If you don’t know by now I am a lover of young adult fiction. I never thought at age 32 I’d still rather be at home on a Friday night reading about teenagers instead of doing all the things that most of the teenagers in these books can’t wait to do when they are adults. Some really great young adult books came out in 2014. A few months back I wrote about my favorites at the start of the year, now as a wrap up, here are the rest of my favorites of 2014. I have tried to give a little bit of everything in this rundown, hopefully it will inspire you to read something a little different.
Noggin
If you like: Unrealistic stories set in a realistic future and coming of age.
Bonus: Nominated for National Book Award
Imagine you know you’re about to die, then imagine you are told that there is a possibility that you can live again in the future. The catch? You have to have your head sawed off your body and cryogenically frozen. Even if you were able to be reanimated, it might not be for years and by then everyone you know will be gone right? Wrong. In Noggin science moves faster than Travis could imagine and he wakes up only five years later attached to a new body. A lot can change in 5 years. Noggin is NOT a book I would typically read, it was recommended to me by another Librarian at work and I am so glad I took a chance on it. It was one of my favorite books of the year.
Maybe One Day
If you like: Crying, best friends and The Fault in our Stars
Bonus: NOT written by John Green
If you liked the Fault in our Stars, but hate that NONE of the teenagers in that book sound like teenagers, you will love Maybe One Day. I was pleasantly surprised by this one. I know what you are thinking, oh great another book about a sick kid, well yeah its that, but I think its one of the better books about teenage loss, grief and coping with the possibility of living without someone you you’d imagine would always would be there. It was extremely emotional but not overbearingly so.
The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone
If you like: Multiple points of view, and mystery
Bonus: Addison’s an artist, the book is full of “her art” pretty cool little touch.
Addison Stone is dead, but why she died is unclear. Was it suicide? Was she murdered? She is an artistic prodigy that everyone wants something from, but when she turns up dead everyone lines up to tell a reporter about the Addison they knew. I loved this book because it was so different from anything I’ve read in young adult genre. Its written by a journalist telling the story of her life and death, it keeps you guessing and I was so convinced that this was based on a true story (the author doesn’t even break character in her acknowledgments) I had to google her to see if it really happened.
On the Fence
Bonus: Every Kasie West book is nothing but bonus’
If you like: Reading an entire book in one sitting and if you have brothers or wish you did.
Every single time I start a Kasie West book I end up not sleeping, This was no exception. There is something about her simple story telling and her humor that hooks me each time. Charlie is the only girl in a house full of brothers, being raised by a single father. When she gets ANOTHER speeding ticket, her dad (who happens to be a cop) makes her get a job to help pay for her tickets and to learn responsibility. She ends up in a girlie boutique that feels all wrong at first, because of her tom boy tendencies. Oh lets not forget her brothers have a bbf who live on the other side of the fence, I bet you can guess where this is going. Don’t start this book if you don’t have time to read the whole thing straight through. I stayed up way too late reading this one. It made me wish I had brothers and a cute neighbor growing up.
Finding Mr. Brightside
If you like: Stories that feature Taco Bell
Minus: It won’t be out until March but you can pre-order it here!
I loved this book. I got an ARC of it back in October and lets just say you had me at Taco Bell. Abram and Juliette are forever linked by a tragic accident that involved one of each of their parents. This book has heart and dealt with some difficult things in a great way. It was serious when it needed to be and lighthearted when things started to get depressing. I LOVE the back and forth narrative and I usually hate when books are written like that, mainly because most authors tend to write the characters way too similar. I didn’t find that to be the case at all in this book though. Abram’s voice was his voice and Juliette’s voice was distinctly hers. I devoured this book, I can’t recommend it enough.
What were your favorite YA books of 2014? Have you read any of these? What did you think of them? What YA books are you looking forward to in 2015?
