YA Top 100

I've seen this list around the blogosphere, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Let's see how I do...

Bold = I've read it
Italic = I own it but haven't read it

1. Alex Finn – Beastly
2. Alice Sebold – The Lovely Bones
3. Ally Carter – Gallagher Girls (1, 2, 3, 4)
4. Ally Condie – Matched
5. Alyson Noel – The Immortals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
6. Anastasia Hopcus – Shadow Hills
7. Angie Sage – Septimus Heap (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
8. Ann Brashares – The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (1, 2, 3, 4)
9. Anna Godbersen – Luxe (1, 2, 3, 4)
10. Anthony Horowitz – Alex Rider (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
11. Aprilynne Pike – Wings (1, 2, 3)
12. Becca Fitzpatrick – Hush, Hush (1, 2)
13. Brandon Mull – Fablehaven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
14. Brian Selznick – The Invention of Hugo Cabret
15. Cassandra Clare – The Mortal Instruments (1, 2, 3, 4)
16. Carrie Jones – Need (1, 2, 3)
17. Carrie Ryan – The Forest of Hands and Teeth (1, 2, 3)
18. Christopher Paolini - Inheritance (1, 2, 3, 4)
19. Cinda Williams Chima – The Heir Chronicles (1, 2, 3)
20. Colleen Houck – Tigers Saga (1, 2)
21. Cornelia Funke – Inkheart (1, 2, 3)
22. Ellen Hopkins – Impulse
23. Eoin Colfer – Artemis Fowl (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
24. Faraaz Kazi – Truly, Madly, Deeply
25. Frank Beddor – The Looking Glass Wars (1, 2, 3)
26. Gabrielle Zevin – Elsewhere
27. Gail Carson Levine – Fairest
28. Holly Black – Tithe (1, 2, 3)
29. J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
30. James Dashner – The Maze Runner (1, 2)
31. James Patterson – Maximum Ride (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
32. Jay Asher – Thirteen Reasons Why
33. Jeanne DuPrau – Books of Ember (1, 2, 3, 4)
34. Jeff Kinney – Diary of a Wimpy Kid (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
35. John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
36. John Green – An Abundance of Katherines
37. John Green – Looking for Alaska
38. John Green – Paper Towns
39. Jonathan Stroud – Bartimaeus (1, 2, 3, 4)
40. Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl – Caster Chronicles (1, 2)
41. Kelley Armstrong – Darkest Powers (1, 2, 3)
42. Kristin Cashore – The Seven Kingdoms (1, 2)
43. Lauren Kate – Fallen (1, 2, 3)
44. Lemony Snicket - Series of Unfortunate Events (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
45. Libba Bray – Gemma Doyle (1, 2, 3)
46. Lisa McMann – Dream Catcher (1, 2, 3)
47. Louise Rennison – Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
48. M.T. Anderson – Feed
49. Maggie Stiefvater – The Wolves of Mercy Falls (1, 2, 3)
50. Margaret Peterson Haddix – Shadow Children (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
51. Maria V. Snyder – Study (1, 2, 3)
52. Markus Zusak - The Book Thief
53. Markus Zusak – I am the Messenger
54. Mark Haddon – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
55. Mary Ting – Crossroads
56. Maureen Johnson – Little Blue Envelope (1, 2)
57. Meg Cabot – All-American Girl (1, 2)
58. Meg Cabot – The Mediator (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
59. Meg Cabot – The Princess Diaries (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
60. Meg Rosoff – How I live Now
61. Megan McCafferty – Jessica Darling (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
62. Megan Whalen Turner – The Queen’s Thief (1, 2, 3, 4)
63. Melina Marchetta – Jellicoe Road
64. Melissa de la Cruz – Blue Bloods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
65. Melissa Marr – Wicked Lovely (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
66. Michael Grant – Gone (1, 2, 3, 4)
67. Nancy Farmer – The House of the Scorpion
68. Neal Shusterman – Unwind
69. Neil Gaiman – Coraline
70. Neil Gaiman – Stardust
71. Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book
72. P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast – House of Night (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 )
73. Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials (1, 2, 3)
74. Rachel Caine – The Morganville Vampires (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
75. Rachel Cohn & David Levithan – Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
76. Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
77. Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
78. Rom LcO’Feer – Somewhere carnal over 40 winks
79. S.L. Naeole – Grace (1, 2, 3, 4)
80. Sabrina Bryan & Julia DeVillers – Princess of Gossip
81. Sarah Dessen – Along for the Ride
82. Sarah Dessen – Lock and Key
83. Sarah Dessen – The Truth about Forever
84. Sara Shepard – Pretty Little Liars (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
85. Scott Westerfeld - Leviathan (1, 2)
86. Scott Westerfeld - Uglies (1, 2, 3)
87. Shannon Hale – Books of a Thousand Days
88. Shannon Hale – Princess Academy
89. Shannon Hale – The Books of Bayern (1, 2, 3, 4)
90. Sherman Alexie & Ellen Forney – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
91. Simone Elkeles – Perfect Chemistry (1, 2, 3)
92. Stephanie Meyer – The Host
93. Stephanie Meyer – Twilight Saga (1, 2, 3, 4)
94. Sue Monk Kidd – The Secret Life of Bees
95. Susan Beth Pfeffer – Last Survivors (1, 2, 3)
96. Suzanne Collins – Hunger Games (1, 2, 3)
97. Suzanne Collins – Underland Chronicles (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
98. Terry Pratchett – Tiffany Aching (1, 2, 3, 4)
99. Tonya Hurley – Ghost Girl (1, 2, 3)
100. Wendelin Van Draanen – Flipped

