Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Things On My YA Reading Wishlist

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jamie @ The Broke and the Bookish.

So as the title suggest these are all things on my YA reading wishlist so basically things I want more of in YA! These are in no particular order and I will provide links to my reviews to the example books if I have them!

Also if you guys have read or heard of any books with these themes then PLEASE let me know about them in the comments below, I’d really appreciate it!

10.) Diversity!

Examples: The Hate U Give, Labyrinth Lost, & The Seafarer’s Kiss

Of course diversity is definitely an easy thing to pick since it’s very important to have in books, obviously! Unfortunately there really aren’t as many out there as you would think and definitely not as many that are problem free. However, these are some books that are very enjoyable and have diverse main characters!

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9.) More Morally Ambiguous/Grey Characters

Examples: Vicious, I Hunt Killers, & This Savage Song

I love reading about characters like this so, so much! I love when they aren’t truly good or evil but a bit of both instead. It just adds a lot of complexity and development to the story this way, in my opinion.

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8.) Dark, Grungy Mystery/Thrillers

Examples: The Darkest Corners, I Hunt Killers, & With Malice

This one is a little more self explanatory but I LOVE YA mystery/thrillers that really toe the line between what is considered too dark for YA and what’s not. Maybe it’s just me but I like dark, twisted mystery books! Plus it’s always an upside when you don’t see any of the plot twists coming!

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7.) Terrifying YA Horror

Examples: Daughters Unto Devils, Slasher Girls & Monster Boys, & The Girl From The Well

I feel like there aren’t that many YA Horror books out there in the first place and there definitely aren’t as many of them that are truely terrifying. Or, you know, fun to read at the very least. These ones that I used for examples were magnificent though if you’re looking for some good chills!

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6.) Ancient Civilization Setting (Not Fantasy)

Examples: And I Darken & My Lady Jane (sort of…..)

Mostly what I’m talking about with this one is any ancient themed historical fiction, if that makes sense. Such as Medieval England, Ancient Egypt, or really any other ancient civilization because I feel like these really aren’t done in YA that often. Sure there are many YA fantasies that have these themes but I’m talking based off of REAL history or a retelling of real history.

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5.) Contemporaries Featuring Royalty

I don’t read contemporary all that much but what would definitely get me reading it would be tales of modern royalty! This may have to do with my love for movies such as The Princess Diaries (no I have not read the books, sorry!), The Prince and Me, and What A Girl Wants. I’m not talking about dystopians or fantasies or any of that either because there definitely are plenty of those!

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4.) Peter Pan Retellings

Examples: Tiger Lily

There are a few of these out there and I do have most of the good ones on my TBR already but I feel like we should just have a TON of Peter Pan retellings because I just adore Peter Pan! “Tiger Lily” is an amazing retelling of the story and I have read “Unhooked” and was not a fan of it at all.

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3.) Vicious and Badass Female Characters

Examples: And I Darken & The Diabolic

I LOVE heroines who are cold, calculating, fierce, and actually badass! Two of the best examples I’ve seen in YA are Lada Dracul from “And I Darken” and Nemesis from “The Diabolic, both these women are all of those things! There’s no “damsel syndrome” with these two at all and it’s nice to have heroines who don’t get all distracted with ball gowns and love triangles.

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2.) Sympathetic Villains

Examples: Illuminae & Heartless

This kind of goes with “Morally Ambiguous Characters” a lot because I really love when villains in books are in a grey area, you find yourself hating them and loving them all at once. So of course that usually means the villains are more sympathetic, and for some reason I love this I think it makes the story ten times more complex!

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1.) Westerns

Examples: Vengeance Road

There are actually quite a few YA westerns popping up and while I do own a couple I also have yet to read them. I will say though “Vengeance Road” was pretty fun to read through and I just really love the “wild west” setting!

What are some things on your reading wishlist?

Do you agree with any of the ones I listed?

Have you read any of the books I used for examples? If so what did you think?

Do you have any recommendations for books that match these themes?

Let me know in the comments and feel free to link up your TTT as well!