It's a YA Revolution

Is it just me or has young adult literature really taken on a new life form? When I was younger, we had R.L. Stine's Fear Street books and Ann M. Martin's The Babysitter's Club books. While I enjoyed them greatly, they are nothing compared to these new books that are all over the place!

I think it began with the Harry Potter books. I know they were intended to be children's books, and you'll find them in the youth section of a book store or library. But let's face it, they've turned into young adult books also as Harry turned into a young adult himself. It's amazing how huge these books became. I am obviously an enormous fan. Next came Stephenie Meyer's fabulous vampire series, Twilight. If you've read anything else I've written, you know how I feel about these books. They're so wonderful and really live up to the all of the hype that is centered around them. These two series have really made reading something "cool" again. There are obviously more young adult treasures out there, but I think these two series are real gems.


And that brings me to my latest read: Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty, the first installment of her Gemma Doyle series. It's about a girl named Gemma who has a vision of her mother's murder in India. She is sent to a finishing school in London while both mourning her mother's death and trying to cope with her new found ability. She struggles to make friends and deals with the catty mean girls of Spence Academy. Once Gemma finds her place at Spence, her visions thrust her into a world of magic and mystery that is far beyond her comprehension. In this first installment, Gemma struggles to understand the wonders and the dangers of possessing such magic.

This was a great read. I found myself constantly wanting to find out what was going to happen next. I think it's a great young adult read. It obviously does not measure up to Twilight's caliber. But the story is still a good one. It explores a different branch of magic that I personally haven't read about before. It's a world that mixes witchcraft with Victorian England. I'll definitely be reading the other books in the series to see what happens to Gemma and her friends.

Oh Ms. Rowling...

So if you've been keeping up with my "Currently Reading" little widget there, you'll see that I've finished off my reread of the Harry Potter series. I don't know if it is sad or not that I am 22, going on 23 in October, and was completely engulfed in the reread.

I was talking to my best friend last night (hi Robin!) who is also 22 and just as *appreciative* of Harry Potter as I am. She is just about to start her first reread of the last book. We simply were discussing some of the more sad parts of the story when we came to discuss certain characters who Rowling killed. (I give no spoiler warning because either you don't care about HP or you've already read it, there's no in between.) There are three moments that I identified where I actually had to stop reading. Not because my reading headache had set in. No no, I've learned how to power through those over the years. And it wasn't because I had something else that I needed to do. No, it was because my tears blurred my vision to the point where I could barely tell that I was even looking at a book.

1. Fred Weasley's Death - Now I am a redhead. For the fifth movie installment, Robin and I made shirts for the midnight premier (I know...). Mine said "I Wish I Were A Weasley." And I do... Ginny to be exact. So needless to say, Fred's death was a kick in the face.

2. Dobby's Death - The elf loved Harry so much that he died to protect him. Need I say more?

3. Harry using the Resurrection Stone - I can't take it when he speaks to the spirits of his mother, father, and godfather. He knows he's about to die and wants to know if it hurts and wants to let them know that he will be with them shortly. It's ridiculous. Stories about child wizards should not be that sad.

I know it makes me a bit of a loser, but I really can't help it. Somehow I got sucked into this crazy phenomena when I honestly put up a valiant fight to resist it for a while. (Ironically, I caved once I got to college...) The sixth movie installment is due out in November. I guess waterproof mascara will have to be added to the preparations list!

P.S. I am not posting a review for Nicholas Sparks's The Guardian. Just read it. It took me less than 24 hours. It's definitely got the Nicholas Sparks romance, but it's also got some thriller/murder stuff going on. Wonderful!