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!

10 YA Audiobooks on Spotify

YOU CAN LISTEN TO NOW

1. 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.

2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, narrated by Tatiana Maslany

This classic story just turned 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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?

7. 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.

8. 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?

9. 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.

10. Night Witches by Kathryn Lasky, narrated by Ilyana Kadushin

Listening to historical fiction is like hearing history come to life. This story really makes you feel like you’re flying high in the sky with the Night Witches themselves in the height of WWII.

Sixteen-year-old Valya knows what it feels like to fly. She’s a pilot who’s always felt more at home soaring through the sky than down on earth. But since the Germans surrounded Stalingrad, Valya’s been forced to stay on the ground and watch her city crumble.

When her mother is killed during the siege, Valya is left with one burning desire: to join up with her older sister, a member of the famous Night Witches—a regiment of female pilots who fly light plains through curtains of fire to bomb crucial targets.

Using all her wits, Valya manages to get past the German blockade and find the Night Witches’ hidden base. That’s when the real danger starts. The pilots have been assigned a critical mission, one with the power to inflict serious damage on the Nazis. Valya will give anything to fight for her country, but when the person she loves most goes missing, she must make a choice between duty and the deepest desires of her heart.

Which audiobooks would you like to see added? Let us know in the comments!