What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?, issue 2

SpinningWheel

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I've just finished Unquiet Spirits by K.M.Peyton, as mentioned by LadyA upthread.

Mixed feelings about it, tbh - I don't think the first person voice works as well as her third person books (not quite convincingly teen), and I didn't quite buy a lot of the detail that the plot hung on (these teenagers making huge progress restoring a historic house, including opening a restaurant there, while the artist mother casually 'restores' some 16th c bedcurtains, which would actually be ridiculously valuable if they had really survived that long, with none of the planning permission and Listed Building Consent wrangling that you get in reality....). I know teenage readers aren't going to be picky about this stuff, but IMO one of the best things about Peyton is that when she writes about sailing, horses, etc, she really knows her stuff, and it's a pity not to have that.
That said, all the important stuff is spot on - beautiful, atmospheric writing, really warmly-written and interesting characters, and actually, I think pulling off a modern relationship/ghost relationship parallel is really hard to do and she does it very successfully.

Now to read more Peyton, now her backlist has appeared on Kindle!
 

endearing

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Just finished To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han. Loved the premise and main character; wished for more in the resolution. Ah, well. Still enjoyed it.

Now on to Tsarina by J. Nelle Patrick--which I didn't realize was Jackson Pearce's penname until I saw the picture on the author bio flap, as I had formerly read Purity. I didn't enjoy the latter much, but I'm very much in the mood for historical fantasy right now, so I'm excited! I haven't read much about Romanov Russia, but it definitely fascinates me.
 

Becca C.

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Just finished GOING OVER by Beth Kephart, and... meh. Almost nothing happens, the writing misses the mark a lot of the time, the MC was obnoxiously selfish. There was a subplot I was quite invested in, and one really memorable, awesome scene, but apart from that not much I liked. The setting was great, though. I can't believe more hasn't been written about that time.

Next up is EVERYTHING LEADS TO YOU by Nina LaCour, because I love her and because of the Rebecca in the book named after me :p
 

sofia.e

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I'm trying to read MATCHED. I am SO BORED. About halfway through. Pretty sure it's a DNF for me. IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY is next.

I couldn't deal with Matched but The Impossible Knife of Memory is easily one of my favorite YA novels. Hopefully it'll wash out the bad taste of Matched for you!

I'm reading The Thief right now. I'm enjoying the writing but the plot is moving so slow. I've heard lots of good things, though, so I'm hoping it picks up.
 

pannwright

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I'm trying to read MATCHED. I am SO BORED. About halfway through. Pretty sure it's a DNF for me. IMPOSSIBLE KNIFE OF MEMORY is next.

I'm reading Matched right now! Liking it so far though. I just finished Pretties (and shortly before Uglies) and something about the writing or the story or something from that series just felt so ... transparent, maybe? Super hard to explain.

Matched feels much more interesting to me. I'm not too far in, though, and I'm not really huge on romance, so eh. I think the dystopians are wearing on me though. I recently re-read The Giver (reading it first when I was very very young) and now each dystopian I read with similar themes just seems so overdone.

I'm not bored with Matched though! And I get bored easily. Hoping it stays that way because I need a good distracting read right now.
 

Becca C.

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I thought MATCHED had some beeeeautiful writing. And one scene made me cry, so points for that. I remember liking it.

Anyway, just popping in to say EVERYTHING LEADS TO YOU is super super amazing and I'm blasting through it! I'll probably finish it tonight and I only started it last night.
 

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Finished Cat Clarke's A KISS IN THE DARK last night. I don't want to spoil it for others, but the ending surprised me. And I've read all her books.
 

SpinningWheel

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Finished K.M.Peyton's 'The Last Ditch' (1984). It was very good, classic Peyton, both the emotional side and exciting side of the story very well told. (Though having read the previous two in the series I was expecting a little more peril.)
And back to her usual third person style, perfect match between her style and the educated, introspective character we're following. Really reminded me why she was such a major YA writer back then.
 

QueenofLALALand

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I'm trying to read MATCHED. I am SO BORED. QUOTE]


I hated MATCHED. I managed to finish it, but it really wasn't worth it.

I finished the second in the raven cycle, THE DREAM THIEVES. Loved it. What I don't love it having to wait until October for the next one. *Le sigh*
 

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Just finished To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han. Loved the premise and main character; wished for more in the resolution.

I think that there's going to be another book in this series -- on goodreads, it now shows it as book #1 in a series. So there may be hope resolution yet! TO ALL THE BOYS is on my TBR list, for sure. All the stuff I'm reading here about RAVEN BOYS makes me think I might have given up on it too early -- I DNF'd it around 50 pages last year because I wasn't feeling it, but I haven't forgotten the parts of it I did read. Might try again soon.

I just finished Courtney Summers's FALL FOR ANYTHING. It was my least favourite of her novels so far; it just wasn't as tightly paced as the stories I've come to expect from her. I felt like I spent too much of the book waiting for something to happen. There were some nice scenes, though I don't know if I wouldn't have finished if I hadn't liked her other work. Up next I've got POINTE by Brandy Colbert.
 

Becca C.

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Finished Cat Clarke's A KISS IN THE DARK last night. I don't want to spoil it for others, but the ending surprised me. And I've read all her books.

I'm excited to read this one. I've read her other three and A KISS IN THE DARK is in my stacks, looking at me right now... but I'm not sure it's going to be my next read.

