Top Ten Books That Would Be On My Syllabus If I Taught UKYA 101

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

For this week’s topic, I decided to pick a category close to my heart and that is UKYA. For those of you who don’t know, UKYA consists of YA books written by British authors or authors who currently reside in the UK. This year, I have become very heavily involved in the UKYA community. Before this year, I never read UKYA. So today I am recommending to you my top 10 UKYA books that I recommend to beginners to UKYA. Obviously, I haven’t read most of the UKYA books so my list isn’t definite but this is just my opinion.

The first book that sprang to mind was The Sin Eater’s Daughter by Melinda Salisbury obviously. If you have been following this blog since February or you have seen my Twitter, you will know how much I love this book. I love everything about this book and I feel like it is a really good introduction into how fabulous UKYA is. It is a YA Fantasy novel that is amazing. It has aspects of popular US YA novels therefore I feel like anyone who has read the big popular YA novels will also love this book because it is so darn amazing. Click here to go read my full review.

Next I have a book that I read at the beginning of July but it isn’t actually out yet until September but I’m going to include it on this list anyway and that is The Next Together by Lauren James. I feel like this is a book that would appeal to everybody because it has everything in it. A fan of historical fiction? Romance? Science-fiction? Dystopian? EVERY GENRE EVER? This is the book for you! This book made me so incredibly happy and I devoured it in one sitting. If you want to know more, click here for my whole review.

The next book I’m recommending to you is Trouble by Non Pratt. I love this book a lot. This book was on my radar for about a year but I didn’t want to read it for some stupid reason. However after joining the UKYA community and hearing everyone rave non stop about it, I decided to throw caution to the wind and pick it up and I’m so glad I did. Everything about this book was brilliant. It dealt with teenage pregnancy amazingly and it dealt with teenage friendships perfectly as well. Non Pratt is a fabulous writer and I’ve completely loved both of her books. Click here for my full review of Trouble and here for my review of Non’s other book, Remix.

Next I’m going to recommend Seven Days by Eve Ainsworth to you. This is a short book that really packs a punch. It deals with the serious topic of bullying but the way that Eve handled it makes me incredibly happy because she does it perfectly. She doesn’t shy away from anything and she handles it straight on. I devoured this book in a sitting and fell in love with it. Read my full review here.

Next I have a recent read of mine and that is Deep Water by Lu Hersey. This book is so incredibly unique and different from anything I’ve ever read before. I think Lu has written an absolutely amazing gripping novel that is incredibly mysterious. I didn’t want to put the book down. Click here to go read my full review here.

Next I have an incredibly emotional book that will pull at your heartstrings and that is One by Sarah Crossan. This book was incredibly emotional yet fast paced. The whole book is written in verse and you can read it in about an hour and a half but it definitely has a lasting effect. One thing I love about UKYA is that it deals a lot with dark topics that I have never read about before and that is what Sarah Crossan did in this book. One is definitely a book to read. Click here to go read my full review.

Next I am recommending Sophie Kinsella’s first ever YA novel and that is Finding Audrey. I have read about 4 Sophie Kinsella novels but this one is definitely my favourite of them all. This book deals with the topic of anxiety perfectly in a way that I have never seen before in a YA novel. It still has the typical Sophie Kinsella style as it is incredibly funny but it is also serious. I wrote a whole review on it so click here to go read that.

This next book was probably the first ever UKYA novel I ever read as well as the first YA novel I ever read and that is Boys Don’t Cry by Malorie Blackman. Malorie Blackman is a very loved author in the UK, for good reason! Her books are just so amazing. Boys Don’t Cry in particular deals well with teenage parenthood, abandonment, family values as well as homosexuality. This book is seriously absolutely amazing.

Next I have Solitaire by Alice Oseman which I read last year. I fell in love with this book immediately. I don’t even know why I loved it so much because right now I can’t even remember most of the book but I just know that I love it a lot. Alice Oseman is a great author who I love and I can’t wait for her next book. Click here to go see my full review of Solitaire.

Lastly I have Geek Girl by Holly Smale which is another book that I put off reading for so long because I was convinced that it would be terrible but then I read it and fell in love. I love everything about this series. It’s fun, realistic and just downright fabulous. I read each book in a day and I actually read books 2 and 3 on the same day! I wrote a review for Geek Girl and Model Misfit so click on the names to go read those reviews.

Those are my top 10 UKYA recommendations. Which ones are your favourites?