I'm looking for more summer reading for my reluctant-to-read 14 year old daughter. She prefers novels with gritty realism and lots of teenage angst. No fantasy or SF please.....

She just finished reading Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen and liked that better than anything else she ever read.

I know there's a lot of knowledgeable young adult readers out there who can give me some good recommendations.......

I love the Laurene McDaniel novels. A lot of them deal with teens in life changing situations, like beign diagnosed with a serious illness, a friend being killed in a car accident, divorce and such. They're very well written. My favorites are Angel of Hope and Angel of Mercy, they're a set, but I can't remember which is first.

Any Phillip Pullman books...I like reading teen rated angst fan fics.

Oh! Someone Like You is my absolute favorite book! Here's some others by Sarah Dessen:
That Summer (Deals with a teen and her sister's marriage to the "wrong" guy)
Dreamland (Caitlin dates an abusive boy.You should know it as drug content as well)
This Lullaby (Remy is skeptical of love due to her mother's numerous marriages)
Keeping The Moon (Once overweight but now thin Colie has self-esteem issues until she moves in with her aunt for the summer and makes friends with her fellow waitresses at a diner)
Since your daughter has already read Someone Like You, I highly recommend This Lullaby and Dreamland.

FYI:The movie How To Deal starring Mandy Moore is based on Someone Like You and That Summer.

Also any book by Jenny Carroll is good. Although her two series deal with things like seeing ghosts and being psychic they are very,very well written and funny. Hope I was helpful!

Looking For Alibrandi and Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

Tomorrow series by John Marsden (there are 7 books altogether)

I hope your not directing your daughter to the things you think she likes - get a book you think she will enjoy and then get an adventure story (James Bond?) and then get a real life story (Biography of someone she has heard of.) Give her the three books and see which one she enjoys most - It will probably be the one you least expect.

Well, this is perfect, as I'm 14 myself Of course, I enjoy science fiction...but many of my favorites aren't of that genre. Sorry for not knowing all of the authors' names. If you're interested in one, let me know and I'll look it up on my bookshelf. (I'm at dad's right now)

The Outsiders, by Hinton: A slim volume, but one of the best books I've EVER read. Ponyboy and his brothers live together deep in a crummy city, (orphans,) where you have to watch your back every second to keep from being killed. Major adventure; wild ending.

The Only Alien on the Planet: Honest, it's not science fiction! The main character never smiles, never speaks, shows absolutely no emotion to a soul; until Ginny, the new girl, comes along. (By the way, he does great in school and is literally a genius). Wait untill you find out why he's locked up inside himself....

The Giver by Lois Lowry: Ok, so this IS science fiction, but it's so unbelievable I would never forgive myself for not reccomending it!

In the Stone Circle by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel: Ok, so there are mysterious spirits and stuff in this one...but it's definitely one of my favorites

If I think of any more I'll let you know.

Ooh,Misty,"The Only Alien On The Planet" has me intrigued. Must...look...it...up...

Thanks everyone for all the great recommendations and I'll pass them on to my daughter. Fosse4, I like your suggestion and I think I'm going to try that. Just when I thought I had nailed down my daughter's tastes she grabbed my copy of Stephen King's "The Shining" off the bookshelf and started reading it. Still, I'm sure she'll be happy to see the above recommendations.

The buzz word is choice - the book might sit on the bookshelf for years and then be started on (if it's discarded after a chapter or two then she didn't like it!) You can only go so far in promoting a style of writing - she might not like your choice but might find an alternative - I can give you an example I had the Hitchhikers Guide novels - my son (eventually ) read them, enjoyed them and has since become a Terry Pratchett fan.