Cool kids read books

People often ask me where I get my inspiration for my print and card designs.  What is my muse?  What really gets my mind working in unconventional ways?

That's a lie.  I don't think anyone has EVER asked me that.  I just needed a good intro into a post about my love for young adult dystopian fiction that doesn't make me sound like some angsty Twilight fanatic.  

Awkward segue, no?

Sometimes my brain just gets tired, and when I'm feeling especially brain dead, there's nothing that gets me fired back up more than diving in to a good book.  Bonus points if that book is set in a fantasy world.  And by fantasy I don't mean like sci-fi aliens and things, I mean more like Earth with a governmental twist.  Enter young adult (YA) fiction.  It seems the big thing in YA fiction right now is dystopian societies.  Places where the government has taken total control of its people.  It sounds kind of depressing, but there's something about these kinds of books that gets my mind spinning.  These are the kinds of books that I think about all day- even after I've finished them.  I can't explain it.

The most popular of these series right now, obviously, is The Hunger Games.  I read The Hunger Games trilogy about a year and a half ago, and they were impossible for me to put down.  I loved them.  The second book, Catching Fire, was my favorite.  And yes, the movie was pretty fantastic, too. 

Then at the first of this year I kept hearing everyone say, "If you liked The Hunger Games, you are going to LOVE Divergent."  Divergent is a very similar book, written by Veronica Roth.  I really liked this one as well, read it all in one LONG sitting even, but it wasn't as good as The Hunger Games in my opinion.  It was still pretty great though, and I will be waiting on the sequel, Insurgent, as soon as it comes out in May.

And I guess this is where my fall onto the slippery slope of YA fiction really began.  I thought, well since I really liked these, I should try some more of this fun dystopian stuff...

Delirium, by Lauren Oliver, was next.  In it, the government removes the ability to love from everyone in society beginning at age 18.  This one deals with lots of teenage emotion, but I don't care.  I loved it anyway.  It is also part of a trilogy, and its sequel, Pandemonium, was even better.  I love, love, loved Pandemonium.  Loved it.  It bumped this series up over the Divergent series in my mind.  I can't wait for the final book to come out next year!

Then there was Matched, and it's sequel, Crossed, by Allie Condie.  Part of another trilogy, these weren't quite as good as the others, but still interesting enough for me to keep going.  These were full of more teenage love triangle sappiness, but I have a thing for books about insane, controlling governments, and these delivered.  I think the third book in this series comes out later this year. 

Next on my to-read list is the Uglies series.  Anyone read them?

Anyone read any of these?  What did you think?  Were you as crazy about them as me?  Any other great series you would recommend?

I don't know what it is lately, but I just can't get enough reading in.  I think because I'm so busy trying to figure everything out during the day, books are like a sweet escape for me at night.  So if you have anything else you think I'd love, by all means let me know!  Find me a good one and we can be friends forever. 

No, really.