And the YA Oscar goes to...

I'll admit it, I haven't seen any movies this year. No, wait. I saw Magic Mike (Does that surprise you? It probably shouldn't). Okay, so what I mean is I haven't seen any Oscar-worthy movies. Although, if anyone deserves an award for dancing around to dubstep, it's Channing.

Anyway!

That's why I wanted to pass out some YA Oscars to the books I think deserve them most. So without further adieu...

Best Use of a Kissing Scene Ten Pages Into a Book goes to...
Jodi Meadows, Asunder


Yes, it's true. Kissing. Ten pages in. If that's not enough to make you go pick this book up, I don't know what is. Oh, how about dragons and sylphs and reincarnation?

No? Dragons and sylphs and reincarnation doesn't do it for you? How about kissing. Ten pages in. Jodi Meadows delivers.

Oh, but make sure you pick up Incarnate first. There's kissing...and honey. (I made that sound so much dirtier than it really is.)

From GoodReads: Ana has always been the only one. Asunder. Apart. But after Templedark, when many residents of Heart were lost forever, some hold Ana responsible for the darksouls–and the newsouls who may be born in their place.
In this second book in the Incarnate trilogy, Ana discovers the truth about reincarnation and will have to find a way to embrace love and make her young life meaningful. Once again, Jodi Meadows explores the extraordinary beauty and shadowed depths of the soul in a story equal parts epic romance and captivating fantasy.


Best Forbidden Romance to Blossom in a Make-Shift Igloo goes to...
Elizabeth LaBan, The Tragedy Paper

I *LOVED* this book. I fell in love with it as soon as Tim and Vanessa met while waiting to board their flight to boarding school. Due to a weather delay, they agree to share a hotel room for the night until they can board the next plane first thing in the morning--but not before Vanessa convinces Tim to go out and play in the snow with her. I loved, loved, loved the igloo scene. It was sweet and heartfelt and thoughtful. And I think you should read it ASAP.

From GoodReads: Tim Macbeth, a seventeen-year-old albino and a recent transfer to the prestigious Irving School, where the motto is “Enter here to be and find a friend.” A friend is the last thing Tim expects or wants—he just hopes to get through his senior year unnoticed. Yet, despite his efforts to blend into the background, he finds himself falling for the quintessential “It” girl, Vanessa Sheller, girlfriend of Irving’s most popular boy. To Tim's surprise, Vanessa is into him, too, but she can kiss her social status goodbye if anyone ever finds out. Tim and Vanessa begin a clandestine romance, but looming over them is the Tragedy Paper, Irving’s version of a senior year thesis, assigned by the school’s least forgiving teacher.


Best Writing of a Literary Character Who is So Hot, I Want Him to Say Completely Inappropriate Things to Me goes to...
Michelle Hodkin, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer


Oh. My. God. Noah Shaw. Why did I not know about Noah Shaw before I did my Top 5 Book Boyfriends post?? He would be in my Top 3 for sure (don't worry John After and Travis, you are both safe!). When I tweeted about my love for Noah, I was shocked to see so many people chime in. Basically, the consensus is that his smart mouth, cocky swagger, and complete inability to iron his clothes makes everyone fall head-over-heels. I don't even care what wildly inappropriate thing he says.

Also, can we just admire how gorgeous this cover is?

From GoodReads: Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. It can.
She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed. There is.
She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love. She’s wrong.


Best I Hate You, Now Kiss Me goes to...
Katie McGarry, Pushing The Limits

I am such a fan of romances in which the couples are so equally broken and bruised, and they hate each other so much but can't resist each other. Noah and Echo deliver just enough mutual hatred that you're practically salivating for them to just hook up already. Katie McGarry doesn't disappoint. (And this is so not a spoiler because look at the cover. LOOK AT IT. --->)

From GoodReads: No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.
Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.


Best Face Punch goes to...
Trish Doller, Something Like Normal

Did you think I'd not give an Oscar to my all-time favorite book ever?! I've raved about this book. I've threatened bodily harm to people who don't read this book. Trish Doller possibly has a fan-girl restraining order out on me (no, not really. Right Trish?) So with keeping with my own violent tendencies when it comes to this book, the scene in which Harper punches Travis in the face is my all-time favorite scene. Who can resist a good face punching scene? Not me. And neither can the YA Academy.

From GoodReads: When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother’s stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he’s haunted by nightmares of his best friend’s death. It’s not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he’s had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again. Travis’s dry sense of humor, and incredible sense of honor, make him an irresistible and eminently lovable hero.

Those are my YA Oscars. Who would you give one to?