Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday - Young Adult/Adult Crossover!

This is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. They feature a different top ten list every week. This week's topic is a Young Adult/Adult Crossover! 

I am a huge fan of Young Adult fiction and I have become even more of a fan since I started blogging. But I do have quite a few Adult Fiction novels that I don't show nearly enough love for. So today, I am going to give Adult recommendations for some of my favorite Young Adult novels.

1. If you liked The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, you may like All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
While All the Light You Cannot See wasn't as emotionally devastating as The Book Thief, it still packed an emotional wallop. When the Nazis invade Paris, Marie-Laure is the bravest little girl. And she is blind! She is just as amazing as Liesel in The Book Thief.

2. If you liked The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma, you may like The Barter by Siobhan Adcock.
The Walls Around Us was kind of weird and definitely had creepy and sinister undertones. The Barter actually gave me chills. The Barter was more of a ghost story/love story, but both books had very paranormal elements. And both books were pretty damn good.

3. If you liked Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver, you may like Sister by Rosamund Lupton.
Both books deal with a missing sister and both books have crazy twists. I know some people found the twist to Vanishing Girls a bit predictable (I didn't), but the twist in Sister was crazy shocking. It still scares me when I think about it. And it makes me want to reread it.

4. If you liked To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, you may like The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grisson.
Both of these books deal with very intense racial issues. The Kitchen House is about an orphan white girl who comes to be a slave for a rich family. She becomes friends with some of the black slaves, but she is still set apart by the color of her skin. This was a crazy good book and very suspenseful.

5. If you liked All the Rage by Courtney Summers, you may like An Untamed State by Roxane Gay.
Okay, so we all know that All the Rage is very raw and emotional. An Untamed State is that times a thousand. It was one of the best books I read last year, though it was difficult to read at times. In An Untamed State, the main character is kidnapped in Haiti and is held captive for three days. The first half of the book focuses on the attack and the second half focuses on her recovery from everything she went through. Just a note: the stuff she went through is disturbing, to say the least. But it is just as important a read as All the Rage.

6. If you liked Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman, you may like I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe.
While I Shall Be Near To You doesn't quite have the violence that Vengeance Road does, it still features a bad ass heroine. In Vengeance Road, Kate pretends to be a man so she can seek vengeance for her father's death. In I Shall Be Near To You, Rosetta pretends to be a man so she can fight alongside her husband in the Civil War. Pretty ballsy, right? 

7. If you liked Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill, you may like The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.
There is a reason why Only Ever Yours has been compared to The Handmaid's Tale. It is such a close tie for the contest of most disturbing world. But both books deal with futuristic worlds in which women have zero rights and are treated like objects.

8. If you liked The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, you may like Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova.
Did you cry during The Fault In Our Stars? Then you will sob like a baby during Inside the O'Briens. I know I did. In TFIOS, Hazel is dealing with a terminal illness. In Inside the O'Briens, the focus is more on family. The main character, Joe, is diagnosed with Huntington's disease, which has no cure and will eventually kill him. His children have to make the difficult decision about whether to get tested for the gene that causes Huntington or not. This is an emotional roller coaster of a book.

9. If you liked Made You Up by Francesca Zappia, you may like Dancing On Broken Glass by Ka Hancock.

Both of these books deal with mental illness in very different, but profound, ways. In Made You Up, Alex is dealing with her schizophrenia while also dealing with high school. Dancing On Broken Glass tells the story of a marriage between a woman with a devastating family history of cancer and a man with Bipolar disorder. They both make the decision to never have kids and (surprise, surprise) she gets pregnant. The things that Lucy must deal with because of her husband's continuous institutionalizations are heartbreaking and this is a very emotional read.

10. If you liked Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, you may like The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.
Charlotte's Web was such a sweet (yet sad) book from the pig's POV and I do think we all fell in love with Wilbur. In The Art of Racing in the Rain, prepare to fall in love with the dog Enzo. This is a book about the ups and downs of Enzo the dog, from his point of view. I read this one for the second time earlier this year and I cried just as much as the first time. There is actually a hopeful message at the end too.


