Best of 2014: Young Adult Fiction

This year I read thirty-three books that fall into this category.

They are:

My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins
Vivian Versus America (Vivian Apple, #2) by Katie Coyle
Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour
Isla and the Happily Ever After (Anna and the French Kiss, #3) by Stephanie Perkins
Hex Hall (Hex Hall, #1) by Rachel Hawkins
Let it Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green, & Lauren Myracle
Winterspell by Claire Legrand
The Summer I Became A Nerd by Leah Rae Miller
Tsarina by J. Nell Patrick (Jackson Pearce)
The Hate List by Jennifer Brown
I'm the King of the Castle by Susan Hill
Unbreakable (The Legion, #1) by Kami Garcia
Love in the Time of Global Warming (Love in the Time of Global Warming, #1) by Francesca Lia Block
Winger (Winger, #1) by Andrew Smith
Enchanter Heir (The Heir Chronicles, #4) by Cinda Williams Chima
Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff
The Falconer by Elizabeth May
Where She Went (If I Stay, #2) by Gayle Forman
The Madness Underneath (Shades of London, #2) by Maureen Johnson
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill
Beautiful Darkness (Beautiful Creatures, #2) by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Marcel and the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama
Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
The Diviners (The Diviners, #1) by Libba Bray
The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson
Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill
Falling Hard (Roller Girls, #1) by Megan Sparks
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children, #1) by Ransom Riggs

First place goes to . . . 

Nina LaCour has stunned me with every one of her books, but this is by far the best she's done yet. Everything Leads to You is filled to the brim with romance, beautiful writing, and a story that will make you want to come back again and again. It was everything I hoped it would be and more.







Second place goes to . . .

After falling in love with the first book in this series, I was worried that the second and final book wouldn't live up to my high expectations. I was so wrong that it's laughable. Everything about the ending to Vivian's story is so much better than I could have hoped for and I cannot wait to read even more from this awesome author.
Side note: Both books are out in the UK at the moment, but the first book is going to be released for the US on January 6, 2015 under the title "Vivian Apple at the End of the World." You need this book, random reader. You need it. So please go preorder it immediately.


And third place goes to . . .

This is a must-read for pretty much every nerd that is out there. Rainbow Rowell goes above and beyond in this lovely work about Cath, a nerdy fan fiction writer who has just gone off to college. I adored every part of this book. And Rainbow Rowell has recently announced that her next book is going to be about the very characters Cath writes about in the book, which might just be the coolest thing I've seen an author do in a very long time.





Honorable mentions . . .

Top 13 Books of 2013

Best Books in "YA Fiction"

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

A contemporary stand-alone about a girl battling her eating disorder, among other inner demons, Wintergirls is the only non-fantasy novel in my top YA books read last year. Not only is it a stunning portrait of what it's like as a teen to have one's mind warped by an eating disorder, but Laurie Halse Anderson manages to draw you in and remind the reader that even in the darkest of hours, there is still hope if you're willing to let someone help.

Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke (Inkworld, #3)

This beautiful conclusion to the Inworld series was unforgettable. The world Cornelia Funke creates in this jaw-dropping trilogy will stick with the reader long after they've finished, begging you to give it another go almost as soon as they've turned the final page. 

Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima (The Heir Chronicles, #3)

Originally intended to be the final book in a trilogy that has since morphed into a full-blown series, I loved everything about Dragon Heir. The action was intense, the story heart-pumping, and the magic kept me desperately eager to learn more. The characters are still close to my heart and I cannot wait to read the next book in order to find out just what happens to them next.

Valkyrie Rising by Ingrid Paulson

This was the book that came entirely out of left field and still managed to steal the spotlight. I had never heard of this novel before picking it up, but I fell in love with it soon after. I can definitely say I'm deeply interested in learning more about Norse Mythology after reading this gem and I can't help hoping that the author will announce a sequel in the near future.

Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

I'm usually not a big fan of ghost stories, but how could I resist one written by the enigmatic Maureen Johnson? Turns out, I couldn't. This fabulous start to a trilogy that is still in the works was so much more than anything I had hoped for. Deeply creepy and packed with excitement, this was a novel I'm very happy to have fallen in love with.

Cold Spell by Jackson Pearce (Fairytale Retellings, #4)

The final book in a series I had hoped would go on for much longer, Cold Spell was everything I had hoped for in a conclusion to a lovely book series that included retellings of Red Riding Hood, Hansel & Gretel, The Little Mermaid, and (in this novel) The Snow Queen. I absolutely adored it and couldn't be happier with how well it was executed.

Classics

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

One of those books that everyone except myself seemed to have read in high school, I was excited to dive into this novel and was not disappointed by the results. An antiwar novel written unlike anything else I've ever read, I was impressed by every chapter I was offered within its binding. I see why this is a classic and I hope it remains in the hearts and minds of many generations after my own.

Non-Fiction

Full-Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti

As someone who very strongly identifies myself as a feminist, I was more than a little eager to read this one and was not at all disappointed. It's one of those books that really helps the reader uncover what feminism means and gives a nice overview to everything that falls within that realm. This is a great start for men and women who want to learn a bit more about feminism and this was the book I gave more than any other as a gift this Christmas.

Fantasy

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

A story that many of us know like the back of our hands after the movie adaptation, The Princess Bride  is a breathtakingly well-written work of art that I still cannot get over. I absolutely fell in love with this book and everything about it, from the narrator to nearly each and every character that is presented within its pages.

Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings, #1)

I have been in love with the film adaptations of these books since the first time I sat down to watch one. I have no idea what took me so long to read them, but I'm thrilled that I got around to reading the first of the trilogy. All of the characters I fell in love with in the movies are back and I can journey along with them far better here in the books than I can by watching the film. I cannot wait to read its sequels.

Children's Fiction

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

I knew, as soon as I'd seen the cover, that I would adore this book. I wasn't wrong. Patrick Ness tells the story of a boy whose greatest fear is losing his mother with such poignancy that I could hardly stand it. Not only are the words enticing and the story compelling, but the artwork that colors in the pages is so deeply stunning that I still go back just to stare at it. If there's a children's book you need to read this year: this is it.

Gustav Gloom and the People Taker by Adam-Troy Castro (Gustav Gloom, #1)

The Gustav Gloom series is exactly what I hoped it would be: fun, creepy, and dark. It's not too scary for older children, but it's just creepy enough to keep the reader eager to learn more, all while giving them that deep sense of going on the same adventure that the characters are on. I adored everything about this first book in the series and continue to love it as I read on.

Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman

Though both books he released last year were stunning, this one has a special place in my heart for being exciting, brilliant, adventurous, and funny all at once. I immediately bought a copy for my nieces and nephew and have not ceased to hear its praises sung from every reader who has come across it. 

So there we go: my top 13 picks for last year. Did you read any of these books last year? Are you planning on adding any of them to your reading list for 2014? I sure hope you do.

Purity by Jackson Pearce

Maybe no one can understand what this feels like but me. I touch my neck, the spot where the cross charm hangs on Mom's neck. No one can understand because . . . they really don't know any better than I do. No matter what they think, how sure they are they've got everything figured out, they're as in the dark as I am.

I chose to read Purity when I realized it was the only one of Jackson Pearce's books that I hadn't yet dug into. As a pretty huge fan of her Fairytale Retellings series (of which, book 4 is on the way!), I knew I needed to get my hands on this one and ordered it straight off the Book Depository once I found it.

Shelby lost her mother when she was a child. Cancer stole her away and left Shelby with her father, a man who loved she and her mother very much, but wasn't exactly prepared to raise a daughter all on his own. Perhaps this was the reason her mother made Shelby vow to keep the three rules. After all, one of them was to obey her father. Whatever her motivation behind the promises, Shelby agreed to them and has been doing her absolute best to obey each of them, no matter what the cost.

