Books like 'Before I Die'

Readers who enjoyed Before I Die by Jenny Downham also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  romance  realistic  drama  sad  friendship  family  coming-of-age  grief  teens 

  • The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin

    The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Here is a truth that can't be escaped: for Mia "Rabbit" Hayes, life is coming to an end ...Mia-"Rabbit"-Hayes knows that life is hard for everyone. And she knows that she's one of the lucky ones. She loves her life, ordinary as it is. And she loves the extraordinary people in it: her spirited daughter, Juliet; her colorful, unruly family; the only man in her big heart, Johnny Faye...
    Categorized as:
    drama  family  female-mc  friendship  grief  medical  realistic  sad
  • November Blues by Sharon M. Draper

    November Blues by Sharon M. Draper

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    When November Nelson loses her boyfriend, Josh, to a pledge stunt gone horribly wrong, she thinks her life can't possibly get any worse. But Josh left something behind that will change November's life forever, and now she's faced with the biggest decision she could ever imagine. How in the world will she tell her mom? And how will Josh's parents take the news? She's never needed a friend more...
  • I Wanted You To Know by Laura Pearson

    I Wanted You To Know by Laura Pearson

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Dear Edie, I wanted you to know so many things. I wanted to tell you them in person, as you grew. But it wasn’t to be.Jess never imagined she’d be navigating single motherhood, let alone while facing breast cancer. A life that should be just beginning is interrupted by worried looks, heavy conversations, and the possibility of leaving her daughter to grow up without her...
  • Differently Normal by Tammy Robinson

    Differently Normal by Tammy Robinson

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Every family has its issues. For Maddy, life is all about routine. It has to be, to keep her autistic sister happy and healthy. With just Maddy and her mother as Bee’s full time carers, there’s no time in Maddy’s life for complications like friends, let alone a boyfriend...
  • Bronxwood by Coe Booth

    Bronxwood by Coe Booth

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    The acclaimed author of TYRELL and KENDRA returns to PUSH to continue Tyrell's astonishing story. Tyrell's father is just out of jail, and Tyrell doesn't know how to deal with that. It's bad enough that his brother Troy is in foster care and that his mother is no help whatsoever. Now there's another thing up in his face, just when he's trying to settle down...
  • A Rose for Melinda by Lurlene McDaniel

    A Rose for Melinda by Lurlene McDaniel

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Told in letters, journal entries, e-mails, doctors’ reports, and instant messages, the heartbreaking story of an aspiring ballet dancer battling leukemia. From: Melinda Skye To: Readers Subject: Jesse Hi! I can’t believe it. What a surprise from Jesse...
  • The Stars Don't Lie by Boo Walker

    The Stars Don't Lie by Boo Walker

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    A man who thought he put his shattered past behind him embarks on a reflective journey home in a heartfelt novel by the bestselling author of The Singing Trees and A Spanish Sunrise.Haunted by a tragic decision he made twenty years ago, veterinarian Dr. Carver Livingston has not once returned to his Vermont hometown...
  • Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert

    Ballads of Suburbia by Stephanie Kuehnert

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    An aspiring film writer tells about her troubled teen years in the Chicago suburbs when she and her friends tried to escape the pain of their lives through rock music and drugs...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  dark  drama  family  friendship  realistic  sad  angst
  • To Live Again by Lurlene McDaniel

    To Live Again by Lurlene McDaniel

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Dawn Rochelle looks like any other seventeen-year-old girt, but looks can be deceiving. At the age of thirteen, Dawn was diagnosed with leukemia. Now almost three years into remission, Dawn is a senior in high school and looking forward to college. But her plans are disrupted when she suffers another medical crisis that causes partial paralysis...
  • Heart to Heart by Lurlene McDaniel

    Heart to Heart by Lurlene McDaniel

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Elowyn Eden and Kassey Messechek are best friends. They share every aspect of their lives. But one thing Elowyn has not yet shared with Kassey is that she checked the organ donor box on her newly acquired driver's license. Kassey only learns of this in a startling and devastating way — when Elowyn's life-giving donor wishes are about to be honoured. Arabeth St...
  • Six Months to Live by Lurlene McDaniel

