Books Similar To Fault In Our Stars

If The Fault In Our Stars left you emotionally devastated in the best possible way, you’re not alone. John Green’s masterpiece has touched millions of readers with its beautiful exploration of love, loss, and what it means to truly live. That perfect blend of heartbreaking romance, witty dialogue, and profound philosophical musings is a rare find but it’s not impossible to recreate that reading experience.

Whether you’re searching for more tearjerker romances, contemporary YA novels that tackle heavy themes with grace, or simply stories featuring characters who make you laugh through the tears, this carefully curated list has you covered. These books share the emotional depth and authentic voice that made Hazel and Augustus’s story so unforgettable.

From cancer narratives that celebrate life rather than mourn it, to love stories that refuse to shy away from tragedy, each recommendation captures that special TFIOS magic. Grab your tissues and prepare your heart these books similar to The Fault In Our Stars will take you on emotional journeys you won’t soon forget.

1. If I Stay by Gayle Forman

A Split-Second Decision Between Life and Death

If I Stay delivers the kind of gut-wrenching emotional punch that fans of The Fault In Our Stars crave. Gayle Forman’s debut novel follows Mia, a talented cellist whose perfect life is shattered in an instant when a car accident leaves her in a coma. In this liminal space between life and death, Mia must make an impossible choice: stay and face a drastically changed future, or let go and join her family members who didn’t survive the crash.

What makes this novel particularly powerful is Forman’s exploration of what makes life worth living. Like Hazel’s journey, Mia’s story asks profound questions about love, family, and identity. The romance between Mia and Adam, her rocker boyfriend, carries the same intensity and authenticity that made Hazel and Augustus so compelling. Their relationship isn’t just sweet it’s transformative and real.

The narrative structure alternates between Mia’s out-of-body observations and flashbacks to her life before the accident, creating an intimate portrait of a girl who must suddenly reckon with everything she values. Forman’s prose is lyrical without being overwrought, capturing both the beauty of ordinary moments and the devastating weight of extraordinary loss.

“Sometimes you make choices in life and sometimes choices make you.”

This quote encapsulates the novel’s central tension and philosophical depth. If you loved how John Green balanced humor and heartbreak, you’ll appreciate Forman’s similar gift for finding light in darkness. If I Stay is a meditation on love, music, and the connections that anchor us to life themes that resonate deeply with anyone who cherished The Fault In Our Stars.

2. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Dark Humor Meets Terminal Illness

Jesse Andrews crafts something truly unique with Me and Earl and the Dying Girl a cancer story that defies every convention of the genre. Narrator Greg Gaines is refreshingly self-aware about the clichés surrounding “sick girl stories,” and he spends much of the novel trying to avoid becoming one of those narratives. When his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a classmate diagnosed with leukemia, Greg expects awkwardness. What he doesn’t expect is genuine friendship, creative collaboration, and a story that will fundamentally change him.

The novel’s irreverent tone and dark comedy make it a perfect companion to TFIOS. Like John Green, Andrews refuses to let cancer define his characters. Rachel isn’t a manic pixie dream girl waiting to teach Greg life lessons she’s a real person with agency, humor, and complexity. Greg himself is wonderfully flawed, often painfully honest about his own selfishness and social anxiety.

What sets this book apart is its examination of masculinity and friendship. Greg’s relationship with Earl, his filmmaking partner, adds another layer of emotional depth. Together, they create bizarre parody films as a way of processing the world, much like Hazel and Augustus bonded over literature and existential discussions. The creativity and humor become coping mechanisms for confronting mortality.

Andrews doesn’t pull punches with the ending, which honors the reality of terminal illness without becoming manipulative. The story explores how we memorialize people, how we process grief, and how helpless we can feel in the face of disease. Greg’s voice is authentic, funny, and achingly human reminiscent of John Green’s gift for creating teenage characters who sound like actual teenagers, not adults in disguise.

For readers who appreciated the meta-textual elements in TFIOS (An Imperial Affliction, anyone?), this novel offers its own self-awareness about genre conventions while still delivering genuine emotional impact.

3. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

First Love Against All Odds

Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park captures the intensity of first love with the same authenticity that made Hazel and Augustus’s relationship so captivating. Set in 1986, this novel follows two misfit teenagers who bond over comic books and mixtapes on their school bus rides. Eleanor, with her bright red hair and unconventional style, is the new girl facing bullying and an abusive home life. Park, half-Korean and quietly cool, initially resents Eleanor’s presence beside him but gradually falls completely, irrevocably in love.

What makes this novel resonate with TFIOS fans is its raw emotional honesty. Rowell doesn’t romanticize teenage love she shows it in all its awkward, overwhelming, life-changing glory. Like John Green, she understands that young love isn’t less valid simply because of the lovers’ ages. When you’re sixteen and in love, it feels like forever, and both authors honor that truth.

The novel tackles serious themes including domestic violence, racism, and poverty, but never loses sight of the tenderness at its core. Park’s family dynamics offer warmth and humor that balance Eleanor’s difficult home situation. The parents feel like real people Park’s mother, in particular, is a beautifully complex character who must reconcile her own experiences with her son’s choices.

Rowell’s prose is spare but powerful, letting emotions build naturally rather than forcing them. The slow-burn romance develops through small gestures and shared moments a held hand, a carefully selected song, the lending of a comic book. These tiny intimacies feel monumental because Rowell treats them with the weight they deserve.

“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn’t supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”

The ending will devastate you, though not in the way you might expect. Like The Fault In Our Stars, this novel understands that sometimes love isn’t enough to overcome circumstance, but that doesn’t diminish its importance or beauty.

4. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

When Two Broken People Find Each Other

All the Bright Places might be the closest spiritual successor to The Fault In Our Stars on this list. Jennifer Niven’s novel follows Violet Markey and Theodore Finch, two teenagers dealing with trauma, mental illness, and the aftermath of loss. They meet on the ledge of their school’s bell tower, both contemplating jumping, and from this darkest moment begins an unexpected friendship that evolves into something deeper.

The novel’s exploration of mental health and suicide is handled with sensitivity and nuance. Finch struggles with undiagnosed bipolar disorder, experiencing manic episodes and devastating crashes. Violet is paralyzed by grief after her sister’s death, unable to live the life she once planned. Like Hazel and Augustus, these two characters save each other while also endangering each other their love is beautiful but complicated, healing but sometimes harmful.

Niven alternates between Violet and Finch’s perspectives, giving readers intimate access to both characters’ internal struggles. This dual narrative creates a fuller picture of their relationship and the different ways people process pain. Finch’s chapters, in particular, offer powerful insight into living with mental illness the exhausting cycle of trying to outrun your own brain.

The project that brings them together “wandering” Indiana to discover the state’s natural wonders mirrors the trip to Amsterdam in TFIOS. These adventures become metaphors for living fully in the present despite uncertain futures. The places they visit transform from mundane locations into sacred spaces charged with meaning and memory.

What makes this novel particularly powerful is its refusal to offer easy answers. Mental illness isn’t cured by love, trauma doesn’t disappear with a kiss, and sometimes people don’t get better. Niven treats her characters and subject matter with profound respect, never exploiting pain for entertainment. The emotional impact is devastating but necessary, reminding readers of the importance of mental health awareness and the ripple effects of suicide.

Like John Green, Niven writes teenagers who are intelligent, articulate, and capable of deep philosophical thought without losing their authentic teenage voices. The literary references, quirky projects, and witty banter will feel familiar to TFIOS fans, as will the ultimate heartbreak.

5. Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Love in Isolation

Nicola Yoon’s debut novel offers a fresh twist on the young adult illness narrative. Madeline Whittier has severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), which means virtually everything could kill her. She’s spent her entire life inside her hermetically sealed house, with only her mother and nurse Carla for company. Then Olly moves in next door, and suddenly Madeline’s carefully controlled world becomes impossible to maintain.

What sets Everything, Everything apart is its innovative format. Yoon incorporates illustrations, lists, diagrams, and IM conversations into the narrative, creating a multimedia reading experience that reflects how Madeline experiences the world through screens and books. For readers who enjoyed the meta-textual elements of TFIOS the fake novel, the emails this formal playfulness will feel familiar and engaging.