Though she obeys her father's every rule, Shelby feels like she hardly knows her father. Perhaps he feels the same way, because soon finds himself running the Princess Ball, a dance held by the local church where, at the end, each daughter pledges herself to a life of purity. Shelby knows that if she makes the pledge, she has to keep it- unless she can find a loophole.

It isn't long before Shelby finds her loophole: if she has sex before the night of the Princess Ball, her vow will be void. She will no longer be pure and therefore cannot live a life of purity. As the Ball approaches, Shelby has to juggle her time between helping her father put the Ball together and finding a suitable guy who is willing to help her break the vow before she takes it.

I'll admit, I was not immediately captivated by this book. It took me a few chapters to get into it, and even then it was a thin line for me between putting it down and dragging my feet through the rest of the narrative. I am happy to report, however, that I did eventually get into it and honestly enjoyed it through to the end.

Shelby is an interesting character and, while I had trouble with the plausibility of her adhering so closely to the promises, I really did like the way the story went. I loved seeing the way her mind worked and how she dealt with all the chaos that was cluttering her life. I especially loved that she didn't only concern herself with the struggles that were in her immediate future. She worried about all kinds of things and we even got to watch her struggle with the concept of faith and religion, which made her that much more accessible as a protagonist and even more believable as a person.

Though the story wasn't all I hope it to be, that may just be because I was hoping for something fully on par with her fantasy novels. However, Jackson Pearce still manages to prove that she is a wonderful and fascinating author through and through. I cannot wait to continue reading as many books as she is willing to put out.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

I remember understanding what love really was. It didn't hurt; it didn't ignore your prayers, didn't seem not to care that your mom was dying. It didn't leave you wondering what you did wrong. Love tried to make you happy, even if it was useless. Love would do anything to make you happy.

Fathomless by Jackson Pearce (Fairytale Retellings, #3)

Maybe you have to know about your past to look to your future, to make a decision about it.

[Click here to see my review of book 1: Sisters Red and book 2: Sweetly]

After absolutely falling in love with the first two books in Jackson Pearce's Fairytale Retellings series, I was admittedly a little scared to read the third. What if I didn't like it? What if it didn't live up to the greatness of the first two? I had the utmost faith in the fact that she could make this one just as good as her first two, but what if she hadn't?

Well, my fears were totally unfounded. Fathomless turned out to be just as beautifully written and compelling as its counterparts. I'm already itching to get my hands on Cold Spell, the fourth book, which doesn't come out until November of this year. How will I ever manage to wait that long?

Celia, Anne, and Jane Reynolds are a set of triplets with surprising powers. Anne can see the future, Jane can see the present, and Celia sees only the past. The youngest in their family, they were sent off to boarding school after the death of their mother. Since then, they've really only had each other, having lost contact with each of their brothers and the father who no longer remembers them (due to his Alzheimer's). They've always known that they're stronger together, but lately Celia has been feeling more and more like she is the odd one out. It's Jane and Anne who are the identical ones. She's just the one that somehow got thrown into the mix to complete the set. She believes that her power is useless, that her siblings received the ones that they could do something with whiles she only gets memories, but that's before she meets Lo.

Lo is an ocean girl. She used to be human, but now she lives under the water with her sisters, other ocean girls who have forgotten their pasts and bide their time until the day the angels who brought them here pluck them out of the sea and take them away to be with them. When they first arrive, though, many of the girls just want to go back. They want to be human again. According to the legends of the old ones, there's only one way to do that: they must get a human to love them and then drown them, taking the human's soul for their own.

When Jude, a hapless musician falls into the ocean one night, Lo decides that she doesn't want him to drown. She has tried drowning a boy to restore her soul and knows it won't work. Instead, she fights her sisters to save him, bringing him back to the shore with Celia's help. Celia touches Lo and discovers her real name, the one she forgot. This awakens a longing within Lo to remember what she was before she was an ocean girl.

