14 Thrilling Titles for Teens | Summer Reading 2021

With stunning secrets and riveting reveals, these YA mysteries and thrillers will give readers chills.

Inheritance Games / Firekeeper's Daughter / The Forest of Stolen Girls / When You Look Like Us

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With stunning secrets and riveting reveals, these YA mysteries and thrillers will give readers chills.

All the Pretty Things by Emily Arsenault. Delacorte. ISBN 9781984897053.

After amusement park employee Ethan is discovered dead just outside the park and Ivy’s best friend Morgan is found unwell at the top of the Ferris wheel in the middle of the night, Ivy wonders, what more does she not understand about the park staff?

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Little, Brown. ISBN 9781368052405.

This Cinderella story gets its twist when Avery Grambs, a teen living out of her car and dreaming of a financially stable future, inherits billionaire Tobias Hawthorne’s fortune. Avery is sure she’s never met a Hawthorne in her life, but she’s just become the star player in Tobias’s final puzzle. Forced to move into the rambling Hawthorne House to retain the inheritance, Avery discovers that hidden passageways aren’t the only secrets on this estate.

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. Holt. ISBN 9781250766564.

Eighteen-year-old Daunis should be focused on a fresh start at college after her uncle’s untimely death. She is sucked back into the world of ice hockey and starts slowly falling for Jamie, one of her brother’s new teammates. Soon she finds herself living two disparate lives: one as a loving daughter, niece, and granddaughter in her family and Ojibwe community, and one as a confidential informant to the FBI as it investigates a deadly new drug.

All Eyes on Her by L.E. Flynn. Imprint. ISBN 9781250158178.

Tabby and her boyfriend go on a hike in the woods and only Tabby returns.

I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick. S. & S./Margaret K. McElderry. ISBN 9781534449701.

When Anna arrives in the small beach community of Herron Mills to work for the Bellamy family and care for their daughter, she is instantly singled out for bearing a strong resemblance to a local girl, Zoe Spanos, who is missing.

Spin by Lamar Giles. Scholastic. ISBN 9781338219210.

DJ Paris Secord's meteoric rise to fame is cut brutally short, however, when she is murdered before a show. Though Kya and Fuse have both fallen out with Paris, they are pulled back into her orbit when they discover her body.

When You Look Like Us by Pamela N. Harris. HarperCollins/Quill Tree. ISBN 9780062945891.

Jay’s sister, Nicole, goes to a party one night and doesn’t return home. After Jay realizes the police won’t be much help finding his missing sister, he teams up with his friend from church and embarks on a harrowing journey to find out what happened to Nicole.

The Girl in the White Van by April Henry. Holt. ISBN 9781250157591.

One night after kung fu class, a stranger accosts Savannah in a deserted parking garage and takes her to a mobile home where she meets Jenny, another girl he kidnapped months before.

The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur. Feiwel & Friends. ISBN 9781250229588.

In 1400s Korea, Min Hwani’s father, the venerable Detective Min, has been missing for a year and is presumed dead. Desperate for answers and betrothed to be married soon, Hwani flees the peninsula and secretly returns to her hometown. She reconnects with her sister, Maewol, and the pair work to mend their relationship as they search for their father and 13 missing girls—the case he was investigating when he vanished.

  

Let Me Hear a Rhyme by Tiffany D. Jackson. HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen. ISBN 9780062840325.

After Steph is fatally shot, his sister, Jasmine, and friends Quadir and Jarrell refuse to let his dreams of becoming a rapper die with him.

Somebody Told Me by Mia Siegert. Carolrhoda. ISBN 9781541578197.

When they start to feel unsafe after an assault, bigender teen Alexis/Aleks makes the difficult decision to go stay with their uncle, a Catholic priest, for the summer. After overhearing him absolve another priest for a heinous criminal act, Alexis/Aleks cannot stay silent.

The June Boys by Court Stevens. Thomas Nelson. ISBN 9780785221906.

For almost 10 years, the Gemini Thief periodically abducts three boys in June and keeps them captive but unharmed for a full year. Thea Delacroix suspects the kidnapper may be close to home.

The Project by Courtney Summers. St. Martin’s/Wednesday. ISBN 9781250105738.

Years after being abandoned by her sister to a cult, Lo follows in her path, desperate to uncover the truth behind the Project and to save her sister. With promises of atonement, redemption, and salvation, the group's message begins to penetrate Lo’s skepticism—how far will she go to get the real story?

Jane Anonymous by Laurie Faria Stolarz. St. Martin’s/Wednesday Bks. ISBN 9781250303707.

Seventeen-year-old “Jane” was popping into work for a last-minute gift when she was abducted. Jane is back home with her family now, but she left part of herself behind.

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