Sunday, June 26, 2011

Summer Crushin' Tournament













*NOMINATIONS AND VOTING ARE NOW CLOSED*
THE CHARACTERS WHO MADE THE CUT FOR THE TOURNAMENT WILL BE POSTED SHORTLY. 
Thank you all for your enthusiasm!
And now for a very exciting announcement!!!

We at the YA Sisterhood have decided to celebrate the summer with a bit of a fun YA-Crush fest!
Or as we like to call it...


Here's the idea: Using a traditional tournament bracket, we'll be matching up the Young Adult genre's most crush-worthy males to find out just who is #1. For each matchup, (Ex: Peeta from the Hunger Games vs Jace from Mortal Instruments) we'll have one blogger to represent each crush. They'll present their case as to why they think their character should win, then with the help of all of you, we'll vote to determine a winner. The Tournament will continue until there is one winner!

So here's what we need from you all!

First up-- Comment below and tell us your favorite YA crushes! We'll take nominations and votes through the end of the day (midnight) on Friday, July 1st. Feel free to list as many as you would like! Also, include your crush even if it's already been mentioned in order to help break ties! When we make the bracket we'll pair up matches based on their seed (from most popular to least popular), so second away!

Second-- if you're interested in being a crush advocate (duking it out for your guy to win), please email us at yasisterhood(at)gmail(dot)com or leave your email in a comment. If you have a blog, please leave a link so we can check out your writing. We make no guarantees that you'll get your requested crush, but we'll do what we can! It would be in your best interest to tell us several that you might want to represent!

Third-- Follow us here or on twitter (@YASisterhood and @brittanydhoward) to stay updated on Tourney news!

Here's who's been nominated as of 6/28 (Plus signs denote multiple votes):

