SST Guest Post - Jenn Bennett's Top 5 YA Contemporary Reads

The Anatomical Shape Of A Heart

Author: Jenn Bennett

Release Date: November 3rd, 2015

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends 

Genre(s): Young Adult, Contemporary

Pages: 304

Artist Beatrix Adams knows exactly how she's spending the summer before her senior year. Determined to follow in Leonardo da Vinci’s footsteps, she's ready to tackle the one thing that will give her an advantage in a museum-sponsored scholarship contest: drawing actual cadavers. But when she tries to sneak her way into the hospital’s Willed Body program and misses the last metro train home, she meets a boy who turns her summer plans upside down.

Jack is charming, wildly attractive . . . and possibly one of San Francisco’s most notorious graffiti artists. On midnight buses and city rooftops, Beatrix begins to see who Jack really is—and tries to uncover what he’s hiding that leaves him so wounded. But will these secrets come back to haunt him? Or will the skeletons in Beatrix’s own family’s closet tear them apart?

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Guest

Jenn Benn's Top 5 Favorite Contemporaries

and of course I haven't read any of them. Shame on you Tika, shame on you.

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If you guys aren't familiar with who Jenn Bennett is . . . where the hell have you been? Under a rock? In bikini bottom chilling with Spongebob? * Snaps Fingers * wake up people, WAKE UP! Anywho, Jenn is the author of a number of titles, her recent being my most anticipated read right now, The Anatomical Shape Of A Heart, (Night Owls for my international folks.) Sooooo many people have been raving about this book, and when I first seen my girl Kelly from Divabooknerd's review for it last month of so, I knew that I had to have it. Thank goodness she's an amazing friend, because she gifted it to me, and I'll be reading and reviewing it next week! Now for the Sunday Street Team, I have a guest post featuring Jenn, showcasing her top 5 favorite young adult contemporary reads!

Let's dive in shall we?

Favorite Young Adult Contemporaries

I read every day, all kinds of books. Historical romance, low fantasy, mystery, thrillers, time travel—and lots and lots of young adult. If I had to pick my top five YA books… well, I’d do what I just did, right now, and bang my head on my desk, because there are far too many to distill into a short list. And then I’d just randomly choose these five, which are my current fave teen contemporary reads:

5. Lola And The Boy Next Door - Stephanie Perkins (2011)

To be honest, I’ve read Anna and the French Kiss at least five times. It’s my go-to comfort read. I adore the hero in that book and the Paris setting. HOWEVER, I love the character Lola more than sliced bread. I want Lola to be happy, so whatever Lola wants, I want her to have. And she wants the nice, geeky boy, and that makes me doubly happy. Also, this book is set in San Francisco, like The Anatomical Shape of a Heart—win! Thirdly, I recently met Stephanie Perkins in Dallas at a book convention and she told me my dress was pretty. I almost fainted. (Authors are fangirls, too.)

I've read Anna & The French Kiss and because it was too fluffy for my tastes, (Anna was annoying as well) I wasn't very motivated to continue on to the next two books. Maybe now I'll reconsider . . . maybe.

4. My Life Next Door - Huntley Fitzpatrick (2012)

Funny, engaging, sexy, and real. This is a summer romance between the lonely daughter of a single mom and the neighboring boy, whose family is big and loud and sprawling. I did a lot swooning and laughing during this one.

My Life Next Door has been sitting on my Kindle waiting to be read since December 26, 2014. Yep, I'm shameful.

3. Dangerous Girls - Abigail Hass - (2013)

A compelling thriller about a group of teens who go on holiday in Aruba. When one of the girls is brutally murdered, her best friend is accused of the killing and arrested. Jailed in a foreign country, as her friends and the media turn against her, she has to defend herself. I could not put this down. It was so scary, so twisty. Even until the last sentence, I didn’t know for certain who the murderer was… just WOW.

When it comes to YA thrillers, I'm always skeptical and a little hesitant to pick them up. But this does sound pretty good.

2. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks - E Lockhart (2008)

I grew up in a working-class family, so sometimes I like to read books about wealthy private schools—to see what I missed, I suppose. Privilege aside, the narrator is smart and genuine enough to make me want to follow her as she stages a rebellion against a decades-old male-dominated secret society.

I honestly didn't know E Lockhart had another title besides We Were Liars, which happens to be one of my favorite books.

1. I'll Give You The Sun - Jandy Nelson (2014)

Lush, stream-of-conscious narrative soars through this tale of grief told from the point of views of twins, male and female. Like The Anatomical Shape of a Heart, this book is also about artists (both the twins and their mother). This book warmed me and crushed me, then warmed me all over again. I love it from the top of my head to my toes. It is, simply, beautiful.

This book is always raved about so much in the blogging community, so I just may have to pick this up!

So there you have it guys, Jenn's list of her favorite YA contemps. 
Have you guys read any of these titles? If so, which ones, and what did you think about them?

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