Do you love reading AND love reality TV? Check out my list of YA, Dystopian and Romance Books That Feature Reality TV Elements!
I love reality TV! After watching Survivor way back in the day, I have gone back to it again during the pandemic and I love it. I got a little tired of Amazing Race, but I’m ready to try it again. I LOVED The Circle on Netflix. Still watching Top Chef! Excited about S2 of Love is Blind! I’m kind of over The Real Housewives – there’s enough drama in real life these days. What I don’t really watch is The Bachelor, but no judgement if you do!
YA Books With Reality TV Elements
Hmmm I am seeing a “real” theme in these titles!
Wandering Wild by Lynette Noni
America’s Not So Sweetheart by Blair Hanson
With Or Without You by Eric Smith
With Or Without You
All the Right Reasons by Bethany Mangle (2022)
I’ll Be the One by Lyla Lee (2020) A girl who has always been told she’s too fat to dance participates in a K-Pop reality competition.
For Real by Alison Cherry (2016) When Miranda discovers her boyfriend cheated, she and her sister join the “Amazing Race”-style competition show that her cheating ex is competing on. I liked this one!
Something Real by Heather Demetrios (2014) Bonnie Baker has grown up on the reality show “Baker’s Dozen,” and she wants out.
Reality Boy by A.S. King (2013) Gerald has been on a reality show since he was five, and it’s having a terrible effect on his mental health.
The Real Real by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (2009) Jesse can’t turn down the money she was offered to participate in an O.C. style “documentary” about her life in the Hamptons. But has she sold her integrity in the process?
You Look Different in Real Life by Jennifer Castle (2013) Justine was in a reality documentary as a child. Now sixteen, there’s another series in the works.
L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad (2009) Jane and Scarlett are approached by a producer who wants them to star in a Sex and the City inspired reality series.
YA Dystopian Books With Reality TV Elements
Vault of Dreamers by Caragh M. O’Brien (2014) Rosie attends a school with cameras everywhere and begins to think something sinister is going on.
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (2012) A prisoner enters a competition to be the royal assassin.
The Selection by Kiera Cass (2012) A group of girls competes for the hand of a prince, Bachelor-style.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2009) Maybe you’ve heard of it?
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (2011) A group of beauty queens is marooned on a deserted island.
MurderTrending by Gretchen McNeil (2019) Can Dee prove her innocence before her execution is televised?
Warcross by Marie Lu (2017) Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim (2019) Project Runway meets Mulan in this sweeping fantasy about a teenage girl who poses as a boy to compete for the role of imperial tailor.
Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott (2014) Tella receives mysterious instructions on how to become a Contender in the Brimstone Bleed: an epic race across jungle, desert, ocean, and mountain. It could win her the prize she desperately desires: the cure for her brother’s fatal illness.
Romance Books With Reality TV Elements
One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London (2020) Bea Schumacher, a plus-size fashion blogger gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections.
Battle Royal by Lucy Parker (2021) Dominic and Sylvie, enemies after a cooking competitio,n learn they will be fighting for the opportunity to bake a cake for the upcoming wedding of Princess Rose.
Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun (2021) Check out my review of the Charm Offensive here!
How to Lose a Bachelor by Anna Banks (2015) Rochelle has big plans for winning the prize money on a dating show to help her favorite charity, until she finds out the bachelor is her ex-boyfriend.
The Honey Don’t List by Christina Lauren (2020) Check out my review of The Honey Don’t List here.
Dating Mr. Darcy by Kate O’Keefe (2020) Is it a truth universally acknowledged, that a girl must compete on reality TV to win a modern-day Mr. Darcy’s heart?
Runaway Groom and Ready to Run by Lauren Layne (2017, 2018) Duology about a Bachelor style reality show.
Have you read any of these? Have any more to add to my list? Talk to me in comments!
I didn’t read The Hunger Games but I did watch the movies.
I need to read For Real and Something Real. They have been on my radar a long time. I read Sadie on a Plate last week which is very Top Chef-like. The food sounded great
Ooh, that sounds great – I love Top Chef!
I thought there wouldn’t be that many books you could really list with reality TV show elements but I was very very wrong. I can only think of a couple off the top of my head and you’ve mentioned one of them already. The other is Recipe for Love by Katie Fforde which is a UK romance set around a cooking programme and I totally love that book. I always find Katie Fforde’s books to be totally cosy.
Thanks I will add this to the list!