Monday, December 15, 2014

Best of 2014: my favorite young adult books




The Class of 2014: YA Superlative Blogfest will run Monday, December 15th – Thursday, December 18th and will highlight favorite YA books published in 2014Join us in celebrating great books of 2014 - sign up at any of the hosts' blogs: Jessica LoveTracey NeithercottAlison Miller or Katy Upperman


Favorite Dystopian: Salvage, Alexandra Duncan 
Salvage
Vivid story of a spaceship handmaiden finding freedom in a strange new world: future Earth

Favorite Science Fiction:  Alienated, by Melissa Landers
Alienated (Alienated, #1)
Love, love, loved the premise and the dialogue and spockish alien Aleyx and spunky Cara and their slow burn love. Leave me a comment if you've read this book and if "Elire" made your heart melt...


Favorite Fantasy: Dreams of Gods and Monsters, by Laini Taylor 
Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #3)
My favorite book of 2o14.  I've already re-read it in entirity, the whole trilogy. I cannot even explain how much I love this parallel world full of unique mythical creatures, and how much I love Karou and Akiva and Liraz and Ziri and Zuzana and Mik and Brimstone and I could keep going....

Favorite Fantasy runner up: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
Ruin and Rising (The Grisha, #3)
The final book in this wonderful trilogy set in a Tsarist-Russian-type fantasy world. I've re-read the last 70 pages three times already; wow, wow, wow.

Favorite Contemporary: When Audrey Met Alice by Rebecca Behrens
When Audrey Met Alice
Audrey is the daughter of the President of the United States, and it's a tough role to adjust to, but the journal of Teddy Roosevelt's daughter Alice are a big help: I love books that have a contemporary/historical parallel!

Favorite Action/Adventure: Gates of Thread and Stone by Lori M. Lee
Gates of Thread and Stone (Gates of Thread and Stone #1)
A quest, an adopted brother, scary and adorable gargoyles, and an ability to slow time: this book is packed full of action, adventure, twists and turns

Favorite Historical Fiction: The Winter Horses, by Philip Kerr 
The Winter Horses

Set during World War II, a Jewish refugee rescues two rare horses from the Nazis, embarking on an incredible and terrifying journey acorss war-torn Ukraine

Favorite Comedy: Prom Impossible, by Laura Pauling
Prom Impossible










"I wanted to use Zeke to make Jasper jealous to make Michael jealous so I could have my dream prom date." Cue: disaster. A modern Shakespearean comedy.

Favorite Mystery: She Is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick

She Is Not Invisible
Billed as an intricate puzzle of a novel, this is a fantasic but believable journy of a blind girl trying to solve the mystery of her father's disappearance (and one way-cool little brother)

Favorite Romance: Like No Other by Una LaMarche
Like No Other
A young black man in Brooklyn falls in love with a Jewish girl from one of the strictest Hasidic sects. Couldn't put this one down. 

Favorite Paranormal:  The Unbound, by Victoria Schwab 
The Unbound (The Archived, #2)
Even though I didn't get as much time in the Archive, that super spooky but cool library of the dead, this was a completely worthy follow up to the Archived and featured much more of Wesley. Yuuuummmm, Wesley.

Favorite Paranormal runner up: The Fire Wish, by Amber Lough
The Fire Wish (The Jinni Wars, #1)
Star-crossed lovers from the human and djinn worlds that have long been at war.  Fantastic settings and characters and premise.

Favorite Genre Bender: Otherbound , Corrine Duyvis
Otherbound
A contemporary with connections to a parallel world with a slight steampunk feel and a very interesting connection between the two worlds.

My own categories...

Favorite strange new world: Stolen Songbird by Danielle Jensen
Stolen Songbird (The Malediction Trilogy, #1)
A spooky but beautiful underground world ruled by trolls - who aren't exactly trolls - who kidnap a human girl to break a curse

Favorite friendship book: My Best Friend, Maybe by Caela Carter
My Best Friend, Maybe
Amazing writing, a complicated friendship between two girls, thoughtful handling of religious issues, and wonderful setting on the Greek island of Santorini 

Favorite diverse main character: Played, by Liz Fichera
Played (Hooked, #2)












Sam is a Native American in a love-hate relationship with a white suburban princess; I loved the reverse love triangle in this book.

Favorite novel I HAVEN'T READ YET!!!  This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
This Shattered World (Starbound, #2)
It doesn't come out for another 6 days (yes I am counting!!!) The first book in this series, These Broken Stars, was one of my favorites last year. 


What was your favorite 2014 book? 

8 comments:

  1. Loved seeing your list. I really enjoyed Salvage, Ruin and Rising, and Gates of Thread and Stone. Can't wait to read This Shattered World too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So happy to see some Alienated love! I'm dying for the sequel!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I want to get my hands on Like No Other so badly! I really liked Hooked by Liz Fichera so can't wait to read Played at some point.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ooooh! I like your categories! And I clearly need to catch up on some reading because I haven't read a lot of these and they sound so good!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Just added SHE IS NOT INVISIBLE to my TBR. Thanks for the rec! I hadn't heard of that one before. Actually, you have a number of books here that I haven't yet read, so that's awesome! It's always nice to hear about new books. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just preordered THIS SHATTERED WORLD the other day... Cannot wait to read it! And I loved WHEN AUDREY MET ALICE. Such a cute story, but deep too. I love when MG hits different notes that way. Great choices, Margo... Can't wait to see your picks for tomorrow!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am counting down to This Shattered World too! I hadn't heard of The Winter Horses before. Thanks for introducing me to it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lots of cool new books to check out! Just waiting for my Amazon gift card from my aunt to arrive. :-D

    ReplyDelete

Follow on Bloglovin
Follow on Bloglovin

Followers

My Blog List