The Found family trope was something I’d never heard of before I wrote my book. As a reader, I never even knew what tropes were. I just read what I liked. It wasn’t until joining the Bookstagram community on Instagram that I learned about tropes and which ones Hidden by These Walls has. Found family, or family of choice, is a literary device where characters who are not related biologically form deep connections and lasting family bonds with each other.
Since I now recognize this trope, I am finding it everywhere I look in young adult fiction and other genres too. I decided to spotlight twelve books that feature this trope in the hopes you might find the found family trope as interesting as I do. You can’t go wrong with any of these books, and neither can your teen! Books are listed by genre in no particular order.
Fantasy with Found Family
1.The Royal Insight Series is by Lauren Kutney and to date there are two books in this series which the author classifies as a Princess Diaries meets The Bodyguard royalty romance. In The Crowned Mystic, Elena, discovers she’s royal—with hidden powers that make her a target—and is thrown into a dangerous new world. As threats close in, Alexei, the one person sworn to protect her becomes the one she can’t resist. With relentless action, rising stakes, and a forbidden romance, this is a story you won’t be able to put down.
2. In Book 2, Hunted, Kidnapped Queen Elena must uncover who orchestrated attacks against her, while warrior Alexei Novak tears through enemy lands to rescue her before a force threatening the Markova bloodline destroys them. They stole his queen. He’ll burn the world to get her back.
Find Lauren at laurenkutney.com or @authorlaurenkutney on Instagram.
3. The City of Shadow and Light by Catherine Argueta is set in Ebon Hollow, a land that once belonged to the Gods’ chosen people who vanished off the face of Faye. Few call it home, but to the nomad Tetara, it’s all she’s ever known. That is, until she meets Piri, a hapless and ignorant princess. Embarking on what should be a simple journey to return the young princess home, Tetara finds herself thrust into a chaotic war against the insidious Iron Clad.
Amid the mayhem, she is tormented by haunting dreams and strange visions of her forgotten past. Now she will stop at nothing to uncover the secrets of her lost memory. However, one’s past can be a deadly thing, and, with Iron Clad on the prowl, survival is unlikely.
This fateful, dark, magical adventure that will test their will and courage. After all, in Faye, a realm that mimics the Gods who conceived it, darkness always lurks just around the corner.
Find Catherine on Instagram @c_arguetaauthor
4. Heartmender by V. Romas Burton is a dark fantasy that takes place in the land of Barracks, where the economy thrives on the barter of their citizens’ most precious commodity—a human heart. Each year, the Heart Reign festival is thrown for those who have become of age to trade their hearts for their deepest desires. And this year is Adelaide Tye’s year to trade. After despising Heart Reign for years, Addie endures her Extraction and discovers that her heart isn’t gray and dying, like all other hearts in Barracks, but bright red, alive, and teeming with power.
With a warning from the extractor of hearts, Addie rushes through Heart Reign to make her choice—trade her heart to Schism, the monster who took her brother years before, or go in search of the Mender—a mythical man said to purify hearts and save her own heart. Either decision will rip her away from the one man who has always been by her side.
Knowing there is only one real choice to make, Addie jumps through Schism’s red door and is thrust into a dark and dangerous realm where she is faced with making a trade she may not survive.
Find Vanessa at vromasburton.com or on Instagram @vromasburton.
5. Next up is The Forgotten Realm by Alexandrea Dawn. A flight interrupted. A hidden realm revealed. Danger lurking in every shadow. Lana’s life takes a turn for the impossible when she crash-lands in a world of kingdoms, dragons, and deadly threats. Trapped in a land where nothing is as it seems, she must appease a powerful monarchy and save herself and her friends from forces that would see them destroyed. She’ll do whatever it takes to get them all home—even if it means accepting a perilous mission. Will she find her way back to the life she once knew—or will this realm claim her heart and soul forever?
Find Alexandrea on Instagram @authoralexandreadawn.
6. Courtney Denelsbeck is the author of 2 books on our list. The first is Morlave’s School of Magic, a YA Christian Fantasy. An insecure wizardry student struggles to understand why he received a rare scholarship to the most prestigious magic school in all the world. While battling to secure his position, he develops strong bonds and uncovers dark secrets.