The romance between Madeline and Olly develops with the same intensity as Hazel and Augustus’s relationship, but with added stakes. Every interaction risks Madeline’s life. Every touch could trigger anaphylaxis. This physical barrier heightens the emotional connection, forcing them to truly know each other before any physical relationship becomes possible. Their conversations explore big questions about risk, life, and what makes existence meaningful themes central to John Green’s work.

Yoon explores the complicated nature of protection and control. Madeline’s mother genuinely believes she’s keeping her daughter safe, but at what cost? The novel asks whether a life without risk is truly life at all, whether safety and happiness can coexist, and how much we should sacrifice for the people we love. These questions parallel Hazel’s concerns about being a grenade and hurting the people close to her.

The twist in the third act adds another layer of complexity to these themes, though revealing it would spoil the experience. What’s important is that Yoon handles it with sensitivity, using it to explore autonomy, trust, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive difficult circumstances.

The writing is crisp and accessible, with moments of genuine poetry. Yoon captures the claustrophobia of chronic illness not just the physical limitations but the emotional isolation of being different, of watching life happen through windows. Yet she also celebrates the ways technology connects us, the power of imagination, and the courage it takes to choose uncertainty over safety.

6. Looking for Alaska by John Green

Before There Was TFIOS, There Was Alaska

For readers who fell in love with John Green’s voice in The Fault In Our Stars, Looking for Alaska offers the chance to experience where it all began. This debut novel follows Miles “Pudge” Halter as he leaves his safe, uneventful life for boarding school in search of his “Great Perhaps.” There he meets the fascinating, self-destructive Alaska Young, and his life is irrevocably changed.

The novel is structurally divided into “Before” and “After,” with the mystery of what happens at the center driving the narrative forward. Green explores themes of love, loss, forgiveness, and the search for meaning with the same philosophical depth that characterized TFIOS. Alaska, like Augustus, is a larger-than-life character who introduces the protagonist to new ways of thinking and being.

What makes this novel essential for TFIOS fans is seeing Green’s evolution as a writer while recognizing the consistent themes. His obsession with last words, the exploration of how people face mortality, the incorporation of literature and philosophy into teenage life all these elements that made TFIOS special are present here in earlier form. The Colonel and Pudge’s friendship has echoes of Isaac and Augustus, while Alaska herself prefigures Hazel’s intelligence and complexity.

The boarding school setting allows Green to create an insular world where teenagers can engage in the kinds of deep conversations and elaborate pranks that become legendary. The “prank war” subplot adds levity to an otherwise heavy narrative, much like the humor in TFIOS provided relief from the cancer storyline.

“Thomas Edison’s last words were ‘It’s very beautiful over there.’ I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope it’s beautiful.”

The novel’s exploration of grief and guilt is perhaps even more raw than in TFIOS. The “After” section doesn’t offer easy answers or closure. Instead, it sits with the messy reality of losing someone unexpectedly, of not getting to say goodbye, of carrying questions that will never be answered. Green refuses to provide the comfort of simple explanations.

For those who found TFIOS through the movie or haven’t explored Green’s other work, Looking for Alaska is essential reading a chance to see how one of YA’s most important voices began crafting stories about young people confronting profound questions.

7. Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott

Love Across an Impossible Distance

Five Feet Apart takes the medical reality of cystic fibrosis and transforms it into a powerful metaphor for barriers to love. Stella Grant has CF and follows her treatment regimen religiously until she meets Will, another CF patient whose devil-may-care attitude challenges everything she believes about controlling her illness. The catch? CF patients must stay at least six feet apart to avoid cross-infection. Stella and Will’s rebellion reducing the distance to five feet becomes both a literal and symbolic act of defiance.

What makes this novel resonate with TFIOS fans is its authentic portrayal of chronic illness. Lippincott, who collaborated with real CF patients and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, doesn’t sugarcoat the daily grind of medical treatment. Like John Green, she shows that being sick doesn’t make someone a saint or a tragedy it makes them a person who happens to be sick. Stella is type-A and controlling, Will is reckless and grieving, and their flaws make them real.

The enforced distance between the characters creates unique tension. Every moment together is a negotiation between desire and safety, between living and surviving. The pool noodle they use to maintain proper distance becomes an absurd but poignant symbol of the obstacles facing them. This physical manifestation of their barrier will remind readers of the metaphorical distances Hazel tried to maintain between herself and Augustus.

