October is an exciting month for any YA lit fan, because it includes Teen Read Week! In honor of this annual celebration of young adult literature, YALSA invited book-loving teens all over the world to apply to share their enthusiasm for reading in a guest post for The Hub. Thirty-one talented young writers were chosen, and we’ll be featuring posts from these unique voices all month long. Here’s Becca Holladay, who lives in Yokota, Japan.
My mom knows what it means when I collapse onto her bed crying. It means I have finished yet another series.
As a voracious reader, I am always with a book. And there is a pattern among those books, and that is that they are all fantasy/sci-fi/romance books! I usually refuse to read anything else.
But after I finish a particularly heart-wrenching series (Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, anyone?), and I end up completely heartbroken, I just need to take a break. And by break, I don’t mean from reading, heaven forbid! I just take a break from reading addicting series.
For me, after I read the Throne of Glass books by Sarah J. Maas (amazing series, but tragically the third book is not out yet), I had to take a break from the heartbreak. I read a truly astonishing and well written book called Acid by Emma Pass. Yes, Acid is a science-fiction book, yes, it does have its own heart wrenches. But It has a good, satisfying ending, and that is saying something coming from me.
If you need a break from fantasy altogether, try some realistic fiction, like The Mother-Daughter Book Club series written by Heather Vogel Frederick. I am so happy I read these books. Before I did, I was convinced that the only books that gave me joy were fantasy orientated, and these books completely opened my eyes. Witty, interesting, and adorable, these make great palate cleansers! Teenagers can really connect with the different characters in these books.
Also, Between The Lines by Jodi Picoult was so good! It is about a teenage girl who is in love with a character in a children’s book. But little does she know, he’s in love with her too! Sounds impossible, right? That’s what Delilah thinks too when the supposed Prince Oliver actually talks to her! He hates living in a fairy tale, and all he wants is to get into the real world. As they work together to get Oliver out of the book, their romance and desperation only grows. This beautiful stand alone is rich with love, hopes and dreams, and is a worthwhile read. It also gives a nice break from fantasy series.
One final example of an amazing palate cleanser is Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate. A short, stand-alone book with some nice plot twists and action thrown in, it makes a good palate cleanser. It is science fiction, but it is a stand-alone (so you are not quite as attached to the characters, though this is not true for all books), it is short, and it is funny! It has really good jokes thrown in here and there, and has an acceptable ending.
Now that you are armed with what palate cleansers are, as well as a few suggestions, you can take on all the fantasy and heartwrenching books you like! Just remember to take a nice, clean break when you get in over your head, and you’ll be set!
Rebecca Holladay is a 13 year old girl who resides at Yokota Air Base, Japan. She loves reading, playing flute, reading and acting. Oh, and reading.