books about teenage girls and their strangeness, their meanness, their strength, their fierce emotions, their escapes — the hell occupied only by the teenage girl

hell is a teenage girl

R. F. Kuang

PangoBooks readers are overwhelmingly positive about this book, citing its stunning and brutal depiction of war, deep world-building, and engaging writing. Many praise R.F. Kuang's ability to weave Chinese mythology, politics, and historical elements, likening it to a darker, more adult version of "Avatar: The Last Airbender." The book is intense and emotionally gripping, capturing the horror of war and complex moral dilemmas. Some readers noted minor issues with pacing and character development, but these were generally overshadowed by the book's overall impact and the main protagonist's compelling journey. Caution is advised due to graphic content, and many recommend checking trigger warnings before diving in.

Owlcrate Exclusive pin inspired by the book 'The Poppy War' from Owlcrate's Febuary 2025 box. 

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Wisconsin

A Library Journal Best Books of 2018 pick! Washington Post "5 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novel of 2018" pick! A Bustle "30 Best Fiction Books of 2018" pick! “I have no doubt this will end up being the best fantasy debut of the year [...] I have absolutely no doubt that [Kuang’s] name will be up there with the likes of Robin Hobb and N.K. Jemisin.” -- Booknest A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic, in the tradition of Ken Liu’s Grace of Kings and N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy. When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising. But surprises aren’t always good. Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school. For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . . Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.

Owlcrate Exclusive 'The Poppy War' Pin

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A Novel

The Poppy War

Megan Lally

Virginia

She thought she had her life back. She was wrong. A gripping debut thriller perfect for fans of Natalie D. Richards and Vincent Ralph. It was a mistake to trust him. Shivering and bruised, a teen wakes up on the side of a dirt road with no memory of how she got there-or who she is. A passing officer takes her to the police station, and not long after, a frantic man arrives. He's been searching for her for hours. He has her school ID, her birth certificate, and even family photos. He is her father. Her name is Mary. Or so he says. When Lola slammed the car door and stormed off into the night, Drew thought they just needed some time to cool off. Except Lola disappeared, and the sheriff, his friends, and the whole town are convinced Drew murdered his girlfriend. Forget proving his innocence, he needs to find her before it's too late. The longer Lola is missing, the fewer leads there are to follow...and the more danger they are both are in.

That's Not My Name

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Emery Lord

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Pennsylvania

A poignant and powerful story of a grieving girl willing to risk everything, perfect for fans of Robin Benway and Jandy Nelson. On prom night, Hannah MacLaren sits in the headmaster's office in her fanciest dress, soaked to the bone. She pulled the fire alarm right as the queen was about to be crowned, and she's in huge trouble. But Hannah had her reasons for ruining the biggest night of everyone's lives. One year ago, her cousin Sophie, who was also her best friend and the person she loved most in the world, died of an overdose. Drowning in grief, Hannah became obsessed with one question: Who gave Sophie those pills? Then she concocted a plan: enroll at her cousin's fancy private school with a new look and a mouthful of lies, and find out the truth once and for all. But she didn't expect all the lines to blur. She didn't expect Sophie's friends to be so complicated. She didn't expect to fall for her longtime enemy. Now, she has a choice: let herself really mourn Sophie and move on, or see her search through to its explosive end--even if it means destroying herself.

All That's Left to Say

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Jennifer Dugan

California

In this queer YA psychological thriller from the author of Some Girls Do and Hot Dog Girl, the sole surviving counselors of a summer camp massacre search to uncover the truth of what happened that fateful night, but what they find out might just get them killed. Sloan and Cherry. Cherry and Sloan. They met only a few days before masked men with machetes attacked the summer camp where they worked, a massacre that left the rest of their fellow counselors dead. Now, months later, the two are inseparable, their traumatic experience bonding them in ways no one else can understand. But as new evidence comes to light and Sloan learns more about the motives behind the ritual killing that brought them together, she begins to suspect that her girlfriend may be more than just a survivor—she may actually have been a part of it. Cherry tries to reassure her, but Sloan only becomes more distraught. Is this gaslighting or reality? Is Cherry a victim or a perpetrator? Is Sloan confused, or is she seeing things clearly for the very first time? Against all odds, Sloan survived that hot summer night. But will she survive what comes next?