Okay, so I finished EVERYTHING LEADS TO YOU, and... and... and... :') It's official, I think Nina LaCour is officially my favourite YA contemporary writer, and maybe even my favourite YA writer, period. This book was incredible.
 

jtrylch13

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Finished INDEPENDENT STUDY and THE TESTING GUIDE by Joelle Charbonneau - meh. Now I'm onto THE SHADE OF THE MOON by Susan Beth Pfeffer, book 4 in the LIFE AS WE KNEW IT series. Decent so far and I loved the others.
 

Judy Koot

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SOULMATES was a DNF for me, mainly because the LI was cliched beyond belief and I wanted to strangle the sulky, irritating MC! Apparently the ending is really good though.

Just finished it. I thought the ending was rather unexpected, but not great.
I could have done without the whole ridiculous 'soulmates getting together is a disaster for the world' premise, but strangely enough I liked the voice and love story in general (except for the 'O, I love you so much' stuff and how überbeautiful the LI seemed to be). I actually knew people who were like the MC, so I thought the teen speak etc. was convincing.
 

Smiley0501

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I *need* to get my hands on the latest Nina LaCour book! Why is everything so expensive? ;)

I just finished PROXY, a YA sci-fi. I think people who read/loved FEED by MT Anderson would really like this one. It is about two boys -- one who is rich and the other who is his 'proxy'; i.e. when the rich boy does something bad he doesn't get punished, his proxy does. They meet by chance at a party and end up on the run together. No romance in this one. Oh, and there's a feisty girl :D Oh and a prophecy. And technology-awesomeness. And it takes place in future Denver and Detroit.
 

Netz

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Finished FOLLOW ME DOWN by Tanya Byrne today. I guessed who the 'him' was quite early on in the book, so the revelation didn't come as a surprise. I liked learning about the MC's Nigerian culture, though, and that aspect of her character really came alive in my head.

I also read DEFY THE STARS by Sophie McKenzie tonight, which is the last in her Flynn series. I really didn't like Flynn in the first three books (especially the first one), but he didn't have his anger problems in this book, so I found him a lot more bearable. The ending was heartbreaking. :cry:

I'm now starting SWEET DAMAGE by Rebecca Jame. I enjoyed her first book (BEAUTIFUL MALICE), so I hope this one lives up to my expectations.
 

Maramoser

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I just finished PROXY, a YA sci-fi. I think people who read/loved FEED by MT Anderson would really like this one. It is about two boys -- one who is rich and the other who is his 'proxy'; i.e. when the rich boy does something bad he doesn't get punished, his proxy does. They meet by chance at a party and end up on the run together. No romance in this one. Oh, and there's a feisty girl :D Oh and a prophecy. And technology-awesomeness. And it takes place in future Denver and Detroit.

Futuristic whipping boy--that sounds awesome!

I just read THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer Nielsen. I liked it well enough, but I really wasn't a fan of the way the unreliable narration was done. I thought first person was a poor choice for what she wanted to convey.

Next I am reading THESE BROKEN STARS! Titanic in space, which I was really excited to find because the other day I was wondering why nobody had done that yet!
 

Sage

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Finished STOLEN SONGBIRD, which I really enjoyed for the first 75%. And then suddenly the trolls were fairies and the romance, which had delighted me until then, turned whiny. The end got a little better, but I wasn't enthralled anymore.
 

Niiicola

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Finished WE WERE LIARS tonight. Loved the writing style, spare and as literary as YA can get without bogging down plot. I flew through it because I was dying to know what the big twist was. It's one of the few times I had no real guess as to what happened, which maybe gave me too high of expectations. Needless to say, I was let down by what it turned out to be. I thought it would be something more intricate, with all the little pieces fitting together just so. Still would recommend it though.

I just finished this tonight and adored the writing style. Totally agree about the twist being a teensy letdown. It was still a five-star review for me because gah, that writing and all those feelings, but if the twist had been as amazing as I'd hoped for, it would have been like ONE ZILLION STARS. Still highly recommended.
 

Momento Mori

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I've started WHEN MR DOG BITES by Brian Conaghan and it's a poor man's CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT TIME only really badly written. I'm particularly annoyed because it seems to associate Tourette Syndrome with low intelligence (the main character is really not bright at all and seems to suffer from attention deficit syndrome) and it's based on the false notion that Tourettes is all about swearing when that only affects a small number of sufferers. I'm not completely clear on whether it's supposed to be set in current times because there's a lot of 80s references in it (including one to T J Hooker that I just wouldn't expect any 16 year old kid to make these days). It's written in a stream of consciousness style as well that just doesn't work for me. Basically I'm not enjoying this book so far and I'm not expecting that to change. Bonus hate for the fact that a racist term keeps getting used in it and the reason for it isn't good enough. Urgh.

Not sure what I'm going to read next. I've got Helen Oyeyemi's latest but that's a 'grown up' book.

MM
 

Smiley0501

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Futuristic whipping boy--that sounds awesome!

I just read THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer Nielsen. I liked it well enough, but I really wasn't a fan of the way the unreliable narration was done. I thought first person was a poor choice for what she wanted to convey.

Next I am reading THESE BROKEN STARS! Titanic in space, which I was really excited to find because the other day I was wondering why nobody had done that yet!

Oh I loved THE FALSE PRINCE, and THESE BROKEN STARS. I could talk about TBS for days :D (I just read the sequel, not out until Dec. and it's soooooo good, too. Get ready for an epic series!)