What are good book recommendations? Does anyone know any YA books in general that has no romance? It is hard to find non-romantic books for teens nowadays.
Last Updated: 22.06.2025 11:52
Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories. I read this as a young adult/teen but it wasn’t until I was an adult when I discovered the Roger Corman series of movies with Vincent Price! These introduce horror, science fiction, and detective fiction all at one. They’re very approachable, and, in some cases, hilarious! I am fortunate enough to have my grandfather’s copy of Poe’s complete tales and it’s an absolute treasure!
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—Need I say more?
Silas Marner by George Eliot. This is not a romance per se. It’s about a lonely man who takes in an orphaned girl only to have to fight to keep her when her biological parents come along and want her back. It’s powerful and endearing about the true nature of family and parenthood. Moral: your parents are not necessarily the people who give birth to you.
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Hope this gives you some ideas!
My recommendations focus more on the “classic” end of the spectrum. Most of these are books I ready when I was a “young adult.”
Wizard of Earthsea (and all associated books thereof) Ursula K. LeGuin. Excellent, excellent series of books and NO romance.
The Time Quartet by Madeleine L’Engle. Should need no explantion. This series begins with A Wrinkle in Time and goes on from there.
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. “Usher II” is my personal favorite, which means you will need, as a prerequisite, to read Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories. Speaking of….
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings—Do I really need to go into why?
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Horatio Hornblower Series by C. S. Forester. This is a classic adventure series by one of the 20th century’s most popular adventure writers. It’s based during the Napoleonic Wars, which makes it a precurser to Bernerd Cornwell’s Sharpe series. Did I mention there’s a Gregory Peck movie with Captain Hornblower? Forester also wrote the original book African Queen (with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn) was based on. This was, in turn, based on a real-life event and it draws your attention to a little-talked about part of WWI—the war in Africa.
Foundation and I Robot Isaac Asimov. Note: These are both the the first books in two different series. Asimov eventually combined the two series. It’s genius!
Metamorphoses by Ovid. Yes, this is good for young adults! Ovid was the introduction to Greek mythology once upon a time and you can find editions with straightforward translations. Greek mythology isn’t pretty, but it’s not graphic. Ovid’s version of the myths focuses on those where a person turns into something else, hence the title. Just be careful about reading Ovid’s other works. He wrote some pretty suggestive love poetry too. Stick with the myths for now!
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Tales from Shakespeare Charles and Mary Lamb—This is a classic based on classics. If you aren’t quite ready to tackle Shakepseare himself, this will give you an overview of what each play is about. Isaac Asimov also wrote his own version so if you can locate that, feel free to substitute!
The Chronicles of Narnia C. S. Lewis. I’ve always loved this. They’re childish today, perhaps, but sometimes you need a little bit of that innocence to get you through some really tough times.
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper—This is a five book series and one of the absolute BEST series dealing with the Arthurian legends. You get to traipse from Cornwall to Wales and everywhere in between. Just writing about it makes me want to go re-read it!
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. George MacDonald was the first true fantasy writer. You get a glimpse of Tolkien’s goblins in The Hobbit in this particular book. There’s a sequal called The Princess and Curdie which has a little more romance, but still isn’t a romantasy. George MacDonald isn’t well-known these days except outside very small, usually ultra religious circles. It’s a pity becuase like Tolkien, he doesn’t actually read like he’s religious at all. It’s not some grand allegory either. Just imagination.
Harry Potter J. K. Rowling
I would wager it was hard to find a non-romantic books for teens since the beginning of the novel itself. Samuel Richardson, Fanny Burney, Ann Radcliffee and Jane Austen all wrote books with a decidedly romantic bent to them. It’s a holdover from a time when women (and often men) married in their teens.
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