*Jace Wayland- Mortal Instruments+++++++++++++++++++++++++
*Will Herondale- Infernal Devices+++++++++++++
*Four-Divergent+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
*Archer- Hex Hall++++++++++++++++
*Vincent- Die for Me+++++++++++++
*Ren- Nightshade++++++++++
*Peeta-Hunger Games+++++++++++++++++++++
*Hale-Heist Society++++++++
*Michael- Hourglass++++++++++++++++
*Kaleb- Hourglass+++++++++++++++
*Etienne St. Clair- Anna and the French Kiss+++++++++++++
*Ash- The Iron Fey Series++++++++++++++++
*Daniel- Fallen+++++++++++
*Jules- Die for Me+++++++++
*Zachary- Shade and Shift++++++
*Edward- Twilight++++++++++++
*Patch- Hush, Hush++++++++
*Lucas- Starcrossed++++
*Will- Firelight+++++
*Valek- Study series+++++
*Draco-HP++++
*Xander- Matched++++
*Dimitri- Vampire Academy++++++++++++
*Lend- Paranormalcy+++
*Jem- Infernal Devices++++
*Cal- Hex Hall++++
*Cassel- White Cat++
*Tucker- Unearthly+++++++
*Finnick- Hunger Games++
*The Weasley Twins-HP++
*Puck- The Iron Fey Series++++++
*Jay- The Body Finder++++
*Jesse- The Mediator++
*Gale- Hunger Games++
*Ky-Matched++
*Gabe- Personal Demons++
*Luc-Personal Demons+++
*Conrad- The Summer Trilogy++++
*Drake Brothers- Drake Chronicles+
*Alex- Perfect Chemistry+
*Brenden- Spellbound++
*Brigan- Fire+
*Logan- Shade/Shift++
*Shane- Morganville Vampires ++++++++
*Michael- Morganville Vampires+
*Nash Hudson- Soul Screamers++++++++
*Ash Redfern-Nightworld
*Jack Force- Bluebloods++++++
*Tamani- Wings++
*Cam- Fallen+++
*Sirius- HP
*Tod- Soul Screamers+++++++
*Nick- Demon's Lexicon++
*Haden- Falling Under+
*Joe- The Sky is Everywhere+
*Adam- If I Stay++++
*Ari- Study Series
*Janco- Study Series
*Marcus Flutie- Jessica Darling+
*Hamlet-Falling for Hamlet
*Hunter-Love Story
*Giedon- Ruby Red
*Daniel- The Dark Divine+
*Edric- the Faerie Path
*Sebastian- Darkness Becomes Her
*Simon- Mortal Instruments
*Ron Weasley- HP
*Rosto- Provost's Dog
*Trevor- Ganzfield
*Alex- Delirium
*Derek- The Darkest Powers++
*Sam- Shiver+
*Cole- Linger+
*Po- Graceling+++
*Roger- Amy & Roger's Epic Detour
*Finn Mac Cumhaill- Goblin Wars
*Adam Kent- Shatter Me
*Jasper- Twilight+++
*Damen- Immortal Series++++
*Ian- The Host++
*Graves- Strange Angels+
*Dexter- This Lullaby+
*Wes- The Truth About Forever
*Zach- Gallagher Girls+++
*Noel- Ruby Oliver
*Seb- Ashbury High
*Caspian- The Hollow+
*Lucas- Evernight+
*Balthazar- Evernight
*Ren- Tiger Saga
*Stark- House of Night+++++
*Jondoe- Bumped
*Fade- Enclave+
*Adrian- Vampire Academy+++++++
*Sinjin St. Sinin- Beauty Queens
*Richard -13LBE
*Barron- Curse Workers
*Spencer- Suite Scarlett
*Ambrose- Die For Me
*Emmett- Twilight
*Callum- Raised by Wolves
*Simon- Siren+
*Shay- Nightshade+
*David- The Thirteenth Chime
*Oliver Wood- HP+
*Alex- Angelburn
*Aiden- Half Blood
*Lux- Virtue
*Jack- My Blood Approves
*Peter- My Blood Approves
*Loki- Trylie Trilogy
*Finn- Trylie Trilogy
*Jacob- Twilight+
*Seth McCoy- Freefall+
*Prince Charmont- Ella Enchanted
*Luthe- The Blue Sword
*Kartik- A Great and Terrible Beauty
*Nate- Eyes Like Stars
*Ariel- Eyes Like Stars
*Ethan- Fairiewalker
*North- Brightly Woven+
*Kade- Glass series+
*Astley- Need Series
*Pietr- 13 to Life
*Justin-Harmonic Feedback
*Miles- Torment (Fallen Series)
*Spencer- Countess Nobody
*Adam- Things I Know About Love
*Xavier- Halo++
*Dante- The Hourglass Door
*Adam- Mercy Thompson
*Sam- Mercy Thompson
*Charles- Mercy Thompson
*Lenoir- Burn Bright
*Dorian-Breaking Point
*Bennett- Deception+
*Justin- Clarity
*Wesley- The Duff
*LAZLO- Hallowland
*Noah- Mara Dyer
*Lochan- Forbidden
*Cassian- Firelight+
*Dante- Dead Beautiful
*Jag- Possession
*Xan- Iron Witch
*Varen- Nevermore+
*Rafe- Desires of the Dead
*Jack- Stork
*Daniel- Darkness Rising
*Christophe- Strange Angels
*Christian- Unearthly
*Kishan- Tiger Series
*Elder- Across the Universe
*Christopher- Airhead
*David- Wings
*and Vordak the Incomprehensible (He's always watching...)



Keep up the comments and please second any of these you like! I'll update the list as often as I can. :)

Edit: As you guys can see, we've had a large number of nominations! Which is great! But right now, there's more than will fit in our Tourney Bracket, and a large majority of them are tied at one vote, so please spread the word about the Tourney via Twitter, Facebook, etc. to help us get more votes!

NOMINATIONS/VOTING END FRIDAY, JULY 1ST @ 11:59 P.M.




Sunday, June 19, 2011

Breathe by Abbi Glines

Breathe by Abbi Glines
Reviewed by: Baby Sister Brittany
The Sisters say: Fun and Flirty

Sadie White's summer job isn't going to be on the beach life-guarding or working at rental booths like most kids her age. With her single mother's increasing pregnancy and refusal to work, Sadie has to take over her mother's job as a domestic servant for one of the wealthy summer families on a nearby island.

