Romance-light....

[Michelle]

I've asked this on Twitter, and I thought it would make an interesting thread here too. I've been reading a lot of YA over the past few years, and I think there are some great offerings. However, as a (sometimes) grown up, I'm not really interested in books which are heavy on teen romance - I like the plot to be more prominent.

 

For example, Twilight holds no interest for me, and I gave up on Shiver because the romance aspect seemed to be taking over.

 

Some I can already recommend are:

Hollow Pike by James Dawson

Ultraviolet by R J Anderson

The Hunger Games

Divergent - Veronia Roth

Starters by Lissa Price (to a lesser extent)

To me, these have all had great plots and characters, with just a growing relationship, rather than a heavy romance.

 

Any others to add to this, or any comments?

[pickle]

I would really recommend the Skulduggery Pleasant books by Derek Landy as an adult reading them I found the hilarious in places really cleverly written. So Far I have only read the first but The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness (which I know a few others have read) was really good too.

[Michelle]

I got about halfway through the first Skulduggery book and gave up for some reason. The Patrick Ness one I started as an audio book, but the noises were portrayed quite strangely, and it put e off. Good suggestions though.

[chesilbeach]

I would definitely recommend Momentum by Saci Lloyd. There is a bit of a relationship, but it is much more about the plot of the story. I loved her two Carbon Diaries books too, but because they're written as diaries of a teenage girl there is some more relationship stuff in them, but they're much more interesting due to the subject matter that I think you can accept it as a smaller part of the books.

[chaliepud]

I'd recommend Joss Stirling's Soulfinder series, starting with Finding Sky and Stealing Phoenix, the third in the series is due out in October.. Whilst there is a romance in each book it isn't an all consuming obsession like Twilight.

I also very much enjoyed Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin, definitely a diversion from the 'normal' YA ...

[Christie]

Although Shiver was heavily romance based I recommend Maggie Stiefvater's other novel The Scorpio Races in which the romance kind of takes a back seat and more plot based which suits me! Also your list is perfect I loved Hunger Games and Ultraviolet!

[Michelle]

I had trouble getting into The Scorpio Races, so put it to one side.

 

I can now add The Immortal Rules by Julia Kagawa - there's a developing relationship, but not really a romance.

[Lord Napsack]

The His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman. The romance only really came in near the end of the trilogy, but it was mostly well handled, though a bit weird at one point. Very touching at the end.

[Ben]

The His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman. The romance only really came in near the end of the trilogy, but it was mostly well handled, though a bit weird at one point. Very touching at the end.

 

My favourite series of all time. I'd agree that the romance doesn't come in until the later books, but still an absolutely fantastic series.

Edited June 30, 2012 by Ben

[Lord Napsack]

Oh, of course. I loved the books. Read them in Year 7 or 8 when I went to this reading group thing for a day just to discuss the first book and ended up going through all three. I was glad the romance was not intrusive, but it was a nice touch to put in there. I really felt for Will and Lyra at the end. It was both depressing and beautiful.