What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

I am reading AG Howard's Splintered. I'm enjoying it, but I can't wait to write to her, she's a friend, and let her know how STRANGE her imagination is. LOL The book gave me nightmares last night. Her details/descriptions are incredible. Check it out.

I started reading GRAVE M$RCY but my attention is beginning to wander. It's a little too slow and sad and close to straight historical for me, it seems. Considering all the hype (assassin nuns!) and the amazing teaser on the cover ("Why be the sheep when you can be the wolf?") I expected something with blood, gore, high octane action, cool one-liners and so on.

I just started GRAVE MERCY, but I am taking a quick break from it, not because I'm not enjoying it (I really am, quite a lot) but because REQUIEM!!! So excited for the finish of this trilogy!

I've finished John Green's Looking for Alaska now - and really liked it. So much better than the Green novel I read a few days ago (see further up this thread).

sadbeautifultragic said:

Everybody says this but before I read TFiOS it was my favorite of his, and is now still my 2nd, I don't know what's wrong with me. I think I might just be really partial to road trip books.

Click to expand...

I'm totally with you. TFIOS is now #1, but Katherines is a veeery close #2 for me. For my husband, it's #1.

I just started reading Pure by Julianna Baggot today and am really impressed so far.

Just finished The Selection by Kiera Cass. Totally not what I was expecting when I picked it up! It was an enjoyable read, though. Read it in one day!

Dear Lord! A little over two months later and I finally finished The Raven Boys.
I don't know whether it was me or the book that caused me to take so long to read it. I think it may have been me (I hadn't had the urge to read in awhile) because overall I did like the book and I'm looking forward to the next. Though there were parts that I felt dragged a little and it took awhile to figure out who all the characters were. I'll have to re-read it again to figure it out for sure. Till then I think I'll just try to find some good contemporary. I think a short change in genres is what I need.

I'm about a fifth of the way through THE DIVINERS by Libba Bray and I'm enjoying the voice and the sense of period and it's a book with scale, which is something you don't usually see in YA but some of the period details are slightly over-egged and there are so many characters that the plot's moving but doesn't have any real momentum at the moment. Still, it's early days and I'm enjoying the ride.

MM

Ellaroni said:

I've finished John Green's Looking for Alaska now - and really liked it. So much better than the Green novel I read a few days ago (see further up this thread).

Click to expand...

So good, wasn't it?

I'm like 5/6 of the way through Days of Blood and Starlight, and I have to say, I'm kind of fizzling out. I adore the writing, but every time the POV strays away from Karou, I start to lose interest. Maybe it's because I don't read a lot of straight fantasy, but I feel like there is just a little too much going on with all the wars and the angels and the secondary characters. Still think Laini Taylor is amazing though.

JoyMC said:

I'm totally with you. TFIOS is now #1, but Katherines is a veeery close #2 for me. For my husband, it's #1.

Click to expand...

I like all of his books, but my very favorite is An Abundance of Katherines. Then Looking for Alaska. Then Will Grayson, Will Grayson. Then The Fault in our Stars. Finally, Paper Towns.

That's all of them, right?

Following the rule of "The First John Green Novel You Read is Always Your Favourite," I read Paper Towns first and it's my favourite

I am feeling a bit embarrassed to say that i haven't read any of John Green's novels. Time to add them to the ever growing To Read list!

CelesteBC said:

I am feeling a bit embarrassed to say that i haven't read any of John Green's novels. Time to add them to the ever growing To Read list!

Click to expand...

It's ok, you're not alone. Well, I did read part of WG,WG but the Levithan chapters just weren't for me.

And yeah, my husband loved An Abundance of Katherines minus, he says, the evil Katrina character. Because he just couldn't believe in an evil Katrina.*

*My full first name happens to be Katrina, so ...

Niiicola said:

So good, wasn't it?

I'm like 5/6 of the way through Days of Blood and Starlight, and I have to say, I'm kind of fizzling out. I adore the writing, but every time the POV strays away from Karou, I start to lose interest. Maybe it's because I don't read a lot of straight fantasy, but I feel like there is just a little too much going on with all the wars and the angels and the secondary characters. Still think Laini Taylor is amazing though.

Click to expand...

I read a lot of fantasy, but I had the same impression. The writing itself is brilliant, but the fantasy plot is very slow and kind of... traditional underneath the rich and imaginative surface details.

Or maybe it's me. I put aside two books yesterday for the same reason--just too slow. It's like I have no patience for anything but a heart-pounding race.

