Editors Reads
Young Adult FictionComing-of-AgeMiddle GradeContemporary YA

Rachel Winters

9 books reviewed 12 articles written

Young Adult Editor, Editors Reads

Rachel Winters reviews young adult and coming-of-age fiction with the conviction that books written for younger readers carry the same demands for craft, honesty, and emotional precision as any other fiction. As Young Adult Editor at Editors Reads, she is interested in writers who remember what it felt like to be seventeen — the intensity, the confusion, the sense that every decision is permanent — and in books that take those feelings seriously rather than resolving them too easily.

9 Books Reviewed

The Giver book cover
BestsellerEditor's Pick

The Giver

by Lois Lowry

4.5

Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a Community where pain, conflict, and choice have been eradicated through Sameness — until the Ceremony of Twelve assigns him the singular role of Receiver of Memory, forcing him to carry the full weight of human history and exposing the quiet violence that keeps his world frictionless.

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The Knife of Never Letting Go book cover
Editor's Pick
4.5

Todd Hewitt is the last boy in Prentisstown — a colony world where a germ has made everyone's thoughts audible as constant Noise — until he discovers a pocket of silence in the swamp and finds Viola, the first girl he has ever seen, whose ship crashed nearby.

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Check & Mate book cover

Check & Mate

by Ali Hazelwood

4.1

Mallory Greenleaf quit competitive chess at seventeen after beating the world's top-ranked player, Nolan Sawyer, in a casual game. Two years later, a financial crisis forces her back into competition — and back into Nolan's orbit.

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Concrete Rose book cover

Concrete Rose

by Angie Thomas

4.1

The prequel to The Hate U Give — seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter navigates early fatherhood, gang loyalty, and the decision of who to become in Garden Heights in 1998.

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Legend book cover
Bestseller

Legend

by Marie Lu

4.0

In a fractured future Republic of America, June — the regime's most gifted military prodigy — is tasked with hunting down Day, a wanted fugitive and folk hero from the slums, and the dual first-person structure places them on a collision course before forcing both to question everything they believed about the world they serve.

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On the Come Up book cover

On the Come Up

by Angie Thomas

4.0

Bri, sixteen, is the daughter of a legendary rapper who died before he made it. She wants to be the greatest rapper of all time — and writes a song that goes viral for all the wrong reasons.

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Delirium book cover
Bestseller

Delirium

by Lauren Oliver

3.5

In a future America where love has been classified as a disease called amor deliria nervosa, eighteen-year-old Lena counts the days until her cure — until she meets Alex.

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Matched book cover
Bestseller

Matched

by Ally Condie

3.5

In the Society where every choice is made by Officials — including who you will marry — seventeen-year-old Cassia is Matched with her best friend Xander but briefly sees the face of another boy, setting off a chain of doubt she cannot suppress.

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Shatter Me book cover
Bestseller

Shatter Me

by Tahereh Mafi

3.5

Juliette Ferrars has been locked in isolation for 264 days because her touch is lethal. When the dystopian Reestablishment decides to weaponize her, she must navigate a world of power, control, and an unexpected connection with someone who can survive her touch.

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Articles by Rachel Winters

guide

Where to Start with Erin Hunter: A Reading Guide

Where to start with Erin Hunter — whether to begin with Warriors Into the Wild, Fire and Ice, or Forest of Secrets. A complete guide to the Warriors cat series.

guide

Where to Start with Tomi Adeyemi: A Reading Guide

Where to start with Tomi Adeyemi — whether to begin with Children of Blood and Bone or Children of Virtue and Vengeance. A complete reading guide.

list

Best Books for High School Students: Essential Reading List

The best books for high school students — classics and contemporary novels that challenge, inspire, and endure. From To Kill a Mockingbird to The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

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Best Books for Teens: Essential Reading for Young Adults

The best books for teens — from The Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies to The Hunger Games and The Hate U Give. Essential reading for young adults and teenagers.

list

Best Books to Read in Your Twenties: Essential List for Young Adults

The best books to read in your twenties — novels, philosophy, and non-fiction that ask the right questions at the right moment. Books that challenge, expand, and stay with you.

list

Best Coming-of-Age Novels: Essential Reading List

The best coming-of-age novels — from The Catcher in the Rye and The Perks of Being a Wallflower to Educated and The Kite Runner. Books that capture what it's like to become who you are.

guide

John Green Books in Order: Complete Bibliography & Best Starting Points

John Green's complete bibliography in order — from The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska to Turtles All the Way Down. Best starting points for new readers.

guide

Where to Start with Jenny Han: A Reading Guide

Where to start with Jenny Han — whether to begin with To All the Boys I've Loved Before, The Summer I Turned Pretty, or P.S. I Still Love You. A complete reading guide.

guide

Where to Start with J.K. Rowling: A Reading Guide

Where to start with J.K. Rowling — why to begin with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and what to expect from the seven-book series. A complete reading guide.

guide

Where to Start with Lois Lowry: A Reading Guide

Where to start with Lois Lowry — whether to begin with The Giver, Number the Stars, or Gathering Blue. A complete reading guide to the two-time Newbery Medal winner.

guide

Where to Start with Patrick Ness: A Reading Guide

Where to start with Patrick Ness — whether to begin with The Knife of Never Letting Go or A Monster Calls. A complete reading guide to the Carnegie Medal-winning YA novelist.

guide

Where to Start with Philip Pullman: A Reading Guide

Where to start with Philip Pullman — why to begin with The Golden Compass and what to expect from His Dark Materials. A complete reading guide.

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