I've just finished two books, Kushiel's Dart and Kushiel's Chosen the first two in a series by Jacqueline Carey. Has anyone read these? They are fantasy-alternate history, although not really alternate history. It takes place in a fantasy version of France and the main character is Phadre, who is a courtesan and becomes a spy.

Can y'all give me titles of young adult novels where the lead character is either just out of high school or in college proper?

Barb,

Megan McCafferty books. (Sloppy Firsts is the first in the trilogy....but in the second book they are in college). Paper Towns by John Green is graduation summer before college. I Love You Beth Cooper is also around graduation.

Barb -- Shift by Jennifer Bradbury. 2 time periods the summer between high school and college and freshman yr. So Good. Very much a YA book. And even more unusually -- the main characters are boys.

What about Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist? Were they still in high school? I can't remember.

Also, has anyone read The Forest of Hands and Teeth yet?

I thought it would be like The Village (the M. Night Shyamalan movie), and it has similarities, but fortunately it isn't mind-numbingly stupid in the way the film was.

Reasonably good, although there were things that I wanted to be more fully explained that never were. Still, I liked it.

Were they still in high school? I can't remember.

Yep.

I'm trying to remember if Abundance of Katherines, by John Green is early college or high school.

ETA summer before college. LOVE that book.

Oh, a friend just recommended that book to me! It sounds pretty cool.

Born Confused takes place the summer before senior year.

askye - yep, love 'em. I've read the Phaedre trilogy, and then it moves on to focus on another character (she says, shiftily) for the next trilogy, with Phaedre in a main supporting role.

Obviously, I guess I'm partial to the whole bdsm aspect of the stories, but also, I can't think of any other epic fantasy type series that has a female hero being heroic in such an un-masculine way. If that makes sense? I really enjoy the whole courtesan-spy extravaganza, and the way that, whilst sex and sexuality is a huge part of the stories, it's the very antithesis of the Laurell K Hamilton approach to writing sex. I mean, hell, I'm a sucker for swashbucklers at the best of times, so this is total catnip for me. And it's lots of fun playing the where-will-they-go-next? game, with her alternative medieval world. And I like the way she's woven her religions together too. One of my favourite writers of epic fantasy, at least with the D'Angeline books. (I've seen some others by her that haven't really appealed, although they may be lovely.)

Thanks for all the feedback, y'all-- and keep 'em coming. Even though this isn't for anything more than my own edification. I've wondered, ever since the Carmen book was canceled by the publisher, if one of the reasons wasn't that it was too "old" for that particular imprint. Judging by the rest of the books in the line, I suspect that it was at least part of the reason. My three main leads were 18, 18, and 20, mostly because in order for me to feel comfortable in playing out the thread of the Carmen story, I wanted them all to be legal adults. The female lead, in particular, was sexually experienced and comfortable in her own sexual skin without it falling into ABC Afterschool Special territory. She was just pretty much a normal 18 year-old girl. However, I had no fewer than three editors point out to me how hot they thought the love scenes were and one, in particular, said she had to close the door in order to read them because she kept fanning herself. (Jeez, they should only read my adult stuff...)

At any rate, I just can't see this story playing out with young teenagers, so that's not something I'm going to be changing-- the question then becomes do we try to resubmit it as a young adult or as mainstream fiction? Things to ponder.

Barb, the Sloppy Firsts books are shelved both in YA and in the normal lit section at Vromans, if that helps you understand. I see her both in YA and regular sections all over.

Born Confused is wonderful.