What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

Almost finished Stay by Deb Caletti. All I can say is wow. Definitely one of the most well-written YA contemps I've ever read. Just gorgeous.


The footnotes annoyed me though. What a distraction.

Lydia Sharp said:

F*ck you 2012, because you're full of stuff I want to read, too.

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LOL... I think it might be even worse next year.

I love LOVE your av pic, btw, Lydia. Too awesome.

I am having fireworks of joy over Ilsa B1ck's ASH3S.

Parametric said:

I am having fireworks of joy over Ilsa B1ck's ASH3S.

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I have that in paperback.

I buy books far faster than I can read, and when I see other AWers praise novels I own, I bump them closer to the top of Mount TBR.

mac3910 said:

I finished Legend by Marie Lu last night and I wish I hadn't pre-ordered it. The two protagonists were the same person and in the particular society I didn't see how two fifteen year olds were as amazing as they were made out to be.

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I'll just ask here since I'm going to talk about it anyway--is it considered Dystopia or Sci-Fi? I thought it was a classic "twenty minutes into the future" Dystopia but then steam plants appeared and it looked like Alternative History Steampunk. And then there is high-tech and viruses and experiments...

I just started reading. So much telling, I don't mind it, it's cool to see a book break the rules and still become a huge success. I really like the juxtaposition of Day and June. I also liked that both of them were very special in their own ways, they weren't the common ordinary characters who discover they are special snowflakes only by the end of book one in a trilogy. xd I'm not surprised there was a movie deal, it is full of visuals. I really like it so far.

Ah, and I finished The Poison Eaters. Mixed feelings by the end. Some stories were very cool (like the dog story or the title story), others left me rather cold. But none was ordinary, there is that. It seems I like it when Holly Black tells a twisted fairy tale set in another world, but her neurotic teens in a gritty contemporary setting rarely grab my interest.

I'm about to start reading Inheritance, even though I've heard it's absolutely terrible.

But I started Eragon a long time ago, so I'm going to finish it.

I'm in between books at the moment but I'm about to start The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff.

Can't decide whether or not to start Fracture or Pretty Crooked or The Girl Who Could Silence The Wind.

AnthonyJones said:

I'm about to start reading Inheritance, even though I've heard it's absolutely terrible.

But I started Eragon a long time ago, so I'm going to finish it.

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I read the first two. But, then the movie happened... It was absolutely SO NOT what I imagined or hoped for, it permanently ruined the series for me.

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I'm feeling like it's a bait-and-switch from what I expected based on the blurb and opening chapter. Also, there isn't enough book left to resolve everything, so I'm pretty sure it's one of those books that doesn't finish, but instead insists you buy one, or two, or seven more for resolution.

It's good, though, and I wouldn't mind that if I'd gone in to it NOT expecting a YA version of Mary Downing Hahn, instead. The marketing side of things for this book, I guess, is what is throwing me off.

I've started CLOCKWORK PRINCE by Cassandra Clare. I know there are a lot of fans here, but I'm 30 pages in and am already thinking that given it could easily have been 15 pages given the unnecessary exposition and purple prose. I'm also not a fan of love triangles, so all in all, it's not shaping up to be a good 'un for me. (Sorry, CC fans).

MM

Momento Mori said:

I've started CLOCKWORK PRINCE by Cassandra Clare. I know there are a lot of fans here, but I'm 30 pages in and am already thinking that given it could easily have been 15 pages given the unnecessary exposition and purple prose. I'm also not a fan of love triangles, so all in all, it's not shaping up to be a good 'un for me. (Sorry, CC fans).

MM

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I really like CC's books, but wasn't impressed with that one either. Much as I love the idea of Steampunk Shadow-hunters, this one just feels like a lot of love triangle stuff without a whole lot of plot. The other Clare books did way better at picking up the plot at the last half or so, making it hard to put them down. This one was disappointing.

Reading Rebecca Lim's MERCY right now. I like it!

The book I'm reading now is This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel. It's a prequel to Frankenstein when Victor Frankenstein is sixteen years old. It takes some liberties but overall, it's very interesting and he imitates the writing style and tone of the original very well while still maintaining a YA feel.

I'm nearly finished with THE BODY FINDER by Kimberly Derting. Bit/a lot disappointed with this one, after hearing its rave reviews. It had the potential to be really good, and I do like the murder mystery aspect, but the romance smothers it. And the romance also feels horribly contrived - the whole "We were like siblings until he got a bit taller and deeper-voiced in the summer and now every time he so much as touches my arm I go into a paroxym of lust and drooling and OMG I want to marry him and OMG I love him so much I've forgotten to write punctuation butthat'sokaybecausehe'llthinkformeandprotectmeandlookafterme...."

But then I've never been a fan of friend-to-instalove books - slow burn is fine, getting to know each other, but Jay and Violet's romance takes up too much wordcount when Ms Derting could be focusing on the murder mystery (plus the awesomely creepy bits from the killer's POV). And I'm not a fan of Jay's over-protectiveness, which verges on the Edward-Bella style relationship. Ick.

Has anyone else read The Body Finder, and if so, did you find the romance overpowering or unrealistic?

I believe Legend is being marketed as dystopia. I finished it a couple of days ago, a slow read I had to slog through. The characters just did not compel me and the story was too predictable.

I started reading C0r$et$ & C10ckw0rk anthology. I've only read one story so far, the first one: it was good and atmospheric but so incredibly slow paced. Like frozen molasses.

PS Pardon the mangled title, I was curious just how far I could take this thing where we change the title with symbols for this thread.

vsrenard said:

I believe Legend is being marketed as dystopia. I finished it a couple of days ago, a slow read I had to slog through. The characters just did not compel me and the story was too predictable.

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Thanks, it seems it rides the D-wave. I thought I saw the elements of other SF subgenres in it, but I'm better with fantasy subgenres than with SF.

I wonder how well it will do. It had such a huge buzz and an amazing sale. I seem to be the only one in this thread who likes it. Though I haven't finished it yet.

Reading M or F by Lisa Papademetriou and Christ Tebbetts... So far it's pretty funny, in that typical-high-school-antics kinda way

I'm reading Wither and getting a bit impatient to finish it. The writing is beautiful but I'm not feeling very engaged with the characters and there's not really enough tension, given the situation the protag's in.

I just finished Wither. I felt like it lacked a good ending and tension despite the lovely style and fantastic premise.

OpheliaRevived said:

I just finished Wither. I felt like it lacked a good ending and tension despite the lovely style and fantastic premise.

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I enjoyed Wither as well. I did feel like it was missing something and the ending frustrated me because if you want to finish the story you have to buy book 2. I'm hoping Fever will be better.

I recently finished Across the Universe. I really liked it up until the ending. The ending felt very rushed, and most of the "big reveals" I predicted halfway through the book.

OpheliaRevived said:

I just finished Wither. I felt like it lacked a good ending and tension despite the lovely style and fantastic premise.

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I've just finished it and felt the same way. It all seemed underdeveloped: characters, plot, worldbuilding. The characters' behaviour was inconsistent and not enough happened. Rhine spent a lot more time thinking about doing or saying something than taking action. And I never felt actually worried that something bad might happen to her; there just didn't seem to be a real sense of threat. I won't be reading the rest of the trilogy, but I will look out for other books written by the author because I think she has a great writing style.