What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

I finished Eleanor & Park last night. Phew. It was a pretty heavy read, but it absorbed me much more than I thought it would. For a book with an almost non-existant plot, it really sucked me in. For the most part I loved it, but I disagree with people who think it's a "cute" romance, or even really about true love in the first place. It's pretty clear Park is just infatuated and obsessed, and Eleanor is mean to him for no reason a lot of the time. I thought a lot of the characters were prickly and mean for no reason, actually. I enjoyed it though and I'm looking forward to Fangirl now!

I think I'm going to pick up A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness now, see what the hype is about there.

I'm reading The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson.

Bought 17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma. Still getting prejudice as a non-teen male buying YA. Sheesh.

Finished A Monster Calls in a day, which I don't do often. I spent the entire last quarter of the book bawling my eyes out. Tears covering my whole face, snot pouring everywhere, eyes bloodshot, massive headache... wow. Holy shit, this book.

Next up... I'm not sure, maybe Tarnish, maybe another of my UK YA books.

Becca C. said:

Finished A Monster Calls in a day, which I don't do often. I spent the entire last quarter of the book bawling my eyes out. Tears covering my whole face, snot pouring everywhere, eyes bloodshot, massive headache... wow. Holy shit, this book.

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^Basically this. I read the whole book on the elliptical at the gym in two hours. It was the longest I've ever been at the gym and also the most I've ever cried there and I'm pretty sure everyone else in the cardio room thought I was having a mental breakdown.

I'm reading CODE NAME VERITY! I really like it for the most part but there are parts that get surprisingly boring, and I have trouble following the dialogue sometimes. Also sometimes there are sentences that just completely confuse me. idk.

I finished ROSE UNDER FIRE.
It was very good, though the voice of the main character wasn't as strong as the MC in Codename Verity and the story didn't grow as naturally.

I've just bought HOLLOWLAND by Amanda Hocking 'cause it was free and I've never read anything by her or anything about zombies

Becca C. said:

Finished A Monster Calls in a day, which I don't do often. I spent the entire last quarter of the book bawling my eyes out. Tears covering my whole face, snot pouring everywhere, eyes bloodshot, massive headache... wow. Holy shit, this book.

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I hope you had the beautifully illustrated version.

Currently reading The Kissing Booth and Scarlet.

Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave. I liked it in the early stages, but then I felt it veered off track and it never regained its momentum.

Hemlock Grove by Brian McGreevy. Not really sure this is YA because the word usage is just... *bam, but the Netflix series was definitely YA targeted. Anyway, it's a good book if you like having to hit the thesaurus every few chapters and you're into stream of consciousness writing style.

I dig it.

Sylo by D.J. MacHale

"The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer. A kid in the future discovers he's a clone. It's so creepy and sad! I feel a little traumatized by how people treat him like an animal....

Not really reading any YA right now, although I am reading SAVE YOURSELF by Kelly Braffet. One of the narrators is a teenage girl. It's a dark thriller with really messed up characters. It's one of the dozens of books being compared to GONE GIRL, though I don't really see many similarities except bad people doing bad things.

Becca C. said:

I finished Eleanor & Park last night. Phew. It was a pretty heavy read, but it absorbed me much more than I thought it would.

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Ha, I seem to be the only one whose had trouble getting into it. Maybe I'll try again in a few months when I'm not drafting. This would make attempt #3.

Liosse de Velishaf said:

Still getting prejudice as a non-teen male buying YA.

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How so? That would be an interesting thread, actually.

Yeasayer said:

Ha, I seem to be the only one whose had trouble getting into it. Maybe I'll try again in a few months when I'm not drafting. This would make attempt #3.

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I could see how you could have trouble. It's not exactly engaging. I found it to be kind of... prickly. Somehow. A lot of the characters are mean to each other for no reason and have no sense of... propriety? Not really a spoiler, but I'll white it out anyway: Like I found Eleanor to be downright rude to Park's family in the beginning. I get it, you have issues, but you can't at least put on a polite facade in order to not offend your boyfriend's parents?!

