Explore the full list of Reese’s YA Book Club books here. This list is filled with stories for young adults looking for book club reading suggestions. You’ll love these Reese’s book club picks because they’re filled with diversity, adventure, family, fun, and history. Let’s get literary!
What is Reese’s YA Book Club?
Reese’s YA Book Club is a subset of actress Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club that offers diverse, female-centric young adult book selections written for teenagers.
Reese Witherspoon announced her young adult book club on Instagram in August 2020, stating:
“I’ve been reading so many incredible, diverse stories in the YA genre and can’t wait to share them with you.”
She announced a final young adult selection in the Winter of 2022. Then, in the Summer of 2024, she surprisingly decided to bring back YA picks!
Quick List of Reese’s YA Book Club Picks
First, if you’re extra curious or in a rush, below is a quick, shoppable list of all the great YA books that made the list.
- You Should See Me in A Crown: Best for fans of Jenny Han and diverse romantic comedies
- Furia: Best for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and #OwnVoices books
- Fable: Best for fans of adventure
- A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow: Best for fans of Love & Gelato
- The Light in Hidden Places: Best for fans of historical fiction
- You Have a Match: Best for fans of family fiction
- Firekeeper’s Daughter (popular pick): Best for fans of The Hate U Give
- Tokyo Ever After: Best for fans of Asian American books and royals
- The Downstairs Girl: Best for fans of Asian American themes and New South dramas
- Within These Wicked Walls: Best for fans of fantasy and thrillers
- Anatomy: Best for fans of romance
- Twelfth Knight: Best for fans of gaming
- Looking for Smoke: Best for Native American themes
RELATED POST
Check out the list of Reese’s book club picks for adults and other celebrity book club picks.
Reese Witherspoon’s Book List for Young Adults: Reading Levels and Recommendations
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
In the first of Reese’s YA Book Club books, You Should See Me in A Crown, Liz is a Black, bisexual teen who has always believed she was too much of an outsider to shine in her small, rich Indiana town. So, she dreams of attending Pennington College, playing in their world-famous orchestra, and becoming a doctor.
When her financial aid falls through, she remembers her school’s prom king and queen scholarship. Although she wants nothing less than to participate in the prom court, she’ll do whatever it takes to go to Pennington.
She begins to fall for the new girl in school, Mack, who’s as much an outsider and is also running for prom queen.
Just like that, prom may either keep Liz from her dreams or make them come true.
Furia by Yamile Saied Mendez
In Furia, Camila lives a double life in Argentina. She’s a daughter living up to her mother’s expectations, and she’s “La Furia,” a rising soccer star playing under her brother’s shadow and the rule of her temperamental father.
When her team qualifies for the South American tournament, she dreams it will lead to an athletic scholarship to a North American university.
But she needs her parents’ permission. Also, the boy she loved, now an international star, is back in town. Camila must find her way in the world as her life gets complicated.
Fable by Adrienne Young
Fable brings the reader to a world made dangerous by the sea and those who wish to profit from it. It’s filled with action, emotion, and lyrical writing as a young girl strives to find her place and her family in a world built for men.
Fable is the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, and the sea is the only home she has ever known. After her mother drowned and her father abandoned her on an island with little food, she trusts no one. Yet, she wishes to find her father and work with his crew.
She enlists the help of a young trader named West, but he isn’t who he seems. Together, they must survive more than treacherous storms to stay alive.
A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey
In A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, Lila Reyes plans to take over her abuela’s role as a baker at their panadería, move in with her friend after graduation, and live happily ever after with her boyfriend. But then Lila’s life fell apart.
So, her parents plan for her to spend three months in Winchester, England, to reset. But England lacks sun, has grumpy townspeople, and lacks Miami flavor.
That’s when he meets Orion Maxwell, a troubled clerk at a teashop who appoints himself as Lila’s personal tour guide. Before long, England (and Orion) feel charming, and she begins to envision a new future.
The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron
In The Light in Hidden Places, Stefania is a Polish Catholic teenager in 1943, working in a grocery store, secretly betrothed to one of the owner’s Jewish sons.
When the German army invades during World War II, the Jewish family is forced into the ghetto, and Stefania is alone, caring for her six-year-old sister.
You Have A Match by Emma Lord
In You Have a Match, Abby signs up for a DNA service and surprisingly learns she has a secret sister: the shimmery-haired Instagram star Savannah Tully.
