11 Unforgettable YA Kissy Scenes
1. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
First, there was the shower scene with perfect Adam.
“And he’s kissing me. Once, twice, until I’ve had a taste and realize I’ll never have enough. He’s everywhere up my back and over my arms and suddenly he’s kissing me harder, deeper, with a fervent urgent need I’ve never known before.”
2. Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
And then there was Chapter 62 with perfect Warner. Between this chapter and the shower scene no wonder Juliette is so torn.
“I feel his lips against my shoulder, soft and scorching and tender, so gentle I could almost believe it’s the kiss of a breeze and not a boy.”
3. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
Caution: kissing like this might make you forget a lot of things.
“He would kiss me, right now, after everything I’d done. I was poison, and Noah was the drug that would make me forget it.”
4. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
There’s more kissing later in Fangirl, but we love Cath and Levi’s first stolen kiss.
“Levi’s kisses were all taking. Like he was drawing something out of her with soft little jabs of his chin. She brought her fingers up to his hair, and she couldn’t open her eyes.”
5. Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Why can’t all first kisses be like Aria and Perry’s?
“They molded together, fitted against one another with stunning perfection. Aria had never felt as she did now, exploring the taste of him. Feeling the strength of his arms around her. Inhaling sweat and leather and woodsmoke. His scents. She felt as though she’d found a moment of forever. Like this was how they should’ve always been.”
6. The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson
You may think kissing in a sewer would be unappealing, but you’d be wrong.
“Suddenly, he yanks me against him and bends his head to kiss me. I melt into him as his fingers tangle in my wet hair. My mouth opens to his, and our tongues meet for the briefest instance before he pulls away.”
7. Divergent by Veronica Roth
Sometimes it’s the moment right before the kiss…
“Are you asking me to undress, Tris?”
That makes the kissing even better.
“We kiss again, and this time, it feels familiar. I know exactly how we fit together, his arm around my waist, my hands on his chest, the pressure of his lips on mine. We have each other memorized.”
8. The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth
Sometimes perfect doesn’t even begin to cover it.
“I turned around and found her face, and her mouth was already waiting like a question. I’m not gonna make it out to be something that it wasn’t: It was perfect—Coley’s soft lips against the bite of the liquor and sugary Coke still on our tongues. She did more than just not stop me. She kissed me back.”
9. Harry Potter and the Deadthly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
The kiss that was seven books in the making. Was it worth the wait? Yes, yes it was.
“There was a clatter as the basilisk fangs cascaded out of Hermione’s arms. Running at Ron, she flung them around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. Ron threw away the fangs and broomstick he was holding and responded with such enthusiasm that he lifted Hermione off her feet.”
10. The Distance Between Us by Kasie West
Things really heat up between Caymen and Xander in the kitchen.
“He takes me by the waist and lifts me onto the counter. I wrap my legs and arms around him and press my lips to his.”
11. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Sometimes the second kiss is better than the first.
“I took him by the shoulders. I looked at him. And he looked at me. ‘You said I wasn’t scared of anything. That’s not true. That’s what I’m afraid of. I’m afraid of you, Dante.” I took a deep breath.
‘Try it again,’ I said. ‘Kiss me.’
‘No,’ he said.
‘Kiss me.’
‘No.’ And then he smiled. ‘You kiss me.’
I placed my hand on the back of his neck. I pulled him toward me. And I kissed him. I kissed him. And I kissed him. And I kissed him. And he kept kissing me back.”
source : http://www.epicreads.com/blog/
(aparté)
Parce que ce blog est avant tout un espace dédié aux lectures pour la jeunesse, et parce qu'il est notamment suivi par des âmes pures et chastes (ma fille, ses cousines, ses copines ... toutes adolescentes) que j'entends naturellement préserver, bref il est temps pour moi d'héberger ailleurs mes lectures inavouables !
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Voici un billet (trouvé sur Word for Teens) avec lequel je suis totalement d'accord !
