Get Yer YA Recommendations Here!

lenore_x

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
979
Reaction score
116
Location
Seattle
Website
laurenmhunter.com
Looking for books where the protagonist has immigrant parent(s) (or where the protagonist moved to a new country at a very young age.)
Have you read A Step from Heaven by An Na? One of my favorite books EVER.

Are there any good books about illegal immigration? I remember finding one, but I need to re look it up.
Mine! Oh wait, it's not published yet. :e2violin:
 

lenore_x

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 29, 2009
Messages
979
Reaction score
116
Location
Seattle
Website
laurenmhunter.com
While we're on the subject of ghost stories (yay!), I saw a book recced a while back and now I can't find it. It was about a girl who moves into an old Victorian house with her family, and her sister starts acting wonky. Ring any bells?
 

nightowling

Maybe it was Utah.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 12, 2012
Messages
144
Reaction score
6
Location
California
While we're on the subject of ghost stories (yay!), I saw a book recced a while back and now I can't find it. It was about a girl who moves into an old Victorian house with her family, and her sister starts acting wonky. Ring any bells?

Bad Girls Don't Die?
 

Windcutter

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 10, 2011
Messages
2,181
Reaction score
135
I dunno if it's too late to add this as a rec, but Holly Black's White Cat is quite suspenseful--male MC as well. Sort of modern noir with an alternate universe where magic is commonplace and linked with crime and power.
Thanks, I'll check it out, it sounds interesting. :) I meant something non-paranormal, though, where even though there might be something supernatural, it turns out to be explainable at the end. The perfect example is not a YA book but the old movie VERTIGO. It spends a lot of time building suspense and making the viewers wonder whether supernatural stuff exists--and then it slams us with the truth in a twist.

Since I'm here again, I'd like some different recs on a subject that's hard to pin down. Examples: RENEGADE, THE VANISHING GAME, the MARA DYER series. Core: layers of reality and mind shifts. Not always literally. But perception gets skewed, the owls are not what they seem, memory is faulty, and MC isn't sure what's true and what's not, or even whether or not she is sane enough to trust herself.
 

nightowling

Maybe it was Utah.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 12, 2012
Messages
144
Reaction score
6
Location
California
Thanks, I'll check it out, it sounds interesting. :) I meant something non-paranormal, though, where even though there might be something supernatural, it turns out to be explainable at the end. The perfect example is not a YA book but the old movie VERTIGO. It spends a lot of time building suspense and making the viewers wonder whether supernatural stuff exists--and then it slams us with the truth in a twist.

Since I'm here again, I'd like some different recs on a subject that's hard to pin down. Examples: RENEGADE, THE VANISHING GAME, the MARA DYER series. Core: layers of reality and mind shifts. Not always literally. But perception gets skewed, the owls are not what they seem, memory is faulty, and MC isn't sure what's true and what's not, or even whether or not she is sane enough to trust herself.

Based on the synopsis, I think that Nova Ren Suma's upcoming 17 & Gone would fit the bill. It comes out in March.

Also check out Night Beach by Kirsty Eagar.
 

Rachael_A

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 11, 2010
Messages
235
Reaction score
77
Location
Atlanta, GA
Hey guys! Since we're coming up on the end of the year, I thought it might be fun to say our favorite books we've read this year. Feel free to name more than one category :)

YA Contemporary - IF I LIE by Corrine Jackson
YA Dystopian/Post-Apocalyptic - MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH by Bethany Griffin


I also read DIVERGENT (OMG, plot!) and DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE (OMG, prose!) this year and loved them! But they came out earlier than this year, so I wasn't sure how to count that.
 

Fuchsia Groan

Becoming a laptop-human hybrid
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 27, 2008
Messages
2,870
Reaction score
1,399
Location
The windswept northern wastes
Also there's The Turning by Francine (Frances?) Prose, although you should know it's basically a retread of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw.

Thanks! I just finished reading The Turn of the Screw for the first time and would love to check out a modern version. But I'm not crazy about Prose's adult fiction. Think I might try Tighter by Adele Griffin instead — how weird is it to see two YA TotS updates that close together? (Now that I think about it, James' narrator does sound like a teenager, albeit an uptight, excessively articulate Victorian one.)
 

Yeasayer

see you on a dark night
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 17, 2011
Messages
327
Reaction score
43
Location
between coasts
— a narrator who's capable of wit and humor
— dark and weird and character-driven
— no or very few scenes set in high schools, because I just read a few novels with lots of them
— the presence of commentary; prose that aspires to be 100% Show isn't my thing; of all authors, YA or otherwise, John Green's dramatization-commentary ratio is my favorite


Wow, this is really specific. I'll give it a try. These are all books close to my heart, so of course, I highly recommend all of them:

The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd meets all these requirements, yet strangely, is nothing like a John Green novel.

How to Say Goodbye in Robot by Natalie Standiford fits the bill, except there are school scenes, but not a lot.

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley.

Love and Other Perishable Items (aka Good Oil in Australia) by Laura Buzo.
 

Fuchsia Groan

Becoming a laptop-human hybrid
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 27, 2008
Messages
2,870
Reaction score
1,399
Location
The windswept northern wastes
Has anyone ever read a YA historical based on that famous summer when the Shelleys met up with Byron at his lake house? Specifically, anything about Claire Clairmont, Mary's half sister?

Since Claire was only 17 when she threw herself at dark, sexy Byron, I'm seeing YA potential. Not to mention the weird "triangle" of Claire with Mary and Percy. Though, to be honest, her story may be both too edgy and too depressing for YA. (She was pregnant in short order, and Byron never really loved her. Problem novel!)

It would lend itself to a gothic twist; too bad paranormal is dead...
 

