Great YA books to cuddle up with and read!

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When it's cold outside, that is perfect time to cuddle up and read a great book!  With a great cup of coffee or tea, reading can be the perfect winter activity!  With that in mind, I want to give you 10 suggestions for great young adult books set in winter to complete the cozy effect!

1.  After the Snow by S.D. Crockett (dystopian) - Set in a future world that has been plunged into a new Ice Age, Willo lives isolated with his family in the wilderness.  One day he returns home to find his entire family gone. He embarks on a journey to both survive and find his family.

Bonus information:  Check out the prequel, One Crow Alone.

 2.  Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan  (realistic/romance) - Lily has left a red notebook filled with dares on a shelf in her favorite bookstore.  Dash finds it and starts the challenge.  As the notebook goes back and forth between them, they become closer - but will they be a match when they meet in real life?

Bonus information:  Also read Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, written by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan!

 3.  How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr (realistic) - the story of 2 girls whose lives are changing around them - Jill's dad just died and now her mom wants to adopt a baby. Is her mom just wanting to replace her dad with a new family member?   Mandy is pregnant and wants the best life for her baby.  But what will happen to her?

 4.  Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stepanie Perkins (realistic/romance) - this story follows Isla and Josh from Manhattan to their senior year in France where they learn that happily-ever-after may not mean forever.

Bonus information:  Read the companion books Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door.

 5.  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (fantasy/classic) - Winter is a great time to read or re-read this classic novel about 4 siblings who step through a magical wardrobe into Narnia, a land trapped in an eternal winter by the power of the White Witch.

Bonus information:  Although new box sets mark the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia as The Magician's Nephew, Lewis did not intend it to be read first.  It should be read 6th, just before The Last Battle.

 6.  Shiver by Maggie Steifvater.  This is the story of a boy who shifts into a wolf during the winter months, and his connection with the girl who lives at the edge of the woods.

Bonus information:  This is the first novel in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series of four books:  Shiver, Linger, Forever, and Sinner. 

 7.  The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos (realistic/mystery) - Imogene only knows of her mother from the stories her dad has told her.  She left when Imogene was a baby.  Now Imogene's dad has left in the middle of the night and hasn't come back and no one knows why.  Imogene believes that he is searching for her mother, so she also begins to search for her mother, hoping that in doing so she will find her father as well. 

8.  The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth Laban (realistic/romance) - this story follows Tim, a recent transfer to the Irving School.  He is albino and wants to just get through his senior year.  Along the way he falls in love with the most popular girl in the school.  The story follows them as they move through their senior year, navigating a secret relationship and the big senior project, the Tragedy Paper.

 9. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (fantasy) - Alina Starkov is a soldier who discovers she has an unknown power when her regiment is attacked on the Shadow Fold, a place of darkness and monsters.  This leads her to becoming a Grisha, an elite group of people with magic who protect the nation of Ravka.

Bonus information:  This book is the first in the Grisha trilogy, which also includes Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising. 

10. The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston (fantasy) - Set in Wales in the early 19th century, Morgana is a young woman with mysterious powers who has never spoken.  When her mother arranges for her to marry a widower, she is lost.  But she falls in love with her new home, and her new husband works to understand her.  However, something is working to turn the townspeople against Morgana, and she is forced to use her magic to protect the people and things she loves.