When the family arrives at their summer getaway, Sadie is surprised to learn that the owner of the house is Jax Stone, one of the hottest teen rockers in the world. If Sadie hadn't spent her life raising her mother and taking care of the house she might have been normal enough to be excited about working for a rock star.

Even though Sadie isn't impressed by Jax's fame, he is drawn to her. Everything about Sadie fascinates Jax but he fights his attraction. Relationship's never work in his world and as badly as he wants Sadie, he believes she deserves more. By the end of the summer, Jax discovers he can't breathe without Sadie.

But can their love overcome the disparity in their lifestyles? Or will they have to learn how to without each other breathe again?

Before I start this review, I must sing the praises of its author, Abbi Glines. She is an unbelievably awesome person who went above and beyond to make sure we got to read her book! I would have gladly taken the time to read any book (even if it was awful) if the author was a nice as Abbi.  BUT… as it so happens, this book was awesome! So it was a double win for us!

This is our first contemporary book here on YA Sisterhood, and I, for one, enjoyed the break from all things paranormal and supernatural. Normally, I throw a contemporary book in my reading list every once and while to break things up, though it usually ends up being something sad and heartbreaking a la The Book Thief or Revolution. I dove into this book looking for a fun summer escape read, but I found that and so much more! 

This book is over 400 pages, and I devoured it all in one night (and well, early morning)! It was a fun read that took me back to high school, only throw in a cool rockstar. It makes for the perfect sizzling summer read.

HOWEVER…

It also has a lot of depth that I wasn’t expecting. Sadie has a rough home life with an irresponsible mother that makes Sadie take care of everything. And Sadie does it all—she cooks, cleans, makes the money, even takes care of her mother’s new born baby—without ever complaining. She’s got a strong soul, and it really makes you champion her story. You want her to have every happiness because she hasn’t had a whole lot up until now.

As a teacher, I have a couple students who are in similar situations—students who are infinitely more mature at 16 than I ever was. In real life, I offer these students what I can—advice, hope, friendship—but it gets disheartening when I can do little more than encourage these students to survive. Perhaps that’s why I had such a strong emotional connection with this book. Sadie is a survivor, and her actions and emotions were so realistic and true to life that I saw my students in her. And I wanted her to succeed, to do more than survive. I wanted her to live.

I loved this story! And I look forward to seeing what Abbi Glines writes next!

P.S. Guess what? The Nook and/or Kindle Editions of BREATHE are only $5.99!!!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Giveaway: Win a SIGNED copy of Divergent by Veronica Roth!

We've officially hit 100 followers! WHOO-HOO! *Does Happy Dance*

To celebrate, we've got an extra special treat!

We're giving away a copy of Divergent, signed by the author, Veronica Roth! Plus, some Faction inspired temporary tattoos (for those of you not quite Dauntless enough to sport the real ones)!






If you haven't heard of Divergent, check out our previous post that's a top ten list of what we loved about it most!

This contest will be open until Midnight, central time on June 25th, 2011!


You can get up to five entries in this contest! By following the blog, tweeting or facebooking about it, telling us about your faction, or having previously commented somewhere on this blog!

Edit: This contest is U.S. only! We apologize for not putting this up originally. When the contest closes, we will choose the winner using a randomizer, and then contact them. If we don't hear back from them within 48 hours, we will choose again.

*CONTEST NOW CLOSED*


*****drumroll*******

Out of 136 entries, the random number generator chose number 39!

which is....

****more obnoxious drumrolls******

DIANA @ THE LOVELY GETAWAY!!!!

Congrats, Diana! 

We've got another signed book lined up for our next giveaway later in the summer, so stay tuned!


Top Ten Reasons We Love Divergent!

THE YA SISTERHOOD’S TOP TEN THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT DIVERGENT BY VERONICA ROTH!

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

We, at the YA Sisterhood, do solemnly swear that we love all things Divergent. So much, in fact, that we couldn’t decide who was going to get to write the review!

So instead, we’ve decided to bring you our favorite things about the book in top ten form. Believe me, there are so many other wonderful things about this book (yes, it’s that good)! We’ll try to be vague enough to not be spoilery! So here goes:

10. The Setting- Divergent is set in a dystopian future Chicago. I loved that we got to see a major U.S. city besides NYC represented in the Dystopian genre. Not that I don’t love the Big Apple, it was just great to see something new!

