Contemp YA Month: Thank You

We have reached the end of Contemporary YA Month. I’m pleased to say that it’s been a success and I’ve loved hosting it. I set out to highlight some of the fantastic contemporary YA that’s been written and published over the last couple of years that has been a little over-looked, quite often by me, too. I think I did it. I had some fantastic guest posts from long-time lovers of the genre as well as warmly welcomed newbie’s and I managed to get around to reading some of those contemps that I’d bought ages ago and never quite gotten around to. But I couldn’t have done it on my own.

I’d first like to thank to lovely ladies who wrote fantastic guest posts for me: Luisa Plaja, Emma Pass, Catherine Bruton, Clover of Fluttering Butterflies and Hannah of My Book Journey. We heard about those authors that kick-started a love affair with contemporary YA, current favourites, legendary authors and why it’s so popular.

Luisa Plaja’s Top 5 Recent Favourites

Catherine Bruton: Why Adults Prefer YA

 How Hannah Mariska Discovered Contemporary YA

How Contemporary YA Got Emma Pass a Book Deal

Clover’s Favourite Contemporary YA Authors

Then we had Viv from Serendipity Reviews whom guest-reviewed a contemporary YA classic (that I still haven’t read!): Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and I Want to Read That’s Sammee who reviewed Sara Zarr’s How to Save a Life for us. Thank you!

Then half-way through the month, we had a So Many Books, So Little Time first: a cover reveal. I was the first to show the brand new cover of Keris Stainton’s upcoming Emma Hearts LA, which I know many people are very excited about (including me). Isn’t it fantastic? Emma Hearts LA will be released June 7^th by Orchard Books.

You’re all probably wondering what on earth I did contribute now, aren’t you? I waxed lyrical about the two authors who I credit for making me fall in love with contemporary YA before I even really knew what it was, before blogging and before the term YA was even coined. I owe Sarah Dessen and Sarra Manning a lot really and in these rather fan-girly posts, I tell you exactly why.

I also managed to review quite a few examples of contemporary YA. There was a mixture of the old and the new and I’m pleased to say that a few authors and books have been added to my favourites list.

Ten Things We Shouldn’t Have Done, Sarah Mlynowski

Torn, Cat Clarke

Anna and the French Kiss, Stephanie Perkins

Virtuosity, Jessica Martinez

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, Jennifer E Smith

Forget You, Jennifer Echols

Lola and the Boy Next Door, Stephanie Perkins

The Fault in Our Stars, John Green

Pretty Bad Things, CJ Skuse

The Summer I Turned Pretty, Jenny Han

Someone Else’s Life, Katie Dale

Rockaholic, CJ Skuse

The best bit is that these twelve books are only a tiny, tiny sample of what’s out there at the moment. Although it's cheesy, there really is a contemp YA novel out there for everybody. All you have to do is look at some of the fantastic ones we’ve got coming out this year: Nobody’s Girl by Sarra Manning, Emma Hearts LA by Keris Stainton, Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles, the Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg, Wonder by RJ Palacio, This is Not Forgiveness by Celia Rees, A Midsummer Tights Dream by Louise Rennison and so many, many more.

And now for the biggest thank you of all: to everyone who read, commented, tweeted, re-tweeted and followed during the course of every month. I read and appreciate every comment and every effort to help me spread the word brought a smile to my face. Contemporary YA Month really wouldn’t have worked without you all, thank you.

Sophie