I just don't get it.
It was funny at first.
But now, it just seems like people can't write their own stories. I'm all for parodies and monsters and adaptions what have you. But Little Vampires Women? Romeo and Juliet and Vampires? It's getting ridiculous.
What happened to coming up with your own ideas? I mean, I'm sure they're funny and entertaining. I got a kick out of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and the trailer for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters never fails to make me laugh. But enough is enough! Let's stop turning our lovely Mr. Darcy into a vampyre. Or vampire.
And of course. They did what nobody should do.
They touched my favorite.
My love-of-all-loves.
My classic-of-all-classic.
My eternal-debate-started.
Am I missing any? (Not included on this list are Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter because both are original works of fiction. I'm also not counting Jane Bites Back, because as much as I don't like the concept, it is - again - not based on any of the Austen novels.)
And does anybody else agree?
[EDIT] Thanks to Briana for catching one I missed! And I don't think androids should be mixed in with ANY classic, thank-you-very-much.
I also just found Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim. Woe is me.
source : Word for Teens
Fait assez extraordinaire, le billet de la blogueuse (Nicole) a été commenté par l'auteur de Jane Slayre ! ... La suite, ICI.
Books & other thoughts
Ma dernière trouvaille est un blog américain, baptisé Books & other thoughts. Un blog où j'aime beaucoup me balader car, en plus de trouver des tas de lecture en commun avec l'auteur de ce blog, j'aime ses billets où elle parle de son obsession dévorante pour la lecture, de son goût des livres pour la jeunesse, de la légitimité d'en parler alors que nous sommes de (charmantes) vieilles peaux plus du tout concernées par les sujets abordés dans ces lectures (hihihi), et j'en passe. En bref, j'aime beaucoup. C'est l'une de mes nouvelles adresses fétiches.
The validity of reviewing books for children
Have you ever wondered about the fact that children's books are reviewed by adults, who are not the intended audience for them? How much is my - or any adult's - opinion about a children's book worth, anyway?
I have often felt that there are certain picture books that seem to be written by adults for the parents or grandparents or teachers who buy the books, and not necessarily for the children themselves.
I guess what makes me really wonder about this whole issue is when I go back to re-read a book that was one of my absolute favorites when I was a child, and it just doesn't hold up. I'm sure had an adult reviewed one of those re-read disappointments, it would have been given a poor review. Maybe it was predictable, or the characterization wasn't great, or the dialog not exactly sparkling. But as a child, that book rocked my world.
I suppose we review children's books because we love them, even as adults. I know I do. And I guess we should keep in mind that children often approach books from a different perspective and have sensibilities that can be very different from adults'.
I don't get that. Admittedly, I read obsessively; even so, it befuddles me that so many people say to me (often after hearing I'm a librarian, or that I'm a writer), "I love books, but I just don't have time to read." They sigh wistfully, as though reading involved taking several days off from work and making complicated childcare arrangements. Really, it's just not that hard!
Reading, for me, is and always has been a way of life. I always have a book with me (two if I'm toward the end of one, just to avoid that terrible feeling of book panic), and when the opportunity presents itself, I read. I read in waiting rooms, on buses, in the kiss-and-ride line at my children's school, during meals (if I'm alone), you name it.
Maybe people just don't find the right books for themselves. I give a book maybe 50 pages, and if we haven't clicked by then, I'm finished. There are too many great books out there for me to waste my time struggling through one I can't get into. When I'm in the middle of a good book, I can actually carry on conversations with other people (although I have no idea I'm doing this at the time) and tune out just about anything. If it's a good book, I'm in that world, and that's that. Maybe these wistful non-readers haven't had the chance to find the books that really grab them. They have struggled with too many dull books and have just given up.
(...)
Why don't more adults read children's books?
(...) These books are great! Not all of them, of course -- just like the ones in the adult sections aren't all great, either. But I can honestly say that I am certain that, if I were to pick up a book at random from adult fiction and a book at random from children's or young adult fiction, I'd almost certainly enjoy the kids' book more.