CelesteBC said:

I am feeling a bit embarrassed to say that i haven't read any of John Green's novels. Time to add them to the ever growing To Read list!

Click to expand...

I haven't either. Frankly, I'm not that interested. I'm sure he's a fantastic writer, but when I read the plot outlines, I just don't care. Not big on contemporary.

Last book read: Fever, the second of the Chemical Garden trilogy. Have to say, I didn't read it quite as quickly as the first one, and although part of me wants to be impressed by the subject matter that the author brought into it--prostitution, drug addiction, etc., in addition to the apocalyptic stuff and conspiracies and whatnot--I feel like a lot of it was glossed over or swept under the rug. Especially the drug addiction. I've never tried heroin, and have no interest in doing so, but the impression I get is that it takes more than a few days to get past the withdrawal stage. And it's pretty ugly.

Still into the series enough to read the last one, but that part kinda bugged me. A lot.

Windcutter said:

Or maybe it's me. I put aside two books yesterday for the same reason--just too slow. It's like I have no patience for anything but a heart-pounding race.

Click to expand...

Ugh, me too. I have like six half-finished books lying around my house. I don't know what it is I need right now, but I'm not finding it.

I read THE BUNKER DIARY by Kevin Brooks, billed as SAW without the gory bits or like LORD OF THE FLIES, about a boy who is abducted and shut in a bunker with 5 other people, and the man who did it plays sick psychological games with them.

It was very well written, because I can't stop thinking about it, but, well...before I read it, I'd never found a YA that was too dark for me - and now I have. The bleak ending stayed with me, and I almost wish I hadn't read it because it's all I can think about. Apparently he wrote it a few years ago but it was turned down because it was too dark for YA, publishers thought it was just too hopeless. It's only now been allowed.

But if you like that sort of stuff, it's a brilliantly-written book. Kevin Brooks is a genius (and also from Devon, gooooo Devonshire! )

Niiicola said:

Ugh, me too. I have like six half-finished books lying around my house. I don't know what it is I need right now, but I'm not finding it.

Click to expand...

I want to read something like the book I'm writing, lol. Except I want to not know how it ends.

I picked up VESSEL, though. It seems I only read two kinds of YA fiction these days: either Sci-Fi or epic fantasy.

Sage said:

Loved CODE NAME: VERITY, though I did think some of the details bogged it down at times. But the plot and characters were fabulous. And I second whoever recommended it as an audiobook because the readers were amazing.

Click to expand...

Currently halfway through Code Name Verity and absolutely love it. And while the details are a little dense at times, from a write'sr perspective I'm really impressed by how much is in there. I wish I could imagine my stories in that much detail!

LadyA said:

I read THE BUNKER DIARY by Kevin Brooks, billed as SAW without the gory bits or like LORD OF THE FLIES, about a boy who is abducted and shut in a bunker with 5 other people, and the man who did it plays sick psychological games with them.

It was very well written, because I can't stop thinking about it, but, well...before I read it, I'd never found a YA that was too dark for me - and now I have. The bleak ending stayed with me, and I almost wish I hadn't read it because it's all I can think about. Apparently he wrote it a few years ago but it was turned down because it was too dark for YA, publishers thought it was just too hopeless. It's only now been allowed.

But if you like that sort of stuff, it's a brilliantly-written book. Kevin Brooks is a genius (and also from Devon, gooooo Devonshire! )

Click to expand...

Bloody hell, yes, I've read this too.

I wouldn't necessarily say dark (though it is). I think it's easily one of the most unpleasant books I've ever read. I don't know what to make of it and I feel like a hypocrite for not liking it. I did think it lacked depth and I totally appreciated the mystery of the man upstairs - but I didn't like it. I dunno but I think it's nasty for the sake of nasty. I can't imagine reading it for pleasure.

Just finished What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton. A superb YA contemp. Loved it. Corey is now my favorite YA book boyfriend in existence.

I was a massive fan of Delirium and Pandemonium, but I've got to say, Requiem disappointed me. Partly because it alternated between Lena's and Hana's stories, and I just didn't find Hana's story anywhere near as compelling, but also because Lena's story just lacked a lot of what I connected to in the first two books.

I was expecting a much bigger impact from the ending - she can be such a powerful writer - but I don't know. It totally didn't do it for me. I don't want to say too much more for spoilers sake, but I was disappointed.

I just started reading The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding, and so far I love it.