Holly Black

[Paperbackstash]

I've been curious on trying her since I keep seeing some of her books pop up on my GR feed. I'm not a big YA fan in general, so I haven't rushed it. I didn't know until checking out her book page right now that she was the author of the new comic series of Lucifer starting 2015

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Have you tried to read the acclaimed YA books that are printed these days? That's the trouble with YA. Its most visible books are thrash.

Yes, I am an eclectic reader and I read quite a lot of YA. Of the authors you list, I haven't read Schwab or Maas, and The Scorpio Races has been Stiefvater's best book, in my opinion, though I haven't read Call Down The Hawk yet. But I'm not going to try to convince you to like it, just like I'm not going to try to convince you to like my favourite food or my favourite song. I'd appreciate the same respect.

Most of Riordan's work I'd call upper middle grade more than YA, though obviously there's crossover. His Percy Jackson series and the spinoffs are excellent read-alouds for MG kids.

If you are genuinely interested in trying more YA, though there's absolutely no reason you should, I'd recommend looking more toward works considered YA-Adult crossover books. Golden Boys, for example, or Wilder Girls, or A Corner of White, or The Girl With All The Gifts, or My Sister Rosa, or Zeroboxer, or Liar; or some Melina Marchetta or Patrick Ness or Isobelle Carmody or Ambelin Kwaymullina or Alice Pung or Jenni Fagan or Paolo Bacigalupi. Start with subgenres that you enjoy in adult books. If you don't like adult romantic fantasy, for example, reading YA romantic fantasy is probably not going to be your jam.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by meeera

Yes, I am an eclectic reader and I read quite a lot of YA. Of the authors you list, I haven't read Schwab or Maas, and The Scorpio Races has been Stiefvater's best book, in my opinion, though I haven't read Call Down The Hawk yet. But I'm not going to try to convince you to like it, just like I'm not going to try to convince you to like my favourite food or my favourite song. I'd appreciate the same respect.

Most of Riordan's work I'd call upper middle grade more than YA, though obviously there's crossover. His Percy Jackson series and the spinoffs are excellent read-alouds for MG kids.

If you are genuinely interested in trying more YA, though there's absolutely no reason you should, I'd recommend looking more toward works considered YA-Adult crossover books. Golden Boys, for example, or Wilder Girls, or A Corner of White, or The Girl With All The Gifts, or My Sister Rosa, or Zeroboxer, or Liar; or some Melina Marchetta or Patrick Ness or Isobelle Carmody or Ambelin Kwaymullina or Alice Pung or Jenni Fagan or Paolo Bacigalupi. Start with subgenres that you enjoy in adult books. If you don't like adult romantic fantasy, for example, reading YA romantic fantasy is probably not going to be your jam.

Thanks for the recommendations!! I've copied your info on my desktop. I did read The Girl with all the Gifts! I liked most of it but I don't think I rated it highly. Thank you again. Up till this year I've been reading a lot of cozy mysteries which is my favorite genre. I don't think that the YA genre caters to that.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Thanks for the recommendations!! I've copied your info on my desktop. I did read The Girl with all the Gifts! I liked most of it but I don't think I rated it highly. Thank you again. Up till this year I've been reading a lot of cozy mysteries which is my favorite genre. I don't think that the YA genre caters to that.

As a fellow cozy reader, I can assure you that 90% of cozy mysteries are crap, too!

Full-formula cozy mystery YA isn't a super established subgenre (possibly because adult cozy mysteries are pretty YA-friendly already?), but if you're looking for more recs (which you seem to be), try the series starting with A Trifle Dead by Livia Day (not strictly YA but definitely crossover IMO), and maybe the Ally Carter serieses for a bit of fun, and some Ellie Marney if you don't mind a romantic subplot (not super cozy but good). Etiquette & Espionage might be worth a try, but Gail Carriger is a very particular thing and it may or may not be your thing. Y.S. Lee's The Agency books, perhaps?

If you step outside cozy, Small Spaces by Epstein is great. And there are a fair few YA psychological thriller type books about.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by meeera

As a fellow cozy reader, I can assure you that 90% of cozy mysteries are crap, too!

Full-formula cozy mystery YA isn't a super established subgenre (possibly because adult cozy mysteries are pretty YA-friendly already?), but if you're looking for more recs (which you seem to be), try the series starting with A Trifle Dead by Livia Day (not strictly YA but definitely crossover IMO), and maybe the Ally Carter serieses for a bit of fun, and some Ellie Marney if you don't mind a romantic subplot (not super cozy but good). Etiquette & Espionage might be worth a try, but Gail Carriger is a very particular thing and it may or may not be your thing. Y.S. Lee's The Agency books, perhaps?

If you step outside cozy, Small Spaces by Epstein is great. And there are a fair few YA psychological thriller type books about.

The thing I find silly about some cozy mysteries is not the mystery but the fact that in a small town or village there are so many murders.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The thing I find silly about some cozy mysteries is not the mystery but the fact that in a small town or village there are so many murders.

