Best YA Reads

I don't want to become a blogging failure, so let's resuscitate this thing with a list of my favorite YA reads this year. Some are 2008, I know, but it took me awhile to get to them. I don't want you to make the same mistake!

In no particular order...

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Taylor tries to work out the connection between her Mother who left her, her relationship with Hannah, a mysterious military man, a boy who visits her dreams, and the story of five friends who lived on the Jellicoe Road years ago. This was one of those books that you just can't really figure out for the first 100 pages and then after that you can't put it down and then when you finish it you want to tell your friends to read it, but you don't know how to explain it to them.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
This is the sequel to The Hunger Games, so I won't reveal a lot about the plot, but Katniss has inspired a revolution and the Capitol is pissed. An amazing series.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house for years. One yellow-eyed wolf is different. He is her wolf. Sam lives two lives. In Winter, he lives with the pack. In summer, he gets his chance to be human until the cold turns him wolf again. Grace and Sam meet and must fight against the chilling temperatures that threaten to take Sam away forever. This book is your Twilight antidote.

Pretty Dead by Francesca Lia Block
Francesca Lia Block has been my favorite author since I was thirteen. I own and have read every book she's published. I know vampires are the thing right now, but this book is a must-read because it is FLB's Los Angeles vampire-style. These vampires drink good wine, eat good food, and have regrets. This book is a return to FLB's Weetzie-era form.

Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Jenna wakes up from a coma and doesn't remember her life. As memories slowly return, so do more and more questions. Is she still the same girl she was before the accident? This book makes you consider some big issues: the human soul, medical ethics, religion vs science. How far would you go to save someone you love?