The Class of 2013: YA Superlative Blogfest (hosted by Jessica Love, Tracey Neithercott, Alison Miller, and me) runs Monday, December 16th through Thursday, December 19th. All of our fantastic participants will highlight favorite books published in 2013 using a variety of fun superlative categories. The Class of 2013: YA Superlative Blogfest is all about promoting the extraordinary young adult books published this year, so if you haven’t already, draft a post and sign up to participate at the end of this post. We can’t wait to see your favorite reads of 2013!
My Books Pubbed in 2013 Reading List (starred books are 2013 debut novels): Shades of Earth, *The Tragedy Paper, Just One Day, *If You Find Me, *Nobody But Us, *Taken, Through the Ever Night, Eleanor & Park, Requiem, *Pretty Girl-13, *Uses For Boys, This is What Happy Looks Like, Quintana of Charyn, *The S-Word, The 5th Wave, *Nantucket Blue, *The Sea of Tranquility, Golden, *Strands of Bronze and Gold, Where the Stars Still Shine, Dare You To, All I Need, Out of the Easy, *OCD Love Story, The Dream Thieves, *Canary, The Truth About You and Me, Fangirl, *My Life After Now, September Girls, *Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Dead Silence, Invisibility, Just One Year, *Fault Line, Allegiant, *How to Love, The Beginning of Everything, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, *Unteachable, Dangerous Girls, and *Reclaimed (Covers link to Goodreads pages!)
Here are my selections for Popularity Contest…
Villain I Love to Hate
There’s a lot of gray when it comes to “villain” in Abigail Haas’s Dangerous Girls, which is why it’s an incredible read. Most of the main characters have seriously deplorable moments, and the real bad guy isn’t revealed until the very end.
Most Likely to Become a Rock Star
Park from Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park is so music-obsessed, I think he’d make a perfect rockstar. Plus, he wears black eyeliner, which is pretty much a rocker prerequisite. (Art by the brilliant Simini Blocker.)
Favorite Parental Figure
Callie’s dad, Greg, from Where the Stars Still Shine is such a loving and supportive and patient father. I loved the scenes he and Callie shared, and the way he helped her learn to trust again.
Mostly Likely to Start a Riot
Ronan from Maggie Stiefvater’s The Dream Thieves. He’s passionate and damaged and a total loose cannon. Plus, there’s the whole dream thief thing — just imagine the craziness he could commence! (Sketch by Maggie Stiefvater, who is way too talented.)
Biggest Flirt
Alex from Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller (I borrowed this image from her WtSSS Pinterest page, which is awesome). Alex may not be the biggest flirt, but I definitely think he’s the best flirt. *sigh*
Coolest Nerd
Toby from Robin Schneider’s The Beginning of Everything. He’s a fun, adorably dorky guy (captain of and spark behind the debate team) who has a knack for awesomely witty puns. My favorite character from this story.
Fashion King and/or Queen
Dee from Gayle Forman’s Just One Day. He’s generally awesome, plus, he’s got gumption and personal style for days. I wish I’d had him for a friend during my freshman year of college. (Art by the amazing Simini Blocker.)
Girl You’d Most Want For Your BFF
Josie from Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys. She’s clever and driven and fiercely loyal. She’s got street smarts (and friends in low places) and a kind heart. I’d love to hang out with her in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
Boy You Wish You’d Dated in High School
Josh Bennett from Katja Millay’s The Sea of Tranquility because he’s so sweet and protective of the people he cares about. Even though he’s sad, he’s got an enormous patched-together heart. Plus, he’s good with his hands. 😉
Most Likely to Become President
Gansey from Maggie Stiefvater’s The Dream Thieves. He’s my favorite of all the boys, and I think he’d be an excellent president. He’s got the breeding and he’s incredibly diplomatic, yet he’s absolutely sincere, too. (Art by Cassandra Jean.)
Quirkiest Character
Bea from Corey Ann Haydu’s OCD Love Story. Even if you don’t consider her OCD symptoms, Bea’s still an eccentric girl who doesn’t care about what anyone else thinks of her. Love that.
Don’t forget to link your Class of 2013: YA Superlative Blogfest “Popularity Contest” post below!
katyupperman.com 
What great picks! I totally agree with Ronan being the one most likely to incite a riot. 😉 Park is a good choice for future rock star. He rocked the eyeliner… no matter what his dad thought. And I’ve added two books to my TBR based on your picks! The Sea of Tranquility (which I’ve not heard of before) and Where the Stars Still Shine. I read Something Like Normal by Doller and keep seeing a lot about WtSSS but for some reason just wasn’t making a connection with it. But your comments about it have convinced me… must read this book!