Celia agrees to help her recover her memories and suddenly feels like her power has a purpose--that it can finally help someone. But this tentative friendship she's made is fraught with dangers and Jude may not be the only one in danger of drowning now.

In Fathomless, Pearce once again proves that she has an imagination of gold. And she has certainly struck gold with this series of retellings. I cannot express enough how much I adore this beautiful series and everything in it. Filled to the brim with the same strong bonds I have admired in the beginning, as well as another great dose of the magical and mythical beings we've seen in the first two novels, these books are positively addicting and the kind you'll want to pester everyone you know to read so they can enjoy it just as much as you did.

What are you waiting for? Go get this book immediately! Get the whole series! And pray the Jackson Pearce never ever stops writing.

Rating: ~★★★★★~

"Because there's nothing there. There's no future between you and the girl- the water girl. Naida. Whatever she is."
"We stop being friends-" 
"You're not listening," Anne snaps, and there's so much worry in her voice that I feel cold. "There's nothing there, Celia. There's no future because there's no 'you and her.' It's blank."
"What does that mean?" 
Anne sighs, shakes her head. "What have you gotten yourself into?" she mutters before looking me in the eye. "It means," she says, voice serious, "either she dies or you do." 

Sweetly by Jackson Pearce (Fairytale Retellings, #2)

She turned forward and sped up, faster than the others, driven by the yellow eyes that overpowered the sharp aches in her chest, her legs begging for rest. There was light ahead, shapes that weren't trees. THeir house, their house was close- the candy trail had worked. She couldn't feel her feet anymore, her lungs were bursting, eyes watering, cheeks scratched, but there was the house. 
They burst from the woods onto their cool lawn. Get inside, get inside. Ansel flung the back door open and they stumbled in, slamming the door shut. Their father and mother ran down the stairs, saw their children sweaty and panting and quivering, and asked in panicky, perfect unison:
"Where's your sister?"

[Click here to see my review of book 1: Sisters Red]

The sequel to Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce, Sweetly is the story of Gretchen and Ansel, a brother and sister duo who leave their home in Washington to find a new one where they no longer live under the shadow of the sister they lost, Gretchen's twin. Still feeling the ache of her disappearance and the deaths of their parents, they are driven out by their surviving stepmother and drive straight to North Carolina. Gretchen hopes to escape the fear of vanishing the way her sister did by going to live on the beach, far way from the trees and forests that have surrounded her since she was a child, a constant reminder of what she lost and how she lost her to the witch in the woods.

Before they can make it to the beach, though, their car breaks down and they are forced to seek help in the small town of Live Oak. They take refuge in the home of Sofia Kelly, a chocolatier living just outside town. The two and Sofia hit it off immediately, but most people in Live Oak hate Sofia just as much as they hate strangers, if not more. Most are either convinced she's an angel or a devil in disguise. Immediately, Gretchen and Ansel stand beside Sofia's claim of innocence in the part of the girls who have gone missing from the town, both knowing first-hand what it's like to be blamed for the disappearance of another.

But when Gretchen meets Samuel, she begins to question Sofia's side of the story, as well as the secrets that seem to surround her. As she learns more about the town's past and the witch who took her sister, Gretchen learns that the witch is back . . . and this time, it's after her.

I didn't think it was possible for Pearce to make a book that was just as good as the first in the Fairytale Retellings series, but she has definitely managed to pull that off without a hitch. Sweetly is filled with just as many memorable characters and strong bonds as the first book and a plot that keeps you guessing until the end. As I've mentioned before, I am a major sucker for loyalty and relationships where every person would be willing to lay down their life for the next at a moment's notice and this book had both of those; not to mention, incredible fight scenes. All that, and the more intense scenes still had me biting my nails and actually yelling during one particularly frightening bit. (I may or may not have woken my brother with that yell.)

