2016 was a big year for young adult books: debut standalones shined brightly, and the world of duologies, trilogies and more continued to expand into epic adventures for the likes of authors like Victoria Aveyard, Sabaa Tahir and Leigh Bardugo.

There were so many releases this year that we couldn't possibly read them all, but these were our absolute favorites from 2016 that come highly recommended. They are not ranked by "best" — these are ordered by release date throughout the year.

Thematically, there's a little bit of everything included in all of our top picks, from contemporary romances to monster thrillers to fantasy retellings. Take a look through the gallery of our 10 Best Young Adult Books We Read in 2016, and tell us what your favorite YA reads of the year were in the comments below.

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