Tagged: the immortals series

May 25

What to read after….

So I have noticed that some of  the traffic lately is people asking the question “What to read after (insert series title)”.  I thought I would help you out by giving a few opinions on the searches I have seen.

What to read after the Sookie Stackhouse novels? 

-If you liked the supernatural side of Charlaine Harris’s books, check out the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs.  It deals more with werewolves and skinwalkers but still some vamps and other supernaturals.  I just started the first book and completely love it.  I believe there is books about different characters that show up in the Mercy books too.  Plus I love that Mercy lives in Finley, Washington.  I have totally been there!

-If you liked the hot, romance side, check out the Vegas Vampires series by Erin McCarthy.  I read this series in the last couple years and completely loved it.  It is a really fun, easy read.

What should I read after Twilight?

-If you like love triangles, check out The Vampire Diaries by L.J. Smith.  The first book actually came out in 1994 so long before Twilight.  The first two books were okay.  The second two got me hooked.  I loved the latest two.  Can’t wait to see what will happen next!

-If you are looking for another great young adult supernatural series, check out The Immortals series by Alyson Noel.   Another great series is the House of Night books by PC and Kirstin Cast if you haven’t read them already.

-For older readers (aka, maybe like 20 and older), the Jane Madison books by Mindy Klasky.  Total chick books about witchcraft.  Neko is one of my favorite book characters ever. 

What should I read after the House of Night novels?

-If you are looking for young adult, again I’m going to say The Immortals series by Alyson Noel or the Vampire Diaries.   

-For those looking for a little more action than romance, The Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare.  Absolutely amazing storytelling on these ones.  It has the whole angel thing going on that we see in HoN.  The entire series was hard to put down and even though it had an ending, I wanted more because I loved the characters so much.  I feel like this series could be read by guys or girls.  There is only a touch of romance which honestly, most books have that anyways.

-Again, for a little more action, the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld.  I’ve only read the first one but like it so far.

Non-series books about supernaturals.

-Anything by Neil Gaiman.  Note: I would not say young adult for any of them.  I read most in college and think that if I would have read them younger, I would not have understood them very well.  Gaiman is absolutely amazing.  Every book and story completely pulls me in.  My very favorite is Neverwhere.

-Devilish by Maureen Johnson.  Young adult novel that was a totally enjoyable read.  I’ve read more of Johnson’s work and really enjoy it.

And if you like comics…

-Check out my very favorite comic series, Fathom.  It falls in with a lot of these books I think because it is about a girl that was normal(ish) but then ends up sucked into a super natural world…an underwater one.

0
comments

Posted in This and that

Jan 06

Young Adult=Sex?

          Over the last year I have read a lot more young adult books than I have in the past.  I came up with a concept for a book and the more I got into mapping out how I wanted it to go, the more I realized that it would be a YA book.  The problem was, I had not read that genre for quite some time, with the exception of the occasional book that a movie was based on.  For example, I did in fact read all the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books after the movie as well as the Twilight saga before those came out.  Yes, call me crazy but I like to read books that movies come from.

          Anyways, I realized that if I was going to write a certain genre, I should get familar with it.  I started with the Harry Potter books (although I guess those are more youth than YA)  and over the last year read quite a few teen books.   Most of them were very good. It opened my eyes a lot to the fact that just because it is written for young readers does not mean that it isn’t extremely good writing.  John Green for example quickly became one of my favorite authors. 

          While reading these books I tried to come up with my own version of what made a YA book YA.  Originally I would have said content but I realized that really isn’t it.  It really almost seems that as long as your characters are young, nothing else really matters.

          This stood out to me the most while reading The Immortals series by Alyson Noel.  Let me preface this by saying I do love her books and think she is a great writer.  I am in no way putting her down.  With that said, the series seems to have a lot to do with sex so far.  Especially in the latest book, Shadowland.  Ever is made she can’t consumate her relationship with Damen.  Later she starts to think in her past lives that she might have been sleeping with someone else.  It is a lot of sex for a teen book I would think.  Is that what it takes to be a popular teen book?  Gossip Girl certainly had a lot in it.

          I guess it is another sign of how much things have changed since I was young.  I know it wasn’t all that long ago but I do not remember reading a single book with a much sex in it.  Even the shows I watched didn’t have much in them.  I remember Sabrina the Teenage Witch being my favorite and seeing it in reruns lately confirms that it was all sweet, innocent entertainment. 

            Call me old fashion, but I think in my writing I’m going to stick to sex only in the non young adult ones.  If it does get in my books, I see it more in a realistic fashion.  The way John Green involved it in Looking For Alaska was very real and age appropriate. It was completely awkward like I feel that it should be for kids  that age. 

          Any thoughts on teen books and sex from anyone else?  Do you think it fits or not?  Do you think it reflects a change in society?

0
comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog