Any teen books without love interests?

[Clover_IceQueen]

Every time I try to read a teen book, whether fantasy, sci-fi, or dystopian are all ruined once the prospect of a love interest comes into play.
My question is this: have any of you read any teen novels that include no hints at love at all? If so, what are the titles? I'm looking for something simple to read that won't ruin itself.

[salvagedsword]

No Romance:
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli, Ender's Game, The Ship who Sang by Anne McCaffrey, Lirael by Garth Nix, The Giver, The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan, The Midwife's Apprentice, A Wizard of Earthsea, My Side of the Mountain, Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi

Minimal Romance:
Harry Potter, The Blue Sword by Robin Mckinley, The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli, many of the books by Tamora Pierce, Johnny Tremain, many of Patricia Wrede's books, many of Gerald Morris's books

Hope you don't mind fantasy, sci-fi, and history! 3nodding

[yeragh]

Genesis

Railsea

Shipbreaker

Golden Compass

[Tiggermyk]

My signature has a link to some of the YALSA top picks for teens (though I really should update it to the 2014 list...). You could take a look through there, to see what catches your eye.

For specific books, try one of Brandon Sanderson's teen novels, either The Rithmatist or Steelheart. I can't say for sure about Steelheart, but The Rithmatist, I feel, has more "friendship" than "romance" overtures between the male and female main characters.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, by Lish McBride, has come up in another thread I've seen.

The Astonishing Life of Octavia Nothing has received very good reviews, though I haven't read it myself.

You could also try books aimed at a somewhat younger audience (which is usually less concerned overall with ideas of romance), but are border-line teen: for my Tween Read Club, we read The Potato Chip Puzzles which is, ahem, the second book in the series, by Eric Berlin, which I think teens could enjoy. The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart, is another good one.

[Clover_IceQueen]

salvagedsword

Johnny Tremain

One of the few books in existence that I would burn rofl
I had to read that book in eighth grade. It was so boring. emo It's not that I don't find that time period interesting, it's just that it wasn't presented well...
However, I will look into all of your other suggestions (except for Harry Potter because I already read the whole series wink ).

[Lilac Wood]

Can also try getting out of the teen genre.


I did recently read a book called Sea Change, by S.M Wheeler. There's no love interest in it. The plot is driven by an inter-species friendship between a girl and a kraken. It was an odd sort of book, but very unique in its telling. It might be worth checking out.

[Ninina]

Lord of the Rings come to mind. Also Chronicles of Narnia. I love LoTR and hate Narnia, but I think both are worth checking out.
If you want to branch out, I'm going to suggest something perhaps unusual... Don Quixote by Cervantes (in translation, of course.) It's a classic but timeless novel. It's also very funny and explores an unlikely friendship.

Also not romantic and not YA, but more contemporary, is The professor and the housekeeper by Ogawa. Another beautiful story about finding a meaningful friendship where you least expect it. This one is a novella and I enjoyed it very much.

[_Kawaii_Demon_Mix_]

Put me in the spotlight...

I can't think of a book in YA that I have read that doesn't have a big love plot or no interest at all. Maybe that's because I'm attracted to books with romance in it.

I was born for it.

[Roll A D20]

I'm currently reading a series called the Slated series. And there is a very minimal love interest from what I remember reading in the first book last summer. The second book has no love interests.

There is also Incarceron (I may have spelled that wrong...) and although this isnt a teen novel I highly suggest The Passage. There is romance, but has absolutely no part in the plot. Its subtle and it isnt a main focus.

[Quotesy]

THE FURY by Alexander Graham-Smith. No romance in there; just a lot of angels, demons, death, the Fury, and saving the world. emotion_dowant

[Clover_IceQueen]

Quotes and References

THE FURY by Alexander Graham-Smith. No romance in there; just a lot of angels, demons, death, the Fury, and saving the world. emotion_dowant

Thank you. Sounds interesting 3nodding

[Nikomikiri]

The Mither Mages books by Orson Scott Card are YA with little to no love interests but lots of magic and mythology tie-ins.. surprised

[BuiltWilt]

Well. I'm not so sure this would be categorized easily into YA; I've seen it put in Mystery or Horror before. But anyway: The Samuel Johnson series, by John Connolly. I hope you like Hell and demons.

[Johannes Cabal]

Katya's World and Katya's War by Jonathan L. Howard.
Sci-fi with no time for romance. (Really, first book takes place over about 72 hours. Heroine's more concerned about not getting shot or drowned.)

[NataliePatalie]

A Series of Unfortunate Events is my favorite ^^