Families who loved Pretenders by Lisi Harrison often look for books with a similar feel. These 20 recommendations were selected for their similarity in style, theme, and reading level.
Reach for this book when your teen feels the crushing weight of social media perfection or the pressure to perform for college applications. It is an ideal choice for a young person who seems successful on paper but is struggling with anxiety or a sense of phoniness. The story follows five high school freshmen, the Phoenix Five, through their leaked private journal entries. It explores themes of identity, social comparison, and the difference between our public personas and our private truths. Parents will appreciate how it deconstructs the myth of the perfect teen while remaining firmly in the realm of relatable, contemporary fiction for ages 12 and up.