5 YA Book Picks From The 2020s That Even Adults Can Enjoy

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Long-time readers likely encountered classic young adult novels like "The Outsiders," "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," or "The Hunger Games" during their formative years, with these coming-of-age stories having the power to ignite a lifelong love of reading. Fueled by timeless themes and relatable characters, such stories often become permanent additions to all-time favorites lists, sticking with readers long after they've outgrown the target demographic.

Similarly, there are plenty of modern YA books that can be enjoyed by adults, either for how they capture the adolescent experience or for the way they speak to wide-reaching issues. The term YA generally refers to books intended for readers ages 12 to 18, with the category housing subgenres like young adult fantasy and young adult romance. Despite varying greatly, books in this genre do have some shared elements, typically featuring teenage protagonists and centering around coming-of-age themes like identity, love, and friendship.

Still, the reading category has long cultivated an older audience, with WordsRated reporting that 51% of 2023 YA buyers fell between the ages of 30 and 44. Of those purchasers, 78% reported that they were the intended readers. So, whether you're investigating the genre's hype or looking for a youthful escape, there are plenty of YA titles from the 2020s that can be enjoyed by adult readers.

Kacen Callender's "Felix Ever After" is the first entry on our list of YA books, with the title also belonging among the Pride-month-ready books that will make you laugh, cry, and learn. The 2020 release centers around Felix Love, a Black, trans teen navigating his desires alongside his understanding of himself and his gender identity. When Felix experiences online harassment and receives anonymous, transphobic messages, he hatches a plan for revenge, but somehow lands in something of a love triangle.

"It's hard for me to connect to YA novels lately but every now and then I find a gem like this one and it reminds me why I still try," BookTuber Gabbyreads wrote on Goodreads. "I love Felix[.] I love his journey of identity and self discovery in this book." Other reviewers echo this sentiment, noting Felix as a particularly dynamic and relatable character of the YA genre. "Felix Ever After" is also praised for its emotional strength and queer representation, averaging a 4.22-star rating on Goodreads. For adult readers looking for something heartfelt about young love and queer identity, this is the YA novel to add to your reading list.

Next up is "I Hope This Doesn't Find You" by Ann Liang — a young adult pick that's worth checking out, especially for readers looking for romance books with a little less spice. Sadie Wen is an overachieving high schooler who maintains the image of a charming, model student by channeling all her pent-up frustrations into unsent emails. When these emails are sent out to the entire school, her innermost thoughts about her peers are revealed, including her long-time academic rival and school co-captain, Julius Gong. Though this hidden side of Sadie throws her life into chaos, it seems like Julius might be the only one to fully appreciate her, after all.

With an average rating of 4.16 stars on Goodreads, "I Hope This Doesn't Find You" has been compared to popular YA love stories like "To All The Boys I've Loved Before," with YouTube creator Lexi, aka newlynova, finding similarities with the work of Maureen Johnson and Rainbow Rowell. "Just those kind of silly, but also really heartwarming young adult books that make you believe for a fraction of a second that maybe the world is not actually a cold and dead place," she said, pairing an earnest compliment with a sardonic remark. Many readers also related to Sadie's people-pleasing tendencies and academic ambitions, with the title expertly balancing complex emotion with feel-good vibes. In this way, Ann Liang's 2024 release is a great pick for readers looking for an academia-set romance to bring on the butterflies.

There are plenty of YA thrillers and mysteries that even adults can enjoy, and Angeline Boulley's "Firekeeper's Daughter" is among them. Published in 2021, this mystery centers around Daunis Fontaine, a biracial high school student on the fringes of both her mother's white family and her father's Ojibwe community. After pressing pause on her college plans to help care for her family, Daunis witnesses a murder that throws her into an FBI investigation linked to the larger tragedies plaguing her community. While she agrees to go undercover to protect her loved ones, the slow-burning mystery has her questioning who exactly she can trust.

"An excellent debut and a YA that should immediately go on everyone's TBR," BookTuber mynameismarines wrote on Goodreads. "You can just tell the ways the novel is imbued with Ojibwe and Anishinaabe culture, tradition, language and storytelling conventions. It makes for a rich and layered experience that had me by the heart." While reviewers note that "Firekeeper's Daughter" features potentially triggering content and themes, with reader discretion being advised, the mystery novel is praised for deftly exploring these darker issues and how they impact Native American communities. Recommended as a great entry-point into the YA genre and boasting 4.31 stars on Goodreads, this is a compelling mystery to add to your shelf.

The fantasy genre has been especially popular in online reading communities throughout the 2020s, with "Legendborn" by Tracey Deonn marking a noteworthy entry into the genre. Combining urban fantasy with Arthurian legends and dark academia, this YA series follows Bree Matthews as she begins attending UNC-Chapel Hill's early college program shortly after the death of her mother. She discovers the school's secret "Legendborn" society when she witnesses a fellow student slay a demon, which ultimately unlocks Bree's own secret powers and reveals that there was more to her mother's death than she initially knew. With the help of a former member, she resolves to infiltrate the society to uncover the truth, but soon finds that there are much bigger magical forces at play than she imagined.

"There is so much to unpack in this novel," content creator Bookish Realm, who featured "Legendborn" in her list of "40 YA Books To Read Before You Die," wrote on Goodreads. "The character development, the plot development, the spectacular writing, the university history woven into every single page, the connections I felt to the Black history discussed. Everything was done in such a fast paced and interesting manner that gave me such a connection to the story as a whole." Deftly exploring themes of intergenerational trauma, grief, colonization, and racism, this 2020 release promises to pack a fantastical, heartfelt punch.

Lastly, fans of "The Hunger Games" will recognize "Sunrise on the Reaping" by Suzanne Collins as a prequel to the dystopian trilogy. This 2025 title tells the story of Haymitch Abernathy, seen in the original series as the alcoholic mentor to Katniss and Peeta, as his name is drawn for the fiftieth annual Hunger Games. With twice as many tributes being sent into the deadly games for the occasion, Haymitch travels to the Capitol with three other District 12 tributes to play out the fight for his life in front of the entire nation.

"This had all the magic of book 1, but with so much fan-service," book influencer Jack Edwards wrote on Goodreads, rating the title four stars. "Moving. nostalgic, powerful — the mind of a writer who only speaks when she has something important to say." In many ways a return to form, other reviewers add that "Sunrise on the Reaping" builds on the apt social criticism of the original trilogy, further exploring ideas of propaganda and voyeurism. Just as the original series is continually enjoyed by readers of all ages, this YA release is a powerful exploration of survival, love, and hope, worth picking up at any age.

To create this list, we identified popular YA novels that have an average rating of at least 4 stars on Goodreads. We consulted reviews from the platform's users and trusted, adult-aged content creators to distinguish books as enjoyable for adults, looking for themes, topics, or characters that resonated with readers of all ages. We also strove to create a list diverse in genre, authors, and stories.