Action Girls in YA / teen fiction
Discover the best action books for girls in YA and teen fiction! From Meg Cabot's Mediator series to Ally Carter's spy thrillers and Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters, this curated list features fearless heroines in gripping adventures. Explore kick-ass girls, supernatural mysteries, and high-stakes espionage in top teen reads like City of Bones and I'd Tell You I Love You. Perfect for fans of strong female leads and non-stop action.
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I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You
by Ally Carter
Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school—that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it’s really a school for spies. /DIV DIVEven though Cammie is fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she’s an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with the skill of a real “pavement artist”—but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her? Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she’s on her most dangerous mission—falling in love.
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The Mediator #1: Shadowland
by Meg Cabot
Shadowland is the first book in the thrilling, romantic Mediator series, from the New York Times bestselling author of the Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot. Suze is a mediator—a liaison between the living and the dead. In other words, she sees dead people. And they won't leave her alone until she helps them resolve their unfinished business with the living. But Jesse, the hot ghost haunting her bedroom, doesn't seem to need her help. Which is a relief, because Suze has just moved to sunny California and plans to start fresh, with trips to the mall instead of the cemetery, and surfing instead of spectral visitations. But the very first day at her new school, Suze realizes it's not that easy. There's a ghost with revenge on her mind...and Suze happens to be in the way. Don't miss the delightfully funny supernatural Mediator series, from New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot.
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The General
by Robert Muchamore
James Adams and his sister Lauren take on a training mission in the desert near Las Vegas, but find big trouble waiting in the form of an entire American batallion.
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Kiki Strike: The Empress's Tomb
by Kirsten Miller
Kiki Strike and the Irregulars saved the world last night. You might want to send them a thank you note. Ananka Fishbein’s mother considers her the resident underachiever of the Upper East Side. Of course, she doesn’t know Ananka’s nights are all about hanging with a butt-kicking superspy named Kiki Strike and their friends, the Irregulars. If Ananka’s mom knew her daughter was responsible for protecting a secret world under New York City, she wouldn’t think about sending Ananka to boarding school . . . on a farm! But Ananka doesn’t have time to clean up that misunderstanding. Not when a runaway hottie may have stolen a secret map, a long lost father appears, a two-thousand-year-old Chinese mummy needs saving and way too many secrets threaten the very existence of the Irregulars.
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The Birth of Venus
by Kelley Townley
An action thriller for teens set in the glittering world of fine art. Catherine Lock is having a very bad day. Teased and friendless at school, considered a delinquent-waiting-to-happen at home, and misunderstood by her martial arts teacher, life is looking pretty bleak. With nowhere else to go she turns up on her estranged Dad's doorstep. She thinks he's a boring art restorer at the prestigious 'Fine Art Restoration Trust' (FART) - relentlessly applying cleaning fluids to old paintings. But unknown to Catherine his method of art restoration is a lot more exciting and he wants her to become his apprentice - not that he's planning on telling her just yet. Catherine's suspicions are soon aroused however, and worried her dad is involved in something illegal she undertakes some unorthodox detective work - leading to the discovery that FART's true mission is to steal art BACK from the bad guys and 'restore' it to its rightful owners. Impressed by her panache FART offers her a job on the spot and alongside fellow apprentices, Ollie (crazy haired African-American, techno-whiz, possibly gay/possibly just very tidy) and Raphael (irritatingly aloof and vain, yet exceptionally tasty piece of Italian eye-candy), Catherine begins to study the skills needed to detect, locate and extract pinched Picassos and missing Monets. However stealing from criminals is a dangerous business and when Botticelli's iconic masterpiece 'The Birth of Venus' goes missing, the newly employed Catherine is told to stay on the side-lines. Fat chance. Especially when she knows who did it... "Fantastic. I have adrenaline pumping through my veins!" Mimi Thebo, YA author. "Smart, sassy, well-paced and, most importantly, has a tough, appealing female protagonist, who can correct your art history knowledge AND knock you unconscious with a well-placed stiletto." Ellen Carnes, BooksonBoard.com
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volume 4: Time of Your Life
by Joss Whedon
Willow and Buffy head to New York City to unlock the secrets of Buffy's mysterious scythe, when something goes terribly awry. Buffy is propelled into a dystopian future where there's only one Slayer -- Fray, the title character of Joss Whedon's 2001 series, the first comic he ever wrote. Their uneasy alliance falls apart, leading to the death of a major character from the TV series, while back in the twenty-first century, the Scotland base falls prey to a mystical bomb courtesy of the Biggest Bad-Twilight. * The first two volumes of Buffy Season Eight have combined to sell over 160,000 copies! * Includes the highly anticipated Buffy/Fray crossover, "Time of Your Life," and "After These Messages . . . We'll Be Right Back," written by Jeph Loeb (Batman: The Long Halloween)! * "Joss Whedon, the man, the myth, the legend, writes the comic with the same genius as he did the show. The art, penciled by Georges Jeanty, is as faboo as the writing." -Janet Evanovich, New York Times best-selling author of Hard Eight * "The dialogue is Whedonesque and I can hear how the actors would read there lines. It's fun and witty and we’re treated to more fantastical stories than the WB/UPN could ever pony up the money to do." -Comic Book Resources * A New York Times bestseller!