7. The next book by Courtney is Red Fairy & Fox, a Middle Grade/Lower YA Christian Fantasy. Sick of her duties as queen, Red follows a mysterious fox into another world. At first she is confused no one recognizes her. But in Faireland she is Regina, a lowly farmhand with no way back home. When she meets the unhelpful fox that led her to this strange world, destiny calls her to save both Faireland and her own world from the same evil that killed her parents.
Find Courtney at author-courtney-denelsbeck.mailerpage.io and @courtney.denelsbeck on Instagram.
8. A Prophecy Spoken is the first book in the Tales of Elysian series by S. A. Moyer.
When young Maeve is suddenly thrust into another world, riddled with division and on the brink of war, she must fight for answers, unlock secrets, escape foes, and face decisions she never dreamed she’d need to make. Join her on a journey of adventure and self-discovery as she learns bravery, friendship, sacrifice, and most of all, love.
Find the author at thetalesofelysian.company.site and on Instagram @thetalesofelysian.
9. Lady Apprentice by Toni Cabell was a finalist for the Wishing Shelf Book Awards. Linden’s homeland is under siege. A dark sorcerer is hot on her trail. All the prophecies say Linden can stop him. Who are they kidding? Linden is the worst mage apprentice in her school—maybe in the whole country! When raiders ransack her home and steal her portrait, she realizes it’s personal. But if Linden can’t master a basic shape-shifting spell without starting a fire, how can she take on the darkest sorcerer in generations?
Find the author at tonicabell.com and @tonicabellwrites on Instagram.
Contemporary Young Adult Fiction with Found Family
10. Through Quick and Quinn by Erica Mimran Sherlock is a modern story that deals with contemporary issues. Quick is a teenager drowning in the aftermath of an unspeakable tragedy. Estranged from his dysfunctional parents and disconnected from his peers, he numbs his pain with endless distractions, struggling to survive each agonizing day.
Quinn, a self-imposed outcast, seeks refuge in the spiritual world. After a heartbreaking loss, she immerses herself in energy healing, embracing nature’s solace and striving to move forward with positivity and gratitude.
Both uninterested in forming connections, Quick and Quinn are shocked to discover a bond that propels them on parallel journeys of self-discovery. As they grapple with the traumas that shattered their childhood innocence, they muster the courage to uncover the truths behind their circumstances. Delving into research and introspection, they unveil a cascade of questions about the world around them, navigating through a perceived web of lies.
Quick and Quinn were bold enough to share their tale. Will you be brave enough to read it?
Find Erica at ericasherlock.com and @emimransherlock on Instagram.
11. I had to include the story I wrote, Hidden by These Walls by K. D. Capener. Sixteen-year-old Libby’s home life is a mess, and only her best friend Jake knows her secret. Libby’s mom uses anger, alcohol, and violence to handle life’s problems, and Libby has no father at home to intervene. The abuse that Libby has been subjected to for years starts spilling over to her younger sisters, especially after Libby gets an after-school job. Libby wants to protect her sisters, but the consequences of sharing her secret could be just as dire as keeping quiet.
Libby discovers shocking revelations about her parents that push her to act, and she and Jake make plans to inform an adult relative about the abuse. But plans don’t always go as intended. When a friend from school stumbles upon her secret, Libby knows she can’t hide any longer, and she is relieved and terrified at the same time. With time running out, can Libby trust her friends to help her save her sisters?
Set in the 1980s, Hidden by These Walls is a gripping tale of love, loyalty, and the courage to speak out against injustice.
Find K. D. (me) at kdcapener.com and on Instagram @kdcapenerauthor.
Young Adult Historical Fiction with Found Family
Our last two books are by Sharon Cameron, one of my favorite historical fiction writers.
12. The first is Bluebird. In 1946, Eva leaves Berlin for New York City, stepping from one war into another, where power is the ultimate goal and lies abound. Eva holds secrets about Project Bluebird — a horrible experiment of concentration camps. Both the Americans and the Soviets want Bluebird. But Eva has only one mission: to bring the Nazi at the head of Project Bluebird to justice.
13. Artifice is based on the true stories of Han Van Meegeren, an art forger who sold fakes to Hermann Goering, and Johann van Hulst, and is credited with saving 600 Jewish children from death in Amsterdam. The story revolves around Isa, who becomes involved in the forgeries and the goal to save the Jewish children.
Find Sharon at sharoncameronbooks.com and on Instagram @sharoncameronbooks.
Conclusion
And there you have it! Twelve young adult books of different genres that include the found family trope as part of the story. If found family interests you, read one of these and you can’t go wrong.