Is it that people are embarrassed? That it doesn't occur to them to see if there's anything interesting in that section for them? Even the Harry Potter phenomenon doesn't seem to have transferred to other books outside that series. Why is that?
Doesn't anybody ever check in the children's section just to see if there's anything new by their old favorite authors?
(...)
So the next time you feel guilty about spending too much time behind the pages of a book...
...you can make yourself feel better - even virtuous and superior - by going to this site and reading the article about how great reading is for you! It says things like: "Being a bookworm doesn’t just make you smart. It makes you mentally tough. It builds so much cognitive reserve that bookworms’ brains may be bolstered against bad things like pollution and toxins."
I just love it when science validates my reading addiction.
Bookaholism
Bookaholism follows the same six signs of a shopaholic, understandably, but only applies to books:
1. You spend more when you're emotional. (ie, "Freaking people piss me off. I'm gonna go buy an apocalyptic book and watch them die!")
2. Your spending habits result in added stress: (ie, "Holy shit, my tbr bookshelf is up to 400 now. Oops.")
3. You're a compulsive spender (ie, "Oh hey Poison Study, lookin' cute." ie, "Oh hey, Before I Fall, lookin' cute." ie, "Oh hey, Cracked Up To Be, lookin' cute." etc, etc.)
4. You can't live without plastic. (ie, "Hey, I have a Borders Rewards card! It'll be fine! I can get free books out of this...!")
5. You're constantly making excuses. (ie, "Well, I'm just helping the publishing business, really. It's a tough economy. I'm such a nice person.")
6. You've tried to control your spending in the past. (ie, "Okay, I'll only buy paperbacks, I promise. But maybe just this ONE hardcover...")
If you've agreed with one or more of these statements, you're a bookaholic, too. Keep on keepin' on.
=) entire room says, "Hello !"
Whew. I feel better now.
source : The Page Flipper
Pour ceux qui ne comprennent pas un mot d'anglais, voici une traduction approximative via google traduction ICI (oui le résultat me fait franchement sourire !)
No Shame in it.
Je viens de lire un billet sur le blog de Cynthia Jaynes Omololu, auteur d'un premier roman, Dirty Little Secrets, dans lequel elle se demande pourquoi certains adultes ont honte d'avouer avoir aimé son livre. Elle revient alors sur sa propre adolescence, dans les années 80, où elle avait le choix de lire Judy Blume ou Virginia C. Andrews, avant de piocher directement dans la case "romans adultes".
Aujourd'hui le choix est plus vaste ! Les ados ont incroyablement de chance. Mais pas seulement.
Today's YA books are honest, brutal, funny, fast-paced and romantic. We don't spend three pages talking about the wind whispering through the trees. We don't have time. Our readers want to jump into a story, have it envelop them and live through the characters until they close the last page. Books like TWILIGHT and THE LOVELY BONES have given many adults their first taste of YA writing, and I'm hearing that many of them want more.
(...)
While I adore my teen audience, I hope that many adults read DLS too. I think there is just as much in the story for them as there is for teens. That's what my readers are telling me, albeit in hushed tones. The next time you're in a bookstore, wander over to the Teen or Young Adult section. Take a look at the beautiful covers and read some of the flaps. Steady yourself, because you'll probably be surprised at how many of them you want to read.
C'est un sujet qui a été beaucoup abordé ces derniers jours dans les blogs des auteurs américains. Pourquoi, comment... la littérature "jeunesse".
Maggie Stiefvater a ajouté son couplet.
Sa réflexion vient de remarques lues au cours d'un débat sur un autre blog, où un intervenant faisait la remarque que la production actuelle était pauvre, de qualité médiocre, comparée à The Secret Garden ou Ann of Green Gables.
I have two things to say to that.
1) Stop being nostalgic, it's ruining your camera lens.
