I'm going to start with the books that on the surface might strike some as the most trivial, but realistically, because of the age I was when I read them, would have had the biggest impact.

 

Hands down, the undisputed winner for most influential YA writer has to be Judy Blume.  In my previous post I mentioned I didn't come from an open family.  When speaking about my adolescence, I cannot put too fine a point on this:  my entire sex education consisted of a short movie and forgettable lecture in 5th grade that left me horrified, and the works of Judy Blume.  

 

But I got so much more out of her books too.  Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret might have enlightened me on the more embarrassing aspects of puberty, but I also learned the importance of making up your own mind about your beliefs, and that there was no right answer for everyone.  I also noted the dangers of jumping to conclusions about people you don't know; that their reality is not mine.  

 

Then Again, Maybe I Won't taught me that while change was rarely welcomed, sometimes good and unexpected things came out of it.  Deenie was my personal adolescent nightmare writ large; scoliosis terrified me; after reading Deenie it still terrified me, but I could see how someone might survive it and own it.  Tiger Eyes taught me we all carry guilt, even for the things we aren't guilty of and can't control, and while that may be the nature of things, we should never stop trying to let it go.

 

Then, of course, there's Forever...  I doubt I have to list all that I learned from this book, but the most lasting lesson was this: I'm allowed to choose for myself.  I get to make my decisions on my own terms and I'm allowed to change my mind.

 

This, in my opinion, was Judy Blume's strength.  She never preached to her readers, either directly or indirectly.  She created characters that were confronted by the things her readers confronted, and then gave her characters the rational capacity to find the answers on their own. Adults don't play Yoda in her books; the kids reach their own conclusions, and as a result they serve as examples to their readers.

 

There are other teen authors from back in the day that come to mind:  Beverly Cleary, of course, although not for her much more famous Romana series, but for The Luckiest Girl.  At 16, Shelley leaves her family to spend a year in California with a family she barely knows.  While quite a bit of the book is dated now and even a little twee, what stuck with me all these years was her bravery in getting on that plane by herself, her openness to experience new things, and her unapologetic, unabashed delight in the world around her. I admired her for that - I wanted to be like that too, and I am, mostly. I'll forever be grateful to Beverly Cleary for Shelley.

 

Finally, there's Up in Seth's Room by Norma Fox Mazer.  Like Forever this deals with the weighty issues of first love and how far do you go?  This book fascinated me because it straddled two myths:  If you defy your parents you're automatically wrong, and if you're dating someone older, you're going to be unable to say no.  Finn is 15 and falls for a 19 year old.  She defies her parents after she's forbidden to see him, but she calls the shots with Seth.  She decides what she is and isn't comfortable doing and she sticks to her guns.  As a stubborn teen, Finn spoke to me in ways nobody else ever did.

 

I give my mom (deservedly) most of the credit for the strong-willed, independent woman I am today, but it's just as accurate to say these women deserve to share the credit with her; they went where she was unwilling or unable to go, and I doubt she could find much fault with their lessons.

 

Exquisitely disfunctional! And there's one hell of a crazy girl portrayed in here! It's Gone Girl all right! This book storyline is entirely disgusting, it's like watching a car crash.
One can easily see why modern guys go gay. I would too if facing life with such a nasty creature.
Frankly speaking, a good psychoanalyst would be soo much needed, both for the happy bride and for the unlucky catch. And for the reader too. This should be made a reading material for psychologists in training. The illustration for OCD, neurosis, PTSD and an entire plethora of other conditions.
Paying that much attention to minutiae of life, work, day-to-day... These people are officially crazy!

