Where to Start with YA Mysteries & Thrillers

oh hello my name is Farah and welcome to books like Wow the day has finally arrived guys I have been teasing that I wanted to do a why a mystery recommendation video for you guys for a long time and I finally feel like I have read enough that I have some places that I think you should start and some cautions about books that are frequently recommended in this genre that I don't necessarily think are that great somewhere to start and some cautions basically in this video but yeah I wanted to do this because I think I kind of solidified in my mind about a year ago maybe a little bit more of like you know what I really do like why a mystery is alive one of the things I like about them is that they don't ever get super heavy which I appreciate in a mystery I tend to be more I'm kind of the cozier or like golden age of crime type end of mystery I don't like things that are super angsty and super hardcore or intense which is what a lot of mysteries these days tend into there's a lot of like dark mystery basically which is fun that's just not like my deal as much and I do like some of them but it's just a little bit more of a mixed bag my preference does tend to be on the lighter n and because why Emma straights are aimed at young adults they tend not to get as dark or as real though there's a couple of examples on here that like does definitely get real so anyway that was something I kind of realized about myself and as I was trying to find kind of mereta like titles I have had somewhat of a hard time finding kind of what I'm looking for so I thought that it would be for the the general good of the order if I gave you some ideas about where I think you should start or things that at least work for me so I'm gonna start with the the book series that solidified this idea in my mind it's what launched me on this journey and I have yet to find anything that I like better than it sadly though I am reading the author's latest book which comes out at the beginning of November so hopefully I will also be able to add that to my recommendation list here soon but the naturals by Jennifer Lim Barnes you may be sick of hearing me reference this because I talk about it a lot I think that this is a really the underrated series I think that this is really like some of the one of the best ye series I've ever read in his four books plus a novella I wish she would write more cuz the novella like suggests it's a the last thing in the series and it's suggested one very interesting possibilities but I really like this is the purpose of this is why a Criminal Minds there's a slight I well quite call it supernatural but I would call it maybe preternatural element to this in terms of like the abilities of the of the main characters in here but basically this is a group of teens who have some sort of like like I said heightened natural ability that lends itself well to working with the FBI so they're like being groomed to do that and there's a mystery the heroines mother was killed when she was a little girl and she's like dedicated her life to trying to find out who that like who killed her and so like that's a piece of the backstory that kind of gets resolved over all the books this is just it has a love triangle it's like has one of the best handled love triangles I've ever seen it doesn't dominate the book like there's there's some romance elements to these but that's never the focus like I wouldn't call these romances which I think in a way a series can be kind of unusual this is just so good and I wish more people would read it because I think it's a good introduction for young adults into the mystery genre because it has some sort of like classic twists and stuff to it it's really well written so I think if you're an adult reader you will still enjoy this the characters are really well thought out I really it's just so good it's so so good and I wish more people would read it and it's my number one recommendation of where you should start in the genre as long as you're okay I mean it is like I said Ye Criminal Minds so like there's some gruesomeness to it in theory but like because of the way it's described or talked about I don't ever think it gets really all that scary or anything so like if you like the idea of like a serial killer type book but that sounds too intense this might be a place for you to go this is a place for everyone to go this is such a good book so if you were interested in wining this trade definitely give this series a shot because I really love it and which more people would read it my second recommendation is one that I read a few years ago and I only I have them in a form I don't have them in physical form but that is the agency series by YS Lee that is a serious a series also a good job on these authors for picking a reasonable number of books for their series but anyway it's a four book series and it is set in Victorian London with a heroine who essentially is saved from the gallows she's a thief and sent to investigator training girls boarding school / like Private Eye Spy I don't know like whatever like basically she's four like she's training to be a spy for hire and she had again a mysterious like family backstory like where did her dad go cuz her mom has passed away but like it's unclear if her dad has and there again there is a love interest but that's never the focus of the stories which i think is I think something that is nice about why a mystery is in general because I think a lot of white contemporary type books end up being mostly contemporary romances and I think ye mysteries often have a romantic element but that's not usually the focus so if you don't like that books again this might be a sub-genre that you should think about exploring all that say the agency is really good I mean it's like got a biracial heroine it has mystery intrigue a historical setting boarding school spies like it's just it's really good I mentioned it in a video recently and had a lot of people say that they gave up on the series because there was a huge gap between the third and fourth the final book when they came out and that's a shame because I do think that the fourth book I think the first and the fourth book are the two best in the series and yeah I would just definitely recommend giving that series a try it's a series that is complete and it's just real good my third recommendation is for a standalone that if you are looking for something that is darker than white a mysteries tend to go or if you're looking for something to bridge between why a mystery and adult mystery I think this would be my recommendation which is the cheerleaders by carrot hummus this came out earlier this year and is really good now it's not a book for everyone for sure but I really enjoyed it and I think its reviews have been mostly positive this is one of my favorite things I've read this year I think that this does a really nice job of putting you in the mindset of somebody who is depressed I think it's really well it's a very well executed