It's no secret that I love me some YA lit. I'm not an old lady (yet), but I'm not necessarily the assumed demographic for that genre. There have been arguments aplenty for grown adults reading YA. I particularly loved HelloGiggles' argument found here and the article in the New York Times here.
Recently, I uncovered a hidden gem called The Shape-Changer's Wife by Sharon Shinn at a used bookshop. Once I cracked it open, I devoured it. You may not have heard of it because it's sortof older (published in 1995), and it was Sharon Shinn's first novel. Her works are sometimes overshadowed by her more commercially successful novels like Summers at Castle Auburn and the Samaria series, and even those are not all that popular.
I bring this up because reading and loving The Shape-Changer's Wife has inspired me to do some digging for more YA fantasy that's under the radar.
Recently, I uncovered a hidden gem called The Shape-Changer's Wife by Sharon Shinn at a used bookshop. Once I cracked it open, I devoured it. You may not have heard of it because it's sortof older (published in 1995), and it was Sharon Shinn's first novel. Her works are sometimes overshadowed by her more commercially successful novels like Summers at Castle Auburn and the Samaria series, and even those are not all that popular.
I bring this up because reading and loving The Shape-Changer's Wife has inspired me to do some digging for more YA fantasy that's under the radar.
Here's my little Underrated YA Fantasy Wish List:
- Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Pama
- Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner
- The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle
- Written in Red by Anne Bishop
- Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock
- Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach
Have you heard of any of these novels? Do you plan to scout them out? If you've read them, what did you think?
I have Monstrous Beauty, but I haven't read it yet. It's harder to get hold of over here, but I won it in... I want to say the Dewey's Readathon hourly prizes?... a year or two ago. I love the idea of a darker, more traditional mythological mermaid story, and the cover is one of the most beautiful in my entire library I think. I should boost that up the pile... :)
ReplyDeleteThe cover is lovely. I just put in another order at BookOutlet.com, and Monstrous Beauty made the cut!
DeleteI swear I'm not working for Book Outlet, though they should be paying me for all of the publicity I've given them lately. :) I'm just a huge fan of their low prices.