Calendar Girls – Best Romance in YA

And it’s back! Yes, it’s that time again – Calendar Girls is back with a brand new topic, and it’s yet another good one!

This month’s theme is…Best Romance in YA.

Yes, a perfect question for this Book Princess who has far too many ships (and perhaps not enough sails). Anyway, this was theme was definitely going to be a hard one to pinpoint just one best romance or best ship, and I may have agonized far too much over this theme than was reasonable. XD Anyway, before I reveal my super shocker (seriously, if you follow my blog, you’ll never guess what is coming) best romance choice (…or choices? :O No, no, I don’t want to get kicked out of Calendar Girls), let’s talk more about the blog event!

Calendar Girls is hosted by bloggers, Flavia the Bibliophile and Melanie Noell Bernard – both have amazing blogs full of fun, bookish posts. Calendar Girls is a brand new monthly blog event inspired by Neil Sedaka’s 1961 song Calendar Girl. Just like in the song, we decided to use a specific them for each month and choose a book based on these themes! The event is meant to incite discussions with other bloggers about books we’ve read and loved, is meant to help bloggers meet other bloggers, and also for bloggers and readers to find out about blogs which they normally may not have come across! Want to know more? Click on the links above! And it’s not too late to jump on the Calendar Girl train! Join now!

So, as I said, this was a hard one for me. I have a lot of ships in YA lit. Like, a lot, a lot. An embarrassing amount. XD To have to pick one out? Impossible.

Anna’s judging me again.

I somehow managed to narrow it down to two: Thorne and Cress from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer and Inej and Kaz from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. Let’s take a moment to wait for all of your gasps to subside. XD

Cresswell is my ultimate baby, and I will never have enough of them; THE FEELS. MY HEART. However, for this post, I decided to choose  Inej and Kaz, because I think their romance was so unique and different – and definitely something that doesn’t come across in YA often.It’s my second favorite ship ever, and I just need to talk about this wonderfully crafted relationship.

Kaz and Inej both come from broken lives. Kaz is still recovering from a death very near to him – and can’t touch anyone. Inej has been broken as well – from horrible things that people have done to her. Who do two people that can’t stand to touch and be touched ever make any sort of relationship work, especially when one of them refuses to ever let his emotions show?

Somehow, they do, gals and guys, and it was so beautiful. Bardugo doesn’

Oh, swoon. ❤

t shy away from the hard parts, and she doesn’t magically make them get together just because the ship has been planted. They stay true to themselves and the lives they were given. Yet the slowburn romance shows such a wonderful example of how romance can work in the real world and how two broken people can find a bit of happiness in each other.

It’s beautiful. It’s different. It’s how YA romance should be – and there is no instalove in sight. *swoon*

But also, Cresswell lover for life. ❤

What do you think? What do you think is the best romance in YA? Share your thoughts here, and join the Calendar Girls as well! (Also, can we just fangirl over these two ships?? Please?)