    Six Months to Live by Lurlene McDaniel

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    When 13-year-old Dawn Rochelle is diagnosed with leukemia, she's scared. While in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy, Dawn meets Sandy, who also has cancer. Dawn and Sandy battle the disease together, and remain best friends even after they both go into remission and return home. But when Sandy gets sick again, Dawn wonders what the future holds both for Sandy and herself...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  drama  family  female-mc  medical  realistic  sad  book
  • The Year of Chasing Dreams by Lurlene McDaniel

    The Year of Chasing Dreams by Lurlene McDaniel

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    "Readers will swoon over this story of love despite impossible odds."--Romantic TimesFrom the author of Don't Die, My Love comes this young adult novel that intertwines a family saga with a grand love story. This novel stands alone or can be read as the companion to The Year of Luminous Love and Wishes and Dreams. For fans of Sarah Dessen's The Moon and More and Ann Brashares's Forever in Blue...
  • Somebody's Baby by Lurlene McDaniel

    Somebody's Baby by Lurlene McDaniel

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Ever since Sloan won a reality singing competition, her music career has taken off. Now she has a manager, a recording contract, and a tour in the works. Her manager warned her that strangers would ask her for all sorts of things, and that she must not respond. But one email stands out—from a young woman who claims to be Sloan’s half sister...
  • Blue Plate Special by Michelle D. Kwasney

    Blue Plate Special by Michelle D. Kwasney

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Doomed loves, failed families, nixed dreamssomeone else's leftovers are heaped on our plates the day we come into this world. Big Macs and pop tunes mask the emptiness as Madeline watches her mom drink away their welfare checks. Until the day Tad, a quirky McDonald's counter boy, asks Madeline out for a date, and she gets her first taste of normal...
  • Heartstrings by Heather Gunter

    Heartstrings by Heather Gunter

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Everyone thinks of me as this happy and upbeat person. What they don't know is that I carry a deep, dark secret. Something horrible happened to me a year ago, and I have kept it quiet all this time. I was fine for a while, but somehow it’s chosen this time to come back, and it's eating at me--like a cancer. I need to tell someone about it, I just don't know how...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  dark  family  friendship  high-school  sad  teens  abuse
  • Ethan Between Us by Anna Myers, Julia Laserna

    Ethan Between Us by Anna Myers, Julia Laserna

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Ethan is different. He is gorgeous, easy to talk to, and a uniquely gifted pianist. But his musical talent is both a gift and a curse. The doctors label him a schizophrenic, as he claims to have been taught by a long-dead, 19th-century composer...
  • The Gossip File by Anna Staniszewski

    The Gossip File by Anna Staniszewski

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    The Gossip File:-Chandra lets little kids pee in the pool.-Melody stole $ from the cafe register.-Ava isn’t who she says she is…Ava is cool. Ava is confident. Ava is really Rachel Lee who is lying her butt off.Rachel is visiting her dad at a resort in sunny Florida and is ready for two weeks of relaxing poolside, trips to Disney World and NOT scrubbing toilets...
  • The Summer I Saved the World . . . in 65 Days by Michele Weber Hurwitz

    The Summer I Saved the World . . . in 65 Days by Michele Weber Hurwitz

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    It's the summer before freshman year in high school and Nina decides to follow what someone said at her middle-school graduation: "Be unnoticed, but be remarkable." Her best friend Jorie is focusing on boys, clothes, and popularity, her lawyer parents are diving into a new case, and this is the first summer without her beloved Grandma, so she's is feeling a little lost...
  • Somewhere Between Life and Death by Lurlene McDaniel

    Somewhere Between Life and Death by Lurlene McDaniel

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    The celebration isn't supposed to end in tragedy. The night of their high-school drama group's cast party starts out as fun for sisters Amy and Erin. Their lives come crashing down when Amy takes the car to get more food and has a horrible accident. Erin and her family pray for Amy to awaken from her coma...
  • Three Things I Know Are True by Betty Culley