book and I would say that the mystery part of it is not as front and center as I would like potentially at times because I do think that there's some elements of just like this our protagonist is like going through a lot so you spend a lot of time kind of just her dealing with her current life um but I do think that this is I mean 100% it's a mystery it's a thriller kind of book and yeah it's a darker way but it's not like full grim dark way we will get there so yeah I would definitely recommend this so something I'll just mention is that a lot of these whiny mysteries and the ones that I don't like as much like some of the ones that I'm just not even mentioning a lot of them are focused on a mystery in the past and it's rarely a mystery in the present which I don't like as much and in general I tend to prefer mysteries that are about something that's currently happening so just a note about something I've noticed in almost every way industry I've read is that it primarily is focusing on a past mystery with the except like the naturals is a great exception to that and so is the agency which might be why I put them as my first two but this is my favorite book that is dealing with a past mystery I think it does the dual timeline the most effective and I was most invested in this mystery that happened in the past of the ones that I've read it's I think it handles that the best my fourth recommendation is for undead girl gang by Lily Anderson now the reason I wanted to put this one on here is because it has definitely so the naturals has what I would call the preternatural element I mean a girl gang is straight up got supernatural elements happening like literally she's a witch who resurrects her murdered best friends so like there there is definitely some supernatural elements so if you're looking for that in a way a ministry I thought this is definitely the best one that has that in it that I've read and I really enjoyed that book a lot I really loved like all the friend dynamics I think that the mystery was like kind of light and it was like a very it wasn't like it was a super hard to solve mystery it wasn't like there's a lot of twists and turns but I think it was just like kind of the tone of it was very like light and kind of moving along kind of a thing and I just think it was it was just really really well done it had a lot of interesting representation in it which I know a lot of people are looking for but I just thought it was well-written the mystery part was good and I think the friendship stuff in there was really good and a lot of these Y industries do have a lot of stuff about friendship because that tends to be an overall theme of yaa in general and then my fifth recommendation in my last of my sort of like where to start recommendations is say D by Courtney summers this book is the grim dark mystery I was alluding to because like who it needs all of the trigger warnings it is so dark and I wouldn't say that it has a cathartic ending to it I would also say that I personally would not consider this to be why a even though that is how it is marketed and sold I think I could be generous and go with it being a new adult mystery because the protagonist by the time we're following her I believe is 20 so yeah do with that what you will it's really dark but it's really well written it's really good and I think thin matically it's great so again kind of like what I was saying about the cheerleaders being at ya2 adult bridge I would call Sadie maybe the Y 810 new adult bridge so maybe you would read the cheerleaders then Sadie and then maybe something like I would say like the broken girls by Simone st. James I would think that would be a good kind of first adult mystery for somebody trying to move from white to adult so anyway Sadie I think is a really well-written book and it is really really good but I do think that it is not truly why it's more new adult but I still wanted to kind of put it on this like top 5 of where to start because I do think that it's just really good okay so now those are where I would start some other title recommendations that I think are not as good as the ones that I've already mentioned but are still good and places to start first of all you have the name of the star by Maureen Johnson we've got - Maureen Johnson's we're going to talk about now here's what I'm gonna tell you this is the first in a series called the shades of London series do not continue in the series read this book it has an ending that can be read as a standalone except that ending and move on because the next two books I've read and are not good but this book the name of the star I think is another paranormal why a mystery and handles the paranormal element an interesting way it's basically like the ghost of Jack the Ripper is on the loose in London they're supporting school this American student it's always an American student at a European boarding school why can't it just be a European at a European boarding school I digress anyway um she's she's in London at the time and she like has some supernatural abilities so she gets in the mix this was just a really good book I really did why Emma straight again I would read this as a standalone I would not continue in the series the other Maureen Johnson book that I want to recommend is truly devious and this is the first in a trilogy the other two books have not come out yet so I may ultimately bump this up into my where to start depending on how the series progresses this first book is really has like an amazing ending to it that definitely want makes you want to keep reading the premise is super cool because she's at a boarding school there you go a theme here she's at a boarding school where there was a kidnapping / probable murder almost 100 years beforehand so she is trying to solve a mystery in the past this is another one where the mystery in the past I think is actually handled pretty well I have a higher tolerance for that and this one that I do and some others but anyway the first book is a lot of ramp up realistically I'm pretty sure by the time I've read the other two in this series I'm gonna end up saying that it should have been a duology instead of a trilogy because there's a lot of I think filler in this book that being said it's still really interesting and really engaging and if you're looking to get in on a series that's still happening this is definitely what I would recommend sorry that I think our off-site ador recommended in this sub-genre that are all fine like they're good I think that if you don't go in with super high expectations you'll enjoy them I don't know that they're the best the first one is we were Liars by E Lockhart I was expecting to really love this book based on what I heard about it over the years but I think as an adult reader the twist in this is apparent from like a few chapters in so basically yeah it's it's somewhat of a dual timeline but not really and I appreciate that because anyway I don't want to I don't want to get too spoilery but basically I just think that if