The novel explores medical ethics and patient autonomy in ways that feel especially relevant for YA readers. Stella’s dedication to her treatment stems from waiting for a lung transplant her future depends on perfect compliance. Will’s resistance comes from grief and trauma. The story asks difficult questions about quality versus quantity of life, about who gets to make decisions about their own bodies, and about whether love is worth the risk of heartbreak.

The supporting cast adds depth Stella’s friends Poe and Mya represent different approaches to living with CF, while the medical staff navigate the complex terrain between being caregivers and authority figures. These relationships prevent the novel from becoming solely focused on the romance, grounding it in a fuller picture of life with chronic illness.

Like The Fault In Our Stars, this novel will leave you crying, but it also celebrates the resilience and humor of people facing impossible situations. The ending honors the reality of cystic fibrosis while also acknowledging the transformative power of connection.

8. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

A Beautiful Mystery Wrapped in Tragedy

We Were Liars might seem like an unexpected recommendation, but it shares The Fault In Our Stars‘ emotional intensity and philosophical depth. E. Lockhart’s mysterious novel follows Cadence Sinclair Eastman and her summers on her wealthy family’s private island with her cousins and close family friend, Gat. After suffering a mysterious accident during “summer fifteen,” Cadence struggles with amnesia, migraines, and the desperate need to remember what happened.

The novel’s unreliable narration and slow revelation of truth create a reading experience that will devastate you as thoroughly as Hazel and Augustus’s story, though in a completely different way. Lockhart employs a literary, almost poetic prose style that elevates the material beyond typical YA fare. The writing is deliberately beautiful and fragmented, reflecting Cadence’s damaged memory and mental state.

What connects this novel to TFIOS is its exploration of how we construct meaning from tragedy. Both novels ask readers to sit with uncomfortable truths about loss, about the stories we tell ourselves, and about how love can both save and destroy us. The relationship between Cadence and Gat has the same intensity and intellectualism as Hazel and Augustus’s romance, with long conversations about politics, philosophy, and social justice.

The “Liars” Cadence, Johnny, Mirren, and Gat form a tight friendship group that values honesty and loyalty above all else, even as they’re surrounded by their family’s dysfunction and casual cruelty. The exploration of privilege, family dynamics, and class consciousness adds social commentary to what could have been a simple mystery.

“Be a little kinder than you have to.”

Lockhart’s prose is sparse but impactful, with fairy tale retellings woven throughout that mirror Cadence’s real situation. The short chapters and accessible language make this a quick read, but the emotional punch will stay with you for days. The twist which cannot be spoiled recontextualizes everything that came before and will require immediate rereading.

For TFIOS fans who appreciated John Green’s refusal to provide easy comfort, We Were Liars offers a similar emotional complexity. It’s a novel about guilt, grief, and the impossibility of going back, about how one moment can divide your life into before and after.

9. The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Grief, Love, and Finding Your Voice

Jandy Nelson’s lyrical debut novel captures the chaotic, contradictory experience of grief with the same emotional honesty that makes The Fault In Our Stars so powerful. Lennie Walker’s world implodes when her older sister, Bailey, dies suddenly. Left behind with her eccentric grandmother and uncle, Lennie navigates her grief by writing poetry on everything scraps of paper, coffee cups, trees leaving her words scattered throughout her California town like breadcrumbs of her broken heart.

The novel’s exploration of complicated grief will resonate with anyone who appreciated John Green’s nuanced approach to loss. Lennie doesn’t grieve in a linear, neat progression. She’s angry, she’s numb, she’s wracked with guilt. When she finds herself attracted to two boys Bailey’s boyfriend, Toby, and the new boy in town, Joe she has to navigate whether she’s allowed to feel joy while drowning in sadness.

Nelson’s prose is lush and musical, befitting a novel where music plays such a central role. Lennie is a clarinetist, and Nelson writes about music with the same passion and specificity John Green brings to literature. The metaphors and imagery are consistently beautiful without becoming purple, creating a reading experience that feels like poetry without sacrificing narrative momentum.