2) Yes, those books are great. They are also classics, which means that they are the select few which have survived the test of time. Shockingly, there are countless other novels published at the same time as these classics that you have never heard of. Why? Because they were not timeless beauties. Are we really comparing every YA novel published today against the Audrey Hepburns of the children's book world?
3) Not every book has to be a classic. I read thousands of books as a teen. Some of them were classics. Some of them weren't. This may be shocking, but I enjoyed them all about the same.
It irritates me when readers talk smack about commercial books that were never meant to be high literature. Some books can be just entertainment, very much rooted in the mores of the era, and the integrity of literature as we know it will not go down like the Titanic.
My other argument I hear as a YA author is that YA is inferior to adult literature.
YA is vapid, trendy, excellent, profound, worse than adult fiction, better than adult fiction, short, long, magical, contemporary, etc. Because YA has no rules. We have the great and the mundane right next to each other. And like I said, not everything has to be great.
YA literature shouldn't be dumbed down. Teens are perfectly capable of grasping nuance and subtlety and context -- they are baby yous, after all, aren't they, and what were you reading when you were 12?
And finally, I get a lot of reader mail from apologetic older readers who confess that they enjoyed SHIVER despite being "long out of their teens." They clearly feel guilty about this. To this, I say:
I never felt guilty, as a teen, reading about adults. I also never felt guilty reading Watership Down, despite not being a rabbit.
--) L'occasion de vous suggérer le billet sur le blog Citrouille : Ecrire pour l'enfance, pour la jeunesse, pour la vieillesse pourquoi comment etc.... (Itw de Olivier Adam et Luc Blanvillain sur France inter - vidéo) Lien permanent
Si j'évoque tout ceci, c'est parce que, quelque part, cela rejoint mes propres arguments, à force d'entendre, pourquoi tu fais ci, et pourquoi tu lis ça, et pourquoi tu ne fais plus ci, et pourquoi ça devient comme ça ...
Je pourrais exposer les 1001 raisons qui font que ... mais là, pas de temps, pas envie, nous verrons plus tard.
Nos français qui s'exportent !
...
Jean-Claude Mourlevat : Le Combat d'Hiver -) Winter's End
Agnès Desarthe - Mangez-moi -) Chez moi
Anne-Laure Bondoux - Les Larmes de l'Assassin -) The Killer's Tears
St. Valentines Day Crush-A-Thon
Message purement subliminal.
Tant pis si tout ceci n'interpelle que moi, mais je ne peux m'empêcher de foncer droit devant dès qu'un billet outre-atlantique fait référence aux béguins sur papier. Je raffole de ça ! Comme si je craignais de louper un potentiel livresque, ce serait le drame ! ^.^
Ainsi, Julie Kagawa, auteur du premier roman The Iron King, a fait appel aux blogueurs pour leur demander quels étaient ces héros qui leur faisaient battre le coeur... Au final, nous retrouvons pratiquement TOUJOURS les mêmes candidats (ça me soulage de ne pas trop allonger mes listes de livres à lire) :
The modern Crush-worthies:
Jace (The Mortal Instruments): Snarky yet sensitive. A jerk in a snuggle suit, as one person said.
Patch (Hush Hush): The ultimate Bad Boy. Fallen from grace, but still redeemable.
Alex Fuentes (Perfect Chemistry): Another dark, dangerous-but-honorable Bad Boy.
Peeta (The Hunger Games): He bakes! He cleans! He kills your enemies! What more do you need?
Spencer (Suite Scarlet): Funny and charming, and an actor to boot.
Po (Graceling): Even with his name, he can still kick-ass.
Daniel (The Dark Divine): Mysterious, dark, and dangerous. Do I see a theme?
Niall (Wicked Lovely series): You can actually die from wanting this faery so much.
Seth (Wicked Lovely series): Caring, sweet, and with more hardware than Ace Tools.
Severus Snape (Harry Potter): Really?
