Venturing into some real-life YA

I probably should have said in the title of this post I'm venturing into reading real-life YA not writing it. Not yet. I've had some ideas that won't leave me alone but I tend to shoosh them and push them to the back of the line for fantasy stories. I know, I know, I'm mean for playing favorites. But the more I read contemporary YA stories the more I think I want to take stab at writing one.

Both of the "real-life" YA books that I've read lately were recommendations from my fabulous critique buddies. Jamie suggested Paper Towns by John Green, which I LOVED (I've gushed about this one before), and just last week Miranda suggested The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. Clearly, the know what they're talking about.

They were both dead on with how awesome both of the stories and authors are. So thank you girls for pushing me out of my little fantasy world to check them out. If you haven't read these books GO now. They. Are. Amazing.

I feel so behind on the Sarah Dessen thing. Miranda is SO right about how incredibly she writes character growth. It's easy to stay up late reading a fantasy story with all the action and suspense, but I stayed up until 2 AM (much later than I planned) to finish The Truth About Forever. I just had to know what was going to happen. Wow. So good.

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go hoard all the Sarah Dessen books from the library.