Young Adult Chick Lit Reading List

If you like the Gossip Girl series, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, or the Clique series then you like books in series with strong, female leading characters. You like drama, action, fashion, and are not afraid to state your opinion. Chances are that you’ve finished reading these series and are awaiting the next book with anticipation. While you are waiting why not give these authors a try???

Hailey Abbott writes the series Summer Boys as well as several fun stand-alone novels. She likes to write about the beach, romantic trysts, and family drama.

Libba Bray writes the Gemma Doyle series set Victorian England but with all the drama of Gossip Girls. There are also elements of fantasy and mystery.

Kate Brian writes the Private series in which 15-year-old Reed Brennan uncovers dark secrets about her private boarding school. Kate also has written many stand-alone novels.

Meg Cabot is most known for her Princess Diary series but she writes so much more—from murder mysteries to hilarious Bridget Jones-esque romances. Look her up in the catalog; you will like everything she writes.

Jen Calonita writes the Secrets of my Hollywood Life series that follows the glamorous life of Kaitlin Burke.

Ally Carter writes the Gallagher Girls series. It is about a boarding school for exceptional women that teaches essential skills to being a spy but the main character finds that it is more dangerous to fall in love.

Zoey Dean writes several series: A-List, Tallent, and Hollywood Royalty. She likes to write about characters who have fame and fortune and are not afraid to flaunt it!

Sarah Dessen writes thought provoking and touching stand-alone novels that deal with real life issues and strong female characters.

Melissa De La Cruz writes several series Au Pairs (about being a hot nanny), Ashleys (about being a queen bee in a private girls school), and Blue Bloods (about a girl who finds out she is a vampire. Ahhhh!).

Sarah Mlynowski writes a fun and snarky fantasy about a girl who finds out that her younger sister is a witch in the series Magic in Manhattan. Sarah also writes humorous stand-alone novels.

Lauren Myracle writes the Internet series about the friendship for three sixteen-year-old girls through their Internet messages.

J. Minter writes the Inside Girl series about the scandalous lives of the privileged in Manhattan’s trendiest neighborhoods.

Sara Shepard writes the series Pretty Little Liars about the lives of the uber rich in Rosewood Pennsylvania.

Scott Westerfeld is best known for his Uglies series in which he explores the real meaning of beauty in society but he also writes stand-alone novels and science fiction/fantasy.

The Daughter of Smoke and Bone

by Laini Taylor
YAFic Tayl

Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

I really liked the first part of the summary, which is the paragraph above, so I decided to give the book a shot after it appeared on several end of the year best lists. And there is a lot to love in this book which is the first book in a planned series. There isn't to many books that deal with a fantasy world of angels and demons, called chimera here, and those worlds are rather engaging. Other than that it is a book by numbers in the new vein of young adult literature.

The protagonist is a teenage girl named Karou, with pale skin and bright blue hair, she probably models a lot of the core readers who love this book. She is a talented artist, recently heartbroken, and lives a dangerous life fencing items for her caretaker. I would think most teens would relish the independence of living alone in a foreign city. The main problem with the book, which plagues many YA books, is that there is no rhyme or reason to the relationship that develops. Most of the feelings described are spent on how beautiful the characters are which gives the relationship a shallow depth and with the star crossed lovers aspect of the story comes into play, I had little feeling for their relationship or the final reveal at the end. For fans of Twilight and other books in the Paranormal Romance section at your local bookstore.

Two new YA novels from two YA greats!

The fault in our stars
by John Green
YAFic Gree


Despite the tumor-shrinking miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.


I do not handle cancer stories well and this was probably this was longest it took me to finish a John Green book, who I usually devour in one sitting. This is probably because each chapter was making me laugh and then making me cry and usually on the same page so much that by the end of that chapter I was emotionally spent. Regardless of that, Mr. Green continues to be my favor tie YA writer since S.E. Hinton and each of his book is a joy to read.
The big difference from this book over his other ones is that there is a girl as the main character, and other readers might think differently, but I found Hazel and Augustus to be the most like actual teenagers than in any of his other novels since Looking For Alaska.