The Last Girls Standing

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Brooke Lauren Davis

New York

A twisty YA thriller about a girl who revels in leading ghost tours, but discovers that even she can be spooked when a chilling murder hits closer to home.

An Indie Next pick!

Roxie Clark has seen more dead bodies than your average seventeen-year-old. As a member of the supposedly-cursed Clark family, most of her ancestors have met tragic ends, including her own mother. Instead of fearing the curse, however, Roxie has combined her flair for performance and her gruesome family history into a successful ghost tour. But her tour never covers the most recent body she's seen--her sister Skylar's boyfriend, Colin Riley, found murdered in a cornfield.

A year after the murder, Roxie's desperate to help Skylar find closure and start to heal. Instead, Skylar becomes fixated on finding the killer. As the sisters dig into what really happened, they discover that more than one person has been lying about that night. And the closer they get to the truth, the more Roxie starts to wonder if some scary stories might be better left untold. Brooke Lauren Davis offers another thought-provoking and eerily satisfying tale, perfect for fans of Kara Thomas and Cruel Summer.

After Dark with Roxie Clark

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Melissa de la Cruz

"An intense rollercoaster of a thriller and a searing indictment of which victims get our attention and sympathy."

-#1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu



In this ripped-from-the-headlines Gone Girl meets A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1 New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz weaves a white-knuckle YA thriller about a beautiful young influencer who vanishes after going on vacation with her boyfriend.



#WhereisAmeliaAshley



The Influencer

Amelia Ashley shares everything with her followers - her favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants, her best fashion tips, and her European trip-of-a-lifetime with her hot boyfriend.



The Boyfriend

Josh has no choice but to return home without Amelia after she abandons him in Rome. He has no clue where she went or how her blood got in his suitcase. Why won't anyone believe him?



The Hacker

To Harper Delgado, Amelia Ashley is just another missing white girl whipping up a media frenzy. But with each digital knot she untangles about the influencer, Harper wonders: who is Amelia Ashley?



The Other Girl

Two years ago, another girl went missing, one who never made headlines or had a trending hashtag.



The Truth

Amelia's disappearance has captured the world's attention. What comes next? Watch this space...



Told through a mixture of social media posts, diary entries, and firsthand accounts, Going Dark is a gripping, suspenseful thriller about all the missing girls who fall off the radar, perfect for true crime fans and readers of One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus.



 

Going Dark

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Kalynn Bayron

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

New York Times bestselling author Kalynn Bayron teases and torments in this high-concept YA horror, perfect for fans of White Smoke and The Honeys.

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

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Courtney Gould

Two sisters travel to an isolated Arizona town to investigate its connection to their mother’s death, but uncover more than they bargained for in this supernatural thriller from the author of The Dead and the Dark. Beck Birsching has been adrift since the death of her mother, a brilliant but troubled investigative reporter. She can’t stop herself from slipping into memories of happier days, longing for a time when things were more normal. So when a mysterious letter in her mother’s handwriting arrives in the mail that reads Come and find me, pointing to the small town at the center of her last investigation, Beck hopes that it may hold the answers. But when Beck and her sister Riley arrive in Backravel, Arizona, it’s clear that something’s off. There are no cars, no cemeteries, no churches. The town is a mix of dilapidated military structures and new, shiny buildings, all overseen by a gleaming treatment center high on a plateau. No one seems to remember when they got there, and when Beck digs deeper into the town’s enigmatic leader and his daughter, Avery, she begins to suspect that they know more than they’re letting on. As Beck and her sister search for answers about their mother, she and Avery are increasingly drawn together, and their unexpected connection brings up emotions Beck has fought to keep buried. Beck is desperate to hold onto the way things used to be, but when she starts losing herself in Backravel—and its connection to her mother— she risks losing her way back out. In Where Echoes Die, Courtney Gould draws readers into a haunting desert town to explore grief, the weight of not letting go of the past, first love, and the bonds between sisters, mothers and daughters.

