Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Coming of Age, Self Discovery, Good & Evil, Power & Greed
Tags Fantasy, Romance, Horror & Suspense, Gothic Literature
Romance
"The course of true love never did run smooth," wrote William Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night's Dream—and he knew what he was talking about. A text from this study guide collection might be just the thing to remind you of the bliss and pain of love.
Two Twisted Crowns
Uglies
Ugly Love
Under a Painted Sky
Under the Never Sky
Under the Whispering Door
Unravel Me
Until Friday Night
UnWholly
Uprooted
Valley of the Dolls
Vampire Academy
Vampires of El Norte
Vanity Fair
Venus and Adonis
Venus in Furs
Verity
Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire
Veronika Decides To Die
Vicious
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Coming of Age, Self Discovery, Good & Evil, Power & Greed
Tags Fantasy, Romance, Horror & Suspense, Gothic Literature
Publication year 2005
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Beauty, Community, Truth & Lies
Tags Science Fiction, Children`s Literature, Romance, Action & Adventure, Fantasy
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld is a young adult dystopian/science fiction novel and the first book of the Uglies Quartet. Published in 2005, Uglies was awarded the ALA 2006 Best Books for Young Adults award, the ALA 2006 Popular Paperback for Young Adults award, the Kirkus Editor’s Choice award, and the SLJ Best Book of the Year award. Uglies is followed by Pretties, Specials, and Extras.This guide uses the May 2011 Simon & Schuster BFYR paperback... Read Uglies Summary
Publication year 2014
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Grief, Guilt
Tags Love & Sexuality, Modern Classic Fiction, Romance
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Friendship
Tags Historical Fiction, Western, Action & Adventure, Romance, Coming of Age, World History
Under a Painted Sky is a young adult historical novel set on the Oregon Trail during the 1849 Gold Rush. It is a debut novel by Stacey Lee, inspired by her own family history as a fourth-generation Chinese American. The novel won several prizes, including an American Library Association award. Her corpus focuses on Chinese culture and Chinese American experiences. Her other works with these themes include Outrun the Moon (2016), The Downstairs Girl (2019), Luck of... Read Under a Painted Sky Summary
Publication year 2011
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Perseverance, Fear, Guilt, Love, Coming of Age, Self Discovery, Community, Justice, Loyalty & Betrayal, Order & Chaos, Safety & Danger, Science & Technology, Truth & Lies
Tags Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Action & Adventure, Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Death, Trust & Doubt, Mental Health, Grief, Memory
Tags Fantasy, Romance, LGBTQ+, Modern Classic Fiction, Magical Realism, Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 2013
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Family, Good & Evil
Tags Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Asian History, Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Mental Health, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Self Discovery
Tags Romance, Trauma & Abuse, Sports, Modern Classic Fiction
Abbi Glines’s Until Friday Night is a young adult romance novel that follows the relationship between the two protagonists, Maggie Carlton and West Ashby. Maggie’s and West’s alternating first-person narratives reveal their complex feelings for each other and their struggles to navigate falling in love. Their evolving dynamic is the basis for the novel’s themes of Coping with Grief and Trauma, The Development of Teenage Romantic Relationships, and The Role of Communication in Healing. This... Read Until Friday Night Summary
Publication year 2012
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Fear, Coming of Age, Science & Technology
Tags Science Fiction, Politics & Government, Psychology, Technology, Religion & Spirituality, American Literature, Horror & Suspense, Fantasy, Romance
UnWholly (2012) by Neal Shusterman is Book 2 in the Unwind Dystology. Shusterman originally planned the series to be a dystopia trilogy, but the third book, UnSouled, was split into two for publication due to length. While it was nominated for several awards in Young Adult literature, it did not win any, in contrast to the first book of the series, Unwind, which won nearly a dozen awards and prizes.UnWholly is science fiction, specifically YA... Read UnWholly Summary
Publication year 2015
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Hate & Anger, Love, Power & Greed
Tags Fantasy, Romance, Fairy Tale & Folklore, Relationships, Medieval
Uprooted (2016) is a fantasy novel inspired by Polish folktales and written by New York Times bestselling American fantasy author Naomi Novik, best known for her Temeraire series. In Uprooted, a young woman named Agnieszka lives in a small village in a valley on the edge of the deadly Wood. It is the task of the Dragon, a powerful wizard in a nearby tower, to keep the Wood at bay. As payment, the Dragon chooses... Read Uprooted Summary
