1. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. Let’s just get this one out of the way, shall we? I don’t think I need to write anything about this, since if you don’t know what the Hunger Games is about then you have been living under a rock for the past year….but okay. Futuristic dystopian society of Panem, throw in some awful yearly tradition to remember a botched revolution attempt, and you’ve got the Hunger Games. Two tributes (children) randomly selected from each district, all put into an arena to fight to the death until only one is left standing, a-la reality TV style. One of my absolute favorite series, and yet Mockingjay still manages to make me want to cry or fall into a deep, dark depression every time.
2. The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Oh Cassandra, how I love your writing style. You wrap me up in your little Shadowhunter world and make me laugh until I cry. If you haven’t read these, oh my gosh just go do it. Do it now. This is eventually going to be a six book series, of which four have been released. They include, City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, and City of Fallen Angels. It’s about Shadowhunters, who are part human, part angel, and their role in this world is to fight demons. We follow the adventures of Clary, Jace (oh, Jace), Simon, and a bunch of other unforgettable characters as they fight the forces of evil. Okay, I just wanted to say forces of evil…it’s not exactly like that, but you know what I’m saying. This book has the most torturous and frustrating romance I’ve ever encountered in a book. And Cassandra makes you love every second of it. She’s excellent at creating characters that you want to be your best friends…or enemies. The next book in this series (City of Lost Souls) comes out on May 8, 2012, and I will definitely be doing a post on it! But read books 1-4 first, if you haven’t already!
3. The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare. Just when I thought there wasn’t anything I could love more than the Mortal Instruments…out comes the Infernal Devices. These are also set in the Shadowhunter world, but a couple hundred years before TMI. Again, she creates amazing characters that make you want to be a part of her world. We meet Tessa, who through a great big mess ends up residing at a Shadowhunter institute with Will, Jem, and a bunch of others. She’s not a shadow hunter…but they don’t know what she is. If you thought the relationship between Jace and Clary was torturous, then we introduce the Tessa and Will situation that can get so frustrating that you want to hit someone. Don’t hit anyone though…that would be wrong. The Clockwork Angel and the Clockwork Prince have been released, and the latter is probably one of my favorite books. The Clockwork Princess, which will be the last in this series, is set to come out some time in 2013. Frustrating…I know.
4. The Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater. If I had a favorite author, it might be Maggie. She has an amazing writing style. Even if she’s writing something horrible and disturbing (you should read some of her short stories on the Merry Sisters of Fate), the writing is still beautiful. Everything has a poetic quality to it. She is also hilarious, which endears me to her immediately. This series follows Grace, who has always been drawn to the wolves behind her house, one in particular, who is actually a boy, Sam. This series follows their journey to stay together and find a way to live a normal life. I love this series because it doesn’t follow any of the typical patterns of normal YA books. She refuses to give into that and end a book with a Happily Ever After. These books are unique, sad, and beautiful. The series is completed, and includes Shiver, Linger and Forever.
5. The Maze Runner Series by James Dashner. Oh, what can I say? I found them disturbing, innovative, and heart-wrenching in the best way possible. The series includes the Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure. This is one of those series that is best if you go into it not knowing what’s going to happen, so I won’t say much. I’ll just say that Thomas wakes up with no memory of his former life and is trapped in some sort of Lord of the Flies type of situation where their lives depend on solving the maze. It was full of surprises for me and I loved it. The Scorch Trials might be my favorite, but the Death Cure totally surprised me, which is difficult to do as I am always figuring out which way a book is going to go before it goes there. My husband hates this because I do the same thing with movies, therefore ruining all movies and books for him. I am working on being better before he leaves me. I never foresaw how the Death Cure played out. So cheers to Mr. Dashner. Cheers.
6. Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick. This one feels like a bit of a guilty pleasure because although I am addicted to young adult fiction, I usually don’t like the ones that seem more juvenile. This one comes across as “young” in some ways, but I still love it. It’s also not as smooth as most of the books I read, but like I said, I still love it. Oh, and by smooth I’m referring to the flow of the story and consistency. It bothers me when facts are brought up and then never addressed again or explained throughout an entire series. Or worse yet, if they change facts without explaining why. This book had a few of those, so normally that would have turned me off…but something drew me back. I think it was Patch. I just enjoy a character like him. To sum it up quickly, Nora meets bad-boy Patch who has something different/special about him, which she eventually learns as she of course falls for him. Classic YA plot, but this one definitely has some twists that I enjoy! So far there’s Hush, Hush, Crescendo, and Silence. There will be one more book in this series, and it comes out this fall. When you want to indulge in some YA fantasy, romance with a classic bad boy who always has a witty comeback to everything, then this is for you.
