Books like The Fault in Our Stars

A sharp, hyper-articulate exploration of first love and mortality that will make you laugh through your tears. These 12 books are the closest matches in mood, pace and themes, with what each one shares with The Fault in Our Stars.

bittersweet
intimate
melancholic
hopeful

01
Turtles All the Way Down
John Green
An intensely intimate, philosophical dive into the claustrophobia of the mind, anchored by the fierce, messy bonds of teenage friendship.
Shares:
- melancholic
- wry
- earnest
- tender
02
Five Feet Apart
Rachael Lippincott
A high-stakes, tear-jerking romance about the agonizing distance between surviving and truly living.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- earnest
- tender
- first love
03
Looking for Alaska
John Green · 2006
A bittersweet, smoke-ringed exploration of first loves, sudden losses, and the impossible task of truly knowing another person.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- melancholic
- wry
- earnest
04
I'll Give You the Sun
Jandy Nelson
A vibrant, paint-splattered explosion of grief, first love, and the fierce, fractured bond between twins.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- earnest
05
Eleanor & Park
Rainbow Rowell
A tender, mixtape-fueled exploration of first love that feels as visceral and fragile as a bruised heart.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- intimate
- hopeful
- earnest
06
Second Chance Summer
Morgan Matson
A bittersweet, sun-drenched summer of rekindled love and inevitable goodbyes.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- melancholic
- earnest
- tender
07
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Jesse Andrews
A fiercely unsentimental, laugh-out-loud exploration of grief that hides its breaking heart behind a barrage of terrible jokes and cinematic obsessions.
Shares:
- bittersweet
08
Five feet apart
By Rachael Lippincott
A tender, high-stakes romance where the simple act of closeness becomes a matter of life and death.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- earnest
- tender
09
If I Stay
Gayle Forman
A heart-wrenching, suspended moment in time that asks what it means to hold on when everything you love has been shattered.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- intimate
- melancholic
- earnest
10
The Sun is Also a Star
Nicola Yoon
A ticking-clock romance that explores the vast, interconnected universe through the intimate lens of a single serendipitous day in New York City.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- earnest
- philosophical
11
Holding Up the Universe
Jennifer Niven
A tender, dual-perspective romance about the profound relief of finally being seen for who you truly are.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- intimate
- hopeful
- earnest
12
Deadline
Chris Crutcher · 2007
A fiercely funny, ticking-clock tearjerker about living a lifetime's worth of rebellion and love in a single year.
Shares:
- bittersweet
- earnest
- philosophical
- sarcastic

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