    Three Things I Know Are True by Betty Culley

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Fans of Jandy Nelson and Marieke Nijkamp will love this deeply moving novel in verse about the aftermath of a gun accident. Life changes forever for Liv when her older brother, Jonah, accidentally shoots himself with his best friend Clay’s father’s gun...
  • What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard

    What I Lost by Alexandra Ballard

    Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    A searing yet ultimately uplifting young adult novel about a teenage girl's recovery from anorexia.Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth has honed a dangerous skill: starving herself. Even when her parents send her to a treatment center, she can't stop. Then she begins receiving packages from someone she doesn't know...
  • Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall

    Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall

    Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars
    · 22 ratings
    Norah has agoraphobia and OCD. When groceries are left on the porch, she can't step out to get them. Struggling to snag the bags with a stick, she meets Luke. He's sweet and funny, and he just caught her fishing for groceries. Because of course he did. Norah can't leave the house, but can she let someone in? As their friendship grows deeper, Norah realizes Luke deserves a normal girl...
  • The Falling Leaf Never Hates the Wind by Tere Liye

    The Falling Leaf Never Hates the Wind by Tere Liye

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    He is like an angel to our family. He saved me, my brother, and Mother from destitution and misery of street lives. He provided us with food, shelter, helped to pay for school, and promised a better future for us. He truly is like an angel to our family. He loves us, cares for us, and sets an example without expecting anything at all in return...
  • Break the Rules by Joanna Philbin

    Break the Rules by Joanna Philbin

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    The only daughter of supermodel Katia Summers, witty and thoughtful Lizzie Summers likes to stick to the sidelines. The sole heir to Metronome Media and daughter of billionaire Karl Jurgensen, outspoken Carina Jurgensen would rather climb mountains than social ladders. Daughter of chart-topping pop icon Holla Jones, stylish and sensitive Hudson Jones is on the brink of her own music breakthrough...
  • The Survival Kit by Donna Freitas

    The Survival Kit by Donna Freitas

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    When Rose’s mom dies, she leaves behind a brown paper bag labeled Rose’s Survival Kit. Inside the bag, Rose finds an iPod, with a to-be-determined playlist; a picture of peonies, for growing; a crystal heart, for loving; a paper star, for making a wish; and a paper kite, for letting go...
  • I For You by Orizuka

    I For You by Orizuka

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Suatu hari dalam hidupku, kau dan aku bertemu. Masih jelas di ingatanku sosokmu yang memukauku. Lidahku jadi kelu, mulutku terkatup rapat karena malu. Setiap malam, bayangmu menari-nari dalam benakku. Ada sejuta alasan mengapa aku begitu memujamu. Kau menyinari relung gelap hatiku. Kau satu-satunya orang yang ingin kurengkuh. Kau yang bertanggung jawab atas segala rindu...
  • Between Two Skies by Joanne O'Sullivan

    Between Two Skies by Joanne O'Sullivan

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Hurricane Katrina sets a teenage girl adrift. But a new life and the promise of love emerges in this rich, highly readable debut.Bayou Perdu, a tiny fishing town way, way down in Louisiana, is home to sixteen-year-old Evangeline Riley. She has her best friends, Kendra and Danielle; her wise, beloved Mamere; and back-to-back titles in the under-sixteen fishing rodeo...
  • Formerly Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham

    Formerly Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Jane Arrowood, otherwise known as Shark Girl, has been living with just one arm for over a year. Now she’s searching for a new normal. It’s been a year since the shark attack that took Jane’s arm, and with it, everything she used to take for granted. Her dream of becoming an artist is on the line, and everything now seems out of reach, including her gorgeous, kind tutor, Max Shannon...
  • Surviving High School by M. Doty

    Surviving High School by M. Doty

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    What's the secret to surviving your freshman year of high school? Emily Kessler thinks she has it all figured out. She eats, sleeps and trains for competitive swimming. All she has to do is keep her grades high and swim times short -- short enough to live up to her sister Sara's. But walking the crowded maze of unfamiliar high school hallways is like diving headfirst into shark-infested waters...
  • Don't Forget Me by Victoria Stevens