9. Dauntless Headquarters- Dauntless is one of Five Factions in the world of Divergent that represents the citizens who are brave, and believe that courage is the most important attribute in a person. And of course, their living space can’t just be a  normal apartment building—no that’s too boring! It has to be an epic, dangerous compound that you have to be willing to jump off moving trains and fall off buildings to get into. And even every day living is dangerous when there's a 200 ft. chasm in the middle of your home. Yeah, that’s how we do it in Dauntless. :)

8. Will and Christina—These two are some of Tris’s friends, fellow Dauntless recruits. They have just the right amount of humor, sarcasm, and severity with just a dash of romance. Love them.

7. The simulations—one of the ways that they test the Dauntless recruits is through simulations. But don’t think that just because they’re technically not real, they aren’t dangerous. These simulations were as exciting and hardcore as it gets!

6. The Tattoos—the Dauntless have this thing for tats, as in, they love them. One of the first ways that Tris proves she wants to be in Dauntless is by getting some wicked tattoos. I loved that the tattoos started as Tris daring herself to see if she could handle the pain, but they became so much more than that. She didn’t mark herself to prove a point, she marked herself to keep from forgetting the point to all of it. Veronica Roth may be single handedly responsible for a spike in the number inked YA fans (I know I want one)!

5. Veronica Roth—by all rights, Veronica should be number one on our list since she created everything else on this list, but we wanted to take a second and applaud her for her willingness to make bold choices. She knew that in real life, people don’t have safety nets. In real life, people get hurt, even main characters, and she wasn’t afraid to test her characters emotionally and physically. Bravo! And since we at the Sisterhood were lucky enough to meet Veronica Roth not long ago at a signing, we can personally attest that she's just as awesome and witty in person as her books! 

4. Tris’s Mom—All mom’s are cool! But this one has a little extra oomph! Don’t want to spoil anything here, but let’s just say that Tris’s mom is more than meets the eye!

3. The Factions—Like I said, the community is divided into five factions, each defined by a different attribute: Dauntless (Brave), Abnegation (Selflessness), Erudite (Intelligence), Candor (Honesty), and Amity (Peacefulness). These were like the Hogwarts Houses, but amped up to full volume. I believe my first thought was, Dauntless is like Gryffindor on crack!

2. Tris—Oh, Tris. I loved her character—as both Beatrice and Tris. I loved how strong she was, how determined she was to prove her worth. I even loved her faults—her impatience and lack of compassion. She was a fully developed, wonderfully complex character whose story was simply captivating!

1. Four—Oh, man. Here’s the biggie. Four is Tris’s love interest. He’s also her instructor for her Dauntless initiation. He’s the ultimate mystery! As her instructor, he has to put her through grueling, dangerous, painful tasks, but there’s clearly a connection between them, and he hates to see her hurt. He’s strong and dark and closed off—which makes him all the more intriguing when he starts to open up. Easily my favorite YA boy in a long time (possibly ever)! Look out, Jace Wayland, you may have to make some room up on that pedestal.

And in case you haven't heard, Book Two is going to be called INSURGENT! Squee! So excited! It's perfect. We're already brainstorming possible titles for the third book that ends in "gent". Somehow we don't think it will be Detergent, Pungent, or Astringent. 

Well, that’s it folks. Our Divergent top ten. If you’re not already following us, please do! Because when we reach 100 followers, we’re planning to give away a SIGNED copy of Divergent! Trust me, you won’t want to miss this!

P.S. Here's a picture of us with Veronica Roth and Tara Hudson (Hereafter)

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready
Reviewed by: Baby Sister Brittany
The Sisters say: Superior. Yeah. That’s right. Just Superior.

I have this regret.

