More often than not, this author is reading young adult fiction. Some of her favorite authors are young adult authors – Schwab, Bardugo, Sepetys, to name several. She has a blog, a book twitter, and an Instagram (bookstagram, to the young adult world), dedicated mainly to young adult books. Why does the author fixate so much on young adult, you may ask?
This gif is the perfect answer.
Young adult is a genre that consistently gets criticized for being too immature, too vapid, and simply not on the same level as classic literature. But would critics be surprised to know that some classics such as The Lord of the Flies and The Catcher in the Rye can be classified as young adult? The classification of young adult has been around since the 50s/60s (think The Outsiders). So take that, critics! The term has been around for as long as you have been, and maybe even longer.
When people think of young adult, they think of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Twilight. Now, I have the same issues with Twilight as many others do, but if it’s inspired millions of teen girls to fall in love with reading, the book must have been doing something right. That being said, not every young adult book is Twilight. And there may be the occasional Fifty Shades of Grey in adult fiction, so it isn’t as though other genres are completely free from bad literature.
From the perspective of a book blogger, young adult has to be one of the most progressive genres, adapting and constantly changing to reflect its readers. There’s been a push for diverse reads by organizations such as We Need Diverse Books, and own voices representation, so authors can write stories that speak from their own marginalized experiences.
Here are some recently published ones!
Blanca and Roja by Anne-Marie McLemore
Goodreads Synopsis:
The biggest lie of all is the story you think you already know.
The del Cisne girls have never just been sisters; they’re also rivals, Blanca as obedient and graceful as Roja is vicious and manipulative. They know that, because of a generations-old spell, their family is bound to a bevy of swans deep in the woods. They know that, one day, the swans will pull them into a dangerous game that will leave one of them a girl, and trap the other in the body of a swan.
But when two local boys become drawn into the game, the swans’ spell intertwines with the strange and unpredictable magic lacing the woods, and all four of their fates depend on facing truths that could either save or destroy them. Blanca & Roja is the captivating story of sisters, friendship, love, hatred, and the price we pay to protect our hearts.
An own voices queer Latinx retelling of Snow White and Rose Red and Swan Lake.
Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi
Goodreads Synopsis:
For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.
Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him.
When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.
An own voices Asian contemporary.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi 
Goodreads Synopsis:
They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.
Now we rise.
Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.
But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.
Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.
Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.
An own voices black fantasy inspired by West African culture and mythology.
I’ve read all of these, and they’re all super amazing! I highly recommend all of them, and many more. This brief discussion on diverse reads and own voices authors is just the tip of the iceberg.
Young adult has been increasingly proactive in the past few years in getting readers the stories that best represent them. As a girl, I wanted to read stories about Filipinos being the main character, the heroines, the love interests, just for once. I’m still searching for my own voices Filipino young adult.
So let me read my ‘tawdry’ young adult novel. It might end up inspiring someone out there to tell stories of their own.
-Raisa Alexis Santos
The Junction Journal 