Rated YA-MA discussion
Recommendations and Book Lists
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Need a Recommendation?
Good thread! I have been looking for one. YA romance, contemporary or pnr. No epic or high fantasy until i get a couple good non ef in. I love angst, but not too dark. I like edgy dark books like Willow, Some Girls Are, and Forbidden - but yet i wasnt really into Burned or If I Stay. I loved Perfect Chemistry, Leaving Paradise, Anna and the French Kiss, If I Die, Firelight, Unearthly, and Nevermore.
I'm not sure which ones you've read, so I'm just going to list a few examples of some that I liked (and some that I have that I should have read by now) but any books by any of these authors should fit so you may want to look at the rest of their works to see which one looks best to you.Contemp:
also books by: Lauren Barnholdt, Elizabeth Scott, Sarah Ockler
Recommendation vomit. I'm gonna stop.
Well I guess I have to own the book. I got a new credit card and they now have pins instead of signatures and I can't find the pin. I put it somewhere safe for a day when I had time and I can't find it. So no new nook books for me. :( The worst part is when I'm in bed I'm going to have to hold Silence, lol. Thanks for all the recs! I don't have any of them though besides the ones I already read. The only books my library seems to have is Dessen, and I have read most of hers. I like them, but they are usually 3-3.5 star reads for me. Might have to buy another membership to the city library.
I have Falling Under, Vanish, Princess of the Midnight Ball (i like fairy tale retellings if they are really good), and Everlasting. These are books I already have off the top of my head.
i dont need a rec but want to make one... for fans of feed, and reapers are angels read:
it is dark, and different and i am so into it... i cannot wait for it to be released officially, becuase im getting myself a copy. :)
I've just read
and
. They're both smart, hilarious but still have serious sides. I need more books like these!
If I need to laugh, I always pick up a book from the series: Angus, thongs, and full frontal snogging (why did the movie change it to 'prefect snogging', it's not the same!)
A parent of a 13yo girl asked me for book recommendations. They're looking for something intelligent, with strong female characters...the antithesis of Twilight if you will but low on sex, drugs, violence. Any thoughts?
I love the Dealing With Dragons series by Patricia C. Wrede. No sex, no drugs, very minimal violence. Smart, strong female protagonist with fun Fairy Tale elements. In the same vein Ella Enchanted or Fairest by Gail Carson Levin (actually most anything by this author would be great) might suit her. Hope this helps!
Janet wrote: "A parent of a 13yo girl asked me for book recommendations. They're looking for something intelligent, with strong female characters...the antithesis of Twilight if you will but low on sex, drugs, ..."Sarah Dessen is a favorite. The children's rep at my bookstore calls her this generations' Judy Blume
Ally Carter Spy Schools for Girls
or
Meg Cabot has some pretty cute YA stuff like The Princess Diaries
@Janet - I haven't read much YA, which is why I've joined this group today to learn more, but The Giver strikes me as a good choice. It feature a strong male youth, however, the author is female.Also, I was blown away by the strong female lead in Dreamsnake. This wasn't written as a YA novel, but I think it would still be a good read for a smart teen. Worth looking into at least
Janet, I highly recommend anything by Tamora Pierce, probably starting with:
Also really good are:
Maybe...
Maybe...
Beauty and The Beast retelling
One of my nieces that is the same age and loves to read, loves these series:
- The Mortal Instruments
- The Caster Series
- The Hunger Games
- Hush, Hush
- Soul Screamers
It's always a problem when a young person is smart. You want to challenge them but protect them at the same time. The Tamora Pierce books look good and I liked that they feature a strong female character, I may just read them myself. I thought of The Hunger Games but there is quite a bit of violence and darkness in them. The Mortal Instruments and Hush, Hush are recommended for older teens. 13 is a difficult age. Thanks to everyone who recommended.
They are not recommended for older teens here in Canada (12+), but I guess we are more liberal. My niece read these at 12, but it really depends on the child. I have one niece that is a few years older and she wouldn't have been ok with a couple of them. But then again I thought she was too young to read Potter when she was 8, and she ended up being ok with them (or the first 5 anyway since that was all that was out).
message 19:
by
Stacia (the 2010 club), groupaholic, YA-MA founder
(last edited Oct 24, 2011 02:26PM)
(new)
I noticed Jenny put Tamora Pierce and I haven't read the Alanna series, but from what I've heard those books would be a good fit for traditional fantasy.I also saw Ally Carter mentioned. I'm pretty sure her books are fairly innocent. The one that I read was very clean (Heist Society).
If she wouldn't mind the female being the "sidekick" character, the Percy Jackson books are pretty innocent and have nothing sexual in them. There is a little bit of violence, but it's more combat related and not very descriptive.
The Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong is fairly innocent and doesn't have any sex or drugs. There is a bit of violence, but it isn't overly descriptive. I think these books fall somewhere between middle grade and older YA, so they're probably right on the cusp of what you'd be looking for, if not now, then maybe in a year or two.