Have you read any of these crossovers? Do you primarily read young adult or adult fiction?

Also, don't forget to enter my Banned Book Week Celebration Giveaway! Enter to win the banned book of your choice!

40 comments :

  1. This is a great list! I'm definitely going to check out some of your recommendations!

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  2. Vengeance Road has been popping up and I think I'm going to give it a try!

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  3. Love your twist on this!!! All the Light We Cannot See is one I have been meaning to read FOREVER ( along with The Book Thief!). I think I will have to add Inside the O'Briens. I loved The Art of Racing in the Rain. Great list!!!

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    1. Thanks Grace! I hope you get to read The Book Thief and All the Light. Those are both such amazing books. And man, I was crying with Inside the O'Briens. It was such an emotional read.

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  4. The author of All the Light is coming to Houston to speak this year...can't wait to hear him.

    Here's my Top Ten!

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    1. Oh Deb, you are so lucky! I would love to hear him speak.

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  5. Oh this is a very creative post! I LOVED Made You Up with all my heart so I am curious about Dancing on Broken Glass (but to dance on broken glass? HOW HORRID)

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    1. Thanks Melanie! Dancing on Broken Glass was so incredibly good. I think you would love it.

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  6. I love this take on the list! I've been reading so much YA for my job; it would be great to pick up some adult reads for a change. Thanks for the great ideas!

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    1. Thanks so much Wendy. I am glad I could help. :)

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  7. interesting choices a lot of them on my tbr pile

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  8. Oh, I've read way too few of these! Need to read faster... :D A very good list, Cynthia, nicely done.

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    1. Thanks so much Ramona! I read pretty fast, but I do wish I could read even faster so I can get to all the books on my TBR also. Ha

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  9. Love this list! So creative. Sister sounds really intriguing, I'm going to check that one out for sure. Ohhh and The Barter! Awesome list.

    -Lety @ Gone With The Words

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    1. Thanks Lety! Sister and The Barter were so good. I hope you enjoy them!

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  10. I'm adding I Shall Be Near to You to my tbr right now.

    Check out my TTT.

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    1. Lauren, Yay!! That is awesome. I hope you enjoy it.

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  11. Your lists are always fantastic! :-) Great choices.

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  12. I love your idea of using adult and ya books in your list! I've put some of these on my TBR list. Thanks so much! Great list!

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  13. Several of the YA books on your list are on my TBR!
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2015/09/29/top-ten-tuesday-24/

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  14. Love your take on the theme - very nice job! My TTT

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  15. Ahh! This is such a fabulous post Cynthia! I’ve always wanted to read more adult fiction but I never really knew quite where to start, so this sounds like a great guide. Thank you for making this – it’s such a well-written and helpful post! ♥

    ~ Zoe @ Stories on Stage

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    1. That's great Zoe! I know that sometimes I am lacking on ideas for adult fiction too. I am glad I could give you some suggestions. I hope you enjoy some of these adult titles on this list.

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  16. Oh I love this list, Cynthia! There's some great book recommendations in here. :D

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    1. Thanks Joy! I hope you enjoy some of them. :)

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  17. This is a fantastic list!! I love this! I need to check out Vengeance Road and there's definitely a few cross over sets I wouldn't mind checking out (: Thanks for the recs!

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    1. Thanks Cyn! I do hope you love Vengeance Road. It was so good!

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  18. I only read The Handmaiden's Tale because I loved Only Ever Yours so much and I found that I loved the classic too. And I never thought about the similarity between Sister and Vanishing Girls but it's a good comparison and I think would have good crossover appeal. I need to read All the Light we Cannot See. Great recs!

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    1. Trish, oh yes you do need to read All the Light for sure. It was such a good book. I kind of want to read it again.

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  19. Love this idea for a list. I read so much YA but rarely read adult books. I'll have to check some of these out!!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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