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Twisted
by Christine Harris
Jesse Sharpe, child prodigy and orphan, is an agent for C2, a secret organization. It is hard to separate the bad guys from the good in a world of secrets. And this time, Jesse begins to doubt herself. Has C2 forced her to act against her own good instincts and turned her into a heartless monster?
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The Book of the Sword
by Carrie Asai
Adopted by a Japanese crime boss as a toddler, Heaven Kogo, now 17, is to be married off. The wedding is crashed by a ninja assassin, who claims to be Heaven's brother. After he is killed, Heaven flees to find her true identity. Illustrations.
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Venus Spring, Stunt Girl
by Jonny Zucker
Venus Spring is more than ready for summer Stunt Camp. Her granddad, Dennis - one of the country's top stuntmen - has been training her since she was eleven. But while she is there she stumbles on a clever plot - something terrifying is about to shatter the peace of the surrounding countryside and Venus is determined to uncover it.
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Out of the Shadows
by Carol Hedges
From school girl to spy girl - all in a day's work for wannabe secret agent Jazmin Dawson. Jazmin has been given a new mission: to befriend a crucial witness in an international case of identity theft. But when the witness vanishes, Jazmin finds herself at the heart of a dangerous game. Carol Hedges' second "Spy Girl" novel is smart, sassy, and full of put-downs as deadly as an assassin's bullet.
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Empty Quarter
by Julia Golding
Expats, espionage and exotic destinations. "Empty Quarter" is gripping - you won't be able to put it down.Darcie's stuck aboard a cruise ship for problem rich kids. It sounds exotic but it's more like boot camp. And, annoyingly the US President's daughter with her reputation for being out-of-control is there too.Things are about to get interesting though...Darcie becomes embroiled in a kidnapping plot that will take her from Naples, via Cyprus, to Egypt and on a terrifying journey through the desert empty quarter.It is an adventure-thriller starring Darcie Lock.
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Final Shot
by Sam Hutton
Will Anderson, Britain's number one tennis player, is about to become a murderer's next victim. Luckily though, he has just met Maddie at a party, one of three teenage detectives in the Police Investigation Command unit of Special Branch. Who better to help save a champion's life?
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Danger
by Christine Harris
Jesse's new assignment is no game--it's dead serious. Jesse Sharpe, child prodigy and secret agent, must find a bomb in a crowded railway station...before the unthinkable happens. Time is running out. Thousands of people could die, and Jesse is the only one who can save them. But the situation is even more deadly than Jesse realizes...
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Fugitive
by Christine Harris
When young secret agent Jesse Sharpe is assigned by C2 to bring in a man named Ari, Jesse has a hard time figuring out how to seize him when he is protected by a ruthless professional killer.
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Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City
by Kirsten Miller
Life becomes more interesting for Ananka Fishbein when, at the age of twelve, she discovers an underground room in the park across from her New York City apartment and meets a mysterious girl called Kiki Strike who claims that she, too, wants to explore the subterranean world.
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The Mediator #3: Reunion
by Meg Cabot
The RLS Angels are out for blood, and only Suze can stop them—since she's the only one who can see them. The four ghostly teenagers died in a terrible car accident, for which they blame Suze's classmate Michael... and they'll stop at nothing until he's joined them in the realm of the dead. As Suze desperately fends off each attempt on Michael's life, she finds she can relate to the Angels' fury. Because their deaths turn out not to have been accidental at all. And their killer is only too willing to strike again.
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The Mediator #4: Darkest Hour
by Meg Cabot
When the nineteenth--century ghost of Maria de Silva wakes her up in the middle of the night, Suze knows this is no ordinary visitation -- and not just from the knife at her throat, either. In life, Maria was the fiancée of Jesse -- the same Jesse who was murdered a hundred and fifty years before. The same Jesse Suze is in love with. Maria threatens Suze: The backyard construction must cease. Suze has a pretty good idea what -- or rather, who -- Maria doesn't want found. But in solving Jesse's murder, will Suze end up losing him forever?