Publication year 1966
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Fame, Loyalty & Betrayal, Equality, Femininity
Tags Addiction & Substance Abuse, Dramatic Literature, Modern Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Classic Fiction
The novel Valley of the Dolls, originally published in 1966, is a fictional exposé of the lives of three young career women who meet in New York City in 1945, just after the end of World War II. Anne, a recent Radcliffe College graduate, works for a law firm that represents well-known entertainers. Jennifer is an astonishingly beautiful showgirl who marries a famous singer. Neely, only 17, is a budding singer and dancer who eventually... Read Valley of the Dolls Summary
Publication year 2007
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Friendship, Gender Identity, Coming of Age, Self Discovery, Social Class, Power & Greed
Tags Fantasy, Romance, Horror & Suspense, Science Fiction, Religion & Spirituality
Written in 2007 by Richelle Mead, Vampire Academy is the first of six novels in the Vampire Academy series, which follows the coming-of-age journey of Rosemarie “Rose” Hathaway, a dhampir (half vampire) who is training to become a guardian for her best friend, Vasilisa “Lissa” Dragomir. Lissa is a royal Moroi (or full vampire) with mysterious powers. The novel addresses themes of friendship, forbidden romance, and personal responsibility within a school setting. In 2014, Vampire... Read Vampire Academy Summary
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Grief, War, Place, Colonialism
Tags Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Gothic Literature, Science Fiction, Horror & Suspense, World History, Religion & Spirituality
Publication year 1847
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Social Class, Mothers, Power & Greed, Conflict, Forgiveness
Tags Satirical Literature, Victorian Period, Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction, British Literature, Comedy & Satire, World History, Romance, Victorian Era
Vanity Fair is a serialized novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, published from 1847-1848. The novel was subtitled Pen and Pencil Sketches of English Society, then changed to A Novel without a Hero in 1848. The novel’s characters generally lack positive qualities and are obsessed with social climbing and the acquisition of wealth. Vanity Fair has been adapted for film, television, and theatre. This guide uses the 2001 Penguin Classics edition. Content Warning: The source material... Read Vanity Fair Summary
Publication year 1593
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Love, Death, Conflict, Perseverance
Tags Narrative Poem, Classic Fiction, Romance, Mythology, Love & Sexuality, British Literature, World History, Dramatic Literature, Fantasy
Publication year 1870
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Femininity, Masculinity, Sexual Identity, Loyalty & Betrayal, Power & Greed
Tags Love & Sexuality, Psychology, Psychology, Romance, Classic Fiction
Venus in Furs (1870) is a novella by Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, first published as part of his proposed collection of short stories, The Legacy of Cain. Sacher-Masoch planned for the collection to detail his worldview, but he only completed the first two sections. The novella follows Severin von Kusiemski’s time with Wanda von Dunajew, a widow he meets at a health resort, and explores The Exploration of Sexual Power Dynamics, The Psychological Negotiation... Read Venus in Furs Summary
Publication year 2021
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Grief, Guilt, Mothers
Tags Romance, Horror & Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Grief & Death, Love & Sexuality, Relationships, Trauma & Abuse, American Literature, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction
Publication year 2025
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Sexual Identity, Coming of Age, Friendship, Self Discovery, Community, Good & Evil
Tags LGBTQ+, Romance, Fantasy
Publication year 1998
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Mental Health
Tags Philosophy, Psychological Fiction, Romance, Symbolic Narrative, Life-Inspired Fiction, Mental Illness, Modern Classic Fiction, Dramatic Literature, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Classic Fiction
Veronika Decides to Die (1998) is a novel of ideas by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. The novel follows Veronika, a 24-year-old Slovenian woman who decides to die in 1997 because her perfectly normal world has left her apathetic toward life. After Veronika attempts suicide, she finds herself in a psychiatric hospital called Villete. Villete was established in the rift opened by the civil war in Yugoslavia to generate a profit from the issues of the upper... Read Veronika Decides To Die Summary
Publication year 2016
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Forgiveness, Love, Revenge, Coming of Age, Family, Self Discovery, Social Class, Truth & Lies
Tags Romance, New Adult