What YA book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

I had a reading day yesterday (YAY) and read through HEX HALL and DEMONGLASS at long last. I found them quite entertaining, though I was a little miffed at the cliff she left us on after book 2. I really wish writers releasing books every two years would realize that's not the best way to endear your reader to you...

I couldn't get through THE IRON KING. I made it half way and nothing seemed to be happening. I mean, sure, we went to Faerie, but... *shrugs* I knew that was going to happen on page one. I agree with MM, it wasn't bad, it was just meh. I won't be reading the other books. Bummer, too cause I'm a huge faerie fan. Holly Black still holds the medal for awesome Fae books, though.

I attempted to read Scorpio Races and really liked the first 50 or so pages, but it just felt like I was missing something--I don't know. The writing began to feel labored and I stopped caring about the female character pretty quickly. It won a Pritz honor, though. I'll probably keep trying to finish it.

I really don't know how you guys can get through these City of Fill-In-The-Blank books. I have tried for two years to read the first one and just can NOT, for the life of me, get past all the telling dialogue. I want to! I really do! It's infuriating! I feel like maybe I should just read the wikis and then read Clockwork Angel, as that one really looks cool--plus I read the sample and I was hooked right off.

Now I'm reading BORN WICKED which is shaping up to pretty lovely writing. I'm enjoying it.

Cai said:

Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver. And I like it which really surprised me.

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I read that as a challenge to myself - in general, I hate paranormal romances with their handsome, evil men - and I loved it too! I think it's because Sam is lovely, and isn't a clone of Edward Cullen, and how well thought out it all was that made it work. I still haven't read FOREVER though.

Nearly finished SHINE by Lauren Myracle - awesome book! The characters are really well drawn and she's great at making you feel like you're there, in the hot, dusty hills of the deep south. Next up is AN ABUNDANCE OF KATHERINES.

LadyA said:

I read that as a challenge to myself - in general, I hate paranormal romances with their handsome, evil men - and I loved it too! I think it's because Sam is lovely, and isn't a clone of Edward Cullen, and how well thought out it all was that made it work. I still haven't read FOREVER though.

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Exactly my thoughts. I feared it would be Twilight with just werewolves but it really isn't, so ...
They still obsess a lot over each other but at least they have a more or less healthy relationship. I haven't finished it yet but I'm sure I will. And yeah, I like Sam!
My only pet peeve is Ulrik's name which is, in fact, not really a German name (that would be Ulrich) but well ...

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs.

Momento Mori said:

Finished both THE IRON DAUGHTER and THE IRON QUEEN by Julie Kagawa and they both left me a bit meh. I really love the world building and her descriptions but I'm not a love triangle fan at the best of times and this one was so stilted in favour of one of the male characters that there was no tension there at all. Coupled with this is the fact that I didn't understand why either male character wanted to be with Meghan. She cries, wants to cry or stifles sobs in practically every page of THE IRON DAUGHTER, forgot everything she learnt in THE IRON KING and has no common sense at all.

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It made me realize I only like the love triangles when they are obviously stilted in favour of my favorite guy. I just enjoy seeing him win, I guess. But, alas, with about 90% love triangles, the guy I like ends up losing the girl. You know the type, both semi-evil and unusually dramatic + emotional for a male character (it was more popular in older YA, though, like the Forbidden Game series, also you can see the same triangle in TV show Buffy, but I can't remember any recent (2008+ release) YA like that).

Back on topic, I'm still only starting on Corsets & Clockwork, the first story is interesting in theory, but so slow, and I started reading Nightmare Garden, the second book in the Iron Thorn series. I also have Iron King, which the post above reminded me of, I remember reading about 50 pages of it and being put off by an unpleasant and completely unnecessary animal abuse scene. Maybe I'll try it again, I was curious about the treatment of fairies.

pixydust said:

I really don't know how you guys can get through these City of Fill-In-The-Blank books. I have tried for two years to read the first one and just can NOT, for the life of me, get past all the telling dialogue. I want to! I really do! It's infuriating! I feel like maybe I should just read the wikis and then read Clockwork Angel, as that one really looks cool--plus I read the sample and I was hooked right off.

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They aren't that different, methinks. xd Clockwork Angel just has a slower pace and a bit of historical description whereas Cities are more dynamic and feature more slang and buffyisms in the dialogue. I guess it just comes down to whether or not you get annoyed by such things. I don't, so I enjoy them, I just wish the girls in those books were half as dangerous as the boys. I want a book about Isabelle.

I just finished Crossed by Ally Condie last night. Very much a middle series book. Not great, not bad either. Definitely not as good as the first. I hope she comes through on the third book with a killer ending.

Windcutter said:

They aren't that different, methinks. xd Clockwork Angel just has a slower pace and a bit of historical description whereas Cities are more dynamic and feature more slang and buffyisms in the dialogue. I guess it just comes down to whether or not you get annoyed by such things. I don't, so I enjoy them, I just wish the girls in those books were half as dangerous as the boys. I want a book about Isabelle.

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Well, I love Buffy. It's my fave! But I didn't feel CofB was funny at all. Kinda all fell flat for me. And did I mention all the telling dialogue....? Uhg.

pixydust said:

Well, I love Buffy. It's my fave! But I didn't feel CofB was funny at all. Kinda all fell flat for me. And did I mention all the telling dialogue....? Uhg.

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I didn't mean they were similar, just that they both have dialogue full of one-liners and words like thingy.

