Hardcover, paperback, e-reader… audiobook!
Good morning! Audiobooks are real books! 📚🎧
— Epic Reads 🌸 (@EpicReads) August 18, 2019
There are so many ways to enjoy your favorite books, and audiobooks in particular are great for when you want to be reading (i.e. all the time, duh) but might be doing another activity too, like driving or cooking. Audiobooks can be harder to find than other formats, or your may need a subscription. But fear not! If you have a Spotify account, you’re in luck.
Spotify isn’t just a go-to for music anymore. Podcasts first started finding their way onto the streaming platform, and now audiobooks have too! We’re super excited about this latest addition and went for a deep dive—because how do you find the audiobooks?
The quickest way is to go to your Spotify and look on the left side. Under “Home,” click on “Browse.” Your screen should show a list of “Genres & Moods,” the first of six options. Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the screen. There will be a genre bubble that says “Word” with its own little word bubble with quotations in it. Give that a click. The screen will show you a list of popular playlists from lists of poetry to short stories to classics divided by author. Of course, you can also just dive in and start searching book titles and author names!
We’ve already done some searching for you and have completed a list of YA books we’ve found on Spotify. We hope they add more YA books soon!
22 YA Audiobooks on Spotify
YOU CAN LISTEN TO NOW
1. You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson, narrated by Alaska Jackson
Liz Lighty has always believed she’s too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed Midwestern town. But it’s okay – Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.
But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz’s plans come crashing down…until she’s reminded of her school’s scholarship for prom king and queen. There’s nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington.
The only thing that makes it halfway bearable is the new girl in school, Mack. She’s smart, funny, and just as much of an outsider as Liz. But Mack is also in the running for queen. Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams…or make them come true?
2. The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert, narrated by Robin Eller and Cary Hite
Marva Sheridan was born ready for this day. She’s always been driven to make a difference in the world, and what better way than to vote in her first election?
Duke Crenshaw is so done with this election. He just wants to get voting over with so he can prepare for his band’s first paying gig tonight.
Only problem? Duke can’t vote.
When Marva sees Duke turned away from their polling place, she takes it upon herself to make sure his vote is counted. She hasn’t spent months doorbelling and registering voters just to see someone denied their right.
And that’s how their whirlwind day begins, rushing from precinct to precinct, cutting school, waiting in endless lines, turned away time and again, trying to do one simple thing: vote. They may have started out as strangers, but as Duke and Marva team up to beat a rigged system (and find Marva’s missing cat), it’s clear that there’s more to their connection than a shared mission for democracy.
3. The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali by Sabina Kahn, narrated by Richa Shukla
Seventeen-year-old Rukhsana Ali tries her hardest to live up to her conservative Muslim parents’ expectations, but lately she’s finding that impossible to do. She rolls her eyes when they blatantly favor her brother and saves her crop tops and makeup for parties her parents don’t know about. Luckily, only a few more months stand between her carefully monitored life in Seattle and her new life at Caltech. But when her parents catch her kissing her girlfriend Ariana, all of Rukhsana’s plans fall apart.
Her parents are devastated and decide to whisk Rukhsana off to Bangladesh, where she is thrown headfirst into a world of arranged marriages and tradition. Through reading her grandmother’s old diary, Rukhsana gains some much-needed perspective and realizes she must find the courage to fight for her love without losing the connection to her family as a consequence.
- Buy The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali now!
- Add The Love and Lies of Rukhsana Ali to your Spotify library!
4. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, narrated by Will Patton
Stiefvater’s spellbinding world comes to life in this audiobook. This classic story of understanding the inevitability of death and Stiefvater’s beautiful prose make this a great first audiobook listen for anyone.
It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, narrated by Tatiana Maslany
This classic story is over 10 years old, can you believe?? If you loved the books and the movies, try listening to the story of the girl on fire for a new way of revisiting the story.
Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don’t live to see the morning?
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before – and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
6. Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous by Suzanne Park, narrated by Joy Osmanski
Sunny Song’s Big Summer Goals:
1) Make Rafael Kim my boyfriend (finally!)
2) Hit 100K followers (almost there…)
3) Have the best last summer of high school ever
Not on Sunny’s list: accidentally filming a PG-13 cooking video that goes viral (#browniegate). Extremely not on her list: being shipped off to a digital detox farm camp in Iowa (IOWA ) for a whole month. She’s traded in her WiFi connection for a butter churn, and if she wants any shot at growing her social media platform this summer, she’ll need to find a way back online.
But between some unexpected friendships and an alarmingly cute farm boy, Sunny might be surprised by the connections she makes when she’s forced to disconnect.
- Buy Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous now!
- Add Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous to your Spotify library!
7. The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork, narrated by Frankie Corzo
This story focuses on the pain, depression, and hope created through the friendship of like-minded peers. It’s emotionally moving and has so many added layers when you listen to it through an audiobook!
16-year-old Vicky Cruz wakes up in a hospital’s mental ward after a failed suicide attempt. Now she must find a path to recovery – and perhaps rescue some others along the way.
When Vicky Cruz wakes up in the Lakeview Hospital Mental Disorders ward, she knows one thing: After her suicide attempt, she shouldn’t be alive. But then she meets Mona, the live wire; Gabriel, the saint; E.M., always angry; and Dr. Desai, a quiet force. With stories and honesty, kindness and hard work, they push her to reconsider her life before Lakeview, and offer her an acceptance she’s never had.
But Vicky’s newfound peace is as fragile as the roses that grow around the hospital. And when a crisis forces the group to split up, sending Vick back to the life that drove her to suicide, she must try to find her own courage and strength. She may not have them. She doesn’t know.
8. Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller, narrated by Deryn Edwards
A great epic filled with action, adventure and romance featuring a gender fluid main character? Yes, please! If you absolutely love fantasy stories and fights to the death (which, have you met us??), this one is for you.
Sallot Leon is a thief, and a good one at that. But gender fluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the drudgery of life as a highway robber and get closer to the upper-class—and the nobles who destroyed their home.
When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of The Left Hand—the Queen’s personal assassins, named after the rings she wears—Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge.
But the audition is a fight to the death filled with clever circus acrobats, lethal apothecaries, and vicious ex-soldiers. A childhood as a common criminal hardly prepared Sal for the trials. And as Sal succeeds in the competition, and wins the heart of Elise, an intriguing scribe at court, they start to dream of a new life and a different future, but one that Sal can have only if they survive.
9. Victoria: Portrait of a Queen by Catherine Reef, narrated by Penelope Rawlins
If you love the show Victoria, you need to listen to an audiobook inspired by the young queen. This historical tale is brilliantly told by Rawlins and you will feel like you’re having a conversation with the Queen herself.
Victoria woke one morning at the age of eighteen to discover that her uncle had died and she was now queen. She went on to rule for sixty-three years, with an influence so far-reaching that the decades of her reign now bear her name—the Victorian period. Victoria is filled with the exciting comings and goings of royal life: intrigue and innuendo, scheming advisors, and assassination attempts, not to mention plenty of passion and discord.
10. Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman, narrated by Laurence Bouvard
We love a sweet romance here at Epic Reads! And what better way to read one than to listen to one? Silverman’s story is full of heart as Anise travels from her hometown of Santa Cruz to Nebraska and finds romance and family as she tries to understand her place in the world.
Anise Sawyer plans to spend every minute of summer with her friends: surfing, chowing down on fish tacos drizzled with wasabi balsamic vinegar, and throwing bonfires that blaze until dawn. But when a serious car wreck leaves her aunt, a single mother of three, with two broken legs, it forces Anise to say goodbye for the first time to Santa Cruz, the waves, her friends, and even a kindling romance, and fly with her dad to Nebraska for the entire summer. Living in Nebraska isn’t easy. Anise spends her days caring for her three younger cousins in the childhood home of her runaway mom, a wild figure who’s been flickering in and out of her life since birth, appearing for weeks at a time and then disappearing again for months, or even years, without a word.
Complicating matters is Lincoln, a one-armed, charismatic skater who pushes Anise to trade her surfboard for a skateboard. As Anise draws closer to Lincoln and takes on the full burden and joy of her cousins, she loses touch with her friends back home – leading her to one terrifying question: will she turn out just like her mom and spend her life leaving behind the ones she loves?
11. The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg, narrated by Joel Froomkin, Anthony Rey Perez
Max and Jordan may seem like total opposites, but you know what they say about opposites…This M/M romance is the sweet love standalone you need to listen to on Spotify.
Max: Chill. Sports. Video games. Gay and not a big deal, not to him, not to his mom, not to his buddies. And a secret: An encounter with an older kid that makes it hard to breathe, one that he doesn’t want to think about, ever.
Jordan: The opposite of chill. Poetry. His “wives” and the Chandler Mall. Never been kissed and searching for Mr. Right, who probably won’t like him anyway. And a secret: A spiraling out of control mother, and the knowledge that he’s the only one who can keep the family from falling apart.