Hm. Looks like I have some catching up to do. How did everyone else fare?

Out This Week - Sept 18-24

These books are all being released this week. Which ones are you excited for?

• 9/20/11 First Kill (The Slayer Chronicles #1) by Heather Brewer
• 9/20/11 Sacrifice by Laura J. Burnes & Melinda Metz
  

• 9/20/11 The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
• 9/20/11 Beautiful Days (Bright Young Things #2) by Anna Godbersen

• 9/20/11 Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey
• 9/20/11 Where There's a Wolf, There's a Way (Monster High #3) by Lisi Harrison

• 9/20/11 Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions by Melissa Marr & Kelley Armstrong
• 9/20/11 Pregnant Pause by Han Nolan

• 9/20/11 Game Over (Daniel X # 4) by James Patterson & Ned Rust
• 9/20/11 Goliath (Leviathan #3) by Scott Westerfeld
  

Chime by Franny Billingsley

Title: Chime
Author: Franny Billingsley
ISBN: 9780803735521
Publisher: Dial Books
Released: March 17, 2011
Page #: 358
Source: ARC from the publisher

Summary:
"Briony has a secret. Her secret killed her stepmother, destroyed her sister Rose's mind, and threatens all the children in the Swampsea. She yearns to be rid of her secret, but risks being hanged if she tells a soul; hanging's what they do to the Old Ones in the Swampsea - not the Boggy Mun or the Dead Hand, but Dark Muses, witches and the like.

When Eldric arrives - Eldric with his golden mane and lion eyes and electric energy - he refuses to believe anything dark about Briony. But he wonders what's been buried beneath Briony's memory and guilt, hidden in Rose's mangled thoughts, and whispered about by the Old Ones. And Briony wonders how Eldric can make her want to cry, especially when everyone knows, witches can't cry.

A wild, enchanted romance that is as beautifully written as it is captivating."
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First Lines: (subject to change in final version)

"I've confessed everything and I'd like to be hanged.
Now, if you please.
I don't mean to be difficult, but I can't bear to tell my story."
Page 1
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Review:

Halfway through this book, I seriously thought I was going to have to give a bad review. Well, not bad... but not great. But the ending really brought it all together for me and things truly started to fall into place. Pretty sure I picked up this book because of the cover... sue me. :)

This book is about a girl living in a community on the edge of a swamp. From what I could tell, it was set in a time before cars were prevalent and railroad tracks were just being laid out. But that also may be a little bit because of the back-woods nature of the area in the story. So it's about a girl who is a twin, but she is convinced that she's a witch. She's able to see and talk to all of the creatures that live in the swamp. Because she is a witch, she has done terrible things to the people closest to her. She lives realizing that she will be hanged and just wants to get it all over with. Either that or ride the new train to London and never come back.

Let me just say that this book is seriously strange. There is some serious genius in there, but I had some trouble getting used to the flow of language and some of the characters. You aren't given a plain description of anyone, really. Maybe of her father, the local religious man. And some of the outer characters. But our main people are sort of a mystery throughout the first half of the book.

I spent a lot of the book confused. Really, I did. I understood the little things that happened. I got that there were these crazy creatures in the book. But things sort of jumped around and I wasn't really sure what was being described. Of course, this could have been one of the reasons this book seems so unique. There are a lot of things going on - a lot of characters as well - and it's hard to make sense of some things. They do start to come together in the end.

Honestly, I wasn't sure how the ending was going to be. There were several possibilities - and with the strangeness of the book, I figured anything could happen. I really thought it was the perfect ending to such an odd story. And it gave me a sense of how things would be in this town from then on. I almost would be interested in a second book set in this same world. I didn't think I would be saying that when I started it.