You see… a couple months ago, I was in NYC at the same time as a teen book festival. Unfortunately, I was only there long enough to go to one event, but it was an awesome one! It featured the Young Adult band TIGER BEATS (led by the awesome Libba Bray) along with readings of books that were related to music. Jeri Smith-Ready just happened to be one of the authors reading. I’d seen Shade on the shelves, but I must admit, I was guilty of judging a book by its cover. I’d seen it, but never really felt inclined to pick it up. So when I heard her read at the event, I didn’t have any idea who she was. I vaguely recognized the title, and put it on my very long to-be-read list, and didn’t think of it again. Now, several months later, I finally got around to reading Shade. And after reading it in one sitting (after which I immediately moved on to Shift), all I wanted to do was invent a time machine, go back a few months, punch myself in the face, and say, “What are you thinking? Read this book! Then go meet that awesome author!”

Unfortunately, I can’t go back in time and make myself read Shade and Shift. Here’s what I can do: I can stress to you guys not to make the same mistake as me! J

I’ll be focusing on Shade in this review, but honestly, in some ways, Shift (Book Two) is even better!

Here’s the Goodreads summary:

Love ties them together. Death can't tear them apart.
Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan's band playing a critical gig and Aura's plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend's life. She never thought it would be his last.
Logan's sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He's gone.
Well, sort of.
Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and hear ghosts. This mysterious ability has always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan's violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.
It doesn't help that Aura's new friend Zachary is so understanding—and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.
As Aura's relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura's heart...and clues to the secret of the Shift.

So… I loved the concept of this book. The shift was a single point in time after which every child born had the ability to communicate with the dead. As I read, I just sat there imagining what it must have been like as these post-shift children grew up, and toddlers everywhere were able to see and talk to ghosts. I imagined parents just chalked it up to imaginary friends, but then the friends didn’t go away, and some of them weren’t exactly friendly. I imagined the slow realization of the entire world that surely every kid in the world couldn’t be imagining the same thing, could they? I believe there was a line in the book that said something about how people finally realized that 5 million toddlers couldn’t be telling the same lie.

If the concept isn’t enough to hook you, the characters in this book are so much fun! Aura is a relatable and interesting main character, whose story sucks you in! Logan is every teen girl’s fantasy--  a rockstar that only has eyes for you. And Zachary is every older teen girl’s fantasy (the ones who’ve grown up enough to realize the rockstar is the one you fall for, but not the one you stay with). Did I mention Zachary is Scottish. Even though I can’t hear his accent, I can imagine it, and even in my imagination it makes me swoon.

This book was so good, I practically inhaled it. And while it was a fun, fascinating, easy read, it also had enough complexities that it stuck in my brain even after I was through reading it.

I absolutely, 110% recommend this book. Don’t make the same mistake I did! Read it now! And the great thing is that as soon as you’re done, there’s already a second book waiting!

Just a quick warning: There are some mentions of sexual situations, though nothing graphic. But if that’s a concern for you or your teen, I wanted you to know before going in! 

Friday, June 10, 2011

Solid by Shelley Workinger

Reviewed by: Baby Sister Brittany
The Sisters say: Smart! Surprising! Super fun!
P.S. You can get the Nook and/or Kindle version for $4.99 right now! :)

The author, Shelley Workinger, was kind enough to lend us a copy of Solid in anticipation of the upcoming release of book two, Settling which is available on July 4th. Solid was the first book we’ve had the opportunity to review thanks to a gift from an author, and can I say how awesome it was? If she hadn’t sought us out, I might never have read Solid, and believe me—that would have been a shame!

Alright. So. Solid.

It’s a pretty solid read. :)

Here’s the goodreads summary:

Teens who discover they were secretly genetically altered before birth are brought together at a classified military site where they forge new friendships, find love, develop "super-abilities," and even unearth a conspiracy.

Solid was such a refreshing concept in a genre that’s currently dominated by vampires, werewolves, witches, fairies, etc. I loved the genetic side of it—each of the approximately 100 teenagers brought to this secret government camp had their C9 chromosome altered while their mother’s were pregnant. Even though it’s summer, and we all love those fun, romantic reads—a girl also needs to think! And this book is perfect for that! It’s really got the total package—an interesting, intelligent plot, likeable characters, and a sweet romance!

