The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart

Okay, so it's not thought of as YA, but I think anyone of any age would love it.  The four main characters have special gifts, but not unbelievable out-of-the-realm of reality gifts - e.g. Sticky has a photographic memory: Kate who is exceptionally fast and carries a bucket filled with a variety of things that help them on their quest. Their mentor Mr. Benedict has been captured by the evil Mr. Curtain.  Without parental permission, they sneak away.  Originally they were to follow clues that Mr. Benedict left for them.  This would lead them to a wonderful mysterious location where they would have a holiday with him.  They decide to follow the clues, thinking they will lead to his last location. They have a small problem, these bad guys - the ten men -are after them.  In a Dr. Who-ish way, they have devices of torture that they use to stun, incapacitate, kill, etc. They dress like business men with brief cases, but they have hidden things of destruction, e.g. large silver watches under their shirt cuffs.  They have electric wires which come out and deliver severe shocks.  How will they escape from the Salamander, a huge tank, driven by smartest of the ten men, McCracken? And more more more

Listen by Nancy Cofelt

Brilliant depiction of three separate characters whose lives intertwine.  Kurt lives with his grandmother and his intent in life is to get enough money so he can travel to live with his father.  And he hasn't heard from him in months.  He meets Carrie who appears normal to him when he first meets her. She wants to rescue neglected animals.  A godsend - she will pay him for every neglected animal he brings her.  It appears normal that she talks to her animals, but Kurt doesn't pick up that she hears them talking to her.
Will, a good student, whose brother is in jail, lives by himself. He's dropped all his friends. He becomes Kurt's tutor.
Things gradually unravel for all three.  Kurt brings a dog to Carrie and sees that this dog isn't really neglected and is unhappy at her house. Will dislikes Kurt at first, but then sees him out late at night in a strange location.  He doesn't know if he should get involved.  And Carrie is getting stranger and stranger. Then there's a neglected baby.  And Carrie rescues her.

photo of cover from http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Listen/Nancy-Coffelt/e/9781934813072

Buried by Robin Merrow MacCready

It's a fascinating look at someone disintegrating with little clues along the way.  Claudine's mom has disappeared and she's handling things by organizing her empty home - cleaning, vacuuming, but there's that reddish spot near the door.  She starts using post-it notes with reminders of what she has to do, but gradually this A+ student starts remembering to clean but not about the big test on Monday.
Spoiler alert.  Don't read any further in case you want to read this book.

Of course I wish I was published, but none-the-less as a writer, I have to critique two things.
1. The teachers that don't notice her raw red hands, her dirty clothes, etc.  Must suspend disbelief and plow on.
2. No way she could be at her mother's funeral after being in the shape she eventually was in.  I'm not sure that denial of that magnitude goes away in two weeks.....

image from http://www.richardsonsbooks.com/shop_image/product/9780142411414.jpg

Madapple by Christina Meldrum

Confession.  This book made me so nervous, I skipped pages and read the ending.  I rarely do this - honest. Aslaug is being raised by her brilliant, troubled mother who keeps her totally isolated from the rest of the world.  They spend time collecting herbs, preparing them for medicine or food. Aslaug has been taught Danish, Sanscrit, Greek, world religions and mythology, but nothing prepares her for the reality that faces her when her mother dies.
The book is arranged in alternating chapters of court testimony against Aslaug for the murders of three people and the real story of Aslaug's life as she tells it.  The story builds and builds suspense and worry.  Try to resist skipping to the end like me, and hold on for the truly fascinating story.

Jude by Kate Morgenroth

This is a terrific page turner as long as you can overlook one thing - he's still alive even though he was there when his father was gunned down.  Then settle in for a character you can admire and see what happens to him when he goes to jail.  His mother's good friend persuades Jude that if he goes to jail for a crime he didn't commit, it will ensure his mother staying state's attorney and help her in her run for mayor.\  It will make her look good because she is willing prosecute her own son. He's willing for his mother to despise him, until the truth comes out. Unfortunately, the friend appears helpless to lessen Jude's sentence as he had promised.

Paper Town by John Green

Must confess - this is one of my favorite YA books, mystery or regular fiction.  And if you want a hilarious version of what the book is about go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5ppwMTErrc and watch John Green tell you.  As a matter of fact, go see all of them. I think there are at least 5.
Margo Roth Spiegelman is the next door neighbor to Quentin "Q" Jacobson.  They have been friends until junior high, but not since she became the most popular girl at their high school.  "Q" and his two buddies aren't.  When she shows up at his window one night and asks him to drive her around while she does preposterous things involving large dead fish and hair remover.  Then she disappears, leaving clues which Quentin follows.  The biggest is paper towns which are towns which don't exist but listed on maps.  Go on the journey, it is sooooh worth it.

What I Saw and How I lied by Judy Blundell

What genre is this book?  Suspense, mystery, romance, coming of age, realistic, family, racial relations?  The novel has them all, intricately woven in a fast moving plot.  It's worth rereading just to get all of it. The main character, Evie (Evelyn) didn't see but she figures it out.
Her mother is gorgeous and in comparison, Evie feels that next to her she's"like wallpaper as usual".  All of a sudden there's a "fun" vacation to Florida that doesn't quite seem like a vacation. It starts after some strange phone calls.  While in Florida, she is taken shopping for clothes suitable for her age 15 going on 16.  When she appears in one of her new dresses, her moonlight dress, her mother makes Evie go upstairs and change into her regular clothes - plain pink dress with lace around the collar.  What's that about? Then her stepfather becomes a different person - drinking heavily, grouchy.  What's going on?  Read and find out.

IMAGE from http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://lahslibrary.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/what-i-saw.jpg&imgrefurl=http://lahslibrary.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/what-i-saw-and-how-i-lied-by-judy-blundell/&h=600&w=406&sz=28&tbnid=vvII8txUZ20MOM:&tbnh=186&tbnw=125&zoom=1&usg=__3V40BJnCtt_hBjWUgRTOEvVf8h8=&docid=rTtQvZVBmEzxiM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZGXfUKSRC4yXqAHNioCYBg&ved=0CDMQ9QEwAA&dur=140

Reality Check by Peter Abrahams

Sorry I've missed his other two YA books - Down the Rabbit Hole and Lights Out.  I instantly bonded with the main character, Cody, as he struggles with a bad home life and not much money.  His girlfriend Clea is at the other end of the socio-economic ladder, she's rich.  She gets a bad grade and her father removes her from this small town high school and sends her to an elite school out east.  Cody leaves home when he finds out she's missing and can't be found.  He arrives in the small Vermont town and starts searching.  What makes this book interesting is that it constantly shifts who is good and who isn't. Just when you think you know who the good guys are, Abrahams stirs things up.

Sophomore Undercover by Ben Esch

Wow.  A book that makes you laugh out loud.  And even though you know some of it is preposterous, it's easy to relax and see where is the author taking you next.  Dixie Nguyen, small for his age, has been adopted by a family that loves him - however, his brother is a football player and his father is a cop - so he isn't an easy fit.  He witnesses one jock injecting another jock with a hypodermic needle and Dixie has decided that this will be the story of the decade for him in the school newspaper.
Unfortunately he is tackled by one of the security guards before he can hide the syringe.  The security guard ends up with the needle sticking out of his neck and Dixie is up to his neck in it.  Soon he is destined to be sent away to a 3 month outdoor camp to cure him and he needs to prove his innocence in less than a week.
My favorite of his adventures:  sneaking under the bleachers trying to get the drug packet out of the jeans of the jock.  Yes he does get his hand in the pants, but then ...  Of course, there's always the scene with him in a bar with a fake beard, and I could go on and on.