7. Divergent series by Veronica Roth. This is actually my favorite book right now. Oh! I did it! I picked a favorite and my head didn’t explode! Veronica created this amazing dystopian society in which there are different factions, where a certain character trait is honored and exemplified above all else. Like Abnegation=selflessness, Dauntless=courage, Erudite=wisdom and knowledge…you get the idea. You are born into a faction, but when you come of age you get to pick a different faction if you wish. Beatrice does this, going from Abnegation to Dauntless. The book then tells a heartbreaking story of her trials as she goes through the Dauntless initiation, all the while hiding the fact that she is divergent to hopefully save her life. What does being divergent mean? Read the book. And Four (who is a person), if only Four was in this book it would be worth reading. This book has adventure, romance, and I love that the main character is strong and refuses to compromise her morals! There’s also lots of fighting, tattoos, plots to start a war…what more can you ask for?
8. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. Once again, I can’t get enough of Maggie Stiefvater’s work. The Scorpio Races is a stand alone novel, and it’s perfect that way. She’s created this magical world that strictly speaking doesn’t have any actual “magic” in the book. Puck lives on a small island where the Scorpio Races takes place. It’s a race where men (until Puck enters, of course) race horses that come from the sea that eat people. I’m sure there was a much more elegant way of putting that, but there you go. Read it and see how (for reasons I’m not going into), Puck enters the race and becomes involved with Sean, who races every year and often wins. Sean has this mystical bond with the horses…and in my opinion is just awesome and I want to be his friend. Puck is a tough character who is willing to enter a race involving the very creatures that killed her parents. This book is poetically beautiful, as Maggie’s always are, and I am basically in love with it and cannot wait to see it made into a movie…which it is going to be in the near future!
9. The Forest of Hands and Teeth series by Carrie Ryan. Little known fact about me…I love zombies. I loved zombies long before the Walking Dead and the hype began. But it isn’t the blood and gore and fright factor that has me hooked. I love the drama involved when zombies run amuck and what’s left of the human race has to bond together, work out the inevitable issues they face, and fight back. I find it fascinating…and I don’t mind a good zombie scare and a little gore as well. The Forest of Hands and Teeth series freaked me out (in a good way) and stayed on my mind for weeks. The first book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, was brutal, and I didn’t know if I wanted to read any more after that. If you feel the same way after reading it, promise me you’ll make yourself read The Dead Tossed Waves because it is even more awesome than it sounds. The 2nd book picks up with a new character, and a whole new story to tell, even though she’s tied to the character from the first book. And folks, if you like the second one, The Dark and Hollow Places will knock your socks off. I loved that book even though it made me jump every time I heard a noise and want to sleep with a night light for a week! Above all, they have that underlying theme of “what are we willing to do to save humanity” that I love. I can’t endorse these enough!
10. Delirium series by Lauren Oliver. This will be a trilogy, with Delirium and Pandemonium already having been released. Requiem comes out next year. Lena lives in a dystopian, futuristic society…sound familiar? Yes, but this is unlike any other book I’ve read, so keep going. Love has been classified as a disease, Amor Deliria Nervosa, and upon the age of 18, everyone receives “the cure” which is basically a lobotomy that takes away your ability to love. Lena can’t wait to receive the cure, until she meets Alex, a boy from “the Wilds.” Oh how I love this book. It’s heavy reading, kind of like Mockingjay. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows and every challenge is not happily resolved, and I love that about Lauren. She dives right into the awful, devastating truths that would exist in such a world and tears your heart out as you root for the characters. Lauren Oliver is probably my new favorite author. I first read her book, Before I Fall, and instantly loved her style. She can fall into describing a situation for a page or two and you don’t seem to notice or ever grow tired of it because her description is able to paint such a vivid and lifelike picture in your head. Delirium and Pandemonium should be at the top of your list!Honorable Mention
The Darkest Powers trilogy by Kelley Armstrong (The Summoning, The Awakening, and the Reckoning)
Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange, Fragile Eternity, Radiant Shadows, and Darkest Mercy)
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (Beautiful Creatures, Beautiful Darkness, Beautiful Chaos…and more to come)
Fallen Series by Lauren Kate (Fallen, Torment, Passion…and more to come)
Host by Stephenie Meyer
You’re looking for Twilight…aren’t you? Okay, okay, I give in. I loved Twilight as much as everyone else, but surprisingly it also doesn’t top my list. I love it, and I love the characters, but I also can acknowledge that there are bigger and better things out there…despite my collection of Twilight paraphernalia in my office. Don’t laugh…you know you have one too.
