Books for 13yo dd who has just read Divergent?

[CocktailQueen]

She loved it but is looking for something less harrowing this time. Have Googled, and so many teen/YA books are scary/sad/terrifying.

Any recommendations? We both read and loved Em Bailey's Shift.

I have read and liked both sets

I was referring to the five romances: A Song for Summer; The Secret Countess; The Morning Gift; A Company of Swans and The Magic Flute. They were originally written for adults, but I think they're marketed as YA most of the time now.

Oh quite possibly Sadik, I didn't know she had written for adults. I was thinking of things like The Secret Countess which the publisher describes as 12+ but dd found rather young.

X-post.
Secret Countess was written for adults?
I would never have guessed that.

There's quite a lot about the war and its after-effects, eugenics, treatment of people with disabilities (both learning and physical), treatment of foreigners... I think if you were to read it too young you'd miss a lot of the social commentary. You probably need to know the historical context to understand more than just the main romance.

Yes, maybe. I think it's also that the storyline is predictable and the heroine a total Marysue - but both those things are done knowingly, because it's a fairytale, which is its charm, but if you are a cynical but not particularly well read early teen you wouldn't necessarily catch that.

Oh and I've just remembered what else I was reading at that age. Mum got me reading Jane Austen. Have you thought about giving her Emma or Pride and Prejudice?

I am seconding Cassandra Clare - both Shadowhunter series are very enjoyable. On the Diana Wynne Jones Front I really can't recommend her fiction for older children enough: Hexwood, Fire and Hemlock and The Homeward Bonders are all utterly brilliant.

My DD is 13 and she loved the Chaos Walking series, has read Hunger Games and the Divergent series (she was very angry about the ending) and is now getting stuck into Stephen King's 'It' and Neil Gaiman - she has read 'Neverwhere', 'Coraline' and 'American Gods'.

When they get to this age you have to strike a balance between letting them read anything and everything and failing to recognise how broad their minds are - DD2 is madly into T.S. Eliot and knows whole swathes of 'The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock' by heart.

Holes by Louis Sachar is great, as is The Circle of Candles by Jessica Rowan - had us blubbing but in a good way :)

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