Weekend Book Club: Best YA reads of 2010

In no particular order, here are my favourite YA reads of 2010:

SHADE by Jeri Smith-Ready is in this list too but I didn't have time to search for the cover, what with New Year's Eve preparations.

I've reviewed each of these books this year and many more, my tally of books read in 2010 reaching around 90.

So what have been your stand out books this year?

(I'd also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy New Year. May 2011 bring you everything your heart desires and more! And a HUGE shout out to all my loyal readers. Thanks for buying my books and I love hearing from you!)

Weekend Book Club: Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

I picked this book up because the cover grabbed my attention
(yes, despite my previous stance that I couldn't care less what was on a cover, I go for author name or recommendations.)

Then the title captured my attention too. It sounded so intriguing...light and fun yet that 'dark side' added a new dimension.

And scanning the blurb, I was hooked: a mathlete on the verge of turning 18 discovers she's betrothed to Romanian vampire royalty. Intriguing stuff!

Here's what Publishers Weekly had to say:

A romance involving a high school girl and a handsome vampire may sound a little too familiar, yet this first novel quickly bursts ahead of the pack of Twilight-wannabes. Down-to-earth mathlete Jessica Packwood is completely horrified when, a few months shy of her 18th birthday, a Romanian named Lucius Vladescu shows up on her doorstep, claiming that he and she are vampire royalty betrothed to each other since infancy—what's worse, her adoptive parents verify the betrothal story and explain that her birth parents identified themselves as vampires, too. Fantaskey makes this premise work by playing up its absurdities without laughing at them, endowing Jessica with a coolly ironic sensibility and Lucius with old-world snobberies that Jessica's girlfriends find irresistible. Jessica's laidback parents serve as foils for imperious Lucius (Can I ever again be happy in our soaring Gothic castle after walking the halls of Woodrow Wilson High School, a literal ode to linoleum? he asks sarcastically); a scene at a steakhouse where the vegan Packwoods meet the carnivorous Vladescus is first-rate comedy. The romance sizzles, the plot develops ingeniously and suspensefully, and the satire sings.

I absolutely loved this story.
The humour is fabulous, the characters intriguing, Beth Fantaskey's voice is fresh and extremely readable and Lucius...ah, Lucius is one seriously hot vampire!

It's not often I pick up a book knowing absolutely nothing about the story or the author. After this experience, I'll be doing it more often.

What are you reading this week?