Ethan Wate (Beautiful Creatures): Reminding us that we can still love the ordinary guys.
Jamie Fraser (Outlander series): Scottish Highlanders are just sexy. Everyone knows that.
Sam (Shiver): A werewolf boy who writes song lyrics for you. Tell me that’s not the ultimate in sweet.
Kartick (A Great and Terrible Beauty): Anyone who would sacrifice themselves for love is someone to sigh for.
Valek (Poison Study): My favorite literary crush. I have a thing for assassins, but Valek is coolness personified. He can also kill you with a pinky.
The classics that make us sigh :
Mr. Knightley (Emma): Just his name means you should swoon for him.
Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre): This dark, brooding gentleman has the Mother of all Secrets in his attic.
Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird): A tireless crusader for Good, that alone makes him admirable.
Gilbert Blythe (Anne of Green Gables): The ultimate Sweet Boy, in many opinions. He waits so long for Anne to come to her senses.
Laurie (Little Women): Goofy, charming, and sweet. Jo is obviously blind.
John Thornton (North and South): A stern, business-like demeanor only masks a sweet, sensitive side.
Peter Pan: (Peter Pan and Wendy): Endless youth and a devil-may-care attitude makes Peter a contender for many hearts.
Those swoon-worthy vampires :
Edward Cullen (Twilight): Love him or hate him, there’s no denying Edward has captured the hearts of more fans then perhaps any other fictional guy out there. Must be the sparkles.
Eric Northman (Sookie Stackhouse series): Big blond Viking god? What’s not to love?
Damon (Vampire Diaries): Dark and mysterious, as a vampire should be.
Stefan (Vampire Diaries): Damon’s brother and rival, his opposite in many ways.
Dimitri (Vampire Academy): We’re all still waiting to see if Rose can save him.
Bones (Night Huntress series): Don’t we all wish we could be Cat.
Jean-Claude (Laura K. Hamilton series): I don’t know if being around Jean-Claude is healthy, but he’s certainly beautiful.
And the winner of the St. Valentine’s Day Crush-A-Thon, the one name that was mentioned more often than anyone else’s, the ultimate Swoon-worthy character:
Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice): What is it about Mr. Darcy that makes everyone swoon? Is it his piercing eyes? His distant, aloof character? Or maybe the fact that he was played by the wonderful Colin Firth in one of the many adaptations to film. Whatever the reason, Mr. Darcy has withstood the test of time, rising above the ranks of vampires and supernatural boyfriends, to take his place as Number One in the St. Valentine’s Day Crush-A-Thon.
N.B. from me, myself & I :
... le GRAND absent
snif ! rhett ...
Mais qu'est-ce qu'elles racontent ? !
Toujours branchée sur les grandes ondes des blogs américains, j'avais envie de partager leurs derniers délires, à ne pas prendre à la légère. Ceci est un message strictement réservé à ceux et celles qui ont conservé une âme de midinette.
La fête des Amoureux approchant, Heidi R. Kling, auteur d'un premier roman à paraître en juin 2010, qui s'intitule Sea, propose de décerner THE SMOOCHIES - THE BEST YA KISS OF 2009 (Prix du Meilleur Baiser dans un roman jeunesse paru l'an dernier). Le verdict doit tomber le 14 février !
Pour l'instant, plusieurs noms reviennent dans les propositions :
Jace & Clary (Cassandra Clare, The Mortal Instruments)
Sam & Grace (Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver)
Peeta & Katniss (Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)
Nick & Mae (Sarah Rees Brennan, The Demon's Lexicon)
Daniel & Grace (Bree Despain, The Dark Divine)
Patch & Nora (Becca Fitzpatrick, Hush Hush)
Jack & Theodora (Melissa de la Cruz, The Van Alen Legacy)
Adam & Mia (Gayle Forman, If I stay)
Ethan & Lena (Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, Beautiful Creatures)
(Plusieurs de ces romans ont été traduits ou seront prochainement disponibles en édition française !)