THE SEA OF TRANQUILITY is gorgeous, Tanya. Beautiful writing and super intense. The last few lines literally gave me chills. And WHERE THE STARS STILL SHINE is one of my favorites of the year. I ❤ Callie and Alex!
Please may we have more pictures of Alex?
I thought about Josh from TSoT for my high school bf, but I ultimately had to go with the sexy nerd (Matt from Flat-Out Matt) over the broken loner. It was a tough choice.
I’m listening to Just One Day now, and I’m loving Dee. He’s quite the character!
I haven’t read Flat-Out Matt, but if the protagonist is a sexy nerd, I clearly need to get my hands on it! Hope you love Just One Day, Andrea!
How could I forget about Dee?! What a great choice! Excellent list, Katy!
Dee’s so fun! In hindsight, I wish I would have included Bea from OCD LOVE STORY for that category as well. She’s all kinds of fashionable.
WHERE THE STARS STILL SHINE keeps coming up today, and since I haven’t yet read it, it’s pushing me to bump it up my TBR list. (I just requested it from the library.) Totally agree with Ronan for the riot category, and I don’t know how I forgot about Park’s passion for music in E&P. Whoops! Great list, Katy. 🙂
Jaime, I think you will really like WHERE THE STARS STILL SHINE. It’s a fabulous contemporary with one of the best romances I’ve read in a long time. So good!
Park, yes, I am actually totally bummed he was not my choice too! His eyeliner would be even more unsettling on stage. Bea is a fabulously quirky character. I loved her even though she made me ache.
Bea made me sad too, Rebekah. OCD LOVE STORY was so unflinching and well done. I loved it!
I totally forgot about Dee! Yes, that’s a great pick! (And I can’t believe I forgot about him since he was my favorite character in that book.) Good choice on Gansey for president. I mean, Blue does call him President Cell Phone. 🙂
That’s right! I’d forgotten that Blue called him that. Perfection. 🙂
Dee was great–that book was so incredible. I don’t know how the author does it, but she goes to such emotional depths with her characters.
I spent much of 2013 catching up on books from other years, so many of these I haven’t read! Thanks for helping me add a few new ones. I’ll be watching these posts this week.
I hope you find some fabulous books to add to your To-Read list, Stephanie!
Greg is the best, isn’t he? My choice there too. Actually we have many similar choices. Imagine that. 😉
I loved Greg! And yes, I was not surprised to see some similarities when I read through your choices for today. Great minds. 🙂
I can’t believe I forgot about Dee! He’s definitely a Fashion King. Oh and Josh Bennett – definitely! In fact, I think all the guys were well written in The Sea of Tranquility.
I totally agree about the boys in TSoT. So well done and swoony. 🙂
You have some great picks and I love how you used other pictures instead of the covers, like that picture of Park, which is just so perfect. I almost picked Dangerous Girls for my villain too – loved that book.
Me too, Liz! Its awesomeness sort of blew my mind!
GANSEEEYYYYYYYYY ❤
Right? Love him. ❤
Great selection with Ronan to incite a riot. Love your Rock Star selection (I so struggled with that one. I also liked Tracey’s selection of Graham from THIS IS WHAT HAPPY LOOKS LIKE). Great minds think alike, grabbing Simini’s drawings! I didn’t think about checking out pinterest boards. 🙂
I happen to follow Trish Doller’s Pinterest boards and when I saw that photo of “Alex” I was smitten. He’s very much what I pictured while I read. WtSSS.
I just put my list up and I’m starting to check out everyone else’s–I feel like Ronan may win the day for Ultimate Riot Boy. I’m with Jaime on Where the Stars Still Shine…bumping it up the list!
Yes, please read STARS, Jess! It’s beautiful! Looking forward to checking out your list. 🙂
I love the fan art you included here! It might be a bit early since These Broken Stars came out, but I’m hoping to find some fan art for that story, loved it so much. Definitely planning on reading the Raven Boys books and Rowell’s books after they keep appearing over and over again in the Class of 2013!
Dee is a great pick for that category! I actually did think of him for that and for the Supporting Character category. I also thought of Gansey for President, and I think we might have picked him last year. He’s got all the qualities AND the pedigree for it. Isn’t his mom a senator?
And yes, Cassandra Jean’s sketches! I just discovered them when I was trying to find suitable imagery!