LibraryAware TEEN HIGH: Friends and Frenemies

Here are our favorite books about Friends and Frenemies. These titles are classified as Teen High School (TH) and can be found in the Teen section of the library.

You'll Be the Death of Me
by Karen M. McManus

"Ivy, Mateo, and Cal used to be close. Now all they have in common is Carlton High and the beginning of a very bad day. Type A Ivy lost a student council election to the class clown, and now she has to face the school, humiliated. Heartthrob Mateo is burned out from working two jobs since his family's business failed. And outsider Cal just got stood up . . . again. So when the three unexpectedly run into each other, they decide to avoid their problems by ditching. Just the three of them, like old times. Except they've barely left the parking lot before they run out of things to say. . . . . . until they spot another Carlton High student skipping school--and follow him to the scene of his own murder. In one chance move, their day turns from dull to deadly. And it's about to get worse. It turns out Ivy, Mateo, and Cal still have some things in common...like a connection to the dead kid. And they're all hiding something. Could it be that their chance reconnection wasn't by chance after all?"

The Last Words We Said
by Leah Scheier

Nine months after Danny disappeared, his closest friends, Ellie, Rae, and Deenie, deal with their loss very differently but will have to share secrets about the night he disappeared to uncover the truth.

Simone Breaks All the Rules
by Debbie Rigaud

At seventeen Simone Thibodeaux is fed up with her over-protective mother's insistence on micro-managing her life, like picking her prom date from a "nice" Haitian immigrant family, and anyway she is determined to attend with Gavin Stackhouse (even if he does not know that yet); so together with her fellow late-bloomer friends Simone comes up with a bucket list of rule-breaking (like cutting classes, and sneaking out of the house)--but soon things get complicated, and Simone has to decide which rules are worth breaking, and which should just be left alone.

So Many Beginnings : A Little Women Remix
by Bethany C. Morrow

At the Freedman's Colony of Roanoke Island, a haven for the recently emancipated, the four March sisters--Meg, Joanna, Bethlehem, and Amethyst--come into their own as independent, young Black women together facing love, sickness, heartbreak, and new horizons.

Fat Chance, Charlie Vega
by Crystal Maldonado

Overweight sixteen-year-old Charlie yearned for her first kiss while her perfect best friend, Amelia, fell in love, so when she finally starts dating and learns the boy asked Amelia out first, she is devastated.

When You Were Everything
by Ashley Woodfolk

When her best friendship with Layla implodes beyond repair, Cleo pursues other relationships before she is assigned to tutor her former friend and forced to come to terms with her choices.

Rayne & Delilah's Midnite Matinee
by Jeff Zentner

Told in two voices, Josie and Delia struggle with growing up and growing apart as they face tough decisions about their post-high school futures and the fate of their weekly cable television show.

Kate in Waiting
by Becky Albertalli

Best friends Kate Garfield and Anderson Walker share a love of theater and crushes on the same guys, but when one of their long-distance crushes shows up at their school, real feelings might end their friendship.

Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry
by Joya Goffney

Quinn keeps lists of everything--from the days she's ugly cried, to "Things That I Would Never Admit Out Loud" and all the boys she'd like to kiss. Her lists keep her sane. By writing her fears on paper, she never has to face them in real life. That is, until her journal goes missing... Then an anonymous account posts one of her lists on Instagram for the whole school to see and blackmails her into facing seven of her greatest fears, or else her entire journal will go public.

You Can Go Your Own Way
by Eric Smith

Trapped inside an arcade by a snowstorm, Adam, who is determined to save the arcade from Philadelphia’s newest tech mogul, and Whitney, the daughter of the tech mogul, find the tension between them turning into something else.

Genuine Fraud
by E Lockhart

A novel of psychological suspense by the best-selling author of We Were Liars follows the experiences of a diabolically intelligent girl who repeatedly reinvents herself in an effort to secure a charmed existence.

After the Shot Drops
by Randy Ribay

Told from alternating perspectives, Bunny takes a basketball scholarship to an elite private school to help his family, leaving behind Nasir, his best friend, in their tough Philadelphia neighborhood.

The Best Friend
by Melody Carlson

Unexpectedly dumped by all her friends, a perplexed Lishia Vance bonds with popular cheerleader Riley Atkins, who introduces Lishia to the "in" crowd before displaying troubling character qualities.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz
by A. S. King

Years after the boy she always loved ruined her life in a cruel betrayal, Vera wonders what to do when he dies under suspicious circumstances. Could the explanation be in the secrets she has kept for him?

Looking for Alaska
by John Green

Sixteen-year-old Miles' first year at Culver Creek Preparatory School in Alabama includes good friends and great pranks, but it is defined by the search for answers about life and death after a fatal car crash.

We Are the Perfect Girl
by A. E. Kaplan

A warmhearted retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac finds two teens, the outgoing Aphra and the beautiful Bethany, working together in an unintentionally escalating deception to win the heart of a mutual crush. By the author of Grendel's Guide to Love and War.

In the Neighborhood of True
by Susan Kaplan Carlton

In the very white and very Christian world of Altlanta society in 1958, New York transplant Ruth decides not to tell her new high school friends and boyfriend that she is Jewish, but when a violent act rocks the city, Ruth must figure out where her loyalties lie.

The Year They Fell
by David Kreizman

When their parents are killed in a plane crash, a group of former childhood friends, who are now entering their senior year in high school, are pulled back together by the tragedy.

The Past and Other Things That Should Stay Buried
by Shaun David Hutchinson

Two estranged best friends are granted extra time to resolve their differences when one of them dies suddenly and then comes partially back to life, forcing the pair to figure out what is happening. By the author of We Are the Ants.

Starry Eyes
by Jenn Bennett

When teens Zorie and Lennon, a former couple, are stranded in the California wilderness together, they must put aside their differences and come to terms with lingering romantic feelings in order to survive.

Monday's Not Coming
by Tiffany D. Jackson

Knowing when her best friend stops showing up at school that something is terribly wrong, Claudia, who depends heavily on her friend to defend her from bullies and help her navigate the toughest time in her life, is baffled when nobody around her seems to remember the last time they saw her friend.