What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

WILDTHORN by Jane Eagland

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Ah yes, that cover really sucked me in.

Having loved the movie Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist I checked out two other books by the original authors: Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.

I just finished Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List

I read it in one sitting, very entertaining. Thoroughly enjoyed the chapters told through the MC's POV but felt there were three too many POVs that had me skimming sections.

I just finished VARIANT by Robison Wells, and while I really enjoyed the story, I hated the ending. I had the same problem with it I had with THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER--big old cliffhanger ending, with nothing at all resolved. I had no idea this book was the first in a series (same with MARA DYER), and I wish more books were standalones. I like being able to read a book, enjoy it, and have that be it--not be left hanging for a year until the next book comes out.

I did not get a good night's sleep last night, which means I'm tired and grumpy and more annoyed by this than I reasonably should be.

Finished THE HISTORY KEEPERS by Damian Dibben and it never picked up for me. The villains are walking, talking evil cliches (complete with a weird love of snakes - surely the most maligned creatures in the animal kingdom), the heroes all come out with trite dialogue, there's no real sense of period and the pacing's just off - sags when it should pop, had needless diversions and relies too heavily on characters keeping information from each other to set up the next scene. If you want to see the idea done better then check out TIME RIDERS by Alex Scarrow, which has its faults but is fast-paced and genuinely chilling in places.

I'm about to start SOUL BEACH by Kate Harrison, which I've heard positive things about.

MM

Reading C1TY OF ASHES, very slowly because of NaNo. So far, it's interesting, but I liked the first one better. Well, I'm only 50 pages in. I'm also wondering why we need Simon and Maia's POVs--they aren't main characters, and so far their scenes don't add anything. Especially Maia's. It's like a companion short story tucked between the chapters of the main novel. The book is well over 100k. Maybe there will be an epic swing now--not so much Clary's story but the story of the whole secret world-next-to-ours. (And maybe Simon just bores me way too much to listen to him.)

I'm reading Temp3st by Juli3 Cross. I think my expectations were way too high coming into it because so far 1/4 of the way into the book and I'm not into it at all.

Just finished Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

I just finished Something Like Fate by Susane Colasanti. I'm not sure what's next. Possibly Anna and the French Kiss, possibly Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, possibly Kiss It.

Just finished Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children. I really enjoyed it!! Sort of a MG feel to it even though the MC is 16. And all the pictures in the book were awesome. If you look closely at the one on the cover, you'll see that the girl is actually levitating. I missed that when I first picked it up, but there are all kinds of equally weird/peculiar pictures that fit the book perfectly. The author says that weren't altered which makes me appreciate the book even more and the effort that he went through to find the pictures. Anyway, I highly recommend it.

I'm on to Hushed now and then it's Ripple by Mandy Hubbard

Windcutter said:

Reading C1TY OF ASHES, very slowly because of NaNo. So far, it's interesting, but I liked the first one better. Well, I'm only 50 pages in. I'm also wondering why we need Simon and Maia's POVs--they aren't main characters, and so far their scenes don't add anything. Especially Maia's. It's like a companion short story tucked between the chapters of the main novel. The book is well over 100k. Maybe there will be an epic swing now--not so much Clary's story but the story of the whole secret world-next-to-ours. (And maybe Simon just bores me way too much to listen to him.)

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I kind of thought that in the first few books too, but by the third and fourth Simon has become very important to the story and I didn't mind it so much. There are a lot of little subplots in the TMI, but I liked them all. The third book is amazing.

Reading The Son of Neptune now.

The Iron King.

Smish said:

Reading The Son of Neptune now.

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My son just finished this one. He LOVED it!!

adktd2bks said:

Just finished Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children. I really enjoyed it!! Sort of a MG feel to it even though the MC is 16. And all the pictures in the book were awesome. If you look closely at the one on the cover, you'll see that the girl is actually levitating. I missed that when I first picked it up, but there are all kinds of equally weird/peculiar pictures that fit the book perfectly. The author says that weren't altered which makes me appreciate the book even more and the effort that he went through to find the pictures. Anyway, I highly recommend it.

