I am someone who admittedly believes in ghosts, thinks aliens are probably real in some form, and had an imagination in my childhood that sometimes got the best of me. Because of this, I have always loved fantasy and science fiction - nothing too scary or spooky - but give me teen vampires, adults in space, or alternate universes full of magic. I know it isn’t everyone’s taste, but my brothers have helped to guide me toward more adult series, and I’ve managed to find a few friends (hi, Anne!) who also enjoy it and give excellent recommendations. Some of them are YA, but others are more complex with sex and violence and more complex plotting. Hopefully there is something for every taste on the list!

Alternate Worlds

Throne of Glass & A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

These are two of my favorite fantasy series (I’ve talked about them a TON), because the writing is so good, they are definitely sexy and romance-filled, and the characters are well developed. Throne of Glass is the longer of the two (seven books versus four), and the world they take place in is much larger and more complex. There are side stories, changing perspectives and a very rich history and back story. It starts with the main character, Celaena, a trained assassin, who was caught and is working in a prison camp, getting her freedom in exchange for representing a young Prince in a to-the-death tournament.

Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss

A complex story-within-a-story, the books follow Kvothe, who in the present day is a rural innkeeper, living under a false identity. In the past, he grew up on the streets in a crime-ridden city, made a risky, but ultimately successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and grew to be a notorious wizard, known as the infamous "Kingkiller,” which led him to life as a fugitive. I recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the Game of Thrones books or The Lord of the Rings - it’s one of the more famous fantasy series, but I didn’t heard about it until a few years ago, so I thought it might be the same for others!

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

An excellent YA series that takes place in a world where commoners with Red blood serve elite with Silver blood, elite with superhuman powers. Mare Barrow, a Red, who lives in a poor, rural village, goes to work at the ceremony where Silver blooded young women compete with their power to win the hand of the future Prince. An accident reveals that she has powers of her own in front of all of the court, so she is forced to pretend to be a long lost Silver princess, engaged to the Prince.

Space and the Future

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

This was a recommendation from my friend Anne a few years ago, and while I was initially skeptical about a series set in space, I devoured it. The protagonist is Darrow, who lives in a society where classes are determined by colors, and he is a Red, the lowest level. He toils underground all day, along with the other Reds, in an effort to make the surface of Mars livable for future generations, but when he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago and that Reds are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class. He decides to infiltrate the elite Institute, where the children of Gold leaders prove themselves so that he can take them down from within. What follows is a beautiful and complex trilogy that explores class, power, war, friendship and loyalty.

The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee

By the author of American Royals, it’s 2118, and New York City has become a towering 1,000 story tower, where a group of mismatched teens are thrust together through a series of circumstances, that ends with one of them dying by falling from the very top. Drug use, forbideen romances, family trauma and cheating are woven together from the changing perspectives of each character, as they struggle through high school and life in this New York City that is familiar, but wholly original.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

We all read Twilight, and while I can admit that I was completely sucked into those books, when I went back to read them I was struck by just how silly the writing is in some places. Author Marissa Meyer’s other YA series The Lunar Chronicles, takes her imagination in a whole new direction, with each book centered around a different fairytale archetype (Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and Snow White). In the first book, Cinder, is a cyborg and a gifted mechanic with a very mysterious past. She is reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. Her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai, and she is thrust into the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction, which are all tied to the secrets of her true identity.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

I love a not-very-subtle takedown of a cultural phenomenon, and Uglies goes hard after cosmetic surgery. The main character isTally, who si about to turn 16, the age when she will have an operation that turns her from an “ugly” in a “pretty” - which will send her into a high-tech life full of fun. When she makes a new friend, Shay, who isn’t sure she wants to be a pretty, she is confronted with a viewpoint and a side of her world that she never knew about. Shay runs away, and the authorities give Tally an ultimatum, to either help find Shay or never turn pretty. Fun sidenote - Netflix is making it into a movie with Joey King and Chase Stokes from Outerbanks!

Magic in the Real World

Crave by Tracy Wolff

Harry Potter meets Twilight in this series about a girl named Grace, whose parents die and enrolls at Katmere Academy, the Alaskan boarding school where her uncle is the headmaster and her cousin Macy is her roommate. Her less than warm welcome, and outright hostility (then flirtation) from Jaxon, the most intimidating of the students, with a few near death moments, makes sense when she finds out that it’s a school for witches, vampires, dragons and werewolves. As near death experiences stack up, it’s clear that Grace is not welcome at Katmere, but who wants her dead and why?

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

This southern-set high school drama follows Harper Price, the star of her small town, and a perfect Southern belle. Following a strange run-in at the Homecoming dance, Harper develops magical abilities, and finds out that she is a Paladin, an ancient line of guardians who protect one very special person. Unfortunately that person is David Stark, the annoying school reporter who she strongly dislikes, and is the subject of a very mysterious prophecy.

The Conspiracy of Us by Maggie Hall

A YA-DaVinci code, Avery West goes from an ordinary life to finding out she is an heiress to a powerful secret society known as the Circle, and they believe Avery is the key to an ancient prophecy - which puts her life at risk. She criss crosses Europe following clues with Stellan and Jack, two boys who work for the Circle, trying to decipher what the truth is behind her destiny and who she can trust when her life is on the line.