Best Books of 2010 - YA

2010 has been an awesome year for books! I’ve discovered a lot of new authors to love and said goodbye to some characters I adore. Choosing my 5 top YA reads of the year is damn near impossible as there are many, many deserving candidates and I've really liked or loved probably 90% of what I've read this year. But after much thought and umm-ing and ah-ing I have come up with my 5 favourites. And to be more fair, I’ve excluded all 2011 releases I’ve already read that I consider some of the best I’ve read this year. Instead I’ll highlight those in my 2011 Most Wanted post, which will go up later in the week.

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

Sub-genre(s)/Subject(s): ghosts, romance

Why? It’s a hauntingly beautiful tale of grief, a brilliant ghost story and has a very sexy Scottish guy by the name of Zachary who I fell seriously in love with! The writing is fantastic, it’s a heartbreaking emotional read (many tears were shed) and left me craving book 2, Shift, in a serious way!!

Review

Matched by Ally Condie

Sub-genre(s)/Subject(s): dystopia, romance

Why? I loved how everything got so carefully revealed. Layer after layer peeled back and unveiling more depth, more secrets, and more awesome story. I loved the characters, the pacing was superb and I loved the almost poetic quality to it.

Review

Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead [Vampire Academy #5 & #6]

Sub-genre/Subject(s): urban fantasy (vampires)

Why? I’ve adored the Vampire Academy series from the start. Spirit Bound was a hard read for me first time around, but completely awesome. Last Sacrifice...well, honestly LS is probably the weakest book of the series plot and writing wise, and could have done with being darker like the rest, but the parts of it I loved, I really loved! And it is in many ways still a great conclusion to my favourite YA paranormal series, so for me it still manages to hit this list. If you’ve not yet tried this series, what’s keeping you?!

Reviews for the series: #1 Vampire Academy, #2 Frostbite, #3 Shadow Kiss, #4 Blood Promise, #5 Spirit Bound, #6 Last Sacrifice.

My Soul To Keep by Rachel Vincent [Soul Screamers #3]

Sub-genre(s)/Subject(s): urban fantasy (banshees), romance

Why? Rachel is a master at creating flawed characters who screw up massively and then cleaning it up with real strength. Characters who’s reactions are very real and who you can believe really exist. Not to mention making the creepy stuff really creepy! MSTKeep is an awesome continuation to the Soul Screamers series, though you really need to start at the beginning if you’ve not yet read any of them.

Reviews for the series: My Soul To Lose (ebook prequel novella), Reaper (ebook novella set pre-series), #1 My Soul To Take, #2 My Soul To Save, #3 My Soul To Keep, #4 My Soul To Steal (out Jan 1st 2011).

Boys Don’t Cry by Malorie Blackman

Sub-genre(s)/Subject(s): contemporary

Why? Heartfelt story of a 17 year old boy who suddenly discovers he has a kid, and that kid is dumped on him. Powerful writing covering how not all teen dads are bad! And how they are so often looked down on. As well as the truth about the difficulties involved with raising a kid.

Review

It goes without saying that all these books were un-put-downable! Choosing just 5 was really hard because there were so many to choose from! Check out my post of my favourite reads from the first half of 2010 for some other favourites, and my Read in 2010 page for highlighted favourites as well because these titles are hardly the only ones deserving of mention!

Thing is, as well as there being my favourite reads, there's also my favourite couples...many, many swoon worthy moments to be had in many reads this year. So here's another quick top 5, my top 5 couples in YA's this year! And surprisingly, not all of them come from the above books!

Meghan and Prince Ash - The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa (I so adore the broken Prince! Also TID missed out on top 5 status simply because I wanted a contemp up there as well)
Ren and Calla - Nightshade by Andrea Cremer (I didn't love the book, found it disappointing, but Ren and Calla are seriously hot together!)
Carlos and Kiara - Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles (*fans self* 'nuff said)
Rose and Dimitri - Spirit Bound/Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead (I'm NOT saying that's how it ends, for those who've not read it, but they are couple I've adored from book 1, and still think are perfect for each other)
Aura and Zachary - Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready (they don't have too many moments really, but when they do? *swoon*)

Some Very Cool News!!

Richelle Mead, author of my favourite YA series, and two amazing adult series has awesome and much wanted news on her blog today.

Vampire Academy has been optioned for adaption to the big screen!! This does not mean it will become a film, or if it does, that it'll happen any time soon, but it does mean a production company has the rights to it now. Which is a step in the right direction. I am thrilled about this news because I think it really, really deserves the recognition that comes with being a film as well. So I have my fingers crossed that it actually does get made, at some point in the not too distant future. If you've not tried the Vampire Academy series yet, then you are missing out on an immense series. It's gritty, dark and with just the right touch of wit. It is a YA series, but one that should appeal just as much to adults as well. No idiot whiny girls here, this one totally kicks a$$! Check out Richelle's site: http://www.richellemead.com for more details and excepts from the series, and her others.

Also, the final Georgina Kincaid book has a title now: Succubus Revealed! Which I love. Is a great title given how much needs explaining... And a release date: September 2011. A very long wait, but I have no doubt it'll be worth it.

Full details of the news, along with release dates for the next several of Richelle's books are in her post here.

Wow...

Okay, so for months now (literally) a friend of mine has been pushing me to read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's been sat on my shelf for a couple weeks, but yesterday I finally picked it up. I just finished it about 20 minutes ago and all I can say is Wow. I completely love it and owe Nikki a big apology for a) being doubtful of it's awesomeness and b) not reading it sooner despite her assurances it was awesome.

I will do an actual review soon, just want to say if you've not yet read the books, read them. Now. I've got the second one sat beside me now and I can't wait to dig in, but honestly, even if I don't like it as much I won't care, because book one is awesome!

More awesomeness:
That's the cover for Rachel Vincent's final (sob) Shifters book, due out Oct 1st and every time I look at it, I fall a little more in love with it! Chances are you've seen it already if you're a fan of the series, but I don't care, I'm posting it anyway.

Rachel also recently posted the (not quite final - it's got to have a quote added to it) cover for her third Soul Screamers book, My Soul To Keep:

Pretty sure it's my favourite of her SS covers so far. I love the purple so much!

Also, I'm much in love with the Korean covers for Vampire Academy. They're so freaking cool! but trying to limit the picture heaviness of this post, I'm just going to link to Richelle's blog where they are posted in all their glory: here! I want them simply to look at the covers. Couldn't attempt to read any of it, but I want the covers! Badly! lol