Attention, attention : Le couple Katniss / Peeta est en sérieuse compétition avec ... l'autre éventualité, Katniss / Gale !
Ceci nous amenant à L'ETERNEL DEBAT (Steph Su Reads) :
TEAM PEETA // TEAM GALE
Cependant, peut-on vraiment considérer qu'il existe un triangle amoureux dans la série alors que le personnage de Gale, aussi séduisant soit-il, est si peu présent dans les romans ? ... Même dans Catching Fire (aucun spoiler dévoilé), ça reste du léger, très léger !
On retrouve d'excellents arguments dans les deux camps, ce billet de The Page Flipper nous fait hocher la tête de part et d'autre. Je suis notamment 100% d'accord avec ceci :
Peeta is brave, incredibly loyal, sweet and smart. Katniss, in my opinion, is so hard on him because she believes he hasn't suffered back home the way she has. The way Gale may have. But he proves himself to her time and time again and I believe the feelings she has for him are as real as their experience in the arena. And just as scary--because she has spent years trying to cut herself off emotionally from anyone other than her little sister because of the pain involved in feeling. In loving. In trusting since her father died and her mother drifted off into her own world. Which is why, I believe, she never advanced her relationship with Gale past friendship. Hanging on to Gale as her 'ideal' of because he is safe. Because, like Katniss, he isn't able to express his feelings. Whereas Peeta knows exactly who he is. And owns it.
Gale, c'est un grand frère. Et Peeta, c'est... Peeta !
100% Team Peeta.
Avec en aparté : Now, if Suzanne Collins would have had Gale pick Katniss up at the train station? If he had been leaning against the wall let's say. With a bow slung from his hip and a teary-proud grin on his face? And pulled her into a sexy, cowboy-hunter hug? And kissed her? And Peeta looked on longingly and did nothing? Then this blog post may have had a slightly altered ending. But that's not what the author chose. And that's not a choice I would have made either. Collins chose Peeta, as did Katniss, as do I.
Héhéhé.
Plusieurs lectrices américaines ont même argumenté leurs suppositions quant au tome 3 (à paraître le 24 Août 2010 !!!), concernant cette fin qui nous arrache des cris d'horreur et de frustration dans Catching Fire. Aucun spoiler, je vous jure ! Qu'en pensez-vous ?
Faut-il ou non TUER LE HEROS ? (Surlignez ! Ceci n'est que pure spéculation, je vous rassure !)
D'après ce que j'ai pu lire, la réponse est OUI ! Gloups. Ne lisez pas ce qui suit, GROS RISQUES DE SPOILERS !!!
He's too ideal for the real world. Peeta is actually in his element most in the Games; outside of the arena, we readers hardly ever see him as a fully functioning and capable character. That means that, while he'd make the sweetest and most perfect boyfriend for Katniss, it probably won't happen, because the object of Book 3 is to resolve all the conflicts that Katniss and her Mockingjay rebel crew have stirred up with the government. Peeta belongs to that government-constructed world of terror and killing, much like his idealness is a manifestation of our characters of the "dream guy." When the government topples, it makes sense that he, too, will fall.
Dans le fond, je suis d'accord. Mais sérieusement, je n'aimerais PAS DU TOUT que ça se finisse ainsi !
(Je dis ça, mais je suis une lectrice qui n'est pas contente de la fin de HP ! Question de logique, le personnage devait mourir, même si c'est dur à encaisser.)
En fait, les auteurs ont du mal à faire mourir leurs héros. Je réfléchis si je ne trouve pas quelques références susceptibles de me contredire, mais non... je ne vois pas.
Et pour finir, le gros buzzz de cette fin de semaine, c'est bien évidemment la révélation du titre et de la couverture de Hunger Games #3 !!!
A suivre...
edit du 14/02 : les commentaires sont bavards, très bavards... chargés en spoilers, donc prenez garde si vous n'avez pas lu Catching Fire !
