The Young Adult Historical Fiction Society discussion

Always a popular thread ...

Tell us what you're currently reading!

I just started The Once and Future King. Phew, it is a chunkster of a book with very tiny text. I am glad I'm getting new glasses this week. I've been wanting to read this one for awhile.

I've been reading the DragonKeeper Chronicles starting with DragonSpell, which is a Christian fantasy. I've been so engrossed in the series, I haven't really done anything else.

Buuuut, The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan comes out tomorrow, which I will be buying promptly at nine when my B&N opens, and probably finish it by tomorrow afternoon :)

I will need to read that soon too, Amy, since I just recently finished The Dead-Tossed Waves and the story is still fresh in my mind.

I don't particularly love that series but I find the story very engaging. This one is about Annah, right? Hopefully she is less annoying than Gabry. And hopefully Carrie Ryan finally gives me some answers to questions that have been plaguing me since The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

Yep, it's about Annah, Gabry's sister! I'm excited to see how the stories will all meet up! I hate all the questions authors leave you with until the last book of a series, so I hope to get some answers too! I'm also always too lazy to re-read previous books, so I'm always trying to figure out what's new and what's been discovered in other books.

Yeah, I'm not big on re-reading something so soon after just to try and fill in the blanks. Not when I have a to-read shelf as large as mine. And even if I wanted to this would not be the series I'd do it with. I really didn't care for the middle to end of the first book and I just couldn't stand Gabry through all of the second one. But I think Carrie Ryan writes her worlds really well and the story, if anything, is compelling so I want to know how it ends.

I wish I had one of those incredible detail-driven memories that could hold
all those important tidbits.

Seriously though, I ask people this all the time because I feel like this is such a huge gap in the story that I must've missed something.

I'm going to try and ask this in such a way as to not divulge spoilers but, just to cover my butt, I'm going to throw a spoiler tag on it.

(view spoiler)[Did we ever find out what role The Sisterhood played in Gabrielle (red vest) becoming a Breaker? That was what pissed me off the most with the first one. It was like she was with them and then all of a sudden she was terrorizing the village. And so I can only assume that she was bitten before she came in (though she told Mary she was not), that she tried to escape and was attacked, or that The Sisterhood did it on purpose ... but why?

PS: How creepy is it to name your daughter after a zombie that destroyed most of your village? Just saying ... (hide spoiler)]

Hmmm...okay, I seriously see where you're getting the gap in the story, because now that I think about it, I can totally relate! I was just so excited when I read this book because it was my first zombie book :) But I understand what you mean.

(view spoiler)[ That always kinda bothered me too! It's been a while since I read FoHT, so I don't know if this will help or not. But, I didn't think that the change took very long, so if Gabrielle had been bitten before, she would have changed while she was staying in the convent. Which made me come to the conclusion that Sisterhood did it on purpose. As for the why, I have no idea. Maybe to keep the society pure? I didn't get half the crazy stuff the Sisterhood did. Add Mary's crazy on top of that and FoTH was a pretty insane book. I don't understand what was so special about Gabrielle that she was so much faster than the rest of the other zombies though. I mean, there weren't any other fast zombies in the book. As for your last question, yes, seriously creepy. I just think it was an event that had a huge impact on Mary and she wanted to keep the memory.(view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

Currently reading one YA urban fantasy and one adult historical romance.

More Forest of Hands and Teeth and Dead-Tossed Waves spoilage ...

(view spoiler)[They said in The Dead-Tossed Waves that if someone becomes infected and dies away from other zombies they will become fast - "a Breaker." So I assumed that she changed in the sanctuary or the village somewhere away from the other Unconsecrated. But then I could never figure out how she changed if she was not bitten prior to coming into the village. Like they put so much emphasis on the Gabrielle mystery and The Sisterhood I just assumed they were going to explain. But they never did. I am hoping that something comes of it in the third book because Mary has the book with the village history in it. (hide spoiler)]

The possibility of an answer to all those riddles is what is really driving me to want to read The Dark and Hollow Places.

