Really awesome YA UF/Paranormal recs plz!

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Kitty Pryde

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Hi! Can you recommend me some really really good YA UF/Paranormal (I think 'paranormal' is a stupid name for a subgenre, but that's what they're calling it in the bookstore so Ah Well)? There are soooo many of them that I am baffled. Anything involving a girl swooning over a supernatural guy who is stalky/assaulty/rapey and obviously far too dangerous to even stand near is a BIG TURNOFF. Also a girl with zero ambitions beyond Get With Cute Boy is displeasing.

I'm really seriously obsessed with Blue Bloods. Also anything by Francesca Lia Bl0ck. I liked The Replacement, Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy, I Kissed A Zombie and I Liked It, and Ash.

Thanks in advance! :D
 

The Deuce

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The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare is an awesome YA UF series with no sparkly people and a strong female protagonist--very refreshing :)
 

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I suggest Paranormalcy and Wicked Lovely (where the stalkerish boy is not the one the girl actually wants). Warped was good. Demon's Lexicon has little romance at all.
 

ceenindee

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None of these are particularly obscure, so you might've read them already, but these are my personal favorites (and none of them are romances).

The Bartimaeus Trilogy, by Johnathan Stroud
The Midnighters Trilogy, by Scott Westerfeld
Peeps/The Last Days, by Scott Westerfeld
The House of the Scorpion, by Nancy Farmer (maybe more sci-fi...it's about clones)
Unwind, by Neil Schusterman
Gone, by Michael Grant
Thirsty, by M.T. Anderson (this one was an acquired taste)
Things Not Seen, by Andrew Clements

I'm sure there are more. I'll have to pillage my sister's bookcase. She has half my stuff by now.
 

shaldna

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I suggest Paranormalcy and Wicked Lovely (where the stalkerish boy is not the one the girl actually wants). Warped was good. Demon's Lexicon has little romance at all.

Wicked Lovely was awesome
 

Lnlee

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Oh man, all of these are really good books. I second The Mortal Instruments, Paranormalcy, Wicked Lovely, Demon's Lexicon, and The Bartimaeus Trilogy...

and I'll throw in these:
Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton (where there IS a guy who's stalkerish but he's not dangerous or anything like that--the girl is actually more dangerous lol and the guy's more of a side-kick)
Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith (there is a guy who's stalkerish but again, the MC isn't really swooning over him.)
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
The Curse Workers series (as well as her earlier YA books) by Holly Black
Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block
Another Faust by Daniel Nayeri
The Summoning by Kelly Armstrong
 

Kitty Pryde

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I suggest Paranormalcy and Wicked Lovely (where the stalkerish boy is not the one the girl actually wants). Warped was good. Demon's Lexicon has little romance at all.

I didn't get into Wicked Lovely that much. Demon's Lexicon was alright. I'll check out the others.

I'm not at all opposed to a romance, it's just that my inner feminist becomes easily enraged at authors who glorify unhealthy relationships as a romantic ideal.
 

Kitty Pryde

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Not sure if it's what you're looking for, but I just finished reading MALICE by Chris Wooding. I really liked this book.

I really liked that one, actually. To me it felt like MG, despite the scary stuff. The scary seemed quite innocent!

Oh man, all of these are really good books. I second The Mortal Instruments, Paranormalcy, Wicked Lovely, Demon's Lexicon, and The Bartimaeus Trilogy...

and I'll throw in these:
Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton (where there IS a guy who's stalkerish but he's not dangerous or anything like that--the girl is actually more dangerous lol and the guy's more of a side-kick)
Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith (there is a guy who's stalkerish but again, the MC isn't really swooning over him.)
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
The Curse Workers series (as well as her earlier YA books) by Holly Black
Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block
Another Faust by Daniel Nayeri
The Summoning by Kelly Armstrong

Vampire Academy almost killed my brain. The opening seemed promising as I was certain the two main character gals were going to get together, but instead they went all sweet valley vampire high on me and i was like noooooooo!

I LOVE Pretty Dead!
 

ceenindee

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I'm not at all opposed to a romance, it's just that my inner feminist becomes easily enraged at authors who glorify unhealthy relationships as a romantic ideal.

Well, and when I say, "none of these are romances," I just mean the romantic relationship isn't the main conflict. But they all have romantic subplots, so if you enjoy that, it's there. :)
 

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I really liked that one, actually. To me it felt like MG, despite the scary stuff. The scary seemed quite innocent!

I agree.
Have you read Havoc yet?
Also, I'm a huge fan of Michael Grant's Gone series. (No helpless girly-girls in it. ;) Also, there's a kick-ass lesbian girl, but I don't remember which book she shows up in.)
 
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PoppysInARow

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Uneathly by Cynthia Hand. OMG, angels written well. Finally! It starts off feeling like the cliched Girl meets Pretty Guy and wants to bone him 'cause he's Perfect. But it completely turns on its head. I loved it. <3
 

Kitty Pryde

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I agree.
Have you read Havoc yet?
Also, I'm a huge fan of Michael Grant's Gone series. (No helpless girly-girls in it. ;) Also, there's a kick-ass lesbian girl, but I don't remember which book she shows up in.)

