Fav YA books 2010-2019

I’m a little late to this, and when I say a “little” I mean a lot. I watched Regan at Peruse Project do this on a video from late 2019. I thought it was an interesting exercise in picking favorite books.

Like Regan, I am choosing books based on their publication year, not when I read them. I am also not doing any repeats of series or authors in order to have a better variety. I’m excited about this and I hope you enjoy this, even though it’s so late!

2010: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.

I’m honestly kind of shocked that this was my choice. Not because I didn’t like Mockingjay–I did. I’m more shocked because I can’t believe it came out a decade ago. I’m also happy that this trilogy made the list because it is very special to me as a reader.

2011: Shatter Me by Tarereh Mafi

I hadn’t encountered such beautiful prose and poetry in a fantasy book before. Juliet is a strong female lead and she’s dealing with trauma in a way that I believe is important for us to see and encounter in fantasy books. I also love Warner, so I am happy to get to reminisce about reading this book for the first time.

2012: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I am not sorry about this book. It’s one of the only, if not THE only contemporary books that I’ve ever given five out of five stars. This book is beautiful. It makes me think and feel. Hazel and Gus are still some beautiful characters. I held out reading this book when it was super popular, but I think it deserves all the acclaim it got.

2013: Reboot by Amy Tintera

I love Tintera. I didn’t read this book in 2013, but I absolutely love it. Wren is an intense and beautifully deadly character. Watching her grow as a character was a wonderful experience as a reader. I also love this premise. It takes superhero-soldier-zombies and makes deadly teenage undead soldiers who I fall in love with as people. A wonderful read.

2014: Halo by Frankie Rose

I’ve actually never written about this book. I considered it when I read it however, I chose not to. Not because it’s not a phenomenal and exciting book, but because the series was never finished. It was devastating when I got to the second book and realized that the third book wasn’t coming. The dystopian society, the different people groups, romance, and Kit make this series one that should have been finished. Freaking Kit. I love that girl and it breaks my heart every time I think about how she’ll never get the end she deserves.

2015: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

It’s not shocking that this is the book I chose for 2015. I’m sure many other people put this book as their favorite for this year. This is my favorite book of all time. I recommend it to everyone who asks for recommendations. It has everything I love, anti-heroes, intricate plot, complex characters, magic, mafia/mob vibes, and a dark world. Kaz Brekker still owns my heart.

2016: Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff

I’ve written about this book, and I believe I said it was a book for my very soul. I haven’t used words like that to describe many books. This is a magical surrealism book. It’s inexplicable magic in a contemporary world. The characters are so beautiful and raw. It’s unlike any other book I’ve ever read.

2017: Wish Granter by C.J. Redwine

I posted about this a few years ago. I said that Arianna should be the next Disney princess. I still believe that to this day. The plot of this book is amazing, and it has amazing characters to go with it. This is one of the best fairytale retellings I’ve ever encountered. It’s better than all of Once Upon a Time put together.

2018: Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson

I can’t stop talking about this duology. I adored this book. Like I said earlier, I LOVE mob/mafia, magic, anti-heroes, and romance. This book was thrilling, and the second one held up to the amazing first one. Kazi is a boss lady and Jace is super cool. I love them together. I love their cool world and intricate court politics. A great read I’m happy to say was the best of the year.

2019: Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson

A wonderful way to end this decade. I called this book a love letter to book lovers everywhere. The magical library was a dream come true. Elisabeth was the wonderful heroine we want in stories. There was romance, demons, love, and adventure. As a girl who’s grown up in libraries, and works at a library, this was the perfect book.

 

Thank you all for reading this! If you did this or anything like this, PLEASE post the URL in the comments so that I can go check them out. This is so interesting to me, and honestly exciting since it’s been over a decade of me reading young adult books!