Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Top Ten YA/MG Books That Feature Characters Who Have A Family

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

The actual topic today is 'Top Ten Books Which Feature Characters Who ____' where the blogger gets to fill in the blank with anything they want. So, I decided to go with something that I've been noticing more and more in my YA books. Most of these kids are either A) single child, B) stuck with the most indifferent parents ever or C) orphans. I decided to make a list of the books I've read in either YA or MG where the main character has a family. Maybe parents that are involved in their life, or siblings that are total pests. The main character has to have a good relationship with at least some of their family for it to count.

Top Ten Nine YA/MG Books That Feature Characters Who Have A Family


Elise Stokes
The longer I'm away from this book, the more favorable I feel towards it. I won't get into the problems I had (just say the main girl was kind of an emotional wreck through most of the story) but...Cassidy has parents, a twin brother and a younger brother and they actually eat together. Should I be so amazed? Her family was one of the best things about this book.




A Breath of Frost
Alyxandra Harvey
I really had fun reading this book. It's about three cousins that discover they are witches. While the main character's father is in the running for 'most indifferent father ever' all three of the girls do deal with their parents - at least occasionally.



Seeds of Discovery
Breeana Puttroff
Love this book - it's actually the one that made me decide to do this topic. This is a portal fantasy that is really all about family. Such a fun book and there are so many likable people.



Wild Orchid
Cameron Dokey
This book was very different than what I was expecting. Even though it's a retelling of The Ballad of Mulan, a good half of the book is Mulan at home with her father and her stepmother (who, surprisingly enough, is a nice woman that Mulan gets along with well).



I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You
Ally Carter
The heroine of the story is actually going to a school that her mother is the headmistress of. It's been a while since I read it (actually, listened to it) but it seems like they had a standing dinner date once a week.



Also Known As
Robin Benway
The heroine in this story is a spy - taught by her parents. Parents that are involved in her life and want to know what she's doing. Just like real parents, no?



The Beautiful and the Cursed
Page Morgan
Three of the main characters in this series are siblings (two sisters and a brother) and they have parents. Unfortunately the parents aren't the most 'hands on' when it comes to raising their kinds. The mother is loving but caught up in her life and the father is...controlling and domineering - when he's not being all 'do what you want as long as it's away from me'.



Etiquette & Espionage
Gail Carriger
Sophronia has parents as well as several sisters. While I wish they'd gotten to be in the story more, that's to be expected with a boarding school story. However, she does interact with them when she's home and they are not forgotten after she arrives at the school.



The Inventor's Secret
Chad Morris
The main plot of this story is actually about the fact that the two main characters parents and grandfather have just went missing. So, while they are absent - through no fault of their own -  a good portion of the story deals with the two trying to find their family.





So close. I tried so hard to come up with a tenth book but I just couldn't do it. Do you know of any more? I think this will be a really interesting week to see what everyone else is doing, so please drop me a link to your list and I'll stop by.