One of my favorite parts about being a book blogger is sharing the books that I love with others. I absolutely love sharing my favorite reads and recommending them to others who are looking to fall in love with a new book!

12 YA BOOKS FOR GILMORE GIRLS FANS

It’s almost time for new Gilmore Girls!!! Are you so excited!? I usually do these book recommendation guides for other books but with new episodes of Gilmore Girls coming out, I thought this would be a fun opportunity to make some book recommendations based off of the show! I decided to stick to strictly young adult book recommendations since I don’t read a lot of adult outside of fantasy and I came up with some unexpected recommendations but for good reasons! Check out what I picked below!

IF YOU LIKED GILMORE GIRLS…

Try… THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US by Kasie West.
Review // Goodreads // Amazon
I love all of Kasie West’s books but I think this is a great one for fans of Gilmore Girls! Main character Cayman lives with her mom and together they run a doll shop. I love the mother-daughter relationship in this book! I think Gilmore Girls-fans would appreciate the relationship that Cayman has with her mom and really the overall story is a lot of fun too. The book explore family, friendships, first loves, and more, PLUS this book was the whip-smart sass that I think Lorelai and Rory possess. What more could you ask for in a reading recommendation?

Try… MEANT TO BE by Lauren Morrill.
Review // Goodreads // Amazon
I like MEANT TO BE as a recommendation because it’s just plain fun on so many levels and I think main character Julia has a lot in common with younger Rory. Julia loves her pocket Shakespeare and Rory has an appreciation of all books but also the classics. I think Julia appeals to the nerdier side of Rory and holds some of the same naive ideals that season one Rory had. Julia may be a little bit more naive than Rory but I still like that little nerdy bookish side to her! I also love the hate-to-love romance in MEANT TO BE which is something that Rory also sees in a couple love interests throughout the show!

Try… THE START OF ME AND YOU by Emery Lord.
Review // Goodreads // Amazon
This is another intellectual-type comparison and I actually think Paige and Rory are a lot alike in many ways. I can see them sharing a lot of the same interests and even participating in things like Quiz Bowl. I also really like the friendships that Paige makes and maintains throughout the book. She has some amazing friends with her core friend group (like Lane), meets a new love interest that she wasn’t expecting, and also finds unexpected friends with her Quiz Bowl team, including a girl that she finds hard to understand and get along with at first who kind of reminds me of Rory’s frenemy relationship with Paris in a way!

Try… MY LIFE NEXT DOOR by Huntley Fitzpatrick.
Review // Goodreads // Amazon
Want a book in another Connecticut town? MY LIFE NEXT DOOR takes place in the Connecticut suburbs! It’s not as small town as Gilmore Girls but it does feature many local businesses and a variety of families. While the Garretts are a much bigger family than the twosome of Lorelai and Rory, they have an amazing family dynamic that totally makes the book. I don’t usually like books with so many younger kids but even the youngest characters came alive here. I also love the budding relationship between Jase and Samantha and how it not only affected them but also their families. Rory is so close with her mom that her relationships are also important to the family dynamic and the same goes for Jase and his family!

Try… SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE by Morgan Matson.
Review // Goodreads // Amazon
SINCE YOU’VE BEEN GONE isn’t so much of a direct comparison to the TV show but I think it’s a fun read for Gilmore Girls fans! I love the little missions that Sloane leaves for Emily and I think it feels like the same fun and fierce atmosphere that Gilmore Gils has. You see Emily learning about herself through her family and friends, pushing outside of her comfort zone, and really putting herself out there. I just think this book has the same sort of vibe and Gilmore Girls fans could appreciate it!

Try… THE CONSPIRACY OF US by Maggie Hall.
Review // Goodreads // Amazon
THE CONSPIRACY OF US isn’t a book one might normally pick as a Gilmore Girls comparison but it has a lot of the same elements that I love about the show! Avery has such a tight relationship with her mom and I really love their relationship. Although you might not think that an international, jet-setting, multiple country thriller fits with the show and it doesn’t exactly in feel… But there’s also no shortness of sass, sarcasm, and wit that I always enjoy from Lorelai and Rory! I love the team of strong and intelligent people in this book and I think that’s something to be appreciated. There’s also a bit of some head-butting between the boys and I can relate with the guys having some fights over Rory! Plus, I can’t recommend ALL contemporary books. We want to get a little variety to our reading, right?

Try… NANTUCKET BLUE by Leila Howland.
Review // Goodreads // Amazon
This is a book I recommend quite a bit. Cricket is a character who I feel such a connection to in the sense that she’s like the girl next door. She has a good relationship with her family, even if she does get a little pressure about school sometimes, and a best friend who becomes extended family. She’s a very hard-working and loyal person which I think are qualities always appreciated in the Gilmore realm and I actually think she’s a lot like Lorelai in her determination to work and really earn her way for what she wants. I think the overall vibe is there as well, although NANTUCKET BLUE may be a bit more on the serious side with a little less witty banter!

