The Best YA Books of 2014

In The Last Days of California: A Novel by Mary Miller, 14-year-old Jess and her family leave Alabama and head west to California to prepare for the Second Coming. Her religious parents plan to save as many people as possible during their trip, leaving angsty, teenaged Jess unsure about who she is and what she believes.

Susan Minot weaves together two young women's stories in Thirty Girls, including that of a Ugandan teenager who's facing life-or-death challenges and an American journalist who's traveled to Africa to cover the people's struggles.

When 19-year-old Ruthie's mother disappears, she starts searching for clues and discovers a girl's diary from the early 1900s. The Winter People is a literary thriller that follows Ruthie's investigation, plus all the ways it's weaved into the mysterious history of a small Vermont town.

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy is a young-adult novel about Alice, a 16-year-old girl who's diagnosed with leukemia and decides to make amends and find revenge on the wrongs of her life — only to go into remission and have to deal with what she's done.

Every Day Is For the Thief by Teju Cole follows a young Nigerian who leaves his home in NYC to return to Lagos. In reconnecting with friends and family and rediscovering the city, he learns what's changed both in his home country and in himself.

Bestselling author Lauren Oliver's new young-adult novel Panic follows a group of graduating seniors in a small New York town who compete for a cash prize in a game called Panic. Along with the high-stakes game come love, friendship, and a group of coming-of-age characters wondering what's next.

Touching on love and culture and coming of age, Dinaw Mengestu's All Our Names tells the story of two men who grow up in the midst of an African revolution, only to grow apart as one joins the movement and the other heads to America.

Fans of The Wizard of Oz will appreciate Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige, a witty, action-packed read that follows a girl from Kansas who finds herself at the center of Oz drama she never expected. When she arrives in Oz, Amy Gumm finds that Dorothy's grown power hungry and it isn't clear who to trust. Having been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, Amy knows one thing for sure: Dorothy must die.

Anywhere But Here author Mona Simpson's Casebook: A Novel follows a young boy's journey to discover more about his troubled family. Miles finds himself spying on his parents from the inside, enlisting the help of his friend Hector as he struggles to reconcile what he finds and searches for a happily ever after.

In what The Perks of Being a Wallflower author Stephen Chbosky calls "a stunning debut," author Ava Dellaira tells the story of Laurel, who struggles with a school assignment — to write a letter to a dead person. The book, called Love Letters to the Dead, follows Laurel's journey as she writes letter after letter to people like Amy Winehouse, Heath Ledger, and Kurt Cobain, who her late sister once loved. Through her writing, Laurel remembers pieces of her past she'd hidden away, learning more about who she is and who her sister had truly been.

Love and Treasure by Ayelet Waldman moves between the past and present as a man named Jack gives his granddaughter, Natalie, a special necklace, instructing her to search for an unknown woman. The assignment sends Natalie down a surprising path of secrets and treasures as she comes to understand more about herself and the complicated life of her grandfather.

Edward St. Aubyn's Lost For Words is a satirical novel that follows a quirky group of literary hopefuls vying for a prestigious book award.

Mixing myth and modern-day reality, author Porochista Khakpour tells the story of Zal, an Iranian boy who thinks he's a bird following years of torture in The Last Illusion: A Novel.

The Fault in Our Stars author John Green calls We Were Liars by E. Lockhart "thrilling, beautiful, and blisteringly smart." In it, there's a group of four friends called The Liars, and one of them, a girl named Cady, is part of a distinguished, mysterious family.

Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See follows Marie-Laure, a Parisian girl, and Werner, an orphan who finds himself at an academy for Hitler Youth. The pair's stories intertwine in occupied France as they both try to survive World War II.

Kendall and Kylie Jenner's book, Rebels: City of Indra — the Story of Lex and Livia, is a dystopian novel about two superpowered girls who set out on a journey in a future world.

Bestselling author Lisa See's China Dolls is set in 1930s San Francisco, where three young women find themselves facing suspicion and cultural confusion after the Pearl Harbor attack.

Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern is a young adult novel. In it, a teen with cerebral palsy gets to know a boy who struggles with OCD, finding an unlikely friend to help her through her senior year of high school.

Bestselling author Chris Bohjalian writes about a homeless teen, Emily, who befriends a homeless boy while running from her past in Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands: A Novel. Jodi Picoult calls the book "a masterpiece of narrative voice, of emotion, and of how . . . the sparest of words can hold a wealth of pain."

In the wake of an explosive fight with her mother, The Bone Clocks finds teenaged Holly Sykes running away from home — forever. Holly is no ordinary girl: her psychic abilities have given her the ability to come in contact with voices. The further she gets away from home, the more she realizes that her reality, and everything she knew, is turning upside down.

Actress Bella Thorne added author to her résumé with her debut novel Autumn Falls, which tells the story of a redheaded outsider whose wishes start coming true when she writes them in her late father's journal.

Ugly Girls by Lindsay Hunter is a novel about a complicated friendship between two girls, Perry and Baby Girl, and the alleged high school boy who's been following them.

Get the next chapter of the Pretty Little Liars story with Vicious by Sara Shepard. The four heroines are being tried for the murder of their friend, Alison DiLaurentis — will they prove their innocence?

Travel back to the early 20th century with The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant. This coming-of-age novel tells the story of a young Jewish girl growing up in Boston.

No Place to Fall by Jaye Robin Brown revolves around a young girl pursuing her dream of singing and performing. Along the way, she deals with first love and family complications.

King Dork Approximately is the highly anticipated follow-up to Frank Portman's cult classic, King Dork. Catch up with Tom Henderson, the young hero still suffering from memory loss.