Now about those likeable characters. What can I say, but that I REALLY liked them. And not just in the sense that they didn’t bother me or get on my nerves. I genuinely liked all of the characters! Clio is sensible, strong, and a very relatable lead character. Jack is a delicious love interest with major woo-ing skills. Garrett is the hot, class clown that will make you laugh and swoon at the same time. Bliss is sweet and shy, but loyal. Miranda is likeable meangirl (I know, oxymoron, right?). All in all, I felt like I was at home with friends while reading this book! I liked them all so much!

And last, but certainly not least, we all know we need a good love story. And Solid is definitely not lacking there! Jack was the epitome of crushable—easy to talk to, but somehow unreachable, handsome, but not conceited, smart, clean-cut, but with his special forces family—a little bit dangerous.

My only small dissatisfaction with solid was that it tended to drag a little early on. However—the characters and the promising plot kept me pushing through, and I was so glad for it. And from the small tidbit of Settling, book two, that was at the back of my ebook—I can’t WAIT to see what happens next for Clio and her crew.

So if you’re looking for something new and refreshing, that will require you to use your brain a little more than most of the paranormal romances out there—give Solid a try. And then be on the lookout for Settling—a second book that promises more romance, more cool supernatural genetic mutations, and more fun!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Favorite Book Settings


Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish.


10. China- North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley: I’ve never really been that interested in vacationing or living in Asia (I’m more of a Western Europe or Mediterranean kind of girl), but after reading North of Beautiful (which is a fantastic book, btw), I was dying to visit China!

9. Nantucket- Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini: The gorgeous (and very very rich) island made a wonderful place to see a modern day Greek tragedy/love story. The story will quite literally take you flying over the beaches, cliffs, and waves. Also… it’s got a cool name. NAN-TUCK-ET! J


8. Deep South- Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl: As Texas natives, we have a special love for the south, but the Deep South makes for a lush, historical, tragic, and simply to die for setting! There’s been several great books recently that have taken us to the deep south (like Rachel Hawkins’s Hex Hall ), but the darkly gorgeous Beautiful Creatures/Beautiful Darkness takes it in our opinion!

7.  Boston (and the Northeast)- Deception by Lee Nichols: Boston and the rest of the northeast (I’m a Philly-girl, myself) make for beautiful, historic settings no matter the story. But imagining all of the ghosts that would make such historic places their home creates an even more fascinating (and creepy) place for a story to unfold.

6. The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women (Virginia)- Gallagher Girls Series by Ally Carter. Again, we love the south! So small town Virginia is lots of fun to read about. But do you know what’s more fun? SPIES. Especially, a top secret school for teenage girl spies! It doesn’t get much better than that!
5. Austin, TX – Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith: Like I said, we’re Texas girls, so we couldn’t leave out our capital city. Austin is known for being trendy (and a wee bit weird), but the weird soars to new heights in Tantalize where vampires are real (and have restaurants themed after them). Keep Austin Weird! J

4. Nevernever- The Iron Fey Series by Julie Kagawa: The world of fairy was a given for this list, considering that many humans were so enraptured by it’s beauty that they never left (not that they always had that much of a choice). And several faerie books have beautifully depicted the world of fairie (The Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr, for example), but the most imaginative goes to Julie Kagawa in our opinion—where Summer, Winter, and Iron meet to form a deadly and beautiful place.

3.  New York City- The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare: Who doesn’t love New York City? But do you know what we love even more than the Big Apple? Downworlder/Shadowhunter NYC! J Vampires, Werewolves, Demons, JACE! New York City is quite the place! (Teehee… that rhymed).
2. Paris (Oh! La! La!) There are a number of recent books that have taken us to the City of Love and left us quite literally enamored! Die for Me by Amy Plum submerges the beautiful city into a war of epic proportions between two supernatural races (awesome!). Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins made me want to go back to school, just so that I could study abroad in Paris. And Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly made me fall in love with Paris’s past and the real Paris that isn’t overrun by tourist. I travelled to Paris a few years ago, but these books have me dying to go back!
1. Hogwarts- Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling: Do we really even need to elaborate? Every speech class I ever had where I got the question, “If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?” Easy. HOGWARTS. I would go there and never co me back.  (The Wizarding World makes a pretty good alternative, but I’m still holding out hope that Hogwarts is real. My letter just got lost in the mail… thirteen years ago).