7 of Our Favorite Angry YA Protagonists

Tessa in Before I Die, by Jenny Downham
“Buttons ping across the room as I slash my coats…I lacerate every pair of trousers. I line my shoes up on the window ledge and cut off their tongues. It’s good. I feel alive.” Feeling alive is important to Tessa, because it’s increasingly rare. She’s been fighting leukemia since she was 12 and now, at 16, the leukemia’s winning. In a fit of rage against the hand she’s been dealt, she rips apart and tosses out the window every item she owns—clothes, books, CDs, a television set—prompting her heartbroken dad to ask, “What happens if anger takes you over, Tessa? Who will you be then? What will be left of you?” An achingly realistic, beautiful book, whose heavy subject matter manages to provide love and even laughter in equal measure.

Imogen in Bruised, by Sarah Skilton
Full disclosure: I wrote this one, and I put my heroine through the wringer. When Imogen witnesses a robbery and fails to prevent the shooting that follows, she blames herself for the loss of life. Why? Because she’s a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and has been training for years to handle that type of situation. Anger at herself, her womanizing older brother, her parents, her TKD instructor, and her friends manifests in the urge to participate in a real fight, no holds barred, no padding, and most importantly, no protective gear. Will she get her wish? And what will it do to her if she does?

Razor in Walk the Edge, by Katie McGarry
Thomas “Razor” Turner has a reputation for being unstable, dangerous, and violent. He’s a teenage member of the Reign of Terror Motorcycle Club, after all. His anger stems from his beloved mother’s tragic death years ago, the one nobody discusses, and that nobody in the MC has ever given him straight answers about. The tragedy haunts and enrages him because he suspects it was murder. When “good girl” Breanna becomes a part of his life—discovering the kind, thoughtful, and generous young man who lives beneath an angry exterior—the two come to rely on one another in ways neither could have predicted. A heat-filled romance and mystery that will keep you turning pages as fast as possible.

Danny in Mexican White Boy, by Matt de la Peña
16-year-old Danny, who is half-Mexican, feels caught between worlds as the “darkest kid” at his private school in San Diego and the “whitest kid” in Mexico. Somewhat shy, not a big talker, he’s a boy of action—a straight-A student and star pitcher on his baseball team. During a summer spent in National City with his cousin Sofia, he simmers with anger toward his mother, whom he believes is responsible for his dad’s disappearing act a few years ago. He finds some relief in self-harm (digging his fingernails into his skin when he feels anxious), but better help through becoming best friends with tough, loyal Uno. When the truth about his father’s whereabouts slowly comes to light, Danny learns to view his mother, as well as both sides of his family, from a new perspective.

Danny and Kurt in Leverage, by Joshua C. Cohen
Not for the faint of heart, this intense novel depicts the burgeoning and vital friendship between two teenage athletes who at first glance couldn’t be more different. Danny is a sophomore and rising gymnast who excels at the high bar. He feels self-conscious that he hasn’t hit puberty yet, and he’s accustomed to being bullied: “Someone my size has to be rabbity to survive the school hallways.” Kurt, on the other hand, is an enormous senior, the new football fullback. He’s a “scary quiet,” emotionally damaged “man-beast,” scarred from the corner of his eye down to his heavy jaw. Extreme weightlifting and steroid use are par for the course for Kurt. He longs to grow so big and so strong that no one can ever hurt him the way he was hurt in the boys’ wing of Meadows’ House foster care facility years ago. An ill-advised contest between coaches turns into a turf war that sets the stage for an awful crime in the boys’  locker room. Danny and Kurt find themselves channeling their fear and anger into a brave plan to seek justice.

Cory/Amelie in Vengeance Bound, by Justina Ireland
Abused and experimented on by the psychiatrist who was supposed to help her, orphaned Amelie manages to escape the hospital where she’s being held. A desperate plea made in adolescence joined her with two mythological Furies (Megaera and Tisiphone) who won’t go quietly. Now 17, using the alias Cory, Amelie attempts to rebuild her life as a “normal teenager” at a Pennsylvania high school. But she burns with the desire for vengeance against the doctor who tormented her, and the Furies plan to use her as a vessel through which to deliver vigilante, Dexter-style killings to men who’ve escaped punishment for their terrible acts. Can Cory’s would-be paramour Niko help her break free of the endless blood lust of the Furies?

Lex in Croak, by Gina Damico
Teenage Lex “feels angry, all the time, at absolutely nothing,” so her parents send her to spend the summer in upstate New York, away from her twin sister and the classmates she can’t seem to stop attacking. Stuck living with Uncle Mort on his farm, Lex learns the astonishing truth: Mort’s no farmer—he’s a Grim Reaper, and he’s going to teach Lex everything he knows. Lex is a natural at the job, yet itches to break free of its rules and regulations, especially when her sister becomes a victim of a treacherous enemy. “The world was a hideous place. It deserved the destruction she could create…she knew that the depraved feelings inside her would never lie dormant.”