My Top 5 YA Novels of 2011

I've just read a post from the Random House blog, entitled their 'Top 5 YA Novels of 2011'. After scrolling through their list, I can say I hadn't actually come across any of their books yet - probably because most have them have only just been released in the last few months, but all of them have been added to my Amazon wish list as future purchases!
http://www.npr.org/2011/12/19/143589123/the-teens-are-all-right-2011s-top-5-ya-novels
I love this genre of writing. It's exciting and exhilarating and just sometimes when you come across a well-written gem it can also be complex and inventive.

If you've looked at my 'Reading Challenge 2011' page, you will see that a good percentage of this year's reads have been from the YA genre, so I've decided to do my own 'Top 5.' These are my personal favourite YA reads of the year:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is my No 1 book of the year - actually I could fill all the top 3 places with this trilogy. I was completely hooked, even more so than with Twilight! These books are seriously scary and offer a completely believable and terrfiying future for us. I am not going to say anymore other than, if you haven't already read it...well, read it, and before the movies come out!

The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd is my No 2. This time a British book set in the UK, in surprise, surprise, 2015! This is another terrifying and completely believable vision of the future. A future where we're all given ration cards for our carbon use. A world where lights, cars, televisions, computers...anything electrical, anything that pollutes, is banned or seriously restricted. A world that suddenly falls apart with riots and extreme weather conditions. Written as the diary of a teenage girl, it's an easy read and you won't put it down until you've finished!

I have put Wings as No 3, because I was totally enthralled by Aprilynne Pike's story of a teenage girl who suddenly starts 'changing'. Again, I love how the completely fantastical can become so believable and entrancing...or maybe it's just me that wants to be a part of this faerie world! The follow up, 'Spells,' is equally good, but I wasn't quite as convinced by the third book 'Wild'.

I'm not sure if you can class Terry Pratchett as YA fiction, but this series of Discworld novels centre around a teen witch called Tiffany Aching, and so in my eyes that makes it YA! If you haven't read this series, then do. Tiffany's story begins with book one, 'The Wee Free Men', and follows on through 'A Hat Full of Sky' and 'The Wintersmith,' culminating in the book above.  They are all fantastic and beautifully written, as you'd expect from Terry Pratchett, but for me it was the down-to-earth, sarcastic nature of Tiffany and the hysterical antics of the Feegles. Crivens!

I've put the 'Evernight' series by Claudia Gray in the No5 position, because it was another series which I galloped through, always eager to read the next instalment. 'Evernight' centres around a gothic academy full of secrets, and a girl called Bianca who doesn't fit in. Add a 'star crossed lovers' theme and some good characters and you have a series worth sinking your teeth into!

And now with Christmas hurtling towards me and my eye-lids drooping, I'm off to bed!