Try… CONFESSIONS OF AN ANGRY GIRL by Louise Rozett.
Review // Goodreads // Amazon
This is another book I recommend quite a bit because there’s a whole lot of important things going on here. There’s the loss of a father and how the family handles this loss. There’s a mother-daughter relationship which may not always be as tight as Lorelai and Rory but I really appreciated seeing them work on it. And there’s, of course, Jamie Forta (swooooooon). Jamie is a little bit of a bad boy and just from his description, he REALLY reminds me of Jess Mariano. He may not have an uncle Luke but just his overall vibe and the way he interacts with Rose somehow really reminds me of Jess!

Try… THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater.
Review // Goodreads // Amazon
If you’re up for a bit of magical realism and borderline paranormal, THE RAVEN BOYS has some really, really, really amazing relationships and that awesome small-town feel. Main character Blue (yes, that’s her real name) has an amazing relationship with her mother Maura and becomes friends with some local Raven Boys (the boys that attend the private school in town) despite how much she had previously tried to avoid them in the past. The town of Henrietta is small and has such personality — not in the same way that Stars Hollow does but in its own special right. I also love the addition of the other secondary characters of the series who add such vibrance to these books. Blue and Maura live with friends and fellow psychics who are like family to Blue and I love the camaraderie of all of the Raven Boys as well. I think they bring the same feel to the series that characters like Sookie, Miss Patty, Babette, and Kirk bring to the Gilmore Girls atmosphere. It’s a wonderful mix of personalities that really bring the book to life much like the fun cast of characters adds that extra layer to Gilmore Girls!

Try… 26 KISSES by Anna Michels.
Review // Goodreads // Amazon
This another cutesy sort of book but I really enjoyed so many things here. Veda’s split from her serious boyfriend kind of reminded me of Rory’s relationship with Dean and although they may not have taken the same approaches post-relationship, I liked how they both got a little surer of themselves and ended up discovering a new piece of their life independently from their relationships. I also liked the lighter feel of this book and how it was just a feel-good sort of story!

Try… MY LADY JANE by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows.
Review // Goodreads // Amazon
MY LADY JANE is really nothing like Gilmore Girls in content but it’s the same sort of humor that I think GG fans would love! It’s a historical fiction account of Lady Jane Grey but think of The Princess Bride meets Monty Python. The book is clever through and through and there are so many witty moments, anachronisms, and pop culture jabs that really make the book laugh-out-loud funny. Although I wouldn’t say it’s normally a book I’d recommend as a “read alike”, I think the humor would really appeal to fans of Gilmore Girls!

Try… THE SCORPIO RACES by Maggie Stiefvater.
Review // Goodreads // Amazon
I accidentally ended up with two Maggie Stiefvater books on this list (what can I say? They’re amazing). This one is quite different than THE RAVEN BOYS but actually the reasons I selected it are similar, the first being the small-town sense of community. THE SCORPIO RACES takes place on the island of Thisby which is a fictional island of unknown origins but seems to be somewhere off the coast of the UK. Everyone knows everyone on the island. The families are very tight and the townspeople really bring a lot to the story. I love how the main characters interact with the town and how the small-town feel really affects every person as well. It may not be another Gilmore Girls feel but this is one book that I really love for its sense of community, even if the community is not always on the side of the main characters.

I always have a blast picking out recommendations and I hope Gilmore fans agree with these! There are some recommendations that are a little outside of the box but I like the elements that connect to some fundamental Gilmore themes!

Looking for more recommendations? Check out my previous list of recs below!

• If You Liked… If I Stay: For fans of IF I STAY, here are a few hand-picked selections of books you should read next!
• If You Liked… The Fault in Our Stars: With so many great YA adaptations hitting the big screen, I wanted to make a lovely graphic of suggestions for people who have enjoyed them! This one kicks off the series with recs for THE FAULT IN OUR STARS fans!
• The Book Addict’s “GUIDE” to Male POVs: A list of recommendations for mostly young adult books and some adult, all from a male point of view or alternating male/female POV!
• The Book Addict’s “GUIDE” to “Crossover” Books: Know adult readers who want to get into YA? Or YA readers who want to pick up new adult reads? Check out this guide to “crossover” books!
• The Book Addict’s GUIDE to paranormal, sci-fi, and fantasy: The second in my series of guides! I hard a hard time separating these three so they all got smushed together.
• The Book Addict’s GUIDE to contemporary: First of many to come! I created a road map/choose your own adventure-style guide to YA contemporary romances. If you’re looking for a good contemp read, start here!