Q:
I once wrote some tip in The Women’s Magazine, “A study found that the act of physically closing your menu once you’ve decided what to order can make you feel more satisfied with your choice. So go with the pan-seared sole and snap that menu shut before you start eye-sexing the penne alla vodka.” LoLo, my boss, had underlined the words “eye-sexing” and written, “Hilarious.”
(c)
Q:
I gushed, “That would be such a help, Eleanor,” and bared my recently whitened teeth. The elevator doors dinged my freedom.
(c)
Q:
Clifford batted his eyes flirtatiously. Eleanor got nothing. Clifford has been the receptionist at The Women’s Magazine for twenty-one years and has various, absurd reasons for hating the majority of people who walk past him every day. Eleanor’s crime is that she is awful, but also that one time, an e-mail went out that there were cookies in the pantry. Clifford, who couldn’t leave the phones unattended, forwarded it to Eleanor asking her to bring him one, plus a coffee with enough milk that it turned the color of a camel. Eleanor happened to be in a meeting, and by the time she read the e-mail, the cookies were gone. She brought him his precious camel-colored coffee anyway, but Clifford turned his nose up at it and hasn’t spoken more than five words to her since. “Fat cow probably ate the last one instead of giving it to me,” he hissed to me after “the incident.” Eleanor is just about the most anorexic person I know, and we fell to our knees we laughed so hard.
(c)
Q:
“Look at that skirt.” Clifford whistled, his eyes approving on the size two leather tube I’d stuffed myself into after yesterday’s carb catastrophe. The compliment was as much for me as it was for Eleanor. Clifford loved to showboat what a peach he could be if only you never crossed him.
“Thank you, doll.” I opened the door for Eleanor.
“Fucking queen,” she muttered as she passed through, loud enough for Clifford to hear. She looked at me, waiting to see what I would do. If I ignored her, it was a line drawn in the sand. Laugh, and it was a betrayal to Clifford.
I held up my hands. Made sure my voice carried the lie, “I adore you both.”
(c)
Q:
The editor in chief—a chic, asexual woman named LoLo, with a menacing presence I thrive on because it makes my job feel forever in jeopardy and therefore important—seems to be simultaneously disgusted by and in awe of me.
(c)
Q:
My co-workers turn their noses up at meeting with these sad-sack girls the same way they turn their noses up at writing about the grundle, but I find it to be pure entertainment. Nine times out of ten, she’s the prettiest girl in her sorority, the one with the best closet, the biggest collection of J Brand jeans. I’ll never tire of seeing the shadow pass over her face when she sees my Derek Lam trousers slung low on my hips, the messy bun sprouting out of my neck. She’ll tug at the waist of her tasteful A-line dress that suddenly seems so matronly, smooth down her overly straightened hair, and realize she played it all wrong. This girl would have tortured me ten years ago, and I fly out of bed on the mornings I get to exert my power over her now.
...
I make it a point to bring these girls to the newsstand. “You were a staff writer for your college newspaper?” I’ll cradle my chin in my hand, encourage them to tell me more about their exposé on the school mascot, the costume’s homophobic undertones, when I’ve already decided how much help to provide them based on how they treat Loretta.
(c)

I'm really disappointed I didn't like this book more than I did. I was just 'meh' for me. I even felt let down by the twists and turns the synopsis promised me. Nothing in the book surprised me. I felt the characters were a bit flat. They were somewhat unique (except the fact that they were all terrible people), but they kind of felt like 'plug and play' characters. Like saying, "Oh, I have this psychological thriller so that means I need all unlikable characters. I'll take one tormented fat kid, one anorexic, one jock, one embarrassing mother, oh and can't forget the emotionally detached father!" There were, of course, more characters, but they all fit in the plug and play formula. I read to the end so I can't say I hated it, I just wished I liked it more.

I typically like books with dislikable characters; the flaws are so fascinating. In Gone Girl, the book this one is so frequently (and erroneously) compared to, pure sociopathy came to life in a way that furthered the storyline. 

 

Here, the characters are horrendous simply for the sake of being horrendous. It was as if the author wanted to see just how far she could explode her unbelievable world. 

 

It's also highly triggering if you've ever struggled with your weight or relationship to food. The main character is an obsessive binger, again, just for the sake of being one, narratively. There's frequent discussion of the Dukan diet, pounds lost, sizes dropped... none of it put me in a good headspace.

 

...I guess I don't actually have anything redeeming to throw at this one. :/  

My choices are based on a mix, what had the biggest impact on me and which ones i had the fondest memories of. The outcome really not all that surprising.

In order of how when I read them.

 

Burn For Me by Ilona Andrews
★★★★★

 

As a general rule anything IA writes i gobble up, i just think the husband and wife duo are absolutely brilliant. Burn for Me was an exciting start to the Hidden Legacy series , with interesting and lovable characters, a fascinating world filled with new rules and politics and fantastic (slightly horrific) powers!! IA always has such a vivid and incredible imagination. I'm just so glad they can write all those thoughts down on paper for us to enjoy as well!!
Also don't you just love how horrid their covers always seem to be? adds character. haha.