    Don't Forget Me by Victoria Stevens

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Seventeen-year-old Hazel Clarke is no stranger to heartbreaks, and being sent to live with a father she’s never met is the latest in a string of them. Even the beauty of eastern Australia isn’t enough to take her mind off her mother and the life she had to leave behind in England...
  • Safer Outside by Kristina Renee

    Safer Outside by Kristina Renee

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    When Liz moves to a new high school, she hopes for a fresh start. School is her escape from the violence at home and her only hope at breaking the cycle of poverty she was born into. Trying to shield her siblings from her stepfather's fury gets harder each day so when she meets Logan, she thinks it will be a harmless distraction from the fear. She's Wrong...
  • Outrunning The Darkness by Anne Schraff

    Outrunning The Darkness by Anne Schraff

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Themes: Hi-Lo, High school, neighborhoods, family, loyalty, friendship, urban teen fiction, self esteem, teen relationships, unrequited love. Written for young adults, the Urban Underground series confronts issues that are of great importance to teens, such as friendship, loyalty, drugs, gangs, abuse, urban blight, bullies, and self-esteem to name a few...
  • Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor

    Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Critically acclaimed author Melissa Kantor masterfully captures the joy of friendship, the agony of loss, and the unique experience of being a teenager in this poignant new novel about a girl grappling with her best friend's life-threatening illness.Zoe and her best friend, Olivia, have always had big plans for the future, none of which included Olivia getting sick...
  • Sing Me to Sleep by Angela Morrison

    Sing Me to Sleep by Angela Morrison

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    THE TRANSFORMATION Beth has always been "The Beast", that's what everyone at school calls her because of her awkward height, facial scars, and thick glasses. Beth's only friend is geeky, golden-haired Scott. That is, until she's selected to be her choir's soprano soloist, and receives the makeover that will change her life forever...
  • The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder

    The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    One moment can change everything.Amber’s life is spinning out of control. All she wants is to turn up the volume on her iPod until all of the demands of family and friends fade away. So she sneaks off to the beach to spend a day by herself.Then Amber meets Cade. Their attraction is instant, and Amber can tell he’s also looking for an escape...
  • I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler

    I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    “For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel envy…” Tess is the exact opposite of her beautiful, athletic sister. And that’s okay. Kristina is the sporty one, Tess is the smart one, and they each have their place. Until Kristina is diagnosed with cancer. Suddenly Tess is the center of the popular crowd, everyone eager for updates. There are senior boys flirting with her...
  • Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

    Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen

    Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars
    · 41 ratings
    Halley has always followed in the wake of her best friend, Scarlett. But when Scarlett learns that her boyfriend has been killed in a motorcycle accident, and that she's carrying his baby, she was devastated. For the first time ever, Scarlett really needs Halley. Their friendship may bend under the weight, but it'll never break--because a true friendship is a promise you keep forever...
  • Up to This Pointe by Jennifer Longo

    Up to This Pointe by Jennifer Longo

    Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Hand this utterly unique contemporary YA to anyone who loves ballet or is a little too wrapped up in their Plan A. (It's okay to fail, people!) Harper had a plan. It went south. Harper Scott is a dancer. She and her best friend, Kate, have one goal: becoming professional ballerinas...
  • Winter White by Jen Calonita

    Winter White by Jen Calonita

    Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Isabelle Scott and Mirabelle Monroe are still reeling from the revelation that they share more than just the roof over their heads. The media has pounced on their story, and while Izzie and Mira have each put on a happy public face, someone is leaking their true feelings to the press. It seems as if the world is watching their every move, but at least the girls have each other...
  • Send Me a Sign by Tiffany Schmidt

    Send Me a Sign by Tiffany Schmidt

    Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Mia is always looking for signs. A sign that she should get serious with her soccer-captain boyfriend. A sign that she’ll get the grades to make it into an Ivy-league school. One sign she didn’t expect to look for was: “Will I survive cancer?” It’s a question her friends would never understand, prompting Mia to keep her illness a secret...
  • Between the Notes by Sharon Huss Roat

