Books like 'Holding Up the Universe'

Readers who enjoyed Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  romance  psychological  realistic  high-school  coming-of-age  bullying  friendship  family  drama 

  • Carry the Ocean by Heidi Cullinan

    Carry the Ocean by Heidi Cullinan

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    Normal is just a setting on the dryer.High school graduate Jeremey Samson is looking forward to burying his head under the covers and sleeping until it’s time to leave for college. Then a tornado named Emmet Washington enters his life. The double major in math and computer science is handsome, forward, wicked smart, interested in dating Jeremey—and he’s autistic...
  • Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

    Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

    Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    Sometimes you don't wake up. But if you happen to, you know things will never be the same.Three lives, three different paths to the same destination: Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital for those who have attempted the ultimate act—suicide.Vanessa is beautiful and smart, but her secrets keep her answering the call of the blade...
  • More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer

    More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    Rev Fletcher is battling the demons of his past. But with loving adoptive parents by his side, he’s managed to keep them at bay...until he gets a letter from his abusive father and the trauma of his childhood comes hurtling back.Emma Blue spends her time perfecting the computer game she built from scratch, rather than facing her parents’ crumbling marriage...
  • Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

    Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

    Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling. Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off...
  • Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

    Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they'd rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there.Cara's parents' unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love...
  • Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

    Tricks by Ellen Hopkins

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching ... for freedom, safety, community, family, love...
  • Smoke by Ellen Hopkins

    Smoke by Ellen Hopkins

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Pattyn’s father is dead. Now she’s on the run in this riveting companion to New York Times bestseller Burned, which Kirkus Reviews calls “a strong, painful, and tender piece about wresting hope from the depths of despair.”Pattyn Von Stratten’s father is dead, and Pattyn is on the run...
  • Pack Up the Moon by Kristan Higgins

    Pack Up the Moon by Kristan Higgins

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    They used to joke about it. Like many brilliant scientists, Josh sometimes had trouble remembering things that needed doing in the "real" world--like buying groceries, eating regular meals, and talking to people. But he was happy to have his beloved wife, Lauren, remind him with her "honey do" lists. He just never realized how much he would need one when she was gone...
    Categorized as:
    drama  family  friendship  grief  sad  adult  audiobook  book
  • The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart

    The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    It's been three months since The Night on the Bathroom Floor--when Lily found her older sister Alice hurting herself. Ever since then, Lily has been desperately trying to keep things together, for herself and for her family. But now Alice is coming home from her treatment program and it is becoming harder for Lily to ignore all of the feelings she's been trying to outrun...
  • Night Road by Kristin Hannah

    Night Road by Kristin Hannah

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 41 ratings
    Jude Farraday is a happily married, stay-at-home mom who puts everyone’s needs above her own. Her twins, Mia and Zach, are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill enters their lives, no one is more supportive than Jude. A former foster child with a dark past, Lexi quickly becomes Mia’s best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable...
  • Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne

    Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    All Evie wants is to be normal. She’s almost off her meds and at a new college where no one knows her as the girl-who-went-crazy. She’s even going to parties and making friends. There’s only one thing left to tick off her list…But relationships are messy – especially relationships with teenage guys. They can make any girl feel like they’re going mad...
  • After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick, Nick Podehl

    After Ever After by Jordan Sonnenblick, Nick Podehl

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    Even though the cancer should be far behind him, Jeffrey still worries that it will return. He's got normal teen stuff to deal with, too - friends, parents, girls, school.Normally, he'd ask his older brother, Steven, for advice. But Steven, always the trusty, responsible one, is finally rebelling and has taken off to Africa to join a drumming circle and 'find himself.'Jeffrey feels abandoned...
  • The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle

    The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen D. Randle

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    New town, new school, new friends. It was difficult for Ginny at first, but her senior year is finally starting to feel kind of normal. That is, until she sees him—the beautiful mystery in her English class. He has never spoken a word to anyone. He moves through each day at school without making eye contact. His name is Smitty Tibbs, but everyone calls him the Alien...
  • Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

    Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    A William C. Morris Award Finalist A New York Public Library Best Book for Teens of 2017 A Junior Library Guild Selection “An empowering novel that will speak to many mixed-race teens.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Dazzling.” —Bustle “One of the most compelling reads of the year.” —Paste Magazine “This book is a gem...
  • The Weight of Zero by Karen Fortunati

    The Weight of Zero by Karen Fortunati

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Seventeen-year-old Catherine Pulaski knows Zero is coming for her. Zero, the devastating depression born of Catherine’s bipolar disorder, almost triumphed once; that was her first suicide attempt.Being bipolar is forever. It never goes away. The med du jour might work right now, but Zero will be back for her. It’s only a matter of time...
    Categorized as:
    bullying  family  friendship  grief  high-school  realistic  sad  book
  • How to Disappear by Sharon Huss Roat

    How to Disappear by Sharon Huss Roat

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Vicky Decker has perfected the art of hiding in plain sight, quietly navigating the halls of her high school undetected except by her best (and only) friend, Jenna. But when Jenna moves away, Vicky’s isolation becomes unbearable.So she decides to invent a social life by Photoshopping herself into other people’s pictures, posting them on Instagram under the screen name Vicurious...
  • Therapy by Kathryn Perez

    Therapy by Kathryn Perez

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Sometimes you have to get lost in order to be found... I’m needy. I’m broken. Cutting breaks through my numbness, but only opens more wounds. Depression, self-harm, bullying....that's my reality. Sex and guys....that's my escape. The space between the truth and lies is blurred leaving me torn, lost and confused...
  • It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

    It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 43 ratings
    Like many ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School as the ticket to his future. Determined to succeed at life--which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job--Craig studies night and day to ace the entrance exam, and does. That's when things start to get crazy...
  • At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson

    At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    From the author of We Are the Ants comes “another winner” (Booklist, starred review) about a boy who believes the universe is slowly shrinking as the things he remembers are being erased from others’ memories.Tommy and Ozzie have been best friends since the second grade, and boyfriends since eighth. They spent countless days dreaming of escaping their small town—and then Tommy vanished...
  • All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

    All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 49 ratings
    The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor and Park in this exhilarating and heart-wrenching love story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who intends to die.Soon to be a major motion picture starring Elle Fanning! Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him...
  • The Last Goodbye by Kay Lyons

    The Last Goodbye by Kay Lyons

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    SOMETIMES THE PAIN OF LIFE BRINGS A NEW BEGINNING...Widower Dominic Dunn isn’t sure what to think of his wife’s pre-planned trip for him a year after her death. It’s her effort to force him from his work desk to the coast and the peacefulness she’d found at the Carolina Cove Inn...
  • His Uptown Girl by Liz Talley

    His Uptown Girl by Liz Talley

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Life doesn't follow rules... Jazz pianist Dez Batiste knows this all too well. It's taken him years to return to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina swept away what mattered most. His musician's soul is still lost in the wreckage, but he's after a brand-new future by opening an Uptown jazz club. Too bad the distractingly sexy Eleanor Theriot is getting in his way...
  • Stronger Than You Know by Jolene Perry

    Stronger Than You Know by Jolene Perry

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    After police intervention, fifteen-year-old Joy has finally escaped the trailer where she once lived with her mother and survived years of confinement and abuse. Now living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in a comfortable house, she’s sure she’ll never belong. Wracked by panic attacks, afraid to talk to anyone at her new school, Joy’s got a whole list of reasons why she’s crazy...
  • All Our Broken Pieces by L.D. Crichton

    All Our Broken Pieces by L.D. Crichton

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    "You can’t keep two people who are meant to be together apart for long...”Lennon Davis doesn’t believe in much, but she does believe in the security of the number five. If she flicks the bedroom light switch five times, maybe her new L.A. school won’t suck. But that doesn’t feel right, so she flicks the switch again. And again...
  • Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

    Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Maguire is bad luck.No matter how many charms she buys off the internet or good luck rituals she performs each morning, horrible things happen when Maguire is around. Like that time the roller coaster jumped off its tracks. Or the time the house next door caught on fire. Or that time her brother, father, and uncle were all killed in a car crash—and Maguire walked away with barely a scratch...
  • Be the Girl by K.A. Tucker