What makes this novel special is its celebration of female friendship and sisterhood. Through flashbacks and memories, Bailey comes alive as a force of nature confident, wild, living life at full volume. The contrast between the sisters deepens both characters; Lennie has always lived in Bailey’s shadow, and now must figure out who she is without her.

The love triangle might initially seem like a typical YA trope, but Nelson handles it with surprising maturity. Lennie’s attraction to Toby is clearly about shared grief and trying to stay connected to Bailey. Her relationship with Joe represents the possibility of new life, new love, and moving forward. The novel asks whether you can honor the past while embracing the future, whether loving someone new means betraying someone you lost.

The family dynamics are refreshingly unconventional Lennie’s grandmother makes sculptures and dispenses wisdom, her uncle Big is a gentle giant obsessed with cooking, and her absent mother becomes a presence through her absence. This quirky family structure will appeal to fans of John Green’s celebration of found families and nontraditional households.

Nelson captures the physical sensation of grief how it lives in your body, how it ambushes you, how it can momentarily lift and then crash back down. Like John Green, she writes teenagers who are intelligent and articulate without sounding like adults in disguise.

10. When We Collided by Emery Lord

Mental Illness and the Meaning of Saving Someone

Emery Lord’s When We Collided tackles mental illness and grief with a sensitivity and realism that will appeal to fans of John Green’s authentic character work. The novel alternates between Vivi and Jonah, two teenagers spending summer in a California beach town. Vivi is a whirlwind creative, passionate, living at maximum intensity. Jonah is the responsible oldest son holding his family together after his father’s death. Their collision seems perfect at first, but Vivi’s highs hide concerning lows, and Jonah’s stability masks suppressed grief.

What sets this novel apart is its honest portrayal of bipolar disorder. Vivi isn’t romanticized or demonized for her mental illness. Lord shows both the exhilarating creativity of manic episodes and the devastating crashes into depression. Like John Green in The Fault In Our Stars, Lord refuses to suggest that love cures illness, but she does explore how connection can provide support, motivation, and hope.

The dual perspective allows readers to see how mental illness affects both the person experiencing it and the people who love them. Jonah’s chapters explore the burden and privilege of caring for someone, the guilt that comes with setting boundaries, and the fear of losing another person you love. His struggle to support his mother and siblings while also being a teenager will resonate with readers who appreciated the family dynamics in TFIOS.

Lord writes about first love with nuance and realism. Vivi and Jonah’s relationship develops naturally, with genuine chemistry and shared values. They challenge each other Vivi helps Jonah rediscover joy and spontaneity, while Jonah provides grounding when Vivi needs it. But the novel also explores the dangers of defining yourself through another person, of trying to save someone who needs professional help, not just devotion.

The California beach setting is vividly rendered, becoming almost a character itself. The summer timeline creates urgency both characters know this is temporary, which intensifies every moment. The boardwalk, the beach bonfires, the local haunts all become sacred spaces charged with meaning, much like the bench and Amsterdam in TFIOS.

“I wanted to be the one who made her happy. But that’s not how it works. She has to do that for herself.”

Lord’s prose is warm and accessible, with moments of real poetry. She captures the intensity of teenage emotion without mocking it, honoring the very real pain and joy her characters experience. The ending is hopeful but realistic, acknowledging that recovery is a journey, not a destination, and that loving someone doesn’t mean sacrificing yourself.

For readers who appreciated John Green’s balance of humor and heartbreak, Lord offers similar tonal range. There’s genuine laughter alongside tears, hope alongside despair, and the persistent belief that connection matters even when it’s complicated.

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Finding Your Next Emotional Journey

Each of these novels offers something special to readers who loved The Fault In Our Stars. Whether you’re drawn to stories about terminal illness, mental health, first love, or simply teenagers grappling with profound questions, this list provides multiple pathways to that perfect combination of heart and intellect that makes a book unforgettable.

The common thread running through all these recommendations is their respect for young readers. Like John Green, these authors trust teenagers to handle complex themes, philosophical discussions, and emotional nuance. They write characters who are smart, funny, flawed, and deeply human people you’ll remember long after the final page.

So prepare yourself emotionally, stock up on tissues, and dive into these beautiful, heartbreaking stories. Each one offers the chance to feel deeply, cry freely, and emerge from the experience a little bit changed which is, after all, what the best books do.