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A little while ago I picked up Miss Peregrin's Home for Peculiar Children. I read about the first 20 pages but haven't gotten around to continuing. I definitely did get an MG vibe from it. The photos were so amazing though, and it was such an interesting idea. I'm probably going to try to finish it soon.

Right now I'm reading Divergent by Veronica Roth, though, and so far I really enjoy it!

Finally started reading Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden. I am currently living in Australia, which makes it hard to keep up with the YA Market in the US so I decided to read a classic Aussie YA series. So far, it is pretty good

Just started the second chapter of 13 REASONS WHY by Jay Asher. Published in 2007 and finally getting to it. Next up in my stack: JELLICOE ROAD, SPEAK, and BLACK SWAN GREEN.

It's not YA, but I just finished a debut short story collection CRIMES IN SOUTHERN INDIANA by Frank Bill, which just came out in September. Some of it was disturbingly good.

After a few weeks reading adult fiction I'm back to YA and have just started Chime.

I put in lots of library reservations a few weeks ago which have started arriving, plus it was my birthday yesterday, so I've got a great stack of brand new YA to dive into. Unfortunately we're moving house next week and I don't have much time to read!

Reading S1STERS RED. So far, I really like the writing style, it's active, descriptive and emotional at the same time. But I dislike the way the werewolf hunt is handled: despite them having an official name (Fenris) and a pretty unpleasant nature (no attractive wildness here, they are more like ghouls), MC keeps calling them "wolves" and descriptions of action make you think she's hacking up wild animals with a hatchet.

Just finished Hushed by Kelley York. I enjoyed it, but didn't love-love it the way some seem to have, at least judging by the Goodreads reviews. It didn't end the way that I wanted it to and I think that was part of my problem. Maybe thrillers just aren't for me.

I'm half-way through SOUL BEACH by Kate Harrison and while the idea's great (basically there's a computer website where the souls of those who died violently or before their time hang out for eternity unless and until something's resolved for them to move on) I'm half way through the story and nothing's happened apart from setting up that concept.

In theory, the book's supposed to be about Alice's attempts to discover who murdered her sister Megan. In practice it seems to me more about how murder can impact on the family and while I don't have any problem with that normally, it's not what the blurb's selling so I feel as though my expectations have not been met. The writing itself is okay but nothing really special and given the use of really short chapters, it should have much more action than it does. For those interested in children's/YA books that look at family grief, I'd recommend MY SISTER LIVES ON THE MANTELPIECE by Annabel Pitcher which was much more moving and has already made a number of shortlists in the UK.

MM

MadSquirrel said:

I'm reading Temp3st by Juli3 Cross. I think my expectations were way too high coming into it because so far 1/4 of the way into the book and I'm not into it at all.

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Exactly how I felt. I'm about half way in and it is SO SLOW. There's no sense of urgency at all. Though, I felt this way about the Time Travellers Wife too. Didn't finish it but I'm determined to finish Tempest.

Chumplet said:

I just finished Maggie Stiefvater's THE SCORPIO RACES. I didn't want to finish it. I heard their accents as I read. I felt their horses' sides. I felt the damp, salty wind. This is a good, good book.

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I'm reading The Scorpio Races right now. Her prose took a bit of getting used to (it's definitely on the purple side), but I think I like it so far.

Started Jellicoe Road today. It's very different than what I was expecting. I'm not sure what I was expecting, so I'm not sure what I even mean by that. But it's good! Definitely good, and going by much too quickly.

I just finished Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Sisters Red. I can't say that either one of them did much for me. DSB started really well, but the Karou/Akiva thing was way too Edward and Bella for my tastes. Weird, because Karou is such a kick ass character in many ways. The "twist" at the end disappointed me for that very reason, because I felt like she was being eclipsed. I'm not going to say more than that, because it will entail spoilers. Generally, I feel like this about a lot of Laini Taylor's writing: robust start, becomes kind of thin and strained towards the end.

Sisters Red...meh, I don't know. Something about first person present narration bothers me, and I thought the battle-hardened older sister, mild and pretty younger one was a bit of a cliche. I think if the narration had been done in third person, with a kind of deliberate fairy tale feel, I might have swallowed the cliche more easily.

I'm onto You Killed Wesley Payne. Hoping that's more my style.