I'm defining "urban fantasy" as "contemporary setting but with magic or supernatural elements". This, of course, is pretty widely-encompassing and not a perfect definition. Right now this list only includes books that take place completely (or almost entirely) within a contemporary setting. For example, this would include Percy Jackson but exclude The Mortal Instruments and Harry Potter (I would argue that the wizarding world is not a "contemporary" setting).
I wanted to make this list because the overwhelming trend in YA books is trilogies (or even bigger than that), and I'm sure there are people who want to find a book that is complete and isn't going to devour your life while waiting for the next book. I've also compiled this as a list on Goodreads if that's your thing. So here we go!
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness (my review) - all the "background" characters of a stereotypical high school urban fantasy story
The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White - follows the only human daughter of Egyptian gods
A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn - American high schooler wakes up Sleeping Beauty
Team Human by Sarah Rees Brennan - parody of the Twilight trend
A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry (my review) - Puerto Rican magical realism*
Devil and the Bluebird by Jennifer Mason-Black (my review) - the aftermath of making a deal with a devil
The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood (my review) - time travel via wormholes **
The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black (my review) - a town that lives side-by-side with faeries
*Honestly, I'm not sure how to describe the difference between "urban fantasy" and "magical realism" other than the fact that magical realism never seems to make sense to me in terms of logistics.
**This is definitely sci-fi rather than fantasy, but I don't know of any other "contemporary sci-fi" books that I could group it with instead.
I also have posts planned for fantasy and sci-fi standalones, which will be uploaded eventually. I'll do my best to link to them here once they're up. I'm definitely trying to seek out standalones rather than getting sucked into too many series at once, so hopefully I can continue to compile these lists as time goes on.
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