Which YA Series Is Your Next Hunger Games–Level Obsession?

Thank you Vulture once again for keeping us entertained:

Which YA Series Is Your Next Hunger Games–Level Obsession?

Head over to Vulture to give it a try... we all certainly did:

• Grad Student on Goosie Mama’s FB wall: MY personal favorite question was 

  
  

  about how  much I  wanted romance in my books.... I went with "Are you kidding right 

  
  

  now" and got myself to Delirium.  This is pretty funny.

  
  

  Grad Student: to clarify, I played with it again. I got Delirium. Again.

  
  

  Crazy Camper:  I had a hard time not getting Delirium too! Finally got to City of Bones and Maze Runner

  
  

  Goosie Mama: I GOT THE FAULT IN OUR STARS - John Green and I really are meant to be ... sigh!

  
  

  Grad Student: How many of these do you THINK I have read?

  
  

  Goosie Mama: That's not even a question ...

  
  

  Goosie Mama: clarification: ALL OF THEM

  
  

  Grad Student: TRUE STORY

Review: Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare, 

pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
push,
push,
push,
like Raven taught me to do.
The old life is dead.
But the old Lena is dead too.
I buried her.
I left her beyond a fence,
behind a wall of smoke and flame. (Good Reads)

 Pandemonium (Delirium #2) byLauren Oliver hooked me a lot faster than Delirium did. The "now" and"then" alternating chapter setup was a perfect way to learn about Lena's transition to the resistance and also let us get to know the new fairly fierce Lena. Her grief about Alex is well done but not overwhelming since it is tempered by action (and the increasingly intriguing Julian) in the present as Lena goes undercover in New York City. I found Lena a bit grating and lame in the first book, but she proves here that she has some steel inside her. She is resourceful and physically strong--a welcomed bit of character growth! When you get to the part with the umbrella you too will be like, geez Lena you are MacGyvering all over town!!!

Originality: 9. I don't much about writing and story arcs, but moving two forward and making them both engrossing seems like a big challenge that Oliver excels at, and it really makes this book unique.

Absurdity: 3. The absurdity here is low. The life in the wilds is challenging and often dire and the threats seem real.

Level of Paranormal Romance: 6. This can only be so high, since Lena is dealing with her grief over Alex for most of the book, not looking for a rebound. Nevertheless, I liked Julian, maybe more than I liked Alex. It is because he is attracted to her because she is smart and strong in her beliefs. That, as a reason to like someone, was appealing to me. Lena was a much weaker person when Alex met her. (Didn't you just keep wondering if he would still recognize this Lena?!)

Levelof Harry-Potter-ness:7. Sometimes the second book in a series feels like filler, but this excellent sequel added new compelling characters, taught us a lot about the state of Lena's world, and moved the story along with GREAT twists and revelations.

PS.This has the most outrageous cliff hanger! I loved it. I GASPED out loud.

PPS.YAF and WS does not condone spoilers- I actually found out what happens at the end of a book because someone somewhere posted it in a comments section. Sad face. DON'T be that person.

Review: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

"Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham, now seventeen, is finally being confronted with her past. But as the reluctant leader of her boarding school dorm, there isn't alot of time for introspection. And while Hannah, the closest adult Taylor has to family, has disappeared, Jonah Griggs is back in town, moody stares and all. Nothing is as it seems and every clue leads to morequestions as Taylor tries to work out the connection between her mother dumping her, Hannah finding her then and her sudden departure now, a mysterious stranger who once whispered something in her ear, a boy in her dreams, five kids who lived on Jellicoe Road eighteen years ago, and the maddening and magnetic Jonah Griggs, who knows her better than she thinks he does. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future." (GoodReads)

THIS BOOK. Amazing. Did you already know that? Probably. But I have just stumbled into the YA world of Melina Marchetta. And it is glorious.

I am not sure I am as much in lust with Griggs as the rest of the YA-reading world (see here). I’m sorry! I don’t mean to let anyone down! He is hunky and all, but he couldn’t compete for my attention with the beautiful story Hannah is writing, and how it intersects with Taylor’s life. Both stories are about friend’s saving each other but also coming to terms with letting go. Cue the tears!

Jellicoe Road snuck up on me. I got on the train, headed home for Easter, and the ending hit me like a ton of bricks. Books don't usually make me cry, usually its things like Legends of the Fall and the Olympics. ButI cried. In public. For the last thirty pages. The writing is gorgeous and the story all comes together in such an intricate and heart breaking way. I didn't want the book to end, and tried to move on to start Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (I clearly travel with multiple library books-- a girl has to be prepared) but my mind was just not ready, and that’s saying something because I was dying to get to Pandemonium. Instead I had to sit and think about Taylor and Narnie and Fitz and Webb and how beautiful Jellico Road must be.

• Originality: 10. Mostly because I know literally nothing about Australia (except that they really don’t drink Fosters there). So this was all new to me. On a more legitimate reason for the 10, these characters feel very real.
• Absurdity: Negative 1,000. Who knew I could buy contemporary fiction this much!?
• Level of Paranormal Romance: 6. Don’t get me wrong, Griggs is dreamy. But he did not steal the top spot on my swoon-worthy chart of YA boys (that chart may or may not exist….yet…)
• Level of Harry Potter-ness.10. Guys, the writing here--it’s incredible. I was on the fence about Marchetta after Finnikin of the Rock, but boy, can she write contemporary fiction. I would throw elbows at MERYL STREEP to get to this book. And I love Meryl—I want to be her daughter and drink wine with her in her house from Its Complicated.