Rhoda Nightingale

Vampire Junkie
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 25, 2009
Messages
4,470
Reaction score
658
It would lend itself to a gothic twist; too bad paranormal is dead...

Okay dude, I don't know if you're looking to read a book like that, or just making sure a book like that doesn't exist already so you can write it yourself, but I would SO read this.
 

JustSarah

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 6, 2012
Messages
1,980
Reaction score
35
Website
about.me
Does anyone recommend any good how to write young adult books? I'm a little wishy washy about which one to pick, however the one by Regina Brooks looks fairly interesting to me.
 

bethany

:)
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 27, 2007
Messages
9,013
Reaction score
3,057
Location
Room two-hundred-something on the first floor
Website
www.bethanygriffin.com
Has anyone ever read a YA historical based on that famous summer when the Shelleys met up with Byron at his lake house? Specifically, anything about Claire Clairmont, Mary's half sister?

Since Claire was only 17 when she threw herself at dark, sexy Byron, I'm seeing YA potential. Not to mention the weird "triangle" of Claire with Mary and Percy. Though, to be honest, her story may be both too edgy and too depressing for YA. (She was pregnant in short order, and Byron never really loved her. Problem novel!)

It would lend itself to a gothic twist; too bad paranormal is dead...

From Publisher's Marketplace, but I couldn't find when/if it has been released.

September 14, 2011


Children's:
Young Adult
LIz Rosenberg's ONE RAINY FORTNIGHT, the story of how the brilliant young Mary Shelley created a monster, writing FRANKENSTEIN over one particularly rainy long weekend in the company of some of England's most famous and formidable men -- including her husband the poet Shelley and Lord Byron, "mad, bad, and dangerous to know," to Tamra Tuller at Philomel Books, by Jenny Bent at The Bent Agency (world English).
 

frankiebrown

Simplify.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 16, 2012
Messages
945
Reaction score
204
Location
Georgia
I'm looking for something dark and sumptuous and possibly bordering sensuous? Any thoughts?

Embrace by Jessica Shirvington.

Losing It by Cora Carmack -- more NA than YA, but still good.

Easy by Tammara Webber -- Again, more NA than YA.

The Boy Who Sneaks in my Bedroom Window by Kirsty Moseley

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

That Boy by Jillian Dodd

Double Clutch by Liz Reinhardt

Enjoy :)
 

frankiebrown

Simplify.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 16, 2012
Messages
945
Reaction score
204
Location
Georgia
I am looking for YA books that deal with rape, with the actual assault happening in the book (not a memory or flashback). Thanks to anyone who can throw a rec my way.
 

Rachael_A

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 11, 2010
Messages
235
Reaction score
77
Location
Atlanta, GA
Does anyone recommend any good how to write young adult books? I'm a little wishy washy about which one to pick, however the one by Regina Brooks looks fairly interesting to me.

I don't know about a book specific to YA, but Mary Kole's kidlit blog has a ton of great info: http://kidlit.com


Okay dude, I don't know if you're looking to read a book like that, or just making sure a book like that doesn't exist already so you can write it yourself, but I would SO read this.

Ditto ;)

I am looking for YA books that deal with rape, with the actual assault happening in the book (not a memory or flashback). Thanks to anyone who can throw a rec my way.

I can't remember exactly how it happens in these, but:
SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson
RAPE GIRL by Alina B Klein



Bethany - I got nothing on dark and sumptuous, but if you find some, do share!
 

Kats

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 21, 2008
Messages
519
Reaction score
111
Location
California
I'm going on vacation next week and am looking for some fun beach reads. Something like Anna and the French Kiss, or The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han. I have read all Sarah Dessen and Sarah Ockler books and liked them. Looking for contemporary, not paranormal. Any recs?
 

Yeasayer

see you on a dark night
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 17, 2011
Messages
327
Reaction score
43
Location
between coasts
I'm going on vacation next week and am looking for some fun beach reads. Something like Anna and the French Kiss, or The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han. I have read all Sarah Dessen and Sarah Ockler books and liked them. Looking for contemporary, not paranormal. Any recs?

I highly, highly recommend My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick. It's comparable to Dessen and Han's work. Well written, realistic voice, endearing characters, swoon-worthy romance (this coming from someone who hates that phrase), and, of course, lots of drama.
 

Kats

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 21, 2008
Messages
519
Reaction score
111
Location
California
I highly, highly recommend My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick. It's comparable to Dessen and Han's work. Well written, realistic voice, endearing characters, swoon-worthy romance (this coming from someone who hates that phrase), and, of course, lots of drama.

Thank you! Will check it out now.

ETA: Looks great, just what I'm after - ordered!
 

Steely

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 20, 2012
Messages
139
Reaction score
19
Location
USA
Has anyone read any action/adventure or contemporary YA with really strong voice or off-beat but lovable characters? I just got done reading Rise of Renegade X and the voice was hilarious! I'm looking for more unique and funny voices.
 

Yeasayer

see you on a dark night
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 17, 2011
Messages
327
Reaction score
43
Location
between coasts
Has anyone read any action/adventure or contemporary YA with really strong voice or off-beat but lovable characters? I just got done reading Rise of Renegade X and the voice was hilarious! I'm looking for more unique and funny voices.

Not really my thing, but how about...

Au Revoir Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber
Dull Boy by Sarah Cross
 

Taylor_Writes

#teampeeta
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 11, 2009
Messages
2,100
Reaction score
51
I'm looking for some retellings. Any kind - like Beastly, for example. That's the only one I know of, hence why I'm asking.

I don't know how to explain it... Just some retellings of fairy tales or legends or whatever. Anything like that. Thanks :)