Find your next great read for Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month by exploring my reviews of these heartbreaking YA books about abuse and relationship violence.

The hidden psychological, emotional, and physical pain of relationship violence is often overlooked by family members and friends who don’t “spot the signs” of dating violence, which only adds to the confusion and isolation of the victim. Statistics tell us that 33% of adolescents in America are victim to sexual, physical, verbal, or emotional dating abuse. Reading YA books about abuse and relationship violence can be helpful for someone struggling to understand what an abusive relationship looks like or to help someone else who needs help coming to terms with an escalating and dangerous love relationship. Storytelling can be the light that reveals the truth.

Here are my personal recommendations for some amazing YA books about abuse and relationship violence that portray characters whose romantic relationships escalate with extreme possessiveness, jealousy, manipulation, emotional and psychological abuse, and even physical assault. (I also threw in one that is an adult romance about abuse and relationship violence because it’s so awesome!)

Junior Missing by Khristina Chess

“He kissed me again and again, and I began bargaining once more with the wind. I vowed to do better and try harder to keep this Quentin who loved me and kept me safe. The Quentin who I loved. Who loved me. Who didn’t treat me badly. Sex was the one place where he was always himself. His very best self. “― Khristina Chess, quote from Junior Missing

Love shouldn’t take prisoners.

Sixteen-year-old Grace Keegan, darling of the child pageant world, is missing. Police initially believe she ran away—until they locate her abandoned cell phone along the highway. No one knows she met someone online, someone older, a musician named Quentin Brock who has a cool band named Acid Mozart. He seems to be romantic, cute, and funny. He seems to be the perfect guy.

By the time he reveals his true colors, Grace is trapped in another state with no way out.

She doesn’t even have shoes.

Wow! Junior Missing hooked me from the first page and never let me go!

What makes Junior Missing so special is the gripping, slow-boil depiction of how Grace falls into the trap of an abusive relationship with an older man who takes her in—and won’t let her go. I worried about her. I loved seeing her journey and choices as she befriends the neighbor girl. This is the kind of thrilling, authentic novel that really shows how someone can so easily be manipulated and hurt in this kind of situation.

If you’re looking for YA books about abuse and relationship violence and you want for a steamy thriller that you won’t be able to put down, this one is definitely a page-turner! In fact, Khristina Chess is on my list of Best YA Authors to Binge on Kindle Unlimited because she has so many suspenseful novels.

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen

“Sometimes, it was just a little rough: a blocking bruise. Other times, a hard foul. And if things were really bad—full contact.” ― Sarah Dessen, quote from Dreamland

I've read a couple Sarah Dessen books that were "okay," but wow, this one really, really grabbed me!

It starts when Caitlin's sister, Cass, runs away. I knew the story was about relationship abuse, and I was expecting the runaway sister Cass to be with a bad guy, but no. After she disappears, Caitlin falls for a guy named Rogerson who ends up being the abusive one. Caitlin's downward spiral is emotional, realistic, and heartbreaking. From the first time Rogerson hits her, I kept waiting for someone to intervene or for her to wake up, but it went on and on until the climactic moment when something had to shatter.

I felt really bad for Caitlin. She seemed invisible to everyone who supposedly loved her. She was hiding her pain in front of everyone. And people she loved kept leaving her: first her sister Cass and then her new friend Corinna.

If you like the tough topics and want to explore YA books about dating violence and abuse, Dreamland is great read.

Criminal by Terra Elan McVoy 

“But in remembering, and in telling them what they needed to know, that golden feeling I’d had with Dee came back over me—the feeling of being a kind of temple for him. I was someone who worshipped him and understood him, in all the ways he needed and deserved. I could feel them hating me, thinking I was wrong, but they’d never had Dee’s hands on them, never felt him as completely as I had.” ― Terra Elan McVoy, quote from Criminal

This book was so absorbing I read the whole thing on a Saturday afternoon. I couldn't put it down.

It's a sad story about a girl from a bad home who falls in love for the worst kind of guy, and she is pulled into a crime with him. How far will she go to protect him? Why?

I loved Nikki's character. I loved how blind she is by her obsession with Dee. She’s honest, not particularly likeable, but real. Her mother was terrible, and Nikki found friendship and safety for herself with Bird. It was no wonder that she found herself in this bad relationship with Dee. Her world is tragic, but she is strong and makes good choices, even if they're really, really late.

Criminal is not a YA book about abuse and relationship violence in the sense that Dee physically harms Nikki. Rather, it is the escalating nature of the psychological manipulation in the relationship which creates the harm.

The Girl Who Fell by S. M. Parker

“Still, there’s a rumbling in the pit of my stomach telling me I’m missing out on something. Something I wouldn’t have missed for all the world before Alec.” ― S.M. Parker, quote from The Girl Who Fell

In this hypnotic story, Zephyr Doyle falls in love with the wrong boy. Only, he seems like the perfect boy. A boy she's willing to give up everything for: friends, her hockey team, even her future. He's saccharine sweet, but a bit jealous. Creepy. But she can't see his emotional abuse for what it is until it's too late.

I really enjoyed this one and read it quickly. Although I guessed the relationship was doomed (surely?!), I couldn't tell how it would fall apart and was surprised by the twists at the end. Creepy behavior just escalated into more and more aggressive awfulness. It shows how a person can lose herself in a dating relationship that she believes is love.

This is an important YA novel about abuse and relationship violence.

BONUS: It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover

It Ends with Us is not a YA novel about abuse and relationship violence; it is an adult romance novel about this topic.

Lily grew up watching her mother suffer from domestic violence, and after meeting the perfect guy, Rile, she finds herself sliding into the exact same pattern of violence.

This book is gut-wrenching. I did not want it to end (and in fact, there is a sequel). No wonder Colleen Hoover is a multi-bestselling author! The story between Lily and Ryle is heartbreaking and real, and there is a love triangle thing between the present and the past, between Lily and Atlas and Lily and Ryle, and this adult romance book is just so, so, so good.

Other YA Books about Abuse and Relationship Violence

If you are looking other YA books about abuse and relationship violence, check out the YA Dating Violence list and Abusive Relationships in YA Fiction list on Goodreads. You might also be interested in my post, Other Good Reads, which lists other reviews of YA contemporary books about tough topics for teens, including teen runaways and sexual assault.

Do you have any personal favorites to recommend to me? I’m always looking for another great read in this category.

Khristina Chess is the award-winning author of several YA novels about troubled teens turning corners. You can find her on Amazon, Goodreads, and Twitter as an active daily contributor in the #5amwritersclub.