SomeReads

Kelly at YAnnabe had the FABULOUS idea of showcasing YA books that not as many people have heard about. How did she approach this? So very clever! She looked at the Library Thing catalogs of several bloggers who read YA and plucked out the YA books that had 1) been given 4 or 5 stars and 2) were listed in fewer than 500 catalogs. I LOVE how she used Library Thing for this!

My list was shorter than I would have thought, but then, I haven’t been reading as much YA as I have in the past and I guess most of the ones I’ve really loved others have really loved, too!

Still, here are a few YA books that haven’t gotten as much attention as they should. I hope you will pick them up and enjoy them as much as I did!

1) Blackthorn Winter: A Murder Mystery by Kathryn Reiss

I don’t appear to have a review up of this book for some reason, so here’s a link to the Library Thing entry:

http://www.librarything.com/work/694281/book/24636279

2) Rose by Any Other Name by Maureen McCarthy

Again, no review, but in this case the Library Thing entry doesn’t say much. I started this book with no expectations, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. The main character is Rose, who has had a very bad year. She takes a road trip with her mother (who she has distanced herself from) to visit her grandmother one last time, as her grandmother is dying. It sounds dreary, but it isn’t. There is a lot of heart in this novel!

3) Bass Ackwards and Belly Up by Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain

I think I read this one before I started blogging, so, again, no review. Here’s the Library Thing page: http://www.librarything.com/work/986276

This book reminded me a lot of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.

4) Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks

What is up with all these books I didn’t review??? I must have read this one right before I started blogging… Here’s the Library Thing page: http://www.librarything.com/work/720743

This one was bleak and not at all what I normally read, but I do have to say it was a good book.

5) Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

FINALLY! A review: http://www.somereads.com/?p=173

6) The Ragwitch by Garth Nix

This is Garth Nix’s first novel, I believe, and it is not as well-read as some of his later works. Some people don’t like it; some people really like it. It is not as good as, say, the Abhorsen trilogy, but for a first novel, it’s good. I really enjoyed it – it was creepy from the outset and never really let go.

Here’s the Library Thing page for this one:

http://www.librarything.com/work/174537

Waves by Sharon Dogar

I picked this book up not knowing what to expect. It’s an ARC I picked up at the Texas Library Association conference at least a year ago, maybe 2, and it just finally surfaced to the top of my TBR pile (well, randomizer).

The main character is Hal, a 15-year-old boy whose sister is in a coma after a head injury/near-drowning the summer before. The narrative is mostly from Hal’s POV, but it shifts back and forth from Hal now to Hal then, and also Charley (the sister) now and Charley then. Hal and Charley have some type of mental connection that is helping Hal discover what really happened to Charley last summer. Strange, but it works.

While the subject matter isn’t as dark as The Lovely Bones, something about this book reminds of the other. It made me cry, which is an endorsement on my part.