Jennifer Niven

Jennifer Niven lives in Los Angeles (where her film Velva Jean Learns to Drive won an Emmy Award and she once played the part of Shania Twain in a music video). When she isn't writing, Jennifer studies belly dancing, yoga, and electric guitar.

Genres: Young Adult Romance, Young Adult Fiction

New and upcoming books

September 2025

When We Were Monsters

January 2026

Meet the Newmans

Series

Velva Jean
   1. Velva Jean Learns to Drive (2009)
   2. Velva Jean Learns to Fly (2011)
   3. Becoming Clementine (2012)
   4. American Blonde (2014)

Novels

   All the Bright Places (2015)
   Holding Up the Universe (2016)
   Breathless (2020)
   Take Me With You When You Go (2021) (with David Levithan)
   When We Were Monsters (2025)
   Meet the Newmans (2026)

Non fiction show

Jennifer Niven recommends

This Summer Will Be Different (2024)
Carley Fortune
"This Summer Will Be Different is a deep and shimmering story of friendship, sex, and - most of all - love. From page one, Lucy and Felix reached right in and grabbed my heart and they haven't let go. Be prepared to cry, swoon, ache, and cheer. Stunning."

The Glass Girl (2024)
Kathleen Glasgow
"A fiercely powerful story of recovery, hope, redemption, and strength. I read The Glass Girl in one feverish, tear-soaked sitting, and it haunted me for weeks. It still haunts me in the very best way. Kathleen Glasgow's prose is as beautiful and lyrical as her stories are unflinchingly honest and real. I wish I could press a copy into the hands of every teen and adult. Read this. It's a masterpiece."

The Sharp Edge of Silence (2023)
Cameron Kelly Rosenblum
"The Sharp Edge of Silence is a searingly honest story of sexual assault and one girl's journey to fight for herself in the aftermath. But it's also about friendship and finding one's voice. Quinn is heroic and human and she had my heart from the very first page. Please read this beautiful book."

Love in Winter Wonderland (2022)
Abiola Bello
"Love in Winter Wonderland sparkles and shines right off the page thanks to gorgeous writing, witty dialogue, a magical setting and two characters you'll fall head over heels for as they're falling for each other. I love, love, love this book!"

We Are All Constellations (2022)
Amy Beashel
"I am in complete and utter love with everything Amy Beashel writes, but this one may just be my favourite."

Dark Room Etiquette (2022)
Robin Roe
"I burned through the pages of Dark Room Etiquette - riveted, transfixed, and deeply moved by Sayers' journey and Roe's stunning prose. This book is important and necessary and filled with love and hope. I ached when I finished. The best sort of ache. The kind that haunts you. Dear readers everywhere: read this now."

The Words We Keep (2022)
Erin Stewart
"Wild, beautiful, and free. The Words We Keep is a poetic page turner. A raw, relatable story of mental illness, romance, and the power of love."

Scarlet in Blue (2022)
Jennifer Murphy
"I don't think I breathed from start to finish, but Scarlet in Blue was worth every breathless moment. A haunting, heart-tugging page-turner."

Anything But Fine (2022)
Tobias Madden
"Anything But Fine is everything wonderful I love in a book: characters so real they breathe, a rollercoaster of a story that made me laugh, cry, and swoon, and vivid, gorgeous writing. Brilliant."

Where the Road Leads Us (2021)
Robin Reul
"My copy of this soul-filling, raw, love song of a novel is dog-eared and highlighted within an inch of its life. Where the Road Leads Us envelops you the way the very best stories do. I would follow Jack and Hallie--and author Robin Reul--anywhere."

One for Sorrow (2020)
(Magpie Society, book 1)
Amy McCulloch and Zoe Sugg
"A nail-biting page turner written with cinematic sparkle, depth, and a heap of charm. Audrey and Ivy feel like living, breathing people, and my heart raced from the first line till the last."

When the Stars Lead to You (2019)
Ronni Davis
"There is so much here, and I didn't want it to end."

When Katie Met Cassidy (2018)
Camille Perri
"A moving story about love and what it means to truly connect with someone, even if it's the last person you expect."

Broken Beautiful Hearts (2018)
Kami Garcia
"I fell in love [with this book]. Genuine, Shattering, Deep, Heart-pounding Love."

The Hazel Wood (2018)
(Hazel Wood, book 1)
Melissa Albert
"The Hazel Wood kept me up all night. I had every light burning and the covers pulled tight around me as I fell completely into the dark and beautiful world within its pages. Terrifying, magical, and surprisingly funny, it's one of the very best books I've read in years."

Satellite (2017)
Nick Lake
"I love Nick Lake's writing...it is so real and brave."

Light Years (2017)
Emily Ziff Griffin
"A page-turner of a debut about life, death, loss, and love...and ultimately hope."

What to Say Next (2017)
Julie Buxbaum
"Heartfelt, charming, deep, and real. I love it with all my heart."

The Upside of Unrequited (2017)
Becky Albertalli
"I love you, Simon. I love you! And I love this fresh, funny, live-out-loud book."

Because of the Sun (2017)
Jenny Torres Sanchez
"An absorbing page-turner, equal parts light and dark, and filled with the sweetest, swooniest ache. I couldn't put it down. Everyone needs to read Jenny Torres Sanchez. Now."

How to Hang a Witch (2016)
(How to Hang a Witch, book 1)
Adriana Mather
"I am utterly addicted to Adriana Mather's electric debut. It keeps you on the edge of your seat, twisting and turning with ghosts, witches, an ancient curse, and - sigh - romance. It's beautiful. Haunting. The characters are vivid and real. I. Could. Not. Put. It. Down."

The First Time She Drowned (2016)
Kerry Kletter
"A keep-you-up-all-night heart-wrencher that is both beautiful and raw, painful and uplifting. An incredible read."

Everything, Everything (2015)
Nicola Yoon
"I give all the stars in the sky to Nicola Yoon's sparkling debut. Everything, Everything is everything, everything—powerful, lovely, heart-wrenching, and so absorbing I devoured it in one sitting. It’s a wonder. The rare novel that lifts and shatters and fills you all at once."

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