    Be the Girl by K.A. Tucker

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Almost sixteen-year-old Aria Jones is starting over. New postal code, new last name, new rules. But she doesn’t mind, because it means she can leave her painful regrets behind. In the bustling town of Eastmonte, she can become someone else. Someone better.With the Hartford family living next door, it seems she will succeed...
  • Backlash by Sarah Darer Littman

    Backlash by Sarah Darer Littman

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    He says: You're an awful person. He says: What makes you think I would ever ask you out? He says: The world would be a better place without you in it. Lara just got told off on Facebook. She thought that Christian liked her, that he was finally going to ask her to his school's homecoming dance...
  • If There's No Tomorrow by Jennifer L. Armentrout

    If There's No Tomorrow by Jennifer L. Armentrout

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Lena Wise is always looking forward to tomorrow, especially at the start of her senior year. She's ready to pack in as much friend time as possible, to finish college applications and to maybe let her childhood best friend Sebastian know how she really feels about him. For Lena, the upcoming year is going to be epic—one of opportunities and chances...
  • Words on Bathroom Walls by Julia Walton

    Words on Bathroom Walls by Julia Walton

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Adam is a pretty regular teen, except he's navigating high school life while living with paranoid schizophrenia. His hallucinations include a cast of characters that range from the good (beautiful Rebecca) to the bad (angry Mob Boss) to the just plain weird (polite naked guy). An experimental drug promises to help him hide his illness from the world...
  • The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

    The Last Time We Say Goodbye by Cynthia Hand

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    There's death all around us.We just don't pay attention.Until we do.The last time Lex was happy, it was before. When she had a family that was whole. A boyfriend she loved. Friends who didn't look at her like she might break down at any moment.Now she's just the girl whose brother killed himself. And it feels like that's all she'll ever be...
  • I Will Save You by Matt de la Peña

    I Will Save You by Matt de la Peña

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Kidd is running from his past and his future. No mom, no dad, and there’s nothing for him at the group home but therapy. He doesn’t belong at the beach where he works either, unless he finds a reason to stay.   Olivia is blond hair, blue eyes, rich dad. The prettiest girl in Cardiff...
  • Reclaiming the Sand by A. Meredith Walters

    Reclaiming the Sand by A. Meredith Walters

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Bully and victim. Tormenter and tormented. Villain and hero. Ellie McCallum was a bully. No connection to anyone or anything. A sad and lonely existence for a young woman who had come to expect nothing more for herself. Her only happiness coming from making others miserable. Particularly Freaky Flynn...
  • 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...
  • Rumble by Ellen Hopkins

    Rumble by Ellen Hopkins

    Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    Can an atheist be saved? The New York Times bestselling author of Crank and Tricks explores the highly charged landscapes of faith and forgiveness with brilliant sensitivity and emotional resonance."There is no God, no benevolent ruler of the earth, no omnipotent grand poobah of countless universes. Because if there was ..
  • Some Boys by Patty Blount

    Some Boys by Patty Blount

    Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    Some boys go too far. Some boys will break your heart. But one boy can make you whole.When Grace meets Ian she's afraid. Afraid he'll reject her like the rest of the school, like her own family. After she accuses the town golden boy of rape, everyone turns against Grace. They call her a slut and a liar. But...Ian doesn't. He's funny and kind with secrets of his own...
  • Goodnight, Beautiful by Dorothy Koomson

    Goodnight, Beautiful by Dorothy Koomson

    Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    From the author of the internationally bestselling novels My Best Friend’s Girl and Marshmallows for Breakfast comes an incredibly moving, powerfully written new novel about motherhood, love, loss, and new beginnings. Nova will do anything for her closest friend, Mal, whom she has known since childhood...
    Categorized as:
    drama  family  friendship  poc-mc  realistic  sad  adult  audiobook
  • 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...
  • Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

    Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion...
  • Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios

    Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios

    Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    A heart-wrenching novel about a sixteen-year-old girl trapped in an abusive relationship—and the path she takes to freedom and happiness, from award-winning author Heather Demetrios.“Like Speak, it is one of those rare books that can have a real, lasting impact on readers, and can start important conversations.” —Adi Alsaid, author of Let’s Get Lost and Never Always SometimesGrace wants out...
  • Hate List by Jennifer Brown

    Hate List by Jennifer Brown

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets...
  • Hold Still by Nina LaCour, Nina Schindler

    Hold Still by Nina LaCour, Nina Schindler

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    An arresting story about starting over after a friend’s suicide, from a breakthrough new voice in YA fiction.dear caitlin, there are so many things that i want so badly to tell you but i just can’t.Devastating, hopeful, hopeless, playful . . . in words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin...
  • Collision Course by S.C. Stephens

    Collision Course by S.C. Stephens

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Lucas had it all—popularity, a devoted girlfriend, a brotherly best friend, and a loving mother who would do anything for him. His life was right on course to be successful and fulfilling…until the crash changed everything.Late at night, during a sudden downpour, three young lives are lost and Lucas, the lone survivor, is left to face the consequences...
  • Lucy in the Sky by Anonymous

    Lucy in the Sky by Anonymous

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    A riveting first-person tale of addiction, in the tradition of Go Ask Alice and Jay’s Journal.The author of this diary began journaling on her sixteenth birthday. She lived in an upper middle class neighborhood in Santa Monica with her mom, dad, and Berkeley-bound older brother. She was a good girl, living a good life...but one party changed everything...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  drama  high-school  lgbtq  realistic  sad  teens  book
  • Right Behind You by Gail Giles

    Right Behind You by Gail Giles

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    When he was nine, Kip set another child on fire. Now, after years in a juvenile ward, he is ready for a fresh start. But the ghosts of his past soon demand justice, and he must reveal his painful secret...
  • The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson

    The Lucky Ones by Liz Lawson

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    For fans of Thirteen Reasons Why, This Is How It Ends, and All the Bright Places, comes a new novel about life after. How do you put yourself back together when it seems like you've lost it all?May is a survivor. But she doesn't feel like one. She feels angry. And lost. And alone...
  • Bait by Alex Sanchez

    Bait by Alex Sanchez

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    After Diego lands himself on probation for fighting, he doesn't trust his probation officer, Mr. Vidas. But as he begins to open up, Diego realizes that he needs Mr. Vidas's help to get his anger under control. To do that, Diego will need to face the nightmares from his past head-on and confront the memories he's been avoiding...
  • The Pause by John Larkin

    The Pause by John Larkin

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Declan seems to have it all: a family that loves him, friends he’s known for years, a beautiful girlfriend he would go to the ends of the earth for. But there’s something in Declan’s past that just won’t go away, that pokes and scratches at his thoughts when he’s at his most vulnerable. Declan feels as if nothing will take away that pain that he has buried deep inside for so long...
  • The Red Sheet by Mia Kerick, C. Kennedy

    The Red Sheet by Mia Kerick, C. Kennedy

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    One October morning, high school junior Bryan Dennison wakes up a different person helpful, generous, and chivalrous a person whose new admirable qualities he doesn't recognize. Stranger still is the urge to tie a red sheet around his neck like a cape.Bryan soon realizes this compulsion to wear a red cape is accompanied by more unusual behavior...
  • These Gentle Wounds by Helene Dunbar

    These Gentle Wounds by Helene Dunbar

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Sometimes I wish I’d lost a leg or something. Everyone can understand that. They never get it when what’s been broken is inside your head.Five years after an unspeakable tragedy that changed him forever, Gordie Allen has made a new home with his half-brother Kevin...
  • The Art of Insanity by Christine Webb

    The Art of Insanity by Christine Webb

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    High schooler Natalie Cordova has just been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder. Her mom insists she keep it secret.Putting up a front and hiding her mental illness from her classmates is going to be the hardest thing high schooler Natalie Cordova has ever done. It’s her senior year, and she’s just been selected to present her artwork at a prestigious show...
Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven
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