Top 5 Young Adult Books I Want to Read

This Top 5 series started back in October 2018 and it has grown really big! This is a series of books that all have a common theme. I post the schedule for the next month the last week of the prior month. You can talk about books you want to read or books you have read and all prompts are open for interpretation! Feel free to get as creative as you want with the prompts.

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The Upcoming Top 5 Saturday Schedule Is:

7/25/20 — #OwnVoices Books

8/1/20 — Enemies to Lovers

8/8/20 — Underrated Books/Hidden Gems

8/15/20 — Recommended Reads

8/22/20 — Young Adult Books

8/29/20 — Detective Books

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Rules!

• Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
• Tag the original post (This one!)
• Tag 5 people

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Young Adult Books

I’ve loved young adult books for a long time now. I continue to read them frequently even though I’m no longer in high school because they’re so much fun and entertaining. When I started looking for books for this week’s post I thought about all the things I love about the young adult genre and tried to pick books that make me miss my own teenage years. While I probably would have loved all of these books when I was in high school. I read tons of YA fantasy, but I turn to YA all the time, especially when I’m having a hard time getting into dense fantasy books. This genre is just so much fun for me and I don’t think that I will ever stop reading it!

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Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

So technically I read this book when I was a young adult, but it has been so long! I never finished the rest of the series so I want to go back and reread the first book and continue the series. I do remember how much I really loved this paranormal southern gothic book though, and I’m pretty excited to revisit this one! This book is everything I loved reading in high school– the “different” girl with paranormal powers and a teenage romance. I’m interested to see how I feel about it now that I’m a bit older, because 6 years ago I gave it 5 stars.

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Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand

Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep.

He’ll follow you home, and he won’t let you sleep.

Who are the Sawkill Girls?

Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.

Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is.

Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.

Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires.

Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight… until now.

This book looks like the perfect fall read. It just looks so good! Secrets, girl drama and a mysterious evil. This book has been on my wishlist for a long time, but I haven’t picked it up yet because I haven’t heard much about it. I have seen it compared to Wilder Girls though, so that gives me high hopes!

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S.T.A.G.S. by M.A. Bennett

Nine students. Three bloodsports. One deadly weekend.

It is the autumn term and Greer MacDonald is struggling to settle into the sixth form at the exclusive St. Aidan the Great boarding school, known to its privileged pupils as S.T.A.G.S. Just when she despairs of making friends Greer receives a mysterious invitation with three words embossed upon on it: huntin’ shootin’ fishin’. When Greer learns that the invitation is to spend the half term weekend at the country manor of Henry de Warlencourt, the most popular and wealthy boy at S.T.A.G.S., she is as surprised as she is flattered.

But when Greer joins the other chosen few at the ancient and sprawling Longcross Hall, she realises that Henry’s parents are not at home; the only adults present are a cohort of eerily compliant servants. The students are at the mercy of their capricious host, and, over the next three days, as the three bloodsports – hunting, shooting and fishing – become increasingly dark and twisted, Greer comes to the horrifying realisation that those being hunted are not wild game, but the very misfits Henry has brought with him from school…

I am obsessed with boarding school settings! I have read SO many books with boarding school settings it’s insane. I don’t think I will ever get sick of these types of books. This book also has a plot that gives me Clue vibes and I’m totally here for it! Some of my Goodreads friends have reviewed it and they said it’s the type of book that grabs you right away.

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A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it.

But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?

This is a really popular YA thriller that I still haven’t read. I really love YA thrillers and I should totally read more of them because I typically wind up loving them. This book has a unique format and is actually told like a guide, so that should be interesting, but it’s also the reason that I have been a little nervous to read this book! But I loved Sadie, and that one had a bit of a different format too.

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I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

What if the world’s worst serial killer…was your dad?

Jasper “Jazz” Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he’s also the son of the world’s most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal’s point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo’s Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

I am dying to read this book! It reminds me of The Naturals series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, which if you know me well, you know I LOVE Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This series looks dark and eerie and fast paced. I love the idea behind this series and based on the reviews I have pretty high hopes for this one!

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Check out other book blogger’s Top 5 picks!

Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog — YA Books — Top 5 Saturday

Jill @ Jill’s Book Blog — Top 5 Saturday – Favourite Young Adult Books

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Let’s Chat!

What are some of your favorite YA books? What do you love about the genre? Have you read any of the books I listed above? What did you think of them? Make sure to comment below so we can chat about YA books!