These five books were my favorite that I read this year, and I highly recommend any of them. I decided not to include Winterspell by Claire Legrand, only because I just recently published my review. My list is in no particular order!

Half Bad by Sally Green

Nathan lives in an alternate modern-day England where two warring divisions of witches, white witches and black witches, live amongst humans. Nathan is an abomination, half white and half black witch, and his father is the most violent witch in recent history.

The witch government traps Nathan in a cage and trains him to kill his father, but he knows he must escape, find his father, and receive the three gifts that all witches must receive before the age of 17 or lose their powers forever.

A strong debut novel and the first in an intended trilogy, Half Bad is both fun and gripping. It also isn’t too much of a stretch to draw parallels to racism and classism in the modern world.

Otherbound by Corinne Duyvis

What I assume was Duyvis’ elevator pitch: A Hispanic teenage boy with one leg thinks he has seizures, but really he’s being transported to the mind of a self-healing bisexual servant girl with no tongue whose sole purpose is to protect a cursed, dark-skinned princess who cannot shed a drop of blood or the earth will kill her.

Cool.

Otherbound was a very unique and intricate read. Amara (the servant girl) and Nolan (the boy) had their own voices that didn’t run together and cause confusion in the plot, which is crucial when a story is told from two perspectives. I would recommend it for any reader looking for a story that is very distinctive and more elaborate than the usual YA fantasy book.

Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones

Pitched as X-Men meets Ocean’s Eleven, and for very good reason!

When a deadly virus threatens lives, a man created an immunization vaccine. However, it came with consequences: giving a small percentage of its recipients a superpower. Those people were rounded up and forced to either join the government or die. A few did escape, and instead chose a life of crime.

Ciere is one of these immune. She is an illusionist, meaning she can change her appearance and sometimes surroundings, and she uses her power to help her career as a thief. Now she must help her friends find the formula for the vaccine that gave them their powers, thought destroyed years ago. Government agents (themselves immune) are on the hunt for the vaccine, for Ciere, and for everyone she cares about.

This novel didn’t take long to read, but you are embroiled in the characters’ lives. It is mature and honest, with a great superhero/dystopia twist that I love.

Guardian (Proxy #2) by Alex London

I thought that I couldn’t possibly love the follow-up the way I loved Proxy, but I totally did.

[[Spoiler warning if you haven’t read Proxy yet!]]

In this new world led by the Rebooters, Syd is learning that they aren’t much better than the former regime. Syd is the face of the Revolution, complete with public speeches and a bodyguard named Liam.

People are beginning to fall ill all through the city, veins showing through their skin and losing motor functions, but the new government continues to turn its back on the situation. Syd decides to take the task upon himself and discovers many secrets and twists about this new world.

This thriller is filled with action and suspense, as well as a little M/M romance that was both realistic and adorable. I guarantee you will ship it. Fingers forever crossed for a third book!

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow & Jen Wang

This is a graphic novel about a lady gamer, Anda, who loves her MMPORG because she can be a hero and make friends. Things become complicated, however, when Anda befriends a poor Chinese boy whose avatar does illegal collecting in the game and resells to players with money to burn. It turns out that he works for a company in China, and it’s his only means of income to feed his family. Though Anda originally fought against these lawbreakers, she soon has to question the black-and-white of her own morals and realizes that right and wrong are rarely straightforward.

In Real Life has beautiful art, which is always the first thing I notice about graphic novels. Wang presents Anda in a realistic way, not supermodel thin or pretty, and there is a clear and appealing artistic parallel between the ‘real world’ and ‘game mode’. Doctorow’s plotline and writing style were relatable and candid.

I loved how playing the game and interacting with people with similar interests made Anda more confident and comfortable in her own skin. I’m also glad that this is a story where it’s just a fact that Anda is a girl who loves video games; they’re important to her in both her online and offline lives, and influence how she thinks about life, and no one questions it.

What were some of your favorite young adult novels published in 2014? What books are you looking forward to in 2015? Let us know in the comments!

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Amber Midgett is assistant manager at Main Point Books and a graduate student in Publishing at Rosemont College. She grew up in North Carolina, and her ultimate fandoms are Harry Potter and Doctor Who. She could recommend a book to probably anyone.  Find her at Letters from a [Future] Editor and on Twitter at @ambermidgett.

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