BookCrushin Blogiversary: Final Giveaway –
Young Adult

As our Blogiversary celebration comes to a close, we wanted to take the time to say we appreciate all of the authors, readers and fans of this site. We promise that as we move into our 2nd year to only bring you bigger and better things and of course to spotlight all of the books that we unabashedly crush on! As our final giveaway we thought we’d go back to our roots. The thing that got us started doing this site was one: friendship and two: being adults that shamelessly loved reading Young Adult books!

With that said, we thought we’d each highlight our top 5 favorite YA books of all time and of course why we love them. And at the bottom of the post we have our AMAZING final giveaway featuring what else? Amazing YA books and swag! So read on, post in the comments if you agree/disagree with our choices and don’t forget to enter the giveaway.

Shannon

Age: 36

Favorite Young Adult Books:

OMG THIS IS SO HARD, too many but OK, since you’re making me…

1) City of Glass: The Mortal Instruments #3 by Cassandra Clare

I pretty much fell in love with The Mortal Instruments the instant I read it. I loved the melding of angels, shadowhunters, demons and vampires into this epic fantasy world. The love story between Clary and Jace was so heartbreaking and Cassandra Clare’s writing never made me feel like I was reading about two teenagers. What I loved about this book more than anything was the powerful ending.  The book was so perfect that in my mind the series could have ended at that book, to me it had everything that makes a YA great, interesting characters, an epic love story, intense action, and fabulous dialogue.

2) Vampire Academy: Vampire Academy #1 by Richelle Mead

After being sucked in by and subsequently burned by The Twilight series (sorry but Breaking Dawn was awful) I was skeptical to read this series. I have never been more glad that I went against my better judgement. Like Cassandra Clare, Richelle Mead has an ability to write a YA series that doesn’t feel or read like it’s YA. There is a maturity in the writing that suits adult readers like myself. This was a book about vampires and yet it felt completely unique. This is a series that got better as it went on, but I have a fondness for book 1 as it introduced me to this wonderful world.

3) Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna is one of those books, that while reading it you will find that you are grinning from ear to ear. It’s that damn adorable. It literally charmed the pants off me. The Paris backdrop, the realistically drawn Anna, and the achingly charismatic St. Clair! Years later I still think about this book and smile from ear to ear.

4) Mockingjay: The Hunger Games #3 by Suzanne Collins

I know there is controversy over this book and many hated it and or the ending. To me I thought it was heartbreaking and beautiful. Although things happened that tore my heart out (Finnick, cough, Prim) I just felt that it made the story that much more epic and sad. What Katniss had to overcome in that book was intense. That book stayed with me for a good long while and the last line,  “you love me real or not real? And I tell him real”, never has a more perfect last sentence been written.

5) Obsidian: Lux #1

Having just finished Origin tonight I may be a little biased in choosing Obsidian but it was the first book to introduce me to this sizzling hot series and the amazing Jennifer Armentrout (who I fangirl the hell over). But what I love about this series was it was the first YA that I felt was truly sexy. The chemistry between Daemon and Kat is off the charts. Plus, I haven’t had a good alien/human love story to obsess over since the Roswell TV show.

Honorable Mentions: Sorry making this list was hard so I had to add two more!

a) Golden Lily: Bloodlines #2 by Richelle Mead
I’m obsessed with Adrian, no really like he’s the only book character I truly wish was alive (it’s not healthy how much I wish this).

b) Under the Never Sky: Under the Never Sky #1 by Veronica Rossi
This book was so interesting and different. Very Mad Maxian and a unique take on the dystopian genre. This book is truly a gem.

 

Kelly

 

 

 

 

 

Age: 35

Top 5 Favorite Young Adult Books:

This is super hard for me to chose, but I will! Oh they are not in any order, just my top 5- if that wasn’t hard enough! PS. Hope it’s OK if I lump a series into one? PPS. Sorry for all the exclamation points, but this is exciting stuff!

1) Iron Fey Series by Julie Kagawa

I am blatantly in love with this series; it just blows me away! There is no way I can choose just one title! The books are epic; filled with adventure, romance, heartache, and fantasy all wrapped up in one amazing series! Julie Kagawa has this brilliant way of building the world and characters and wraps it all into such a  flawless progression of the story.

2) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

There was so much about this book & series that really swept me into a reading frenzy. The story is just so bleak but as you read it you feel nothing but hope! It also really brings me back to my youth, when I did some crazy things in the defense of our earth, animals and people. I had read a few dystopian books before I read this, like Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies Series, and a whole lot more dystopian since – hooked!

2.5) Honorable Mention goes to: Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

If it wasn’t for the great imagination in these books & the kick-ass Tally Youngblood, I may never have gone so far into the Sci-Fi/Dystopian genre deep end!

3) Blood Red Road by Moira Young

I don’t know what it is about this book, but I think about it all the time. I even have dreams where I am there in the dusty lands searching for my allies…Brilliant Book. As much as the sequel disappointed *me* I can not short change this book because of that. It is a must read.

4) The Golden Lily (Bloodlines #2) by Richelle Mead

As a sequel to a spinoff series of the Vampire Academy, who would have expected so much. Well there is one thing that matters in this book and that is Adrian Ivashkov. SWOON. I have a thing for the dark, brooding, bad boys who really love just as hard as anyone else.

5) Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

This book is just perfect and well sweet. Wendy writes like my mind reads…everything was smooth and real! let’s face it teens curse, drink and kiss to say the least. Of course we can not forget a sigh worthy book crush from our list: Kaidan Rowe! Kill me now, I would never be able to resist his accent, rockstar sensability and of course his lusty charms! Every person I know has rated this 4-5 stars!! Not one of us disagreed on the awesomeness of this book!

 

Well there you have it…Shannon & Kelly’s top 5 YA books. Now you feel like you know a little more about us don’t you! Could you narrow your favorites into a top 5?

 

GIVEAWAY:

We will choose 2 winners since there is so much awesomeness in this giveaway! Unfortunately, we are going to have to restrict these prizes to our US only fans due to the shipping of paperback books. If you are international and you win, we will happily award you the ebooks, but we will pick another winner for the paperbacks, no exceptions there.  To divy this up and make sure our 2 winners (selected randomly by rafflecopter) get to chose at least 1 ebook and 1 paperback book we are offering there is a mandatory entry to tell us your book choices! This will help us in the long run trust me! Otherwise all the prizes will be divided up equally!
a Rafflecopter giveaway