 

 

Steal the Dragon by Patricia Briggs

★★★★

 

I absolutely adore PB earlier stuff. I know she claims it to be inferior work, but really I thought her original books were truly fantastic, in fact I'm sad she never finished the series. Steal The Dragon is actually the second book in the series, at the time (around the beginning of the year) i was binge reading everything written by PB i could get my hands on, unfortunately this was the only one i seem to have read in 2015. It easily made my top 10.
Great characters, which PB is known for.

 

 

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

★★★★★

 

Who doesn't love a book about serial killers? what about a book from the POV of a serial killers sun, one who struggles with urges. Is he just like dear old pops? an inhuman monster? Only one way to find out, trust me this baby is totally worth the read. Personally i find the whole nature Vs nurture theory absolutely fascinating, yea i'm glad they stopped the experiments cause they were insane but boy is it an interesting topic. This book does a great job of theorizing about it.

 

 

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
★★★★★

 

I was carrying this sweet heart around for about a week, the people i spoke with because of this book!! Everyone was so shocked I hadn't read this book earlier, and I have to say I agree, this book is incredible. Sebold did a tremendous job writing a heart breaking story about a young girl murder, her journey to get over her early ending, and her new life in heaven!! The writing, pace and characters were all brilliantly done. Heaven was so unique, i doubt I'll ever forget it.

 

 

Black and White by Jackie Kessler

★★★★

 

This was such a different book compared to anything i had ever read before. It read like a comic, or perhaps a tv show without the actual pictures. We had these fantastic characters, once best friends now hated enemies. throughout this book we discover who they were and how they became to be. Jackie did a fantastic job of seamlessly joining 'then' and 'now' to make fun and enjoyable story about super heroes Vs villains, and not always knowing who the bad guy actually is.

 

 

Dead of Winter by Kresley Cole

★★★★

 

This whole series has just been wonderful. Cole really knows how to put the scary into a dystopian world. I'm one of those believers just because a book is YA doesn't mean the author should slack out and be lazy, that kids won't know better the short cuts they made, etc. Cole never does that. She writes a fantastic caste of characters, in a horrific and terrible world but keeps that shit PG so younger readers can enjoy. Really the women is brilliant, also evil. That ending!! UGH WHY!?!

 

 

Murder of Crows & Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop

★★★★ + ★★★★★

 

Truth be told, Murder of Crows wasn't one of my favorites. Compared to other authors and books Anne did an excellent job, but if we're going to hold up this one book compared to the other two in the series it was a little weak, but as a whole the series is so mind blowing good I decided to lump them all in together. cheating? maybe but its my list, so meh *sticks tongue out*
THIS SERIES IS FUCKING FABULOUS. thats all I have to say.

 

 

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

★★★★

 

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship going on with this book. Love because it was so well done, Knoll had me on, i couldn't believe this was fiction. Sure i thought she was one seriously messed up girl, but so bloody believable!! it was insane, i felt insane! haha

Hate because Knoll also introduced me to a whole new genre. I already have over 2000+ books on my TBR list, i don't bloody well need more!! But what can I say I'm a sucker. To the Library for more realistic fiction!!

 

 

Naked in Death by J.D. Robb

★★★★

 

People had been mentioning this series to me for forever. I was like crime, pfft i read that shit before, boring!! the MC is always so drone-like, but i fell into pressure and tried it anyways and boy was i surprised!! why no one had ever told me it was futuristic is beyond me! i just adored that feature of this world, and quickly read the next four books... until i made myself queasy with all those grisly murder scenes. Me the binge watcher of Bones, Criminal Minds and Supernatural!?! who knew i could even get sick from a fictional murder scene these days, apparently i can. Still i have fond memories of this book almost a year later (it should be at the beginning of my list) and have plans to read the rest (in short bursts, lol) only issue i had with this book was the quickness of the relationship.

 

 

So yea thats my list. Looking forward to a new year, new books and expectations. Though I'm seriously not off to a good start. I'm hoping this means my later books will be beyond orgasmic good. can't help to hope right? ;)

 

Any opinions on books i should try this year based on my list? let me know, I'm all ears.