This series is looking like it will turn out to be an all-time favorite of mine and I can't wait to see where it goes next, as well as where it will culminate in the end. It's going to be an epic collection and you absolutely won't want to miss it. I suggest you get started reading it right away. In the meantime, I'll be scouring the internet for book three.

[Click here to see my review of book 3: Fathomless]

Rating: ~★★★★★~

"Poor Sophia," Ansel says, shaking his head. I can hear it in his voice- he wants to save Sophia. That's how Ansel works. Someone is in pain, and he wants to save her- he ran back into the woods after our sister, he became my rock. He didn't give up on our father, even when Dad became someone Ansel barely knew- it wasn't long after Mom's death that he started drinking, and once he remarried it got worse. He couldn't escape the guilt- over my sister, over my mother . . . Guilt ate him through the mouth of a bottle.

As You Wish by Jackson Pearce

All I've learned in Shakespeare class is: Sometimes you fall in love with the wrong person just so you can find the right person. A more useful lesson would've been: Sometimes the right person doesn't love you back. Or sometimes the right person is gay. Or sometimes you just aren't the right person.
Thanks for nothing, Shakespeare.

After falling in love with Jackson Pearce's sophomore novel, Sisters Red, she became one of those authors whose section in the library I check nearly every time I visit. Thus I found her debut novel a few weeks ago and immediately checked it out. I just now managed to get around to reading it, but I am immensely glad I did. I read it all on one sitting that lasted about five or six hours. My day off couldn't have been better spent.

Viola Cohen's whole world felt like it had been ripped apart when her best friend and boyfriend, Lawrence, admitted to her that he was gay. Months later, they're still best friends, but Viola feels invisible and alone, as if a part of her has been broken.

Her greatest desire is to feel like she's a part of something again, the way she felt when she was with Lawrence. She doesn't want to feel invisible anymore. She wants to love someone and know that they love her too. It's the strength of this inner wish that summons the jinn.

When the jinn appears, he informs her that she has been granted three wishes. He expects it to be a routine venture to the world of humans, but Viola isn't like any of the other masters he's come in contact with up to this point. She speaks to him like a person, not just a wish-granter, and she evokes something in him that he's never experienced before--a longing for the friendship both she and Lawrence extend to him and, even more consuming, a longing for her. These are unprecedented and entirely unusual for a jinn. They aren't meant to get attached. They're meant to grant their wishes and go, but Jinn's not so sure he wants to go home anymore.

Viola gets three wishes. Three wishes and Jinn will be gone from her life forever. She won't remember him and he'll go back to his world, Caliban, until he is summoned by another human with a wish. It's not until after she has made her first wish that they begin to realize that they're feelings toward each other are more than anything they could have expected. Will Jinn help heal the brokenness in Viola's heart, only to have it broken once more and break his own heart in the process?

Once again, Jackson Pearce has created a fantastic story based on a classic fairytale. Technically, it isn't a part of her series of fairytale adaptations, but I still think it fits in that category regardless. I don't think I've ever read an adaptation of any stories involving genies before. In fact, it took me a few pages to get the image of the Aladdin genie voiced by Robin Williams out of my head. But it wasn't that difficult. After all, Jinn is a whole other species of genie than the crazy blue one I'm thinking of.

I particularly liked her description of Jinn's home world of Caliban, where the jinn have been banished. It's a beautiful place filled with beautiful people, but because of its lack of flaws is subpar in a way that makes complete sense, yet is kind of mind-blowing. It's our flaws and differences that make the human race so different and, eventually, so appealing to Jinn.

One of the things I really enjoyed about Pearce's other book was the creation of characters that were believable, well-rounded, and that carried strong emotional bonds for each other. Though these relationships were inherently quite different than the ones portrayed in Sisters Red, they still bore that essential loyalty to the people that were most important in the main characters' lives. Each cared deeply for the others and wanted most of all for the ones they loved to be truly happy. They wanted them to be happy being themselves, not trying to be copies of anyone else or copying what others were doing. Being happy with oneself and being happy with that was a major theme throughout the book that I deeply appreciated.

