So like many writers, I love books. Seriously, I adore books. I was about eleven or so when I decided I wanted to be a “real writer” and continued to do so even as at least one of my parental units was less than encouraging. So yes, that means my version of teenage rebellion was spending my time making up stories for fun. When you compare that to the MO of the typical rebellious teenager, my parental unit should have been grateful.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (okay may not that long), YA fiction was mostly geared towards middle school with a few exceptions. Kids who liked to read skipped up to adult literature around high school or so. There wasn’t a problem with that, but I would have liked stories written at a higher than middle school level with characters my age. Now, we have two ends of the YA spectrum, the more middle school end and the more high school end. For writing purposes, I have always felt the pull towards the high school end.

I had a number of authors I adored back then and some that I wish had been around when i was a teen but I still read now.

Still a favorite 🙂

Diane Duane: Author of the Young Wizards series, I always wanted to be her when I grew up. She writes awesome YA Urban Fantasy. The adventures of Kit and Nita will always be among my favorites and I am even the proud owner of an anniversary edition of So You Want to Be a Wizard. While I’ve been writing Steampunk lately, I know at some point I will wander back towards Urban Fantasy. I just hope I can write a story as cool as she did. Her addition of animal wizards (and their stories) is just another cool facet of her world.

If the title alone doesn’t catch you, you just lost 10 cool points.

Ally Carter: Author of the Gallager Girls and Heist Society. One has antics and spies. The other has thieves. Either way, her books are a lot of fun to read and hit a quirky balance of romance and action. They are fluffy, on the OMG so awesome fluffy kinda way. I do like me some fluffy. I have passed off these books to friends before as well as purchased copies for my teenage niece. I don’t think you can go wrong with Ally Carter and with her first series wrapping up, I can’t wait to see what comes next.

If you weren’t a Princess Diaries kinda girl, try Suze and her adventures…

Meg Cabot: Author of the Mediator series (Oh, and those princess stories too). I know a lot of girls jumped on the Princess Diaries thing years ago, but it was not my thing. However, the quirky humor and shenanigans of her shorter lived Mediator books was something I really did love. I guess she just hits the right cord for me with her more fantasy based stuff, as I liked her Urban Fantasy offerings for adults too. I’m really looking forward to getting to the copy of Abandoned I have on the book pile.

Now your turn. What are your YA favorites?