Does anyone have a book to recommend whose protagonist is in his/her 20s?

I know “YA” usually applies to high school, teenagers, etc., but as a 23-year-old, I feel like I truly am a “young adult”. And there are a lot of common themes in YA books—coming of age, figuring life out, relationships, etc.—that I’m still figuring out, too. I love YA novels, but sometimes I don’t want to read stories that take place in high school when I graduated 5 years ago, yknow? I feel like this age group is a little underrepresented, which is why that new HBO show “Girls” is being received so well. 

Anyway! Any recommendations would be mucho appreciated.


  1. xx-machine answered: I don’t have any, but I would love to know if you find any good ones! Otherwise I guess we’ll just have to write our own.
  2. amandagirlonfire answered: “sunshine” by robin mckinley (sp?) and “commencement”
  3. les-marguerites answered: The Journals of Sylvia Plath go from 18/19 to her late 20’s. It’s not a novel, but it’s as interesting as one & shows progression in writing
  4. thesoundandtheforte answered: The novella Lucinella by Lore Segal isn’t really YA but it is about being a writer and young adulthood and it is incredibly beautiful.
  5. tea-n-cake-or-death answered: I think “I Am the Messenger” has a 20 something protagonist.
  6. eloramoon answered: The only two that spring to mind (sadly) are The Nanny Diaries and Bitter is the New Black. I enjoyed them both. :)
  7. utomjordisk reblogged this from yeahwriters
  8. venividivoom answered: Soulless!
  9. omer-of-manna answered: Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy by E.L.James
  10. netlflix answered: hungers games, even though you probably read it and their ages are close to twenty
  11. mjaneml-reblogs answered: The Messengers by Markuz Zusak :)
  12. kaywhyelleee answered: I got three goodies from my bookshelf: “Trainspotting,” “A Clockwork Orange,” and “Bright Light, Big City.” Phenomenal books.
  13. getbackibite answered: uhh maybe any of the books by Chris D’Lacy in “The Fire Within” series. It’s starts out pretty okay but then gets weird but yeah.
  14. bloodofthepen answered: Tamora Pierce’s “Protector of the Small Series” is a phenomenal; four books follow one character from her early teens to twenties [fantasy]
  15. mynumberoneobsession answered: Dean Koontz wrote a really good series called ‘Odd Thomas’, it’s really good. It’s about a twenty something year old guy, really good.
  16. fandomentanglement reblogged this from yeahwriters and added:
    Tanith Lee’s ‘Don’t Bite The Sun’ and ‘Drinking Sapphire Wine’ are older young adult, iirc. Let’s see… *shuffles through...
  17. bee-syrup answered: Not quite sure this counts as strictly YA, but Juliet by Ann Fortier is about a 25 year-old woman :)
  18. karanablue answered: How Should a Person Be? by Shelia Heti