    Between the Notes by Sharon Huss Roat

    Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    When Ivy Emerson’s family loses their house—complete with her beloved piano—the fear of what’s to come seizes her like a bad case of stage fright. Only this isn’t one of her single, terrifying performances. It’s her life.And it isn’t pretty.Ivy is forced to move with her family out of their affluent neighborhood to Lakeside, also known as “the wrong side of the tracks...
  • Just Breathe by Cammie McGovern

    Just Breathe by Cammie McGovern

    Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    From the critically acclaimed author of Say What You Will and A Step Toward Falling comes a deeply emotional new novel, perfect for fans of Five Feet Apart and The Fault in Our Stars . David Scheinman is the popular president of his senior class, battling cystic fibrosis. Jamie Turner is a quiet sophomore, struggling with depression...
  • After Iris by Natasha Farrant

    After Iris by Natasha Farrant

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    An unforgettable middle-grade debut that will steal your heart Blue Gadsby’s twin sister, Iris, died three years ago and her family has never been the same. Her histrionic older sister, Flora, changes her hair color daily; her younger siblings, Jasmine and Twig, are completely obsessed with their pet rats; and both of her parents spend weeks away from home–and each other...
  • Living with Jackie Chan by Jo Knowles

    Living with Jackie Chan by Jo Knowles

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    After fathering a baby, a teenager moves in with his karate-loving uncle and tries to come to terms with his guilt — and find a way to forgive. This isn’t how Josh expected to spend senior year. He thought he’d be hanging out with his best friends, Dave and Caleb, driving around, partying, just like always...
  • The Brothers Torres by Coert Voorhees

    The Brothers Torres by Coert Voorhees

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Frankie Towers has always looked up to his older brother, Steve, and with good reason. Steve is a popular senior who always gets what he wants: girls, a soccer scholarship, and--lately--street cred. Frankie, on the other hand, spends his time shooting off fireworks with his best friend Zach, working at his parents' restaurant, and obsessing about his longtime crush, Rebecca Sanchez...
  • The Arrival of Someday by Jen Malone

    The Arrival of Someday by Jen Malone

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    In this heartfelt and emotionally candid contemporary YA, author Jen Malone delves into the life of a teen whose world is brought to an abrupt halt when she learns she’s in dire need of an organ transplant...
  • What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

    What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen

    Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars
    · 41 ratings
    Who is the real McLean? Since her parents' bitter divorce, McLean and her dad, a restaurant consultant, have been on the move-four towns in two years. Estranged from her mother and her mother's new family, McLean has followed her dad in leaving the unhappy past behind. And each new place gives her a chance to try out a new persona: from cheerleader to drama diva...
  • Finding Freia Lockhart by Aimee Said

    Finding Freia Lockhart by Aimee Said

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Freia Lockhart just wants to fit in at school but her best friend Kate is determined to get in with the popular Bs: Belinda, Bethanee and Brianna. Even Freia knows when she hangs out with the Bs she fits in like a turkey in a flock of flamingos. Kate convinces Freia to audition for the school play so they can 'all hang out together' and meet all the cute guys...
  • Unfriend You: Masihkah Kau Temanku? by Dyah Rinni, Nico Rosady

    Unfriend You: Masihkah Kau Temanku? by Dyah Rinni, Nico Rosady

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Aku adalah noda untuk dosa yang tak kulakukan.Aku mencoba bertahan, berusaha mengerti;mungkin ada bagian dari dirimu yang tak bisa kuraih...
  • Bitter End by Jennifer Brown

    Bitter End by Jennifer Brown

    Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    When Alex falls for the charming new boy at school, Cole -- a handsome, funny, sports star who adores her -- she can't believe she's finally found her soul mate . . . someone who truly loves and understands her. At first, Alex is blissfully happy...
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
Fantastic book recommendations by book lovers for book lovers.
Find out more about thebooknaut.com.

Looking for more inspiration? Enter another book title to get more suggestions on what to read next.

Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.

romance book finder preview 1
romance book finder preview 2
romance book finder preview 3