you've read a lot of ministry you're not gonna be super shocked by the twist that's in here but for an actual young adult reader maybe this would be a little bit shocking the prose is quite purple I do think that it's appropriate because the protagonist is like a deeply angsty teen so like I kind of have some forgiveness for that but some people have a problem with the prose which I could definitely see so there's a warning there basically I think this is fine like if you are looking for more white or white mysteries to read and you've not read this one yet give it a go it's not terrible another kind of like paranormally type white a mystery that I read this year that again I thought was like fine it wasn't amazing but I did I did really liked the ending which kind of bumped it up a little bit for me that was never world wake by Marisa Peschel I do think that there's a lot of teens stereotyping in this book that I kind of get impatient with nya which was my biggest problem with it it was a fun book I enjoyed reading and I read it on a plane ride like I I would recommend it it was good and if you like weigh mysteries and especially if you like y/o mysteries that may have like a little bit of sort of like a supernatural twist to them I would definitely recommend this I thought it was fun it wasn't an amazing one to me but I did like it and then finally there's someone in the house by Stephanie Perkins I believe is the author this is this was a really high book last year and it's sort of like a why mystery take on something like a scream which I absolutely love those movies I rewatched them every October so like I was really into sort of the project of this book I thought it was well done I thought it was like a nice kind of sort of like undead girl gang it had that sort of like lightness of touch to it in terms of the authorial voice that I enjoyed so yeah again not like a super great memorable one but one that I thought was enjoyable and definitely like a worthy entry if you are trying to find mysteries at this time okay and then finally three ones that I wanted to call out that I read that I want to make sure I kind of stir you away from because I don't think they're very good but they are popular and they have been mentioned a number of times so I thought that I would like let you know that in my opinion these do not live up to the hype but of course your mileage may vary as with all books so the three that are pretty hyped in the genre that I don't think are very good one is one of us is lying by Karen McManus I just thought this was like really not very good I didn't like the characterization in it I didn't think it was that well-written the premise was really cool so you know do with that what you will but yeah I did not like that one I did not like hashtag murder trending by Gretchen McNeal who also wrote ten and I tried to read that because that was an Agatha Christie retelling of and then there were none but like both cases I mean no offense to the author but I just don't think her style is not for me and I don't think she's very accomplished in terms of being a technician that's just my opinion so I would steer you clear from those and then controversially because I know a lot of people really like this a study in Charlotte it's a trilogy I can't remember who the author is but it's a retelling of Sherlock Holmes in a boarding boarding school with Sherlock as the girl Watson as the boy and there's like a love story i I just found the writing and that one to be really strange it was like the author was always trying to keep you like a little bit distanced from the character it was just weird I didn't think it was very well written is what it boils down to and I thought it was quite angsty and I I just wasn't really into the angst but that's that one in particular I think is that your mileage may vary because I know why people really like that series I just didn't think it was very good so yeah those are some recommendations on where to start with why a mystery and kind of a rundown of some of the more popular titles I do have several that are still on my radar that I'm either owned and need to get to or need to get from the library things like little white lies by Jennifer Lim Barnes the author of the naturals her new book comes out the beginning of November I have an arc of that so I'm excited to read it Sahil girls bike Larry LeGrande I heard that was really good kind of more on the thriller I think end of why a mystery people like us is another boarding school mystery that I've heard a lot of really good things about so I want to read that Monday's not coming is also kind of a best friend goes missing type books so maybe something more along the lines of cedi I don't know but I've heard really good things about that one so I'm on line for that at the library I'm excited to get to it and then on the diviners by Libba Bray my understanding is that sort of more of like it's I think it's set in the 20s and then it has like paranormal stuff happening but it's like mystery plots so I'm excited to read that at some point too so yeah those are some other ones that are sort of on my radar that I've not gotten to yet what's exciting is I think that there's a lot more of these books coming out that maybe have in the past I don't know maybe that's just maybe I'm just aware of them coming out but I really like this as a sub-genre I appreciate that it's like that this is a sub-genre that exists both for mysteries sake and for wise sake because mystery is basically one of the most popular adult genres that gets read so I like the idea of having y-a versions for young readers to sort of learn the tropes and learn how that genre works and get interested in it and then I think for adult mystery readers it's great because it does have that more lightness of touch thing happening with them which is something that I personally really like not not all mystery readers do but it's sort of another avenue to get that type of a mystery so yeah I think it's a win all around and I hope this was helpful and maybe giving you some ideas of where you could start I think that will do it I hope you enjoyed this video if you did please like subscribe follow me on the social means if you are so inclined I have all that information listed in the description box below and I will just talk to you soon bye [Music]

Channel: bookslikewhoa

Views: 8,211

Rating: 4.9636364 out of 5

Keywords: books, booktube, literature, reading, where to start with YA mystery, mystery, thriller, The Naturals, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, the agency series, y.s. lee, the cheerleaders, undead girl gang, sadie, courtney summers, maureen johnson, truly devious, the name of the star, we were liars, neverworld wake, there's someone inside your house, one of us is lying, #murdertrending, a study in charlotte, little white lies, sawkill girls, people like us, the diviners, monday's not coming

Id: vETwB9uKF-s

Length: 18min 56sec (1136 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 22 2018