Dead to you
by Lisa McMann
YAFic McMa


Ethan was abducted from his front yard when he was just seven years old. Now, at sixteen, he has returned to his family. It’s a miracle…at first. Then the tensions start to build. His reintroduction to his old life isn’t going smoothly, and his family is tearing apart all over again. If only Ethan could remember something, anything, about his life before, he’d be able to put the pieces back together. But there’s something that’s keeping his memory blocked. Something unspeakable...


This book had been getting good hype and we had an advanced copy sent to us. The early hype that this was a real page turner was not wrong. I finished it in two sittings and afterwards I couldn't say why. I didn't really like the main character but like a good 90s made-for-TV movie, the main character's predicament is engaging. The end is a mix bag of emotions and left me a little put out and wanting more.

2012 Michael L Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

WINNER
Where Things Come Back

by John Corey Whaley

In the remarkable, bizarre, and heart-wrenching summer before Cullen Witter’s senior year of high school, everything he thinks he understands about his small and painfully dull Arkansas town vanishes. His cousin overdoses; his town becomes absurdly obsessed with the alleged reappearance of an extinct woodpecker; and most troubling of all, his sensitive, gifted fifteen-year-old brother, Gabriel, suddenly and inexplicably disappears.

As Cullen navigates a summer of finding and losing love, holding his fragile family together, and muddling his way into adulthood, a young, disillusioned missionary in Africa searches for meaning wherever he can find it. Through masterful plotting, these two stories are brought face-to-face in a surprising and harrowing climax that is tinged with melancholy and regret, comedy and absurdity, and above all, hope.

HONOR BOOKS
Why We Broke Up

by Daniel Handler

Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.

The Returning

by Christine Hinwood

Cam Attling, having lost an arm, is the only one from his town of Kayforl to return after twelve years of war. All his fellow soldiers were slain, and suspicion surrounds him. When his betrothal to Graceful Fenister is called off and his role in the community questioned, Cam leaves to find the lord who maimed him but spared his life, seeking answers and a new place in the world.But this is not just Cam's story, it's about all those whose fates entwine with his. Set in a medieval world that is entirely the author's creation, this is an ingenious, exquisite story about what happens after the battle. When sisters, sons, friends, parents, and lovers are left to deal with the subtle aftermaths and unimagined repercussions of war.

Jasper Jones

by Craig Silvey

Cam Attling, having lost an arm, is the only one from his town of Kayforl to return after twelve years of war. All his fellow soldiers were slain, and suspicion surrounds him. When his betrothal to Graceful Fenister is called off and his role in the community questioned, Cam leaves to find the lord who maimed him but spared his life, seeking answers and a new place in the world.But this is not just Cam's story, it's about all those whose fates entwine with his. Set in a medieval world that is entirely the author's creation, this is an ingenious, exquisite story about what happens after the battle. When sisters, sons, friends, parents, and lovers are left to deal with the subtle aftermaths and unimagined repercussions of war.

The Scorpio Races

by Maggie Stiefvater

A bloody, intoxicating horse race on the Island of Thisby is the backdrop for this atmospheric novel. The heart-pounding story pits two teens against death – to win is to survive.

Wonder Struck

by Brian Selznick

JFic Selz

Wonderstruck is the followup to the Caldecott winning The Invention of Hugo Cabret which is probably the wordiest book to ever the award. Both use a series of prose and pictures to tell a story. They both take place in the past and both deal with orphans. They are both amazing books from start to finish. It took me around two hours to finish them each and I would say it was better than going to the movies.

It is 1977 in Gunflint Lake, Minnesota, and Ben Wilson is a young boy who has lost his mother. He now lives with his well-meaning aunt and uncle who are struggling financially, sharing a room with a resentful and bullying cousin, Robby, and wishing for the one thing that he can never have. Robby, partially deaf, has grown up in the sheltered world created by his mom, a single mother and librarian who fed his fascination with outer space and covered their fridge with her favorite quotations, and she isn't coming back.