Throw in a rickety, 1980s-era food truck called Coq Au Vinny. Add in prickly pears, cloud eggs, and a murky idea of what’s considered locally sourced and organic. Place it all in Mesa, Arizona, in June, where the temp regularly hits 114. And top it off with a touch of undeniable chemistry between utter opposites.
Over the course of one summer, two boys will have to face their biggest fears and decide what they’re willing to risk — to get the thing they want the most.
12. Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno, narrated by Almarie Guerra
Rosa Santos is cursed. At least, that’s what they say. Care to find out? You’ll fall in love with Moreno’s sassy characters and heartfelt story of love and hope.
Rosa Santos is cursed by the sea-at least, that’s what they say. Dating her is bad news, especially if you’re a boy with a boat.
But Rosa feels more caught than cursed. Caught between cultures and choices. Between her abuela, a beloved healer and pillar of their community, and her mother, an artist who crashes in and out of her life like a hurricane. Between Port Coral, the quirky South Florida town they call home, and Cuba, the island her abuela refuses to talk about.
As her college decision looms, Rosa collides – literally – with Alex Aquino, the mysterious boy with tattoos of the ocean whose family owns the marina. With her heart, her family, and her future on the line, can Rosa break a curse and find her place beyond the horizon?
13. Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, narrated by Libba Bray
This hilarious story, narrated by the author herself, is like the age old question of how to survive a crash on an island but with a pageant twist. It truly is like listening to your favorite comedy movie.
The 50 contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras.
But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.
What’s a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program – or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan – or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?
Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness.
14. Not If I Save You First by Ally Carter, narrated by Brittany Pressley
Maddie and Logan were torn apart by a kidnapping attempt when they were young. They were only kids – Logan’s dad was POTUS and Maddie’s father was the Secret Service agent meant to guard him. The kidnappers were stopped – but Maddie was whisked off to Alaska with her father, for safety. Maddie and Logan had been inseparable…but then she never heard from him again.
Now it’s a few years later. Maggie’s a teenager, used to living a solitary life with her father. It’s quiet – until Logan is sent to join them. After all this time without word, Maddie has nothing to say to him – until their outpost is attacked, and Logan is taken. They won’t be out of the woods until they’re…out of the woods, and Maddie’s managed to thwart the foes and reconcile with Logan.
15. The Deck of Omens by Christine Lynn Herman, narrated by Sarah Beth Goer
📚 This is the sequel to: The Devouring Gray
Though the Beast is seemingly subdued for now, a new threat lurks in Four Paths: a corruption seeping from the Gray into the forest. And with the other Founders preoccupied by their tangled alliances and fraying relationships, only May Hawthorne seems to realize the danger. But saving the town she loves means seeking aid from the person her family despises most—her father, Ezra Bishop.
May’s father isn’t the only newcomer in town—Isaac Sullivan’s older brother has also returned, seeking forgiveness for the role he played in Isaac’s troubled past. But Isaac isn’t ready to let go of his family’s history, especially when that history might hold the key that he and Violet Saunders need to destroy the Gray and the monster within it.
Harper Carlisle isn’t ready to forgive, either. Two devastating betrayals have left her isolated from her family and uncertain who to trust. As the corruption becomes impossible to ignore, Harper must learn to control her newfound powers in order to protect Four Paths. But the only people who can help her do that are the ones who have hurt her the most.
With the veil between the Gray and the town growing ever thinner, the Founder descendants must put their grievances with one another aside to stop the corruption and kill the Beast once and for all. But the monster they truly need to slay may never been the Beast…
16. The Fandom by Anna Day, narrated by Fiona Hardingham
Violet’s in her element. Cosplay at the ready, she can’t wait to feel part of her favorite fandom: The Gallows Dance, a mega book and movie franchise that she and her friends know every word of (canon and fanfic included).
But at Comic Con, a freak accident transports Violet and her friends into the story for real. And in just the first five minutes, they cause the death of the heroine, and get taken prisoner by the rebel group she was supposed to lead to victory.
It’s up to Violet to take her place, and play out the plot the way it was written. But stories have a life of their own, and when you change the script in one place, the rest gets revised too….
