YA Book Prize 2023 shortlist
by Sophie Green
The shortlist for this year's YA Book Prize has been announced! Discover some of the best YA books, available to borrow for free on our catalogue.
The YA Book Prize launched in 2014 to celebrate great books for teenagers and young adults and aims to get more teens reading and buying books.
Twin Crowns, by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber
Two sisters. One throne. Who will ultimately rise to power and wear the crown? Wren Greenrock has always known that one day she would steal her sister's place in the palace. Trained from birth to avenge her parents' murder and usurp the princess, she will do anything to rise to power and protect the community of witches she loves. Princess Rose Valhart knows that with power comes responsibility including marriage into a brutal kingdom.
Life outside the palace walls is a place to be feared and she is soon to discover that it's wilder than she ever imagined. Twin sisters separated at birth and raised into entirely different worlds are about to get to know each other's lives a whole lot better.
The Eternal Return of Clara Hart, by Louise Finch
Spence and Anthony have been friends for years, but it's only when he witnesses a classmate die in what looks like a tragic accident at a house party that a flicker in the fabric of time helps Spence 'see' Anthony for the first time. When Spence wakes up to the same day again and sees Clara, the girl who died, alive and well, it's clear he's been granted a second chance. And a third. And a fourth.
Caught in a loop, condemned to experience the same 24 hours over and over, Spence tries to prevent the terrible events of the party. To break the spell he has to re-evaluate everything he previously took for granted and find the courage to call out his own and others complicity in events that marked the life and death of Clara Hart.
Borrow The Eternal Return of Clara Hart →
Five Survive, by Holly Jackson
From the author of Good Girl, Bad Blood.
Eighteen year old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. It's a long drive but spirits are high. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realise that this is no accident. There's a sniper out there. He's watching them and he knows exactly who they are. One of the group has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for. As a game of cat-and-mouse plays out, the group desperately tries to get help.
Buried secrets are forced to light and tensions within the group reach deadly levels. Only one thing is for sure. Not everyone will survive the night.
When Our Worlds Collided, by Danielle Jawando
When fourteen-year-old Shaq is stabbed outside of a busy shopping centre in Manchester, three teenagers from very different walks of life are unexpectedly brought together. What follows flips their worlds upside down and makes Chantelle, Jackson and Marc question the deep-rooted prejudice and racism that exists within the police, the media and the rest of society.
Borrow When Our Worlds Collided →
The Songs You've Never Heard, by Becky Jerams and Ellie Wyatt
Dual-written by a BAFTA-winning children's composer and a K-pop hit writer, 'The Songs You've Never Heard' is a debut YA novel that champions sisterhood, musical talent and body positivity.
Borrow The Songs You've Never Heard →
The Cats We Meet Along the Way, by Nadia Mikail
Seventeen-year-old Aisha hasn't seen her sister June for two years. And now that a calamity is about to end the world in nine months' time, she and her mother decide that it's time to track her down and mend the hurts of the past. Along with Aisha's boyfriend, Walter and his parents (and Fleabag the stray cat), the group take a roadtrip through Malaysia in a wildly decorated campervan - to put the past to rest, to come to terms with the present, and to hope for the future.
Borrow The Cats We Meet Along the Way →
Her Dark Wings, by Melinda Salisbury
'Her Dark Wings' is a modern-day take on the Persephone myth, infused with the intense potency of teenage passions. The richness of Greek myth is vividly brought to life by the immediacy and originality of a fiery, contemporary drama. And iconic mythic figures crackle and change as a modern girl fills the Underworld with new life.
If You Still Recognise Me, by Cynthia So
Elsie has a crush on Ada, the only person in the world who truly understands her. Unfortunately, they've never met in real life and Ada lives an ocean away. But Elsie has decided it's now or never to tell Ada how she feels. That is, until her long-lost best friend Joan walks back into her life. In a summer of repairing broken connections and building surprising new ones, Elsie realises that she isn't nearly as alone as she thought. But now she has a choice to make.
Borrow If You Still Recognise Me →
The Society for Soulless Girls, by Laura Steven
Ten years ago, four students lost their lives in the infamous North Tower murders at the elite Carvell College of Arts, forcing Carvell to close its doors. Now Carvell is reopening, and fearless student Lottie is determined to find out what really happened. But when her roommate, Alice, stumbles upon a sinister soul-splitting ritual hidden in Carvell's haunted library, the North Tower claims another victim. Can Lottie uncover the truth before the North Tower strikes again? Can Alice reverse the ritual before her monstrous alter ego consumes her? And can they stop flirting for literally fifteen seconds in order to do this?
Borrow The Society for Soulless Girls →
Kemosha of the Caribbean, by Alex Wheatle
Kemosha and her brother have lived their whole lives in slavery. Sold away to work in lawless Port Royal, Kemosha takes her chance to escape brutal treatment. With fortune on her side, Kemosha befriends Ravenhide, a man with a mysterious past who teaches her the art of swordfighting, and introduces her to the beautiful runaway Isabella. Yet Kemosha's greatest test yet is upon the deck of the Satisfaction: the notorious Captain Morgan's ship. His next adventure on the high seas could be the making of Kemosha - and her one chance to earn enough pieces of eight to buy the freedom of her brother.
Borrow Kemosha of the Caribbean →
Take a look at our recommended books for young adults.