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The Leaving

Tara Altebrando

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Similar in premise + setting

These books are ranked using the premise + setting labels extracted for The Leaving. Books rank higher when they are close on every selected axis.

Premise labels used: missing children, returned abductees, memory loss, identity mystery, unsolved disappearance, search for answers, missing sibling

Setting labels used: contemporary, small town, school setting, kindergarten, eleven-year gap, teen years later, homecoming setting

This does not mean the books share the same plot, setting, quality, or difficulty. It means their premise + setting embeddings are close.

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Everyone We've Been

Sarah Everett · 2016

After an accident, a teen violinist loses memories and sees an invisible boy, leading her into a buried secret about her past.

Why this is here

Premise labels: memory loss · memory erasure · missing memories · mysterious boy · medical mystery · accident aftermath · first love · identity crisis · family secret

Setting labels: contemporary · small town · high school · clinic setting · medical facility · post-accident · present day · teen life

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1579

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Forgotten

Cat Patrick · 2011 · Forgotten

A teen who forgets each day but sees the future must navigate love, secrets, and a dark mystery.

Why this is here

Premise labels: memory loss · future memories · notes to self · hidden condition · romantic complication · family secrets · mystery hook

Setting labels: high school · contemporary setting · suburban family life · school scenes · home scenes · teen social world · modern day · psychological realism

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1938

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Things Not Seen

Andrew Clements · 2004 · Things

A 15-year-old boy wakes up invisible and teams with a blind girl while his family races to explain and reverse it.

Why this is here

Premise labels: invisibility · blindness · missing child · secret identity · coming of age · disability parallel · finding oneself

Setting labels: contemporary · school setting · library setting · home setting · urban setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.1987

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The Taking

Kimberly Derting · 2014 · The Taking

A teen returns after five missing years unchanged, and must uncover what happened while her world moved on without her.

Why this is here

Premise labels: alien abduction · missing time · memory loss · returnee · special powers · identity crisis · lost life

Setting labels: small town · contemporary earth · high school aged world · roadside gas station

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2082

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G.O.D.S: Gifted. Obedient. Deadly. Students.

Jaye Pratt · 2021 · G.O.D.S

A foster teen with missing memories is pulled into a secret program of weaponized students and a dangerous why-choose bond.

Why this is here

Premise labels: amnesia · memory loss · foster care · secret organization · genetically engineered humans · child soldiers · protective harem · lost identity · mystery note · revenge

Setting labels: high school · contemporary setting · current time · secret program · school and foster home space

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2097

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Two Truths and a Lie

Sarah Pinsker · 2020

A compulsive liar revisits her hometown and uncovers a creepy childhood TV show everyone remembers but her.

Why this is here

Premise labels: compulsive lying · memory mystery · lost media · haunted childhood media · homecoming mystery · unreliable narrator · identity crisis · self-fulfilling prophecy

Setting labels: small town · hometown return · childhood setting · public broadcast station · children's television · contemporary setting · nostalgic setting · house cleanout · funeral setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2125

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Bent Heavens

Daniel Kraus · 2020

A grieving teen reopens her father’s alien hunt and finds the truth is far stranger—and darker—than anyone believed.

Why this is here

Premise labels: missing parent · alien abduction · small-town mystery · teen investigation · secret trap · captured alien · government conspiracy · family grief · revenge

Setting labels: small-town Iowa · rural Iowa · high school setting · woods · contemporary setting · school environment · present day

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2156

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Boy 7

Mirjam Mous · 2009 · Best of YA | XS

An amnesiac teen follows clues in his backpack to uncover his identity, and a secret experiment tied to his forgotten past.

Why this is here

Premise labels: amnesia · identity search · memory loss · secret experiment · trust no one · hidden past · escape plot

Setting labels: contemporary · school age · anonymous isolated setting · wilderness opening · institution setting · American setting (contested)

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2173

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A Dark Inheritance

Chris d'Lacey · 2014 · Unicorne Files

A boy who can alter reality joins a secret agency to uncover a father’s disappearance and a strange school mystery.

Why this is here

Premise labels: missing father · supernatural ability · reality manipulation · secret organization · paranormal investigation · detective mission · school mystery · child protagonist

Setting labels: modern-day · school setting · coastal setting · small-town setting · alternate realities · supernatural reality · contemporary world

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2230

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Lost Boys

Orson Scott Card · 1994

A Mormon family’s move to North Carolina brings everyday tensions, eerie friendships, and a slow-building threat to their young son.

Why this is here

Premise labels: missing children · family crisis · imaginary friends · child endangerment · small-town mystery · secret evil · parental fear

Setting labels: 1980s · early 1980s · North Carolina · small Southern town · suburban neighborhood · workplace setting · church community · household setting · real-world setting · contemporary setting

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2239

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Dark Blue Rising

Teri Terry · 2020 · The Circle Trilogy

A secluded teen’s world collapses when she learns her mother was lying about everything, and the sea may hold the answers.

Why this is here

Premise labels: hidden identity · kidnapped child · family secret · search for truth · identity mystery · coming-of-age under pressure · forced relocation · conspiracy mystery · genetic secret · water connection

Setting labels: near future · real world · sea setting · oceanic setting · swim camp · summer school · mobile lifestyle · isolated life

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2247

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17 juni

Alex Schulman · 2025

A suspended teacher calls a lost family number and reaches his dead father, then a single childhood day in 1986.

Why this is here

Premise labels: time slip · phone to past · childhood trauma · family mystery · school incident · self-investigation · forensic memory

Setting labels: Sweden · 1980s · present day · childhood summer place · school setting · contemporary reality · psychological realism

Semantic match: ranked by premise + setting

Distance: 0.2249

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