YA in May

My friend Stephanie decided in the month of May that she wanted to read more YA. She and I used to read a lot of young adult novels, but we’ve both slowed them a little bit. When she said that she was doing that, I immediately wanted to join in. We’re not reading the same books, but instead picked books that were either already on our shelves or that we had been meaning to read for a long time. I’m going to give a few mini reviews of the books I chose to read.

I just have to start off by saying that this was so much fun and it forced me to read a few books off of my shelf. It helped to mix things up while stuck in quarantine with the libraries shut down.

The first book I chose was Chasing Redbird by Sharon Creech. I read this book way back when it first came out in 1997. I found it at the library sale for 50 cents a few years ago and I remembered loving it so I bought it with the intent to re-read it. Of course, it has sat on my shelves but was the first book  I thought of for YA in May.

This book was cute and I could see why I liked it when I was a kid. It was a bit odder than I remembered though. I still appreciated Zinny and the mystery in the story. The only part I wasn’t as crazy about while reading it as an adult is the romance. A 16 year old having a thing for a 13 year old? Little creepy. Then add in that he steals things for her? Eek. Other than that though, it was a fun well written book and I got through it quickly. It also made me want to re-read Walk Two Moons and see further into the mind of childhood Lindsey

I wrote a full review on this book that you can read here. It was so good and definitely one of the bet books I’ve read in a while.

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

I read a bunch of Sarah Dessen in high school. She was the first contemporary romance author I fell in love with. I loved Meg Cabot, but I loved her Mediator Series which was a little more fantasy, but if I wanted summer romance that was Dessen. I remembered my favorite of hers being one with a bike and staying up all night, but I didn’t remember the name. When searching at Half Price Books, I saw the cover and read the description and figured this was in. So, when it was time for YA in May, I knew I was going to re-read this one.

Oh, my, goodness. This book is so good! And it still works all these years later! Seriously, no one does a teen summer better than Sarah Dessen. I loved all of the characters and the relationships in this book. I would highly recommend checking this out and I’m so glad that I added this to my list.

Overall, I am so glad that I decided to increase of YA reading this month. I absolutely love YA and sometimes I forget that because I feel like I should be reading other “more adult” books. I highly recommend reading each of the books on this list.