Interspersed with Ben's story is that of a young girl, told only in pictures. Her story begins enigmatically- a small girl sitting at a desk, surrounded by models of skyscrapers which appear to be made after the view from her window of the 1927 New York City skyline. Why does she write a note with the words "Help Me" on it? Is she a prisoner in this room where she must have spent so many painstaking hours creating the models around her? Why does she seem fixated on a famous actress, enough so to climb down the tree outside her window to sneak off to see one of her silent films at the movie theater?

The two stories are expertly interwoven and when they collide it definitely pulled at my heart strings. Brian Selznick I am sure will be put on the short list again this year for the Caldecott award along with a whole mess of other awards and honors.

The pages of pictures out number the pages of text by taking up 460 of the 608 pages. The pictures themselves have a cinematic tone by using angles and zooming in and out through the pictures. This gives an effect of focusing in on the character and creating a sense of movement and scope. All of the pictures are black and white and done in either pencil or charcoal with a cross-hatching style.

I would highly recommend either of his books. The Invention of Hugo Cabret will be coming out to theatres as Hugo in November.

Monster

by Walter Dean Myers
YAFic Myer

Monster is one of the more popular young adult of the last decade after winning the Michael L Printz Award and was named a Coretta Scott King Award Honor book. It is as well known for its realistic subject matter as its unconventional format. The book is split up into sections of part screenplay and part diary all written by the main character Steve Harmon.

Steve Harmon is a young African American teenager who has grown up in Harlem and now finds himself on trial for the charge felony murder. To help himself understand how he got to be in this situation he decides to write a screenplay about all that goes on as it really happened. After the beginning introduction introduces this, the credits roll and the rest of the book is in the form of an actual screenplay with cuts and cues and everything. I didn't find this all that difficult to read as I mostly skimmed over it and just concentrated on who was speaking and what was being said. Diary like voice overs are interspersed in the screenplay of Steve speaking about what his inward feelings and thoughts.

Other than the format of the book, which I didn't find that strange, the other strange thing is that Steve Harmon didn't actually kill anyone. He may or may not have been involved in a robbery that resulted in the death of the owner of the store they were robbing. Steve's alleged part in this robbery was that of a lookout. He allegedly went into the store to see if any cops or other people were in it that would give the actual two robbers any trouble. Once I learned this it changed my perspective of the book from how a young man feels to be on trial for murder to how a young man can make the kind of decisions to end up in this situation. This becomes more unclear as the story goes on since Steve is the one writing the screenplay and as the trial develops Steve starts rationalizing his part in the robbery to the point of not having actually been there at all.

The book is a fast read and you are genuinely invested in the verdict by the end. With a strong message of how the simplest of decisions can snowball into drastic repercussions and how they having a lasting effect on you and those around you.

Locke & Key

Written by Joe Hill

Illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez

YAFic Hill

Locke & Key is a horror comic released by IDW in monthly issues and bound together in trade hardbacks. There are currently three volumes out now with the fourth being planned for July. There is suppose to be a total of six volumes by the end. The story evolves around the Locke family who have moved back to the family estate, Keyhouse, after a horrible tragedy befalls them. Keyhouse, on Lovecraft Island, is not a normal house. There are many keys to be found within the estate and each key has a specific special power, but since this is a horror comic there is also a sinister "spirit" trying to get the keys especially one key in particular to unleash the big bad that the house has captured. That is the initial setup, but there is more that I just wouldn't want to spoil.

I had tried getting into this series a few times because I had heard several times how great it is, but my first attempts weren't successful. Neither the art not the story telling really grabbed me. I would highly recommend choosing to atleast start out reading this series with the first trade Welcome to Lovecraft. Reading several issues in one go helps you get a feel for the story's pacing.

I may not be totally in love with the artwork here but I do really dig the use of perspective. A comic book will move the eye as it should which Gabriel Rodriguez does but he also moves your eye to the reveals. Throughout the series the reader is more aware of everything that is going on than the characters which is done by the careful dialouge of Joe Hill's and the small tellings that are included in the panels without sacrificing the pacing of the story. I hope you can check out all the volumes out together or put them on hold because this one addictive story that will have you sweating to get a hold of the next one.