Where Echoes Die

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Krystal Sutherland

PangoBooks readers overwhelmingly praise this book for its captivating and original storyline, blending elements of paranormal horror and fantasy thriller. They appreciate the well-paced horror and the unique, mystical elements that drive the narrative, keeping them hooked from start to finish. The mysterious and eerie atmosphere, coupled with vivid and often unsettling descriptions, creates a hauntingly beautiful reading experience. Readers highlight the strong character development, especially the intriguing journey of the three sisters, and express a desire for more stories set in this dark, fantastical world. The plot twists and the big reveal at the end leave readers both surprised and in awe, solidifying its place as a standout read.

A dark, twisty modern fairytale where three sisters discover they are not exactly all that they seem and evil things really do go bump in the night.

Iris Hollow and her two older sisters are unquestionably strange. Ever since they disappeared on a suburban street in Scotland as children only to return a month a later with no memory of what happened to them, odd, eerie occurrences seem to follow in their wake. And they're changing. First, their dark hair turned white. Then, their blue eyes slowly turned black. They have insatiable appetites yet never gain weight. People find them disturbingly intoxicating, unbearably beautiful, and inexplicably dangerous.

But now, ten years later, seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow is doing all she can to fit in and graduate high school on time--something her two famously glamourous globe-trotting older sisters, Grey and Vivi, never managed to do. But when Grey goes missing without a trace, leaving behind bizarre clues as to what might have happened, Iris and Vivi are left to trace her last few days. They aren't the only ones looking for her though. As they brush against the supernatural they realize that the story they've been told about their past is unraveling and the world that returned them seemingly unharmed ten years ago, might just be calling them home.

Texas

"Iris and Vivi work to uncover their dark, dangerous, and possibly magical past when their older sister Grey goes missing"--

House of Hollow

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Courtney Summers

The next searing and groundbreaking queer young adult novel from New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-winning author Courtney Summers, already hailed as...

"A stirring, thought-provoking thriller."--Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author of The Push

"A stunner."--Kate Elizabeth Russell, New York Times bestselling author of My Dark Vanessa

"Powerful."--Angeline Boulley, #1 New York Times bestselling and Printz Award-winning author of Firekeeper's Daughter

All sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis wants is everything, but the poverty and hardship that defines her life has kept her from the beautiful and special things she knows she deserves. When she stumbles upon the dead body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James, Georgia teams up with Ashley's older sister Nora, to find the killer before he strikes again, and their investigation throws Georgia into a glittering world of unimaginable privilege and wealth--and all she's ever dreamed. But behind every dream lurks a nightmare, and Georgia must reconcile her heart's desires with what it really takes to survive. As Ashley's killer closes in and their feelings for one another grow, Georgia and Nora will discover when money, power, and beauty rule, it's not always a matter of who is guilty but who is guiltiest--and the only thing that might save them is each other.

A spiritual successor to the breakout hit Sadie, I'm the Girl is a brutal and illuminating account of how one young woman feels in her body as she struggles to navigate a deadly and predatory power structure while asking readers one question: if this is the way the world is, do you accept it?

I'm the Girl

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Kathleen Glasgow

Liz Lawson

Florida

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Who killed Brooke Donovan? It's the biggest mystery of the summer, and everyone in Castle Cove thinks they know what happened. But they're wrong. Two unlikely friends come together to solve the case in this fast-paced, fun, modern Agatha Christie inspired thriller.

"Part Agatha Christie, part Veronica Mars, and completely entertaining." --Karen M. McManus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One Of Us Is Lying

A PEOPLE MAGAZINE BEST BOOK OF SUMMER

Last summer, Alice Ogilvie's basketball-star boyfriend Steve dumped her. Then she disappeared for five days. She's not talking, so where she went and what happened to her is the biggest mystery in Castle Cove. Or it was, at least. But now, another one of Steve's girlfriends has vanished: Brooke Donovan, Alice's ex-best friend. And it doesn't look like Brooke will be coming back. . .
 