Yep, read Havoc too. Tall Jake scares me! I thought the ending was left with the potential for sequels--I'd read them :)
 

PhoebeNorth

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Came in here just to recommend Cynthia Hand's Unearthly! Easily one of the HEALTHIEST paranormal romances I've ever read. Well-written, too.

I'd also recommend Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler and the Night World books by LJ Smith. Smith's books suffer a bit for being, like, the first teen series about vampire-human romances, but they're great (I prefer the Night World books to her Vampire Diaries books; the Dark Visions trilogy is also good). Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is also good, and Diana Peterfreund's killer unicorn books (Rampant and Ascendant).
 

shaldna

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Uneathly by Cynthia Hand. OMG, angels written well. Finally! It starts off feeling like the cliched Girl meets Pretty Guy and wants to bone him 'cause he's Perfect. But it completely turns on its head. I loved it. <3

That sounds pretty interesting. will be sure to check it out.
 

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Beautiful Creatures involves a shy boy named Ethan who falls for a witch in the backdrop of a small Southern town. I LOVE this series because of its depth & complexity. Also Ethan is me in book form. I love that there's a book about a guy who isn't a "sarcastic badass jerk" type. He's nerdy, thoughtful, nice, and a bookworm, and the witch he falls for, Lena, pretty much epitomizes everything I love about good female protags. I cannot praise the Caster Chronicles enough.

Also seconding Mortal Instruments. Though Claire isn't a perfect author, she has guts for including touchy subjects in her work and she's made a cast of loveable characters. Clary is no pushover, and the love stories are secondary plots to the central plot of demon-hunting.

I'm sick of the whole, too. Twilight did it, and did it well. Even in Hush,Hush, it was pulled off nicely because the series became about much more than simply that. However, now that we have a billion and one different "girl meets supernatural" novels, it's getting boring and tedious. Sad thing is, those of us who pen YA lit that doesn't involve this plot have a rough time getting published because that is what's selling like hotcakes at the moment. Sigh.
 

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Came in here just to recommend Cynthia Hand's Unearthly! Easily one of the HEALTHIEST paranormal romances I've ever read. Well-written, too.

You know, it was healthy (I guess - I mean, there's still a stalkery supernatural creature, but it's the girl MC and her stalkery vibe isn't as creepy as many other books) and it wasn't *bad* necessarily, but I just didn't like it. It was way, way too white bread for me. And I kind of felt like I was reading Christian fiction lite, which bothered me even though I love angels. And the writing was meh and the story started kind of slow. But I did love Tucker.

I would have to third a rec for The Mortal Instruments, even though the writing isn't great. It's kind of like Twilight in that it's fun and slightly addictive despite it's flaws. And after Unearthly, I have so much more appreciation for that series because there's so much diversity there.
 

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I LOVE Pretty Dead!

Francesca Lia Block makes me swoon!

I would also recommend Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor. It's not a series or anything, but three short YA UF stories. But they're *so* good, and her writing is kind of breathtaking. At least, to me anyway.
 

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I really like the Magic or Madness trilogy by Justine Larbalestier. There's a tiny bit of romance but the story is mainly about the magic and how it affects the characters, an aspect of the books that's really well developed and carefully thought-out. These novels feel very distinctive to me -- nothing like any other UF I've read.
 

Lnlee

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I'm also going to recommend books by A.M. Jenkins, like Night Road and Repossessed, as well as Doppelganger by David Stahler Jr. They're lesser known Urban Fantasies, but I think they're great, especially if you're looking to escape the mainstream Urban Fantasy ("girl meets paranormal guy") track.

And yeah, I really liked Pretty Dead, as well, which is why I recommended it. :)
 
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Kitty Pryde

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Thanks for all the great suggestions! I've got some of them on order at the library :D Right now reading Slice of Cherry--wow, it's good! Monsters and murderers and magic doors and fairyland, woohoo.
 

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Seconding Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. Don't believe the back cover copy, which makes it sound like a boy who has to hunt down and slay all his ex-girlfriends, gaaag. Very inaccurate.

I was so pleasantly surprised by Shiver, since I was expecting a stalkerish thing, but it's got none of that. I liked the sequel even more. Both pass the Bechdel test.

And, last but not least, Jackson Pearce Jackson Pearce Jackson Pearce!!! As You Wish is a straightforward paranormal romance; Sisters Red is a more complex urban fantasy. Both have awesome themes about being independent while still needing love, and both are totally kickass.
 

Kitty Pryde

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Sweet! I did like Peeps, but to me it was sci fi all the way, what with all the parasite talk. I didn't know the sequel existed but I just got it at the library yesterday and I am excited for awesome rock n roll vampire fun times!!!!
 
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