So that kind of frustrated me. But I liked it over and root for you giving it another chance!

Yeasayer said:

How so? That would be an interesting thread, actually.

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YA is for teenage girls, as the stereotype goes. I am neither a teenager, nor a girl, so...

It's not as bad as it used to be, but I can't remember the last time I saw someone buying YA at any of the stores I shop at that didn't involve the next day being Christmas.

/derail

After seeing it mentioned here, I read You Don't Know Me by Sophia Bennett. I enjoyed it - it went in a different direction to what I was expecting, and I liked the U.K. setting.

Next up is The Shade of the Moon, the fourth book in the Survivors series by Susan Beth Pfeffer. This one focuses on Jon, Miranda's (from Life As We Knew It) brother.

Elysium said:

I'm reading The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson.

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Excellent choice. One of my favorites. The sequel is great too. I'm eagerly awaiting the third book in the series.

Right now I'm reading EARTH STAR by Janet Edwards. Stayed up way too late last night reading it, in fact. I'm about halfway through, and so far, enjoying it almost as much as the first one (EARTH GIRL).

I just started Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma at a recommendation from user here on AW. And holy shit it's incredible.

Taylor Kowalski said:

I just started Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma at a recommendation from user here on AW. And holy shit it's incredible.

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I wanna read that so much, but they didn't have it at the bookstore the last time I was able to go. I bought her other book, 17 & Gone, which was really good, and that just makes it worse. XD

Liosse de Velishaf said:

I wanna read that so much, but they didn't have it at the bookstore the last time I was able to go. I bought her other book, 17 & Gone, which was really good, and that just makes it worse. XD

Currently reading The Maze Runner by James Dashner, and there ought to be a law against using so many unrelated similes in a single page.
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Funny. (coincidental not haha, I guess) Nova and James Dashner (who gets both names because I don't know him) have the same agent. (who is also mine). I've been meaning to pick up 17 & Gone since it came out. And I just made an online order and forgot AGAIN. *sigh*

Liosse de Velishaf said:

I wanna read that so much, but they didn't have it at the bookstore the last time I was able to go. I bought her other book, 17 & Gone, which was really good, and that just makes it worse. XD

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When you see it, do not hesitate. Buy it. Buy it good.

Willow by Juli@ Hob@n. Know nothing about it (in terms of ratings). Read the back of the book blurb and thought it sounded good. Purchased it when Borders was closing down and got it at a discount and as I said, the blurb pulled me in. See how powerful a good blurb can be?

bethany said:

Funny. (coincidental not haha, I guess) Nova and James Dashner (who gets both names because I don't know him) have the same agent. (who is also mine). I've been meaning to pick up 17 & Gone since it came out. And I just made an online order and forgot AGAIN. *sigh*

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Well, I loved 17 & Gone, but I was rather meh about Maze Runner. It's so weird they have the same agent...

I'm currently reading The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. I wasn't a fan of the first few books, but the series overall isn't too bad. There are some questionable themes within it (which will all become clear if you read it), but the plot isn't too bad.

I could NOT get into Eleanor & Park. I think I am the only person in the universe.

Currently reading:
WINGER by Andrew Smith
AMELIA ANNE IS DEAD & GONE by Kat Rosenfield
TWO by Leigh Ann Kopans (self pubbed, sequel to a superhero story)
THE DREAM THIEVES (however TDT...sigh...I got to pg200 and nothing has happened so far, so I am 'stuck' )

petrovafire said:

I'm currently reading The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. I wasn't a fan of the first few books, but the series overall isn't too bad. There are some questionable themes within it (which will all become clear if you read it), but the plot isn't too bad.

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I noticed the first book was kinda lame, it got a bit better after the first half of book two, and then around book four I got bored and wall-banged it. Maybe it gets better again later.