I actually know why I like those books--they have action, emotion and visuals at the same time. It's the author's style, I've seen it since then in her short stories from the anthologies set in other worlds. And it's not something that you meet often: emotionally & visually inclined authors tend to prefer slow, character-driven books, plotters often have a dry style that goes visual only when someone throws punches. On the other hand, I don't care for telling dialogue (as in, I don't pay attention to it), and I don't mind if characters are archetypes. That's not me trying to defend the series, I was just musing about what drives readers away from books right as I opened this thread.

Windcutter:
It made me realize I only like the love triangles when they are obviously stilted in favour of my favorite guy. I just enjoy seeing him win, I guess.

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Heh. I can understand that.

Correspondingly, it made me realise that I only like love triangles when I can totally see what each guy sees in the girl. Love triangles over ninnies just send me up a wall. (And sorry, but Meghan is a ninny).

Am now over half way through THE IRON KNIGHT by Julie Kagawa and it's very ho hum. Someone else here said that it felt tacked on and I have to agree. There's a half hearted attempt to introduce another love triangle (2 girls, one guy) but with one of the girls not involved in the story, it again suffers from foregone conclusion syndrome. I do love Kagawa's descriptions - particle Phaed, a lost village of forgotten fae, which was really creepy. I also love Grimalkin who basically says what I'm thinking (and that's not a good thing). Whether this book is needed though ... I don't know. It does finish the story and give the fans what they want but brooding Ash and japy Puck never really did it for me - too obviously opposites. Although if Kagawa finishes the book with Ash and Puck realising they loved each other all along and want to get it on, then I'll forgive her everything else ...

MM

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley. At first I wasn't sure and was kind of bored, honestly, but after 50 pages or so I started getting into it. Now I find myself drawn in and really caring about the characters. Jacob is adorable. The father makes me uncomfortable, though. Everything he says makes me want to cringe.

The prose is somewhat verbose but the author certainly has a way with words. Some great sentences.

adktd2bks said:

I just finished Crossed by Ally Condie last night. Very much a middle series book. Not great, not bad either. Definitely not as good as the first. I hope she comes through on the third book with a killer ending.

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Hoping the same. That book almost killed the series for me.

The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King

IN TOO DEEP by Amanda Grace. Just got it from my friend so An Abundance Of Katherines will have to wait.

Momento Mori said:

Heh. I can understand that.

Correspondingly, it made me realise that I only like love triangles when I can totally see what each guy sees in the girl. Love triangles over ninnies just send me up a wall. (And sorry, but Meghan is a ninny).

Am now over half way through THE IRON KNIGHT by Julie Kagawa and it's very ho hum. Someone else here said that it felt tacked on and I have to agree. There's a half hearted attempt to introduce another love triangle (2 girls, one guy) but with one of the girls not involved in the story, it again suffers from foregone conclusion syndrome. I do love Kagawa's descriptions - particle Phaed, a lost village of forgotten fae, which was really creepy. I also love Grimalkin who basically says what I'm thinking (and that's not a good thing). Whether this book is needed though ... I don't know. It does finish the story and give the fans what they want but brooding Ash and japy Puck never really did it for me - too obviously opposites. Although if Kagawa finishes the book with Ash and Puck realising they loved each other all along and want to get it on, then I'll forgive her everything else ...

MM

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Okay. I'm reading those books now. xd I dunno why but every time a book is discussed a lot here and I already have it, I'm prompted to read it... even if the reviews aren't too positive.

Windcutter:
I dunno why but every time a book is discussed a lot here and I already have it, I'm prompted to read it... even if the reviews aren't too positive.

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Sorry - wasn't trying to put you off. I'm quite open about not being a romance fan, which is probably why this doesn't work for me. I don't go much for redemption or general happiness either. That probably explains a lot about me.

MM

Momento Mori said:

Sorry - wasn't trying to put you off. I'm quite open about not being a romance fan, which is probably why this doesn't work for me. I don't go much for redemption or general happiness either. That probably explains a lot about me.

MM

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So it's romance? I thought it was more urban fantasy with a love triangle.

Windcutter:
So it's romance? I thought it was more urban fantasy with a love triangle.

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I've seen it billed as urban fantasy and as paranormal romance so you can describe it as either. For me though, the story's main themes relate to love rather than adventure/mystery.

:shrug:

MM

I've finished THE IRON KNIGHT by Julie Kagawa, which never got above meh for me for reasons I've already bored everyone with.

Have started STUCK ON ME by Hilary Freeman which is the second in a trilogy (although the books are all individual stories rather than one story arc but all revolve around the area of Camden in London) about a 14 year old girl who wants to get a nose job. It's quite sweet, humorous and maybe more tween than teen but I'm enjoying it.

MM

Still haven't finished Tiger's Voyage by Colleen Houck. It's a great story, but i've found myself too wrapped up in my own writing to tear myself away from it for too long. Hoping to finish that soon! lol.

Just started A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, inspired by an idea from the late Siobhan Dowd. Absolutely wonderful so far. It might be one of those I need not to read it public, because I'm pretty sure it's going to make me cry.

DEAD TO YOU by Lisa McMann. So far so good.

I'm trying to catch up on YA bestsellers. In the past months, I've finished Eragon, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

I loved the use of vintage oddball photography in the last book---so intriguing and unusual.

Beat the Band by Don Calame. The 'Smells like Teen Spirit' chapter was very snigger inducing.

I just finished Vanished by Sheela Chari - MG rather than YA but really, really good. I'd recommend it for anyone who wants to try something a bit different. It's a mystery involving an old veena (Indian musical instrument). Wonderful characterisation and a great story.

Just started Cinder and really enjoying it so far.