What YA' Reading: One Word Titles

Sometimes all you need is one word for a title to pull you into a new book. Here are a few one word titles I recommend.

Glitter (Glitter, #1) by Aprilynne Pike

Danica lives in a world where Versailles is owned by a corporation and is operated as its own country. From the outside Danica has everything that a girl could want. She is wealthy and engaged to the King/CEO of the country. However, she knows her mother blackmailed him into becoming her fiancé and his secrets terrify her. If she wants to get out, she has to pay someone to get her out. But she'll need to pay hard cash that she knows she can't get. Then she learns about Glitter. It's a highly addictive drug that could be both her salvation and her downfall.

I picked up the second book it in this series first, not realizing it was a sequel. I didn't get very far in #2 before I realized I needed to read Glitter first. That likely changed some of how I read Glitter because I knew in a broad sense some of what was going to happen. Still, there were moments I absolutely did not see coming. Some made me cheer, some made me cry and some just broke my heart.

I want to like Danica because she is in a truly awful situation and must resorts to desperate means to escape. I kept wanting her to do the right thing. However, she knows doing the right thing will leave her trapped in a terrible life. She justifies her actions in ways that don't hold up. It’s hard to tell sometimes if she is the hero or the villain.

Warcross (Warcross, #1) by Marie Lu

Warcross dominates Emika Chen's world. Almost everyone is obsessed with this virtual/augmented reality game. Emika is a talented bounty hunter and hacker. She draws the attention of the creator of the game, Hideo Tanaka, when one of her hacks goes wrong. Emika jumps at the chance to work for Hideo and change her life forever. The more she delves into Warcross, the more that she realizes Warcross is concealing dark secrets.

Emika breaks the stereotype that hackers are men. She is one of the best and gets the opportunity of a lifetime because of it. Emika has survived more than most people do in their entire lifetime and refuses to let challenges break her. I enjoyed this story immensely. I really like video games, so reading this book just made sense. The storyline was fascinating. The idea of a game you are able to live in is a really cool concept. I could not get the sequel fast enough. I had to know what happened.

Renegades (Renegades, #1) by Marissa Meyer

Everyone wants to be a Renegade – a group of people with incredible powers to do supernatural things. Well, almost everyone. To most of the world, the Renegades represent structure, security and hope. To Nova, they are the people she blames for the death of everyone she loved. She determines to make them pay. As Nova works with a group from the Age of Anarchy, they decide the best way to exact revenge is to put someone on the inside.

This book hooked me from the very beginning. The first chapter hints at Nova’s past and what shaped who she becomes. The story is like a roller coaster ride that never stops. Just when you think you have it all figured out, something happens to change everything. The more this book unfolds, the more I loved it. Characters develop incredible depth that helps you understand their choices. Nova wants vengeance. However, once Nova is on the inside she learns things aren't as black and white as she thought. I appreciated that Nova’s character struggles with the decisions she makes as she gets to know the Renegades. This book was immensely enjoyable. I couldn’t wait to start the sequel.