Happy Canada Day! My recommended Canadian Authors

What a fantastic day! I see my first follower ( I <3 you Kristin!), it's Canada Day, and I was very productive at home.

In honour of Canada Day, I'm going to share with you a few Canadian authors that I would recommend to anyone in the YA business.

First off, Kelley Armstrong. She has written the famous The Summoning series, and even better - The Otherworld Series. Even though according to Chapters (Barns n Noble) the Otherworld series is classified as Horror, I wouldn't put it in that category.
It would be YA if they weren't adults.
So, they would be mature - YA.  Lite horror.  Fantastic reads, either way.

Kelley has created a universe where vampires, werewolves, demons and half-demons, witches and clairvoyents get into all sort of strange and moderns problems. These vampires aren't glittery (SORRY MISS MEYER!) but they aren't all malicious. There are some good, some bad.

The first book, Bitten, starts off with Elena. It's no secret she's the --only female-- werewolf. She tries to turn away from her past but it literally comes to bite her in the ass. Mix in an adorable but protective ex-boyfriend, and a universe that ELENA herself has no idea exists.. you get frequent adventure. The best part is, it starts in downtown Toronto, Canada. #CanadaRules!

I particularly love this series when I began, because as Elena learned stuff, you learned stuff. The characters you were introduced to in the first book, you start to follow in the second book. The characters in the fifth book might all be different, but they reference each other and it's all part of this continuous universe that could easily co-exist with us. Love, love, love it.


Secondly, I recommend Anne-Marie MacDonald. She has not written anything YA, but her works are beautiful. Lyrical and savage. She uses music and language to communicate emotions. While you read you explore so many layers all at the same time, it's nearly overwhelming. But, you let that wash over you and waves of rage, sadness, fear and hope crash against each other the minute a character makes a bad decision, a good choice, or misinterprets another's actions.  I've read her books and would like to single out Fall On Your Knees. Again, NOT YA.  Bad language, nudity, rape, and many other bad decisions. It follows a man entering Canada from a foregin country, and trying to make it on his own. Great ambition, but falls prey to lust to a lovely girl (who is lebanese, way to show our multiculturalism!). Armstrong also imparts of a lot of Canadian historical knowledge, sheding light on how the outskirts dealt with war.

Basically -- Tragic and heartbreaking but you can't put it down. You just, can't.


Those are my 2 top Canadian authors right now.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!