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Five #RealYA Books I've Read in 2015

#RealYA emerged as a trend in the YA Twitter community earlier this week. YA authors, bloggers, and readers posted about their #RealYA experiences in comparison to the high school tropes that are so often seen in contemporary young adult literature. Cliques, jocks, nerds, absent parents, and YA's obsession with top tier schools were among the topics discussed.

These are a few of my favorite examples from the conversation:

#RealYA you will never meet anyone as free as a senior post-AP test, pre-graduation.
— Victoria Aveyard (@VictoriaAveyard) November 29, 2015

Half my class of 600 either went to community college or didn’t go to college at all. Many of us didn’t leave the state. #realYA
— Julie (@DailyJulianne) November 29, 2015

#RealYA Our Valedictorian was also academic team captain, football captain, and one of the most popular guys in school.
— Kody Keplinger (@Kody_Keplinger) November 29, 2015

As a pre-highschool teenager, I would read so many books with these tropes and wonder if this is what high school was really like. Spoiler alert: It wasn't. Now that I'm nearly a year and a half out of high school. I identified with so many of the #RealYA stories that I read as I scrolled through the thread. So today I want to share some of the best #RealYA that I've read in the last year.

*Note that these aren't all necessarily 2015 releases
 

*This book has it all -- overlapping friend groups, overprotective parents, Quizbowl, and a nice jocks. All paired with Lord's beautiful storytelling. I devoured it in one sitting.

ALL THE RAGE by Courtney Summers
Goodreads | Amazon | B&N 

*This is one of the most important books of 2015. Period.

MY LIFE NEXT DOOR by Huntley Fitzpatrick 

*Again, I'm a sucker for YA that's family focused.

I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN by Jandy Nelson 

*This one DESTROYED me the first time I read it.
 

*I think I love this book so much because I related to Ally so much on a personal level. JUST VISITING is on my TBR.

What are some of your favorite #RealYA books? Let's keep the conversation going! Follow me on twitter @mleekanterr12 and tweet me some of your favorite #RealYA books and you'll be entered to win a choice of one of the five fabulous books I've featured! Spread the word! Posted by Marisa Kanter at 11:00 AM