in New York, living adventures and trying to find her place. It’s raw and heartbreaking, yet also so, so important.

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The Astonishing Color of After, Emily X.R. Pan

The Astonishing Color of After is such a beautiful book, I wanted to highlight every line. It’s about Leigh, traveling to Taiwan to meet her grandparents after her mother’s suicide. I loved how it dealt with grief, finding your roots, yet also trying to understand mental health, depression and how love does not cure anything, at all. It’s just a beautiful book that made me sob okay.

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Verona Comics, Jennifer Dugan

This is such a lovely book, marketed as a contemporary romance a bit, but that has such a good, important focus on mental health. It’s about Jubilee and Ridley, two comic book lovers meeting at a convention… only to realize, later, that their parents’ shops are rivals. It has a main character with social anxiety and clinical depression and overall was such an unexpected little gem.

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When the Stars Lead To You, Ronni Davis

Oh, this book. This book has my whole heart okay. Ashton broke Devon’s heart after a magical, magical summer… so when he shows up on the first day of senior year, Devon’s not quite ready. This is an incredible story about falling in love for the first time, dealing with depression and it’s raw and beautiful and just, real. One of my favorite books.

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Darius the Great is not Okay, Adib Khorram

I love Dariuuus! This wonderful wonderful main character’s about to go on his first trip to Iran to meet his family. He also deals with clinical depression and I just found the way the author talked about mental health, identity quest, family and friendship so, so wonderful. 200% recommending this always.

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Under Rose-Tainted Skies, Louise Gornall

Norah’s scared of everything, from tsunamis to odd numbers. She doesn’t leave her home’s four walls, watches the world from afar until Luke arrives on her doorstep. What I loved about this book was the incredible way mental health was described and dealt with (anxiety, agoraphobia, ocd), sometimes way too accurate to be honest. This was such a moving read that has to be highly relatable to many.

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Exactly Where You Need To Be, Amelia Diane Coombs

Florie’s OCD has kept her from doing a lot of things… but she doesn’t want it to keep her from seeing her favorite podcast live in San Francisco. Without telling their parents, she sets off with her best friend and her best friend’s brother (crush) on a road trip to California… I loved this book so much! The mental health rep, the swoon, the road trip, the family relationships. SO good!

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All our Broken Pieces, L. D. Crichton

All our Broken Pieces is quite an intense read. Lennon, our main character, is dealing with compulsions, heavily intrusive thoughts and anxiety. Kyler, the boy next door, is wearing the trauma from a house fire on his scarred face. When these two meet… well, it’s such a wonderful romance with an important place for mental health, family and it doesn’t sugarcoat things, at all. I really loved it!

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Am I Normal Yet?, Holly Bourne

Holly Bourne writes some of the best books, if you ask me. Evie’s about to start college and feels it’s the right time to reduce her OCD medication. All she wants to be is “normal”, a normal teenager going to parties, having friends, a boyfriend, maybe… but life doesn’t go quite as planned. I adored the female friendships in this one, the important discussions on mental health. 200% recommending it!

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Turtles All the Way Down, John Green

I’ve loved John Green books for ages, but Turtles feels different. It’s raw, unfiltered, it’s just really tough to read at times, the author isn’t shy with this OCD representation. It’s about Aza, looking for a fugitive billionnaire with her best friend, but it’s also about mental health, friendship and feeling stuck within your own thoughts. Terrifyingly real.

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Girl Against the Universe, Paula Stokes

Paula Stokes writes some of my favorite books! This story’s about Maguire, dealing with PTSD after several accidents left her unharmed. She meets Jordy, at therapy sessions and, little by little, they spend more time together… I found this book excellent. I loved the characters’ growth, the romance, the wonderful parents. Loved loved it.

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The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Michelle Hodkin

Mara wakes up in a hospital with no memory how she got here… and doesn’t remember the accident that killed her friends, but left her unharmed. This book is creepy and the main character’s struggling with PTSD, hallucinations and nightmares and nothing is as it seems.

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The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins

I’m just going to mention the series as a whole, because it makes sense that way, but well. You all know The Hunger Games, these kids sent to an arena to fight each other to death for entertainment. If this wasn’t horrible enough, Katniss, our main character, obviously deals heavily with PTSD after everything she’s seen. This series is raw and honestly excellent, so tough I don’t know if I’ll ever read it again. But if you haven’t read it yet, please do.

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I’ll Meet You There, Heather Demetrios

Skylar can’t wait to get out of her small town to go to art school, but when her mother loses her job, she feels her dream slipping away from her. After losing his leg in Afghanistan, Josh comes back to the town a shell of who he used to be. Together, they work at a quirky motel… This book isn’t the usual romance, it’s raw and real and not without its complications. Josh’s disability and PTSD are heartbreaking and these characters, oh they’re with me forever.

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YA Mental Health Book: Schizophrenia

YA Mental Health Book: Bipolar Disorder

Made You Up, Francesca Zappia

Alex constantly fights between what’s real and what’s not in her mind. A war against schizophrenia she’s determined to win, until Miles shows up at her school. Did she make him up, or is he real? This was such an interesting exploration of mental health, with an unreliable narrator making this book a wild ride, at times.

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Keep my Heart in San Francisco, Amelia Diane Coombs

Chuck’s forced to team up with her ex-best / childhood friend to save her family business, the bowling alley, the only thing keeping her in San Francisco. Just like her mother, she struggles with bipolar disorder and, quickly gets a bit afraid of acting too irrational… This book’s swoony, soft and heartwarming with amazing family vibes, yet also wonderfully deals with complex topics such as bipolar disorder and depression. One of my favorites!

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