Top Ten: Young Adult Fiction

As my deadlines are still looming I 'm still starved for reading time, so here we go with another "time-saving" blog post (actually, it probably took me longer to think about my top ten books than it would have taken me to read and review a new book!).

Who doesn't love a good bit of YA fiction and at the moment the spotlight has never been more focused on this budding genre, jumping on the bandwagon I thought I'd share some of my favourite YA books. 

Most Anticipated Romances of 2014 (so far)

I am so excited about the upcoming year in terms of book releases so I thought I'd share some of my most anticipated reads of 2014 (so far). I decided to be quite disciplined and not pick anything that comes out in the latter part of the year as it is just too long to wait! Maybe you can look forward to a part two...

Top 5 Romances of 2013

Ok, admittedly I am still in a Christmas induced food coma and haven't had that much time to do any reading or reviewing, but I thought that it'd be a nice way to wrap up the year with a quick overview of some of my favourite romances of 2013.

Review: Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell

 

A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love.  

Cath is a Simon Snow fan. 

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan . . . 

But for Cath, being a fan is her life — and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? 

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? 

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

For anyone who read my review of Eleanor & Park it will come as no surprise that I am a big Rainbow Rowell fan and couldn't wait to read her latest novel. Excitingly, I read Fangirl as part of the launch of Tumblr's first official book club, Reblog Book Club, and have posted a few long winded thoughts as part of that that you can read here.

Review: Eleanor & Park - Rainbow Rowell

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

Eleanor & Park has caused a bit of a sensation recently and as usual I am late to the party. To be honest, it’s been sitting in my ‘to be read’ [TBR] pile for quite a while and it was only with the nudging of one of my Goodreads pals (don’t forget to check out my book group on Goodreads here) that I finally dug it out and read it.