So far out of the 10 I've picked for the project (I've read 8 so far, reviewed 6) the only one I've really liked on some level, despite the wholly unnecessary love element, was the Forest of Hands & Teeth by Carrie Ryan. Plot holes aside, it has a lot of interesting ideas, it was very tense and well written and the claustrophobic, foreboding elements worked really well. Also, Zombies! But so far the rest of the books have had a lot of wasted potential mired by terrible love stories, a lot of which quickly fell into rape culture territory. Seriously, what author honestly thinks that having your 'hero' repeatedly harass/stalk a girl then threaten to kill her is okay because he's the ultimate bad boy and he loves her? *rage* But outside of the project, I've read a few good YA novels - Going Bovine, Suite Scarlett, Beautiful Creatures, Ash...

I'm disappointed that these writers have pretty much refused to engage with critics on these matters, the lack of debate is worrying. Meyer has only addressed the terrible messages in her book once or twice if memory serves correctly. A lot of these writers seem to be used to ego massages and having people tell them their heroes are oh so hot. I got a one line reply from Maggie Stiefvater over a negative review I gave her book "Shiver" and she addressed nothing I wrote. I think she just wanted to snark or make me feel scared or something. It just made me laugh.

Eek, sorry for rambling there.