Yeah. Usually I manage to suspend my disbelief, but then I rarely read cozies. I prefer historical mysteries and some contemporary ones to cozies, but sometimes I do try them.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The thing I find silly about some cozy mysteries is not the mystery but the fact that in a small town or village there are so many murders.

Oh, come on. You're a Star Trek fan, aren't you? Anyone that can swallow Star Trek shouldn't have any trouble with a few quiet villages full of murderers.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by meeera

As a fellow cozy reader, I can assure you that 90% of cozy mysteries are crap, too!

Full-formula cozy mystery YA isn't a super established subgenre (possibly because adult cozy mysteries are pretty YA-friendly already?), but if you're looking for more recs (which you seem to be), try the series starting with A Trifle Dead by Livia Day (not strictly YA but definitely crossover IMO), and maybe the Ally Carter serieses for a bit of fun, and some Ellie Marney if you don't mind a romantic subplot (not super cozy but good). Etiquette & Espionage might be worth a try, but Gail Carriger is a very particular thing and it may or may not be your thing. Y.S. Lee's The Agency books, perhaps?

If you step outside cozy, Small Spaces by Epstein is great. And there are a fair few YA psychological thriller type books about.

Duly noted!

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The thing I find silly about some cozy mysteries is not the mystery but the fact that in a small town or village there are so many murders.

The 'freshly baked' cozy mysteries address this very fact, the uncanny occurrence that the main character keeps having murders to solve. She even becomes a mini celebrity.

[Paperbackstash]

YA is in a tough spot because there are so many unspoken but acknowledged divisions. Like Rick Riordan was mentioned above, he's a lot of fun, but I consider him MG instead of YA while he's categorized either children or YA. Some MG is definitely YA though (some of Darren Shan's horror stuff is darker than a lot of adult stuff!) Then YA can mean young YA or old YA or near NA-YA You never know what age group you're reading and depending what the person wants, it can get complicated sifting through it all.

I'm a cozy mystery reader too and agree a lot of it is subpar or just too forgettable and formulaic. The rare winners make it worth it, though.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

YA is in a tough spot because there are so many unspoken but acknowledged divisions. [...]

I'm a cozy mystery reader too and agree a lot of it is subpar or just too forgetable and formulaic. The rare winners make it worth it, though.

When the usual cozy mysteries that I read are short, I more often than not give them 5 stars on Goodreads. In the Oceanside cozy series the way the crime is committed is usually top notch and the denouement very good.

The book And then there were Crumbs is great and I do recommend this cozy, but its pacing issues, coupled with a greater number of pages, meant that I gave it 4 stars.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by Luffy

When the usual cozy mysteries that I read are short, I more often than not give them 5 stars on Goodreads. In the Oceanside cozy series the way the crime is committed is usually top notch and the denouement very good.

The book And then there were Crumbs is great and I do recommend this cozy, but its pacing issues, coupled with a greater number of pages, meant that I gave it 4 stars.

Yes, they can be great fun. I like the humorous and cute ones, but there are some that are more serious and just interesting. I like how many times they will center around a certain setting, job, or hobby. People aren't afraid to have older heroes and heroines in cozies either, which is a nice change.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

Yes, they can be great fun. I like the humorous and cute ones, but there are some that are more serious and just interesting. I like how many times they will center around a certain setting, job, or hobby. People aren't afraid to have older heroes and heroines in cozies either, which is a nice change.

We readers of the cozy genre simply embrace its foibles along with the great attributes. The main franchise of the author Daryl Wood Gerber is great, but I rarely give it 4 or 5 stars. I enjoy the atmosphere in the series.

I will devote my time to the great recommendations by Meera after this year. In 2020 I have vowed to read doorstoppers only.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Luffy

I will devote my time to the great recommendations by Meera after this year. In 2020 I have vowed to read doorstoppers only.

Here ya go.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/590348.This_is_All

(I have not read it, but it's had a fair bit of "literary" acclaim.)

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by meeera

Here ya go.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/590348.This_is_All

(I have not read it, but it's had a fair bit of "literary" acclaim.)

You're too kind.

I will read all the books in the series, if they are available. However forgive me for not repeating that I will read only 1000 paged or more books.

[Xanthe]

I haven't been into cozies for a while, but I just read one recently that I enjoyed, "Dead in Dublin" by Catie Murphy (who is really C.E. Murphy, author of the Walker Papers series, among others). The heroine wasn't an annoying TSTL busybody, which is so often the case in cozies. I'm actually going to buy the next book when it's released.

I think that my biggest pet peeve about YA books is that they aren't often labeled upfront as such, so if I see a new book out by a favorite author, I think, "hot damn", then I read the synopsis and see that it some series about a wayward wizards academy, or a group of young tech whizzes, or some such thing, and my anticipatory hopes are dashed. I think that the introduction of the character of Wesley Crusher into Star Trek scarred me for life.

In recent years, I've been mainly a sci-fi/urban fantasy/mystery reader who somehow never hopped aboard the Harry Potter train, so any story line that seems to be a knockoff of it holds no interest - and so many YA SF/F books seem to be variations on the mythic academy theme. Or, it's a coming-of-age story and I've already got a pre-teen and a teen in my life - I can experience the drama in real-time, lol.