Team YA for life!

Hi friends, I wanted to write about my own personal experiences in choosing what type of book to read each month. Let me start off by saying that I have really grown to love and look forward to reading everyday. I am pretty sure you can actually see my eyes gleam when I find another adult who loves to read as much as me. I usually ask them “Are you on ‘Goodreads?’ Oh I am so classy I know. I take a genuine interest in learning what other people read. I usually get flack when I say my favorite genre is YA fiction...but I am used to it and am now here to defend thine honor…..

YA authors are my people. Believe it or not YA is a large category that has many different subsets and you have to navigate your way through it. You have your fantasy series; your dystopian books, your young teenage heroine books (which I am trying to phase out), your adult boss bitch characters (YAY current obsession. I think it is also referred to ask Chick lit); and more. Why am I loving this genre for the past 10 years? The reason is not creepy either. It is plain and simple: That genre generally is not sad/depressing and it is exciting!! You can argue that there are more categories that prove me wrong, but to me crime/horror/mystery seems more ‘regular adult.’ 

Now I definitely feel that I traverse other genres often enough…..I hate doing it too. I force myself to branch out. This may be another topic for another time but last year I made a ‘Biannual classic book pledge.’ This means as implied that I need to read 2 so called ‘classics’ a year. If you are curious I ready two Charles Dickens books (thumbs up to A Tale of Two Cities and thumbs/toes/and hands down to Oliver Twist). Okay so I have the classics rule; I try to get into as many book clubs as possible; I have my ‘it’s gonna be movie soon’ interest, and then I occasionally get wrapped up in a sad mystery etc etc.

So I want to get to the point I am trying to make here. If you are looking for a book that will not make you sad or bored then choose YA. It is not all about vampires, post apocalyptic worlds (I love these though!) and demons. Now when looking into a YA check to see if it is a part of a series. The above mentioned are usually tied into a series. This is great and all, but for all those busy moms, new parents, workaholics, or if you do not have the stamina to read more than 30 minutes (no judgement I’ve been there) these can be perfect for you. 

Let’s face it living in our world all the stimulus of computers, streaming TV that lacks commercials, changes in dialogue, changes in social behavior etc. have rewired our brains. I personally have a very difficult time reading older books because of the prose. I am the most engaged in a book 300-400 pages with a female character that is a confident BA or girl boss just living her best life...or at least she is by the end. 

Some of the books out there are just so so sad and seem to compete to shock the public the most. I tried to read a book that is raved about Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl. The book ended up being about a woman that was married to a guy who kidnapped women and did terrible S & M things to them and then she found out he killed her sister...ughhhhh never again! Let’s bring a little light back into the world and fall in love with the YA. I am not on board with the weird murder twists, sad books about school shootings (who wants to cry and be so emotinally scarred from a book), or books without a witty charming female sidekick. YA I find witty, engaging, and swoon worthy. I definitely subscribe to YA in a  series, but I occasionally want just to read a straight up YA that stands on its own. I will recommend some recently read stand alones below. Now sometimes they do turn out to be series that are loosely linked. What I mean by this is they reference other characters in the next book, but they are definitely about a different person. I wrote this post after declaring my commitment to this genre to my sis in law Carrie. Thanks for the inspiration!

Great YA stand alone for a happy/light enjoyment. Excellent for busy adult who ‘don’t have time for being emotionally drained or scarred by horrible crimes’:

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Girl with autism hires...a male...call boy to help her figure out how to date and such. It’s a cute love story and actually sheds light on autism and what individuals with autism go though. The author herself is on the spectrum. Warning does have descriptive love scenes.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

This is one of my favorite books of all time. #Icanrelate to everything. About a fanfiction book nerd trying to fit in freshman year. This author Rainbow Rowell really is a great YA author. You can go wrong with any of her stuff. I have read this twice and have a collector’s edition of the book. I am a fangirl of the book.

Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore 

Loved this badass boss girl protagonist. It is a YA book but set in England 1879 where the woman’s suffrage movement is rising. A suffragette at oxford has a run in the wht Duke of Mongomery who she is trying to recruit to her cause. The duke is basically ‘Mr. Darcey’ from P & P. It’s a book book and will be a part of a series called ‘A League of Extraordinary Women’ ...but this book is just about these characters. 

Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey

Basically a YA romantic comedy about a girl obsessed with romantic comedies. It’s super cute!

A Girl like You by Gemma Burgess

Also supercute book. Set in England, Abigail Wood is failing at being a single BA bitch. She enlists the help of her lothario housemate to help her be awesome at dating...except well ya know things get complicated. 

Those are my selections for my favorite stand alone YA reads. Comment below for other recommendations...remember no tear jerkers or emotionally traumatizing books.