I would recommend this book to those who are into strange fantasy. There are other things written by this author, but I don't think I've read any of them. It might be interesting to see what the rest of her books are like. But I think if you're looking for something different, this book is definitely for you.
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Other Blog Reviews:

Indie Reader Houston
Katelyn's Blog
Steph Su Reads
Strong in the Broken Places
Life After Twilight
I Just Wanna Sit Here and Read!
Wicked Awesome Books
The Reading Date

Waiting on Wednesday (70)

"Waiting on Wednesday" is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Here's what I'm waiting on this week:

Desert Angel
by Charlie Price
To be released: October 25, 2011

Summary from Publisher:
"Fourteen-year-old Angel wakes up one morning at her desert trailer home to discover her mother has been murdered by a lowlife named Scotty, who has vanished. Angel has no water, no weapon, but she knows that Scotty, an expert tracker and hunter, will surface soon in order to eliminate her as a witness. She has to run, to disappear, if she is to survive and tell the world what happened. Her flight takes her through a harsh landscape to places she never expected to be, forcing her to trust others for the first time and strengthening her in ways she doesn't even anticipate . . . until it's time to take a stand."

I do want to say that I certainly wouldn't select this book based on the cover... but I really love the concept. It sounds like an exciting thriller. I can only imagine what it will be like, but I think it will be great.

What are you waiting on this week?

The Queen of Kentucky by Alecia Whitaker

Title: The Queen of Kentucky
Author: Alecia Whitaker
ISBN: 9780316125062
Publisher: Poppy
Released: January 2, 2012
Page #: 376
Source: ARC from the publisher

Summary:
"Fourteen-year-old Kentucky girl Ricki Jo Winstead, who would prefer to be called Ericka, thank you very much, is eager to shed her farmer's daughter roots and become part of the popular crowd at her small-town high school. She trades her Bible for Seventeen magazine, buys new 'sophisticated' clothes, and somehow manages to secure a tenuous spot at the cool kids' table. She's on top of the world, even though her best friend and the boy next door, Luke, says he misses 'plain old Ricki Jo."

Caught between being a country girl and a wannabe country club girl, Ricki Jo begins to forget who she really is: someone who doesn't care what people think and who wouldn't let a good-looking guy walk all over her. It takes a serious incident on Luke's farm for Ricki Jo to realize that being a true friend is more important than being popular."
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First Lines: (subject to change in the final version)

"'When we get to high school, I want you to call me Ericka,' I say, taking off my tan leather work glove to wipe the sweat from my brow. I've been blabbing to my best friend, Luke, all day because A) talking makes the time go by faster, and B) I'm a jabber-jaw; but I might as well be talking to one of our cows."
Page 1
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Review:

This is absolutely one of the cutest books I've read in a little while. OF course, I may not have been reading the right genre for cute stuff, but this one definitely wins. :) I'm also partial to a story about a Kentucky girl... as my mom's from there. Ahem... on to the book!

The story is about a girl named Ricki Jo (or Ericka for any new friends) who has decided she wants to reinvent herself at the beginning of high school. This is a little harder because she has a few old friends that don't love her new changes. She tries out for cheerleading, she's invited to the cool parties, and she begins to realize she's become part of the cool crowd. When tragedy strikes, she realizes who her real friends are and who she can count on.

I'll say it again, this book was adorable. I think I fell for Ricki Jo in the first few pages. She's such a fun and real character. She's spent her life working hard in the fields with her family and has decided to give herself a whole new image. She learns everything from teen magazines and spends her time obsessing about the boy everyone loves. Doesn't that sound like every other freshman you've ever known? I sure think so.

I loved Luke. Once you learn about his home life and his relationship with Ricki Jo, you realize just how awesome he is. There's something to be said for a friend who will stand by you no matter what is happening. He's that kinda friend. No matter what is going on with him, he'll always be there. Honestly, I was hoping Ricki Jo would get together with him instead of the jerky popular guy. Though... that's about right with real life, isn't it?

This is a little silly, but it was really nice to read a book that wasn't set in New York or some other really well known place. I haven't read anything lately that has been this unique in locale. There's something very quiet and easy about life in farm-town Kentucky. Of course, I also know this area of the country... but I think it comes across really well. It's also nice to see what constitutes a night out in backwoods places :). Yay roller skating!

I fully loved this book. It took me less than 24 hours to finish and I cannot wait to recommend it to people. I know that readers who love chick lit and realistic fic will get into this one. This is also the first book by this author - I really look forward to seeing what she has in store for the future. I'm sure it will all be wonderful. Definitely give this book a shot when it comes out in January!
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Other Blog Reviews:

Okay, I don't see any reviews for this one. I'm not fully surprised as it comes out in January. But if you review this one, let me know so I can add you to the list. :)