17. Famous in a Small Town by Emma Mills, narrated by Kristin Condon
For Sophie, small town life has never felt small. With her four best friends―loving, infuriating, and all she could ever ask for―she can weather any storm. But when Sophie’s beloved Acadia High School marching band is selected to march in the upcoming Rose Parade, it’s her job to get them all the way to LA. Her plan? To persuade country singer Megan Pleasant, their Midwestern town’s only claim to fame, to come back to Acadia to headline a fundraising festival.
The only problem is that Megan has very publicly sworn never to return.
What ensues is a journey filled with long-kept secrets, hidden heartbreaks, and revelations that could change everything―along with a possible fifth best friend: a new guy with a magnetic smile and secrets of his own.
18. Can’t Look Away by Donna Cooner, narrated by Sandy Rustin
Torrey Grey is famous. At least, on the internet. Thousands of people watch her popular videos on fashion and beauty. But when Torrey’s sister is killed in an accident – maybe because of Torrey and her videos – Torrey’s perfect world implodes.
Now, strangers online are bashing Torrey. And at her new school, she doesn’t know who to trust. Is queen bee Blair only being sweet because of Torrey’s internet infamy? What about Raylene, who is decidedly unpopular, but seems to accept Torrey for who she is? And then there’s Luis, with his brooding dark eyes, whose family runs the local funeral home. Torrey finds herself drawn to Luis, and his fascinating stories about El dio de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.
As the Day of the Dead draws near, Torrey will have to really look at her own feelings about death, and life, and everything in between. Can she learn to mourn her sister out of the public eye?
19. Pretend She’s Here by Luanna Rice, narrated by Caitlin Davies
Emily Lonergan’s best friend died last year.
And Emily hasn’t stopped grieving. Lizzie Porter was lively, loud, and fun – Emily’s better half. Emily can’t accept that she’s gone.
When Lizzie’s parents and her sister come back to town to visit, Emily’s heartened to see them. The Porters understand her pain. They miss Lizzie desperately, too.
Desperately enough to do something crazy.
Something unthinkable.
Suddenly, Emily’s life is hurtling toward a very dark place – and she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to return to what she once knew was real
20. Kent State by Deborah Wiles, narrated by Christopher Gebauer, Lauren Ezzo, Christina Delaine, Johnny Heller, Roger Wayne, Korey Jackson, and David de Vries
May 4, 1970.
Kent State University.
As protestors roil the campus, National Guardsmen are called in. In the chaos of what happens next, shots are fired and four students are killed. To this day, there is still argument of what happened and why.
Told in multiple voices from a number of vantage points—protestor, Guardsman, townie, student—Deborah Wiles’s Kent State gives a moving, terrifying, galvanizing picture of what happened that weekend in Ohio…an event that, even 50 years later, still resonates deeply.
21. Lucky Girl by Jamie Pacton, narrated by Jesse Vilinsky
58,642,129. That’s how many dollars seventeen-year-old Fortuna Jane Belleweather just won in the lotto jackpot. It’s also about how many reasons she has for not coming forward to claim her prize.
Problem #1: Jane is still a minor, and if anyone discovers she bought the ticket underage, she’ll either have to forfeit the ticket, or worse . . .
Problem #2: Let her hoarder mother cash it. The last thing Jane’s mom needs is millions of dollars to buy more junk. Then . . .
Problem #3: Jane’s best friend, aspiring journalist Brandon Kim, declares on the news that he’s going to find the lucky winner. It’s one thing to keep her secret from the town — it’s another thing entirely to lie to her best friend. Especially when . . .
Problem #4: Jane’s ex-boyfriend, Holden, is suddenly back in her life, and he has big ideas about what he’d do with the prize money. As suspicion and jealousy turn neighbor against neighbor, and no good options for cashing the ticket come forward, Jane begins to wonder: Could this much money actually be a bad thing?
22. What’s Not to Love by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka, narrated by Elizabeth Cottle
Since high school began, Alison Sanger and Ethan Molloy have competed on almost everything. AP classes, the school paper, community service, it never ends. If Alison could avoid Ethan until graduation, she would. Except, naturally, for two over-achieving seniors with their sights on valedictorian and Harvard, they share all the same classes and extracurriculars.
So when their school’s principal assigns them the task of co-planning a previous class’s ten-year reunion, with the promise of a recommendation for Harvard if they do, Ethan and Alison are willing to endure one more activity together if it means beating the other out of the lead. But with all this extra time spent in each other’s company, their rivalry begins to feel closer to friendship. And as tension between them builds, Alison fights the growing realization that the only thing she wants more than winning . . . is Ethan
What book are you going to listen to next? Let us know in the comments!