Jackson Pearce is clearly a fabulous storyteller. I cannot wait to read more of her work and it certainly won't be long before I'm scrambling for the next of her books I can get my hands on.

Rating: ★★★★☆

I'm . . . jealous.
Wait. No. I can't be jealous. My fingers tense and I can feel my pulse throbbing under my skin. My heart pounds in my chest and my mind races. The image of Viola and Aaron collides with the realization that I'm jealous. Jealousy is a mortal emotion. One that means I have something to lose--something that, if gone, will tear away a part of me. Jealousy is not for my kind. And yet there it is: I'm jealous.

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce (Fairytale Retellings, #1)

The wolf opened his wide, long jaws, rows of teeth and bloodstained tongue stretching for her. A thought locked itself in Scarlett's mind, and she repeated it over and over until it became a chant, a prayer: I am the only one left to fight, so now I must kill you.

I picked up Sisters Red after hearing a pretty great review of it on another book reviewing blog. I bought it a few weeks ago and just now got around to reading it. My reaction? I love almost everything about this book.

You'll often hear avid readers getting "book hangovers," meaning basically that after they've finished the book, they have trouble starting a new one or thinking about anything besides the book they have just finished because they're still in that world. As many good books as I read, I don't usually experience that as much anymore. I still often find my mind going back to a good story or book that I really enjoyed, but I don't often have trouble breaking away from thinking only about a particular story for a day or two after I've finished it. But I definitely experienced that with Sisters Red. Long after I'd finished it, I was still poring over the tale and everything that had happened within it.

Sisters Red is the shared story of Rosie and Scarlett March. When they were children a werewolf (or Fenris, as they're called by those who are familiar with them) attacked them, killing the grandmother who raised them as well as taking Scarlett's eye and leaving scars all over her body. To save herself and her sister, Scarlett killed the beast; and ever since, she has had an all-consuming passion to hunt Fenris so that no one else has to suffer the way she and her sister have.

When a good friend of the sisters and an excellent woodsman and Fenris hunter, Silas, returns from a long family visit in California, things start changing. Not only does Rosie suddenly find herself drawn to the woodsman, she also begins to guiltily dream of a life where she isn't constantly fighting Fenris. But, more immediately, something is changing about the Fenris. They're getting bolder and more numerous, drifting into territory they had long abandoned. As more and more lives come in contact with the murderous creatures, the three are going to have to come up with a plan to take them on and fast. Otherwise, they could lose a lot more than they already have.

A modern and incredibly well-done spin on the old Red Riding Hood tale, Sisters Red was a compelling read from the very start. Not once did I lose interest or feel the tale was moving either too slow or too fast. Pearce did a fantastic job at pacing her story just right, as well as creating characters that the reader can identify and empathize with.

In particular, the relationships Pearce portrays really struck a cord with me. The loyalty between Rosie, Scarlett, and Silas was beautiful and the fierce love that each portrayed for the others was absolutely stunning. Their love for each other was probably the thing I loved most about this book. No matter how much fighting there was or how high the tension got, you never once doubted that each would do anything to protect the others and I cannot say enough how beautiful that is to me.

I would definitely suggest this to everyone, particularly lovers of fairy tales. It was an all-around wonderful book and I will definitely be snatching up the next Jackson Pearce novel I see. I'm thinking her Hansel and Gretel retelling looks like just the right book to be the next addition to my bookshelf.

Rating: ~★★★★★~

[Click here for my review of book 2: Sweetly and book 3: Fathomless]

The plan forms in my mind slowly, more like a tide coming in than a wave crashing over me. I am confident, I am capable, and I will not wait to be rescued by a woodsman or a hunter. I will escape.