@Stacia - Now that I got it on my Kindle, I will probably start Red Glove soon too. I will be interested to hear your thoughts, though, as always. :)

Did you get it to load and open then?

I did my S&S ones with the DRM removal. I haven't attempted to do it the way you suggested yet but I'm gonna give it a shot with a couple I have from NetGalley.

Speaking of S&S (not trying to derail here, sorry), have you gotten the March galley newsletter yet? I haven't received one for this month.

Hmm, no, I haven't. I just have the February one which came on 2/18.

Okay, so it's not just me. Maybe they're running late on it this month.

What do I need to do to get them to send me the Galley Grab emails?

Ah can't wait to really constribute to this one, like 2 more months of school >_<

@Jenny - You mean you're signed up and you're not getting the newsletter or you want to know how to sign up?

Currently reading , last book in the Abhorsen series so I then breath and start reading my other library books! I tried to go to the library yesterday to pick them up, but I forgot that it closed early on Mondays and Tuesdays. *whines about library hours*

I am currently reading "Cherry Cheesecake Murder"

I'm currently reading The singular Beast for school...

Elle wrote: "@Jenny - You mean you're signed up and you're not getting the newsletter or you want to know how to sign up?"

How do I sign up?

The plan was to reread the BDB books, but I'm finding that I'm skimming. So I'm not sure what I'm reading next. Perhaps in honor of our new group I'll read the recommendation I bought, A Great and Terrible Beauty.

Wendy F wrote: "The plan was to reread the BDB books, but I'm finding that I'm skimming. So I'm not sure what I'm reading next. Perhaps in honor of our new group I'll read the recommendation I bought, [book:A Gr..."

If you're looking for a buddy reader, I'll read along with you. I usually balance a couple of books at once.

I'm curious what you two will think of that AGATB. I really liked them when I read the books, but my opinion of them overall has tarnished a bit with time I think. When I first read them, they were 4 star reads for me because I hadn't had read much fantasy or historical anything in several years, but now I think they're probably 3 star reads if I compare them to other recent stories I've read.

That doesn't sound good, does it? I still have fond memories of the books (especially Kartik), so that must be a good thing.

Elle, I think it'd be fun to read them together. I'll probably start mine tonight.

I came across this book when I was looking for giveaway's. I don't know that it counts as YA, but it looks interestingThe Ship in the Hill.

Stacia *eyes up here* wrote: "I'm curious what you two will think of that AGATB. I really liked them when I read the books, but my opinion of them overall has tarnished a bit with time I think. "

It's sad how often this happens. :(
But then, when you find a really great one, the memory of its greatness only gets greater with time. That's a lot more rare though, at least for me.

Stacia *eyes up here* wrote: "I'm curious what you two will think of that AGATB. I really liked them when I read the books, but my opinion of them overall has tarnished a bit with time I think. When I first read them, they wer..."

I really really hate when that happens!! Twilight (the first one) is probably what it did the most. It is why I'm afraid to re-re-read tithe again, and a few others that is what happens. Katrik!!! I do miss him...

I started mine last night too, Wendy. So far so good! :)

Unfortunately I didn't get mine started last night. I'm going to start it today after work, though.

I'm almost done with . It's really different. The main character isn't the usual weak female who needs saving, so that's a nice change.

Ooh, Lindsey, that one looks cool! I'll have to see if my library can get it in... :)

I'm not currently reading anything at the moment, which is fairly unusual for me! I chowed through about 5 books last week, and the last one was which I had a really hard time finishing. But I'm hoping to start tonight and get back on track!

I'm almost finished with Sarum: The Novel of England, which has been a bear of a book to get through. I'm sad because it came highly recommended and I can officially say I'm not as impressed with it as I hoped to be. I'm also currently reading The Crimson Petal and the White, my favorite read from last year. I am enjoying it just as much on the reread as I did the first go around, so that makes me quite pleased!!

