YA Oscars 2010

This is inspired by a similar post I read yesterday on a blog but I can’t remember which one it was because I read tons and didn’t bookmark it… if anyone wants to suggest what it might have been, leave a link so that I can give proper credit!

I’m limiting it to one award per novel, so as spread some credit between the massive number of awesome books out there.

Most of these books were originally reviewed for The Bookbag and links have been given to my reviews there – just click on the title.

Best Female Character in a Leading Role: Wynter Moorehawke (The Rebel Prince, by Celine Kiernan) – I love Wynter because she’s an incredibly strong woman in a realistic relationship and who, throughout the amazing Moorehawke trilogy, has developed into a brilliant character.


Best Male Character in a Leading Role: Sam (The Long Weekend by Savita Kalhan) – Sam is an absolutely wonderful main character because he’s strong, resourceful, and brave despite being scared half to death for most of the novel.


Best Female Character in a Supporting Role: Layla Campbell (Koh Tabu by Ann Kelley) – Stranded on an island looking after a group of girls and knowing their parents may be dead and there might not be anyone coming to rescue them, glamorous Mrs Campbell completely falls apart. A stunning portrayal through the eyes of narrator Bonnie, who’d previously admired the older woman but is left to cope with her breakdown.


Best Male Character in a Supporting Role: Link (Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl) – Link is AMAZING. Caught up in stuff which is way over his head but too loyal to even think about doing anything other than supporting Ethan, whatever it takes. I love the chemistry between him and Ridley, as well.


Best Novel: The Sky Is Everywhere (Jandy Nelson) – I can’t praise this one enough. Breathtaking, as I keep telling everyone. A gorgeous book from the moment you open it and see the poems main character Lennie writes until you read the last words.


Best Author: Jaclyn Moriarty (Dreaming of Amelia, also published as Ghosts of Ashbury High) – I love JM at her most imaginative, and this is definitely her most imaginative! She shifts from exam answers to journal entries to poetry and remains utterly convincing and driving the plot whenever she’s doing it.


Best Scene: Ty walking into Claire’s room (When I Was Joe by Keren David) – I have to be very careful not to spoil anything here, so I’ll just say that this has made more of an impact on me than any other individual scene I’ve read for years. Hard to read due to the realism but incredibly well written.


Best Non-Fiction: The Boy Who Would Be Shakespeare (Doug Stewart) - In turns thrilling, funny and surprisingly tender account of a forger in the 18th century.


Best Dialogue: Firespell: The Dark Elite (Chloe Neill) - Yeah, there happens to be a pretty great plot, but the way Neill writes dialogue she could have had her characters sit around discussing the weather for 300 pages and I’d still have been hooked.


Best Action: Sudden Death (Nick Hale) – What I was expecting to be a mixture of football and spy-stuff was actually a completely thrilling and engaging action story as footballer Steve Bastin’s son Jake is plunged into a vicious world where no-one, even his father, can be trusted, and the bodies keep piling up.


Best Historical Fiction: The Fool’s Girl (Celia Rees) – Rees plunges us back in time to Shakespeare’s world and produces a fantastic, exciting story which is both a sequel to Twelfth Night and the tale of how the original was written.


Craziest: Infinity (Sherrilyn Kenyon) – I had several criticisms of Infinity but had to balance them out by saying it was REALLY good fun, if completely insane. Reads as if it’s a video game written down.


Anyone agree/disagree/want to suggest categories I've left out? Would love to hear from you!