Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.
Leigh Bardugo - How do you follow up one of the best YA epic fantasy series of recent years? By writing a heist story set in the same universe, OBVIOUSLY. I read Bardugo's Six Of Crows in two sittings, finishing between 5 am and 8:30 am this morning (it's a long book) - it really is THAT good. I won't say much as it's not out yet but I can't wait for people to meet The Dregs!
Susie Day - I ADORE Susie Day's MG quartet the Pea's Book series, and spin-off The Secrets of Sam and Sam is just as good. However prior to writing them she also wrote some really brilliant YA books (I've JUST forgiven her for The Twice-Lived Summer of Bluebell Jones, which completely destroyed me several years ago) which you shouldn't miss!
Patricia Elliott - Elliott's French Revolution-set adventure duology the Pimpernelles books, her Victorian Gothic thriller The Devil in the Corner, and recent MG mystery House of Eyes, set in London in 1909, all capture the places portrayed brilliantly. They also all have superb plots and excellent characters.
Helen Eve - I think Eve's first novel Stella is something of an acquired taste - I quite liked it first time I read it but it wasn't until rereading six months later, after I couldn't stop thinking about it, that I fell completely in love with it. She brings to life a wonderfully exaggerated version of school and ties into Great Expectations with great skill. Prequel Siena is arguably an even better book - I'm hoping there'll be a third to come!
Non Pratt - My favourite UKYA contemporary of last year was Trouble; Remix is a strong contender for my favourite of this year so far. Non captures British teens, particularly their dialogue, possibly better than anyone else currently writing.
Katherine Rundell - Rundell's debut The Girl Savage wasn't altogether to my liking but showed promise; however her second book Rooftoppers is arguably the ONE book of the decade I think is most likely to be looked at as a classic in years to come, and third novel The Wolf Wilder is probably the best book I've read all year. Her writing is beautiful and her characters are amazing.
Keris Stainton - Keris started off writing YA like Jessie Hearts NYC and Della Says OMG, moved to a slightly younger audience with the wonderful Reel Friends series - which I'd describe as YA/MG crossover - and upcoming Counting Stars is aimed at the upper end of YA (to the point where when I bought a copy at YALC, Hot Key warned me of sexytimes - they weren't wrong!) She's also written NA under a pen name. Whatever she's writing, she's consistently entertaining and you know you're guaranteed a fun read!
Who's on your auto-buy list?
Natasha Farrant - The Things We Did For
Love is still one of the best YA novels I've ever read, a heartbreaking
World War II story, but Farrant's more recent Diaries of Bluebell Gadsby
are also wonderful - excellent stories about a lovely family.
Louise
O'Neill - I've now had my heart torn into several pieces and trampled
on by both Louise O'Neill's books, stunning dystopian debut Only Ever
Yours and upcoming contemporay Asking For It, which I read in a little
over an hour this morning as I knew if I put it down I wouldn't be able
to pick it up again. It's an emotionally draining read but one that
mature teens and adults shouldn't miss.
Non Pratt - My favourite UKYA contemporary of last year was Trouble; Remix is a strong contender for my favourite of this year so far. Non captures British teens, particularly their dialogue, possibly better than anyone else currently writing.
Katherine Rundell - Rundell's debut The Girl Savage wasn't altogether to my liking but showed promise; however her second book Rooftoppers is arguably the ONE book of the decade I think is most likely to be looked at as a classic in years to come, and third novel The Wolf Wilder is probably the best book I've read all year. Her writing is beautiful and her characters are amazing.
Keris Stainton - Keris started off writing YA like Jessie Hearts NYC and Della Says OMG, moved to a slightly younger audience with the wonderful Reel Friends series - which I'd describe as YA/MG crossover - and upcoming Counting Stars is aimed at the upper end of YA (to the point where when I bought a copy at YALC, Hot Key warned me of sexytimes - they weren't wrong!) She's also written NA under a pen name. Whatever she's writing, she's consistently entertaining and you know you're guaranteed a fun read!
Robin Stevens - I absolutely love Robin's Wells & Wong mystery series! I am SURE that if/when she turns her hand to something
else she will be equally awesome, but I hope there's a lot more
historical mysteries to come from her. (I DID like the suggestion a
while back that she could maybe have Daisy and Hazel's daughters,
granddaughters, and great-granddaughters in future series, so perhaps
she'll end up doing sci-fi!)
Note: I was sticking to people I've read more than one book by - Mel Salisbury, Lauren E James, Abi Elphinstone, Eleanor Wood, Mike Revell, Moira Fowley-Doyle, Irfan Master, Becky Albertalli, Sarah Benwell and Lisa Williamson are just a handful of the people whose debuts are so fabulous that I'll gladly buy everything else they release!
Whoa, I know Asking for It isn't a massive book, but that's some fast reading! I can't wait for AFI. Only Ever Yours was mind-blowing and I think AFI is going to be the most talked about book in a long time.
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