Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Out of Reach | 2012 | Carrie Arcos | Buy |
| 2 | There Will Come a Time | 2014 | Carrie Arcos | Buy |
| 3 | Crazy Messy Beautiful | 2017 | Carrie Arcos | Buy |
| 4 | We Are All That’s Left | 2018 | Carrie Arcos | Buy |
| 5 | Skywatchers | 2020 | Carrie Arcos | Buy |
Carrie Arcos has published five standalone novels over eight years, each one focused on a different set of teens dealing with difficult circumstances. Her debut, Out of Reach, was a 2012 National Book Award finalist and tells the story of a girl searching for her brother who is lost to meth addiction. The books that followed cover subjects like grief, identity, war, and human connection.
These novels are all independent from each other, so there is no required reading order. That said, reading them in publication order gives you a nice sense of how Arcos grew as a writer. Her style ranges from traditional prose to verse, and her settings span from Southern California to Maine to a clinical sleep-study facility. If you like YA fiction that deals with real issues rather than fantasy or romance, Arcos is worth checking out.