I was trying to remember if there was anything sexual in this book
and I don't seem to recall there being anything more than a kiss near the end. I seem to recall feeling like the book read very young at the time. There was one scene where the girl met a guy and stopped at his house for a minute and he put the moves on her, but I think she freaked out and bailed if I remember correctly, and that's about as far as it went.
Here's a few of my favorites from when I was around 13: The Year of Secret Assignments
Once Upon a Marigold
The Two Princesses of Bamarre
Hope Was Here
I would have to recommend Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon. It's a romance with a bit of a darker element to it, and if you can handle the odd soppy line, it's well worth a read. Looking forward to the next book.
I really enjoyed
. Other YA books/series I really liked are
Books I've heard great things about.
Oh I loved The Two Princesses of Bamarre!! So sweet, a girl becoming her own. Very kind male crush yet a great adventure that I remember.
I'm not sure which other glbt books you've read but I've heard good things about
Feeling kinda dumb, but I'll ask anyways. What is glbt?
Carina wrote: "Feeling kinda dumb, but I'll ask anyways. What is glbt?"Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender.
Oooooooh. Got it, thanks!I'm so bad with the abbreviations and stuff. There's so many that I can never remember them all!
Jenny has mentioned really good ones already but I'd add
and maybe
You keep mentioning that Will Grayson, Will Grayson book Isa. Is it good?
Carina wrote: "You keep mentioning that Will Grayson, Will Grayson book Isa. Is it good?"Oh! I love it. It was one of the last books I read last year, and one of the first John Green novels I got my hands on. While I didn't like the over the top ending, I enjoyed how the story was told and I positively adore Tiny!
My friend told me about a little book called Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25, he told me it was a fantastic read and recommends it. His recommendations have yet to fail me so I trust him when he refers me to a book. Its a book im picking up soon and very excited to read it!
just a recommendation
for anyone that wants a slightly strange and off beat YA
Bleeding Violet
(has a pretty cover :D) I'm not sure why I liked this book is was written a bit strange but it kinda just stuck with me I really do like the world though.
has any one read Divergent? and did they like it?
for anyone that wants a slightly strange and off beat YA
Bleeding Violet
(has a pretty cover :D) I'm not sure why I liked this book is was written a bit strange but it kinda just stuck with me I really do like the world though.has any one read Divergent? and did they like it?
G wrote: "i'm looking for more recommendations of glbt books. I loved 
and 
. They are both gripping gay boy ta..."There are lots of goods ones mentioned, including the fabulous
. I'm a big fan of
and the books that follow about the same characters. I did like
I'd really like to read some emotional realistic fiction, since I've been reading mostly paranormal lately. Possibly something that will make me cry...yeah, that seems a little weird, but I like books and movies that make me cry. So any suggestions?
Oh boy, this is my favorite type of YA book.How about any of these...
Though The Piper's Son is a companion novel to Saving Francesca, which should be read first.
I second
Also,
This book should come with a disclaimer telling you to read with a box of tissue possibly 2 boxes.
LOVED Where She Went. So <3 Adam.Some cute contemp/realistic that shouldn't make you cry are:
If you want non-YA that will make you cry...
It looks like I'll definitely need to check out
then.
and
both sound really good!Thanks both of you for the suggestions! :)
I have 20 Boy Summer too. I need to find time to read that one.
Well I will definatly be reading Wendy F's rec's... her choices are usually always amazing. Hillary, many of those look good as well.
Angie, when you read
, just really try to get a print copy from somewhere. You absolutely won't regret it. He had an illustrator for the print book and the pictures are so incredible... it wouldn't be the same book without them. I even have one as my desktop background.
Shell, thanks! You will definitely love those books. They were all some of my favorites this year.
Wendy, I checked and my library just ordered 2 copies of
, so I'll grab it when it becomes available. :)
Yay! That's exciting. I hope you love it too.
The only books in this category that got me a bit teary eyed (I rarely ever cry) were
and
. This book,
, did not make me cry, but I felt some of the strongest emotions ever while reading it. I highly recommend it.
Ok so I'm wondering does any one know any good dark fantasy type books? Ya or not?
Thanks :)
Thanks :)
It depends on your definition of dark fantasy!Are you looking for fantasy + horror, or fantasy with darker themes, or something told from the pov of an anti-hero or villain (or a monster, like Frankenstein or Anne Rice's books)?
Here's Goodreads' genre page for it:
http://www.goodreads.com/genres/dark-...
Maybe you can find some stuff in there.
If you have something specific in mind then that might help narrow it down.
Rated YA-MA
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Ask your fellow YA-MA readers and see if we can help find something that will work for you.
If you're stuck on what to ask, here's a few ideas :
Genre? Sci-Fi, Realistic, Historical, etc.
Mood? Scary, Funny, Romantic, etc.
Character? Evil, Kick-Butt, Innocent, Smart, Geeky, etc.
Location? City, Country, or even a more specific type of location such as a school, beach, forest, etc.?
Random Detail That Interests You? For example, if you're looking to read a book about music, or want to find yourself on a road trip adventure, etc.