Friday Favorites: Old School YA

Hello my dear bookish people and welcome to another Friday Favorites! And this week is one of my most anticipate topics: OLD SCHOOL YA!! I decided this was any YA books released before 2000, which honestly makes me feel terribly old. Be prepared for a me screaming a lot about books I loved (and still love) when I was but a young whippersnapper.

Basically anything by LJ Smith

I almost put LJ Smith down at the bottom as a saving the best for last kind of thing. But just in case people don’t make it through the whole post, I at bare minimum wanted the takeaway from this post to be MY DEEP AND UNDYING LOVE FOR LJ SMITH. These books were not only my best friends in high school, but also my introduction to paranormal books. I reread each of the trilogies and the Nightworld books at least 10 times each in high school. I used to come home from school, do my homework, and then I read one of the books before I went to bed. These books are my happy place and will always hold a special place in my heart.

Fearless by Franscine Pascal

Oh my, this series. THIS. DAMN. SERIES. It’s been a long damn time since I’ve read these books but the main thing I remember is the main character, Gaia, doesn’t have the “fear gene” which makes her kind of super powered in that fear never holds her back. That was a terrible way to explain it, but that’s what I’ve got. I also remember a very dramatic and romantically tense scene between Gaia and Sam (the love interest) that involves rain and chess. Hm…I need to go buy this series again (I just looked it up and holy heck the series got up to 36 books. I originally read up to maybe the 20s). Yep, I need rain and chess in my life again. I’m gonna go search for these books.

Demon in My View by Amelia Atwater Rhodes

Another book I read over and over and over again in my teens. It was one of those books that just clicked so hard with me. The main character is a social outcast and secretly published author of paranormal fiction who feels more intune with the demons in her stories than with her schoolmates. THAT’S WHO I WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL…minus the published part. This book and the other in the series are wicked short and damnit I want to reread it now…

The Alanna Quartet and Immortals Quartet by Tamora Pierce

I’m not sure I could call myself a fan of old school YA if I didn’t include some Tamora Pierce books on my list. I recently reread the Immortals Quartet and I was reminded of how awesome Pierce’s books are. I feel like Tamora Pierce was the beginning (at least for me) of strong female characters in YA novels.

The Last Vampire by Christopher Pike

This whole series is wild and honestly I am so here for it. I really don’t know what else to say about them. It was a very interesting take on vampires and felt very unique to me at the time.

Fear Street by RL Stine

I legitimately want to know why my mother was okay with me reading these as young as I did. All the Fear Street books are pretty damn horrific and graphic. One of my memoreis from these books is a girl stabbing her sister through the heart with knitting needles. LIKE, WHAT THE HECK?? But I loved them and read a ton of these books. The thing that amuses me the most is I cannot stand horror or graphic violence now that I’m an adult.

Goddess of the Night (Daughters of the Moon Series) by Lynne Ewing

This series was such a part of my late high school years. Each of the main characters had an aspect of who I wanted to be, especially the goddess powers, and I just wanted to be part of this squad. Also, this series has one heck of a bad boy romance and there is nothing I love more than a bad buy falling for one of the good girls.

So, I had to include a couple of honorable mentions. These are books that I LOVED but were technically published after 2000:

Gifted Touch (Fingerprints Series) by Melinda Metz (2001)
Book of Shadows (Sweep Series) by Cate Tiernan (2001)
So Mote it Be (Circle of Three series) by Isobel Bird (2001)

Do you have any old school YA books or series that you love? Let me know in the comments!

And if you have a Friday Favorites post make sure to drop the link in the comments so I can add it to the list of participants! Happy Friday everyone!!

Friday Favorites posts from around the book community!

• Sabreena @ Books and Prosecco
• Tara @ Mind for Books
• SE White @ SE White Books
• Ainslee @ Jest and Hearts
• Brittany @ BookishlyBrittknee
• Sam @ Tinted Prose Reviews