CINDER by Marissa Meyer
A Pitch Mars mentor told me to read this. She said it’s
science fiction with humor, hinting that I should add humor to my own science
fiction manuscript. I was skeptical. The jacket said it was about androids and
cyborgs, which I typically don’t like. Still, if a Pitch Wars mentor tells you
to do something, you do it. The first few pages were rough, but after that I
was hooked. It’s a retelling of Cinderella (and I wrote in my post The Magic of DOON & The Booksellers
how much I love fairy tales), but with twists that you don’t see coming, twists
that make it fresh and tense and exhilarating. Well, okay, there was one twist
I saw coming, but Marissa Meyer did an awesome job of weaving it into the
story. I loved it so much that I was disappointed when SCARLET didn’t start
with Cinder. But no worries—SCARLET is just as good and Cinder’s in there, too.
PIVOT POINT by Kasie West
I wrote a post called PIVOT
POINT and Subplots about how much I love this novel. The main character can
see two possible futures, but can’t compare them with one another and therefore
can’t see the danger arising in one that’ll affect the other. It made me wish I
could shout things at the main character, warn her of what I knew was coming,
but we all know I couldn’t do that. All I could do was read, watch it unfold,
and hope that the ending was satisfying. It was more satisfying than I could
have hoped for. Even better, it has a sequel.
DOON by Carey Corp & Lorie Langdon
I read this recently and wrote the post The Magic of DOON & The Booksellers.
If you want to know why I love it so much, check out that post.
17 & GONE by Nova Ren Suma
This one’s dark and twisty, two of my favorite things in
a novel. Dead girls follow the main character, talk to her, watch her. I wanted
to know from the first pages why and how the dead girls were there and loved
how Nova Ren Suma wove the plot to show us the answers to my questions. I won’t
tell you a thing—I didn’t see it coming and was all the more shocked because of
it—hoping you’ll read it and discover for yourself.
THE 5TH WAVE by Rick Yancey
What would it be like if aliens took over Earth? How
would they do it? If there’s any creepier answer than Rick Yancey’s, I can’t
imagine it. The takeover is stealthy and devastating and happens before the
novel begins. The main characters are some of the last humans and they’re
fighting to survive, hoping the enemy won’t find them. There’s also a love
story, darker than any I’ve read in a long time, with a twist I hoped wasn’t
coming but loved when it did.
BEFORE I FALL by Lauren Oliver
This was my first favorite YA novel. It reminds me a
little of the movie Groundhog Day,
but there’s nothing funny about it. The main character dies at the end of the
day, then relives it, then dies again, then relives it again. To be honest, I
hated the main character at the end of the first day—she’s a stereotypical mean
girl. By the end of the novel, I was hoping that she’d live, that like in Groundhog Day she’d just keep reliving
her day until she got it right. The story’s beautiful and sad. I don’t cry
easily, but the sixth day broke my heart.
THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY by Jenny Han
What girl doesn’t dream of a summer romance at a beach
house? What girl wouldn’t want two guys fighting over her? This novel was
everything I wish I’d had one summer when I was a teenager.
BURN FOR BURN and
FIRE WITH FIRE by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian
If I’d had a chance to get revenge on people in high
school who treated me like shit, I’d have taken it…maybe. The three main
characters in these books take that chance, each with their own vendetta, each
with their own person to hate. They band together to make these people pay, but
of course things go horribly wrong. By the end of the second book, I was
desperate for the next one. The only reason I’m okay with waiting for ASHES TO
ASHES is that I follow both authors on Twitter and have read about the struggle
they’re having to end it right.
DAUGHTER OF SMOKE & BONES and DAYS OF BLOOD & STARLIGHT by Laini Taylor
The main character’s voice had me hooked from the first
page of the first novel. It’s about a girl who lives with demons, an angel who
follows her, and the mystery of who and why she is. It’s been so long since I
read these that I can’t tell you more for fear I’ll reveal crucial plot points.
The third book comes out soon and I can’t wait to reread both of these before
then.
CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein
Of all the novels I’ve written about here, this one was
the hardest to start for me. I think the issue is that it’s British and a bit
more dense than typical YA. Still, once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down. It’s
WWII and a teenage girl spy from Britain is being tortured by Nazis to find out
what she knows. She’s doing everything she can to protect her country and her
best friend without regard to what that means for her and the torture. The
twist in this book is so shocking that I actually cried. It was perfect and
haunting and I won’t say more.
STOLEN by Lucy Christopher
A girl is kidnapped and taken to the outback of
Australia, where she’s alone with her kidnapper, a guy not much older than she
is. The relationship between the girl and her kidnapper is what drives this story
and kept me reading. I didn’t know how I wanted the story to end. Even when it
did, I wasn’t sure what to think.
THE NAME OF THE STAR and
THE MADNESS UNDERNEATH by Maureen Johnson
If I had a chance to live in London, I’d take it. So does
the main character in these novels. The problem is, there’s a man out there
recreating the infamous Ripper murders and the main character is a witness. It’s
dark, contemporary, and yet…I won’t say more about the plot, mostly because I
didn’t know what I was getting into when I read these and I don’t want to spoil
anything for you. I will say, however, that I loved THE MADNESS UNDERNEATH more
than the first book because of the love story and what happens in the end.
THE TRAGEDY PAPER by Elizabeth LaBan
Speaking of haunting endings, here’s one. The title gives
you a pretty good idea what the end is like…except it doesn’t. The story has
already happened when the novel begins, though the main character doesn’t know
the details. Another character leaves him CDs on which those events are
described—an accidental romance and the inevitable events that followed. Adding
more power and atmosphere to the story is the setting, a boarding school in the
winter. What really is a tragedy? I still wonder this and wonder how I feel
about this novel’s end.
THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE by Jandy Nelson
I don’t have a sister, so I don’t know what it’s like to
lose one…but Jandy Nelson writes this so well that she makes me feel as though do.
My favorite thing is the notes the main character writes and leaves everywhere
in her house, outside, at school. It’s been a long time since I read this (if I
had the time, I’d read this and all my other favorites again), but one of the
most beautiful moments is when another character shows the main character that
he’s been collecting her notes, pieces of her, and saving them for himself.
Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter
There are six books in this series (the fifth of which is
my favorite) so I won’t list them here. The main character is a teenage girl
who goes to a secret spy high school to train for grown up life as a spy. She’s
also got a mystery guy who always seems to save her when she needs it most. I love
the main character’s voice, her friends, the adventures, and the whole idea of
a secret life.
Wow, that’s a longer list than I anticipated. I’ll stop
now. Thing is, I love so many. I used to read more adult novels than YA, but in
the last couple of years my tastes have changed. I write YA because I feel more
connected to these stories than I’ve felt to most adult novels. Of course, there
are exceptions. If you want to know more books that I like (or don’t), you can
search me out on Goodreads. And I’m always looking for more reading suggestions.
What YA (or adult) novels do you love? If I didn’t list them here, comment and
let me know what they are. I’d love to read them.
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