They meet at summer camp to figure out why Abby’s parents gave Savvy up for adoption. But it’s complicated, as Savvy is a rule-follower, Abby’s love life is put on blast, and their parents have a secret that may unravel everything.
Sometimes, the hardest parts of life are also the best.
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
In Firekeeper’s Daughter, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never fit in, neither in her hometown nor on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start in college, but she puts her future on hold when family tragedy strikes.
Luckily, there’s a charming new member of her brother’s hockey team. As she falls for him, she senses he’s hiding something. It all comes to light when she witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.
She agrees to go undercover to track down the source. This exposes secrets and raises her concern about the focus on punishing the offenders rather than protecting the victims. She must learn what it means to be a strong Ojibwe woman.
Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean
In Tokyo Ever After, The Princess Diaries meets Crazy Rich Asians! Izumi is an outsider as a Japanese American in a small, mostly white, California town. It’s her and her single mom against the world… until she discovers her father is the Crown Prince of Japan. This means Izzy is actually a princess.
She travels to Japan to meet her father, sneaky cousins, the relentless press, and a grumpy (but handsome) bodyguard. She has to learn thousands of years of tradition overnight.
In her quest to live, she becomes caught between two worlds in which she is never enough—America and Japan.
The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
In The Downstairs Girl, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan is a lady’s maid for the mean daughter of a wealthy Atlanta man.
However, she “moonlights” as a newspaper advice columnist for proper Southern ladies at night. In this position, she secretly addresses society’s ills. But, in doing so, encounters backlash about race and gender.
Meanwhile, she researches her past and the parents who abandoned her as a baby. Caught in the crosshairs of Atlanta’s most notorious criminal, she must decide whether to reveal herself.
Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood
Within These Wicked Walls is a heart-stopping fantasy novel described as an Ethiopian remix of Jane Eyre.
Andromeda is an exorcist who would have been hired to cleanse the houses of the Evil Eye– if her mentor hadn’t thrown her out before she earned her license. Now, she must find a rich patron to vouch for her abilities.
When a handsome young heir named Magnus hires her, she ignores his rude and eccentric behavior because she is desperate for a job.
But Magnus is hiding secrets, and there are horrifying manifestations everywhere. If she stays, she will die, but after she falls for Magnus, leaving him to live out his curse alone isn’t an option.
Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz
Anatomy is about a woman named Hazel who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry. Then, she meets a man named Jack, who’s just trying to survive.
When Hazel is kicked out of her lectures for being a woman, her only chance to pass her medical examination on her own is to study corpses. She’s lucky that Jack digs them up for a living.
Together, they work to uncover the secrets buried both in these graves and in their society.
Twelfth Knight by Alexene Farol Follmuth
Twelfth Knight is about “girls and gaming.” The author has said that it offers a remix of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in a 90s/00s romantic comedy format.
Viola Reyes faces challenges both in her personal life and as Vice President of the student body, particularly due to the uncooperative Student Body President, Jack Orsino.
Seeking solace in the MMORPG Twelfth Knight, Vi adopts a male alter ego, Cesario. Unexpectedly, Jack, recovering from a football injury, joins the game as Duke Orsino and their characters form a strong connection.
As their in-game relationship deepens, Vi struggles with the fact that Jack is unaware of her true identity, while Jack starts developing feelings for her in real life.
Looking for Smoke by K.A. Cobell
Looking for Smoke explores themes of loss, betrayal, and complex relationships through a suspenseful narrative.
The story follows Loren, who includes Mara in a traditional Blackfeet Giveaway to honor her missing sister. However, when Samantha White Tail, a participant in the event, is discovered murdered, Mara and the other three attendees—Loren, Brody, and Eli—find themselves entangled in the investigation as prime suspects.
With a web of shared histories and mistrust, the group must work together to uncover the truth and exonerate themselves, all while grappling with the possibility that one of them could be the killer.
Recap
This full list of Reese’s YA Book Club books takes readers on a literary journey through book recommendations for young, diverse female voices. Reese’s recommendations contain tales that captivate, challenge, and inspire readers who are young and/or young at heart.
If you are unsure where to start first or what to read next, Firekeeper’s Daughter is a popular pick that I also read and enjoyed.
remember, it’s a good day to read a book. – jules