Enter Iris Adams, Alice's tutor. Iris has her own reasons for wanting to disappear, though unlike Alice, she doesn't have the money or the means. That could be changed by the hefty reward Brooke's grandmother is offering to anyone who can share information about her granddaughter's whereabouts. The police are convinced Steve is the culprit, but Alice isn't so sure, and with Iris on her side, she just might be able to prove her theory.
 
In order to get the reward and prove Steve's innocence, they need to figure out who killed Brooke Donovan. And luckily Alice has exactly what they need--the complete works of Agatha Christie. If there's anyone that can teach the girls how to solve a mystery it's the master herself. But the town of Castle Cove holds many secrets, and Alice and Iris have no idea how much danger they're about to walk into.

The Agathas*

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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Who killed Brooke Donovan? It's the biggest mystery of the summer, and everyone in Castle Cove thinks it's the wrong guy. Fans of One of Us Is Lying and Riverdale can't miss this page-turning who-done-it that's sure to be the next must read Young Adult thriller!

Last summer, Alice Ogilvie's basketball-star boyfriend Steve dumped her. Then she disappeared for five days. She's not talking, so where she went and what happened to her is the biggest mystery in Castle Cove. Or it was, at least. But now, another one of Steve's girlfriends has vanished: Brooke Donovan, Alice's ex-best friend. And it doesn't look like Brooke will be coming back. . .
 
Enter Iris Adams, Alice's tutor. Iris has her own reasons for wanting to disappear, though unlike Alice, she doesn't have the money or the means. That could be changed by the hefty reward Brooke's grandmother is offering to anyone who can share information about her granddaughter's whereabouts. The police are convinced Steve is the culprit, but Alice isn't so sure, and with Iris on her side, she just might be able to prove her theory.
 
In order to get the reward and prove Steve's innocence, they need to figure out who killed Brooke Donovan. And luckily Alice has exactly what they need--the complete works of Agatha Christie. If there's anyone that can teach the girls how to solve a mystery it's the master herself. But the town of Castle Cove holds many secrets, and Alice and Iris have no idea how much danger they're about to walk into. 

The Agathas

Kayla Cottingham

Iowa

When transfer student Finch Chamberlin and popular senior Selena St. Clair accidentally wake something terrifying and ancient in the depths of their school, they must work together to stop the horror they unleashed before it consumes the town.

hell is a teenage girl

books about teenage girls and their strangeness, their meanness, their strength, their fierce emotions, their escapes — the hell occupied only by the teenage girl

Jamie

R. F. Kuang

The Poppy War

Megan Lally

That's Not My Name

Emery Lord

All That's Left to Say

Jennifer Dugan

The Last Girls Standing

Brooke Lauren Davis

After Dark with Roxie Clark

Melissa de la Cruz

Going Dark

Kalynn Bayron

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

Courtney Gould

Where Echoes Die

Krystal Sutherland

House of Hollow

Courtney Summers

I'm the Girl

Kathleen Glasgow

The Agathas

Kayla Cottingham

My Dearest Darkest

Browse by categories

hell is a teenage girl

books about teenage girls and their strangeness, their meanness, their strength, their fierce emotions, their escapes — the hell occupied only by the teenage girl

Jamie

R. F. Kuang

The Poppy War

Megan Lally

That's Not My Name

Emery Lord

All That's Left to Say

Jennifer Dugan

The Last Girls Standing

Brooke Lauren Davis

After Dark with Roxie Clark

Melissa de la Cruz

Going Dark

Kalynn Bayron

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

Courtney Gould

Where Echoes Die

Krystal Sutherland

House of Hollow

Courtney Summers

I'm the Girl

Kathleen Glasgow

The Agathas

Kayla Cottingham

My Dearest Darkest