Emma's Ultimate Rec Series: Romance

Ordinarily, I hate walking into B&N and seeing a separate section for YA romance because there is no clear delineation to what they think is romance and what isn't. Case in point: I once saw The Raven Cycle books shelved as romance when clearly they should be in B&N's adventure section (which is another weird categorization, but whatever). But I will allow that there are some YA books that focus primarily on romance, and so that is what I am recommending today.

The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You by Lily Anderson

Together at Midnight by Jennifer Castle

10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston

The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills

If I'm Being Honest by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

Pride by Ibi Zoboi

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

The Fill-In Boyfriend by Kasie West

In a Perfect World by Trish Doller

What kinds of YA romances do you like?  

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I've Read the Most Books By

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

I contemplated a couple ways to make this list. A bunch of the authors I've surely read the most books by are the ones of my childhood who wrote super long series (or had them ghostwritten; looking at you, Ann M. Martin). And I thought that might be kind of boring? But Goodreads also removed the most read authors feature, which... BOOOOOOO. That made my job 200 times harder. So I've assembled a list of authors I'm pretty sure I've read a lot of books by. This will be a mix of childhood authors and more recent reads.



1. Ann M. Martin
Between the BSC series, Baby-sitter's Little Sister series, some standalones, and the Main Street books, I've read a lot of AMM's work.


2. Ally Carter
Three series (consisting of six, three, and three books, respectively), a standalone, and the start of a middle grade series.


3. Valerie Tripp and Janet Shaw
Between the two of them, they wrote most of the American Girl series.


4. Kasie West
A very prolific YA romance author.


5. Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Boxcar Children books were my catnip, along with Baby-sitters Club.


6. Leigh Bardugo
Grisha trilogy, Six of Crows duology, more Grishaverse works, and a Wonder Woman book.


7. Marissa Meyer
Lunar Chronicles (plus associated novellas), the Renegades trilogy, and Heartless.


8. Robin Stevens
Robin has written a delightful historical mystery middle grade series that is soon-to-be nine books long, along with several novellas.


9. Jennifer E. Smith
Jennifer is also a fairly prolific YA romance author.


10. Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and associated books, Magnus Chase, 39 Clues stuff...


My list is SUPER white, which I think says a lot about publishing and how hard it is for many authors of color to be given long series and sustain long careers. However, I'm already seeing plenty of authors over the last 10-15 years start to break that pattern, and I hope it will continue to change.

Emma's Ultimate Rec Series: Fantasy

Fantasy used to be one of my favorite genres and, while my love for it has waned a little, there are still some stellar books I can recommend.



The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski


Three Dark Crowns trilogy by Kendare Blake


Dark of the West by Joanna Hathaway


A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi


Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson


The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner


We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal


The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale


The Young Elites by Marie Lu


Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson


Hunted by Meagan Spooner


The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth
(historical fantasy, really)


What YA fantasy novels have you loved lately?

Emma's Ultimate Rec Series: Sci-Fi

Oops this post didn't go up at midnight like it was supposed to.

Time for the second list of genre-specific book recommendations! Truth be told, sci-fi is usually my least favorite genre. But there are still a few titles I've enjoyed and will wholeheartedly recommend.

Parallel by Lauren Miller

Renegades by Marissa Meyer

Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Slay by Brittney Morris

Fallout by Gwenda Bond

Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund

Based on these books, what sci-fi titles do you think I might want to try? ^.^

Emma's Ultimate Rec Series: Mystery/Thriller

If I were fancy, I'd have a graphic for the post series I'm about to spend half of July on. But I am not. However, get ready because I have a whole bunch of book recs coming your way for a variety of genres as well as lists of books written by authors of color. Today is all about one of my favorite genres - the mystery novel and thrillers.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Overturned by Lamar Giles

The Lovely and the Lost by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Naturals series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

All Fall Down by Ally Carter

Truly Devious trilogy by Maureen Johnson

This Is Our Story by Ashley Elston

A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed

What YA mysteries or thrillers do you think I should read? This rec series can go both ways. ;)