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The Mediator #6: Twilight
by Meg Cabot
Suze has gotten used to ghosts. She's a mediator, after all, and communicating with the dead is all in a day's work. So she certainly never expected to fall in love with one: Jesse, a nineteenth- century hottie. But when she discovers that she has the power to determine who becomes a ghost in the first place, Suze begins to freak. It means she can alter the course of history ... andprevent Jesse's murder, keeping him from ever becoming a ghost -- and from ever meeting Suze. Will Jesse choose to live without her, or die to love her?
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The Mediator #5: Haunted
by Meg Cabot
Suze is used to trouble, but this time she's in deep: Ghostly Jesse has her heart, but Paul Slater, a real flesh—and—blood guy, is warm for her form. And mediator Paul knows how to send Jesse to the Great Beyond. For good. Paul claims he won't do anything to Jesse as long as Suze will go out with him. Fearing she'll lose Jesse forever, Suze agrees. But even if Suze can get Jesse to admit his true feelings for her, what kind of future can she have with a guy who's already dead?
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Love You to Death
by Meg Cabot
Being a mediator doesn't exactly make Susannah Simon your typical sixteen-year-old. Her job is to ease the path for the unhappy dead to their final resting place. She finds her skills tested to the maximum. But can this girl get her ghost?
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Young Blood
by Meg Cabot
Starring Susannah Simon, the sassiest ghost-hunter ever! Suze should be spending the summer vacation at the beach. Instead she's been forced to get a babysitting job at a swanky resort. Ages 12+ years.
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Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
by Ally Carter
After staking out, obtaining, and then being forced to give up her first boyfriend, Josh, all Cammie Morgan wants is a peaceful semester. But that's easier said than done when you're a CIA legacy and go to the premier school in the world . . . for spies. Cammie may have a genius I.Q., but there are still a lot of things she doesn't know. Like, will her ex-boyfriend even remember she exists? And how much trouble is she really in after what happened last semester? And most of all, why is her mother acting so strangely? Despite Cammie's best intentions to be a normal student, danger seems to follow her. She and her friends learn that their school is going to play host to some mysterious guests--code name: Blackthorne. Then she's blamed for a security breach that leaves the school's top secret status at risk. Soon, Cammie and her friends are crawling through walls and surveilling the school to learn the truth about Blackthorne and clear Cammie's name. Even though they have confidence in their spy skills, this time the targets are tougher (and hotter), and the stakes for Cammie's heart--and her beloved school--are higher than ever.
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Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover
by Ally Carter
When Cammie Morgan visits her roommate Macey in Boston, she thinks she’s in for an exciting end to her summer. After all, she’s there to watch Macey’s father accept the nomination for vice president. But when you go to the world’s best school (for spies), “exciting” and “deadly” are never far apart. Soon the girls find themselves trapped in a kidnappers’ plot, with only their espionage skills to save them.
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The Recruit
by Robert Muchamore
When James is recently orphaned, he is recruited by a secret agency for his math skills and must undergo one hundred days of grueling training.
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Deep End
by Sam Hutton
Your life can change in a second. Maddie Cooper's did. She and her parents were gunned down in the street. Maddie's mother was killed, her father left in a wheelchair. Searching for a new role in life, Maddie signs up as a trainee in her father's notorious flying squad.
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City of Glass
by Cassandra Clare
City of fallen angels: As mysterious murders threaten the new peace between Shadowhunters and Downworlders, only Simon, the Daylighter vampire, can help bring both groups together.
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City of Ashes
by Cassandra Clare
Sixteen-year-old Clary continues trying to make sense of the swiftly changing events and relationships in her life as she becomes further involved with the Shadowhunters and their pursuit of demons and discovers some terrifying truths about her parents, her brother Jace, and her boyfriend Simon.
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Valiant
by Holly Black
When she runs away to New York, seventeen-year-old Valerie Russell finds that escape from her own reality is impossible as she encounters colorful, desperate, and strange new friends who end up giving her the surprise of her life.
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Tithe
by Holly Black
After returning home from a tour with her mother's rock band, sixteen-year-old Kaye, who has been visited by faeries since childhood, discovers that she herself is a magical faerie creature with a special destiny.
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The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride, Book 1): A Maximum Ride Novel
by Patterson, James
No summary available.