Love List: The Way Way Back(list), vol. 1
Some of my favorite YAs that are 5+ years old
The trickiest thing about recommending books that are pre-2017 is that it’s a fact of publishing that a lot of books will have gone out of print by now, so just a note that some of these may only be available electronically. (Though I’ve linked to hardcopies wherever I’ve been able to find them. As always, any Bookshop or Amazon links are affiliate.) But they are worth it!
Rites of Passage by Joy N. Hensley (2014) - No, I don’t care that you haven’t heard me shut up about this book since 2014. I will keep recommending it and you will LISTEN. How many other contemporary YAs are there about girls in military school?? How many YAs could be comped to a feminist The Lords of Discipline? Come ON. I may never get the sequel I am ridiculously desperate for, but I can at least do my best to make sure more people get to read this one!
Pointe by Brandy Colbert (2014) - Haha you didn’t think I was ever gonna shut up about this one either, did you? That was silly. There are so many things I loved about this one when I read it, but for some reason the big one that stands out to me was the casual pot use - it was the first YA in which I’d seen it, and lemme tell you, my high school experience involved a loooot of being surrounded by usual pot use. It just helped it feel that much more realistic than most of what I’d read up to that point, and that’s just one drop in the bucket of Colbert’s skillful portrayal of teens, particularly those who’ve been marginalized, ignored, and abused in various ways that draw them to self-harm.
Up to this Pointe by Jennifer Longo (2016) - I know, a second title in a row with the same ballet pun, but trust me when I say they could not be more different, and allow to me exemplify that with the fact that this book is set in Antarctica. Truly, that should be enough to get you to read it, but it’s also just a great “let’s take a look at life choices and ruined dreams and how we move forward into uncertain futures when we thought we had everything planned out.
Don’t Get Caught by Kurt Dinan (2016) - This book is just really funny and silly and full of pranks and just fun in a way that I feel like most YA novels don’t get to be. It’s comped as Ocean’s 11 meets The Breakfast Club and yeah, I feel like that’s probably right?
Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones (2014) - Speaking of Ocean’s 11 comps, this one is spot-on Ocean’s 11 meets X-Men and so full of fun and banter and was the first YA sci-fi I ever loved.
Don’t make me have to talk about Conviction by Kelly Loy Gilbert again. (Which I do in the below post.) Just read it. (And if you already have, then go read her other books! They are all great!
I forgot ALL ABOUT Rites of Passage and it was one of my favorite reads back when it came out!! OMG I know I have a copy of it around here somewhere, now I'm desperately needing to reread it immediately!