@Berit: You're not the only one who had a hard time finishing Fall of a Kingdom. There was something about the characters that I didn't really connect with...

I just started .

Emi wrote: "@Berit: You're not the only one who had a hard time finishing Fall of a Kingdom. There was something about the characters that I didn't really connect with...

I just started [bookcover:Revolution|..."

Oh good, so it wasn't just me! I dunno, something about it just didn't work for me. Maybe they were all too one-sided? Or flat, like I didn't feel any chemistry or sympathy for any of them.

How are you liking Revolution?

Ooh, Emi! Let me know how you like it.

I sat down and read which was definitely funny. Last night I started .

I am currently reading Unwind.

Unwind is sooo good Jayme! I loved that one! I hope you like it! :)

I'm in between books at the moment and I was gonna start Wither, but I might start White Cat. I've tried Holly Black books before and haven't been impressed, but I've heard really good things about the Curse Workers series.

@Berit: Yeah, I know what you mean. Even though the narration was split between three characters, I just couldn't connect to any of them. Like, no matter what they did I didn't find them endearing in any way...I've heard that the second one is better, but I'm not really in a hurry to find out.

@Berit and Elle: I really liked it! I'll admit, The MC was a little annoying at times (she was really angsty), but the story itself was really cool and deep, and Donnelly definitely did her homework to bring the historical aspects of the story to life.

Elle, what do you think of Red Glove so far? I just started reading . It's interesting, but I don't think I've really sunk into the world yet.

Reading and loving it.

Amy wrote: "Unwind is sooo good Jayme! I loved that one! I hope you like it! :)

I'm in between books at the moment and I was gonna start Wither, but I might start White Cat. I've..."

I am in the first part and so far it's good. I sympathize with the "Unwinds".

Amy wrote: "I've tried Holly Black books before and haven't been impressed..."

I hear you. I was not impressed with Tithe at all. I didn't hate it, but it was a very middle of the road 3 star book for me and the only thing I really liked about it was Roiben. I thought her curseworkers books were so much better.

Yay for the White Cat/Red Glove readers. Yay to Unwind too. :)

Not reading much of anything today, just sort of a chapter here and there in Eon still. Waiting to get CoFA so I can read it and then might try...

I finished White Cat yesterday and was sort of surprised. I've never been a huge fan of Holly Black (I don't have anything against her or anything, her books just aren't for me), but this series doesn't feel like her usual stuff. Overall, I liked it, but it took me a really long time to get into. I'll totally read the sequel, though.

I downloaded Girl with the Steel Corset from NetGalley too! I'm reading right now, but when I finish with that I think Girl with the Steel Corset will be the next NG book I read.

is really good so far. It's reminiscent of . Finley is the MC and is likable; she's strong, yet needs others to help her. So far there's some magnetism between a few of the characters but that's not the focus. It was hard to stop reading last night!

What did you end up thinking of Girl in the Steel Corset, Lindsey?

I'm about 40% into it and having mixed feelings. The story has been easy to get into, but something isn't clicking with me. I almost feel like the author is trying so hard to make everything steampunk-y that it's almost to the point of going overboard.

Also about to start .

I finished "The Battle of the Labyrinth" and "The Last Olympian" and will be starting "Beloved" tonight.

Reading !

Really excited about it, I've heard great things.

I loved that book.

Great things like that! Lol. :D

Reading . I can't believe it has taken me this long to read it! I am really liking it.

Awesome, Veronica! Pierce's books just get better and better, too. :)

I've just finished for the first time, and WOW, loved it. Trying really hard not to start the second one THIS INSTANT because otherwise I'll have to read it first thing when I get home from work and then my partner will sulk that I am ignoring him.

So instead I have started because it is short stories that I can read in my lunchbreak. :)