Top 10 List with Michelle A. Hansen + Before They Find Us Giveaway

Please welcome today's guest author Michelle A. Hansen!  Michelle is the author of Painted Blind, The Boyfriend Test, and Before They Find Us.

As part of the Before They Find Us tour, Michelle has agreed to share an exclusive Top 10 list with our readers.  We've asked Michelle about her Top 10 YA Couples.  Let's take a look!

Top 10 YA Couples

There are so many great YA couples out there, and I’ve read list after list. Forgive me for veering off the typical path, which usually includes a handful of best-selling series. Some of my top YA couples come from classics that got me hooked on YA romance in the first place.

10. Romeo & Juliet, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

It’s not the tragedy that makes these lovers appealing; it’s the emotional rollercoaster they take you on in the process. Plus, you just can’t top the beauty of the language in the balcony scene. I taught this play so many times I used to have the scene memorized. After dozens of readings, I still love it.

9. Jenny & Luke, Teen Idol by Meg Cabot

This is on my list because I think it’s a pretty typical fantasy. We all dream about meeting our superstar crush, and having him fall madly in love with the girl next door (i.e. us). Cabot did a good job of packaging that fantasy in a story that made it a believable reality for Jenny. And, it’s just a fun book.

8. Kate & Richard, The Unlikely Romance of Kate Bjorkman by Louise Plummer

This book is actually a spoof on the romance novel, and Kate is the spoof on the romance novel heroine. She’s got Coke-bottle glasses and falls victim to all sorts of embarrassments, but finds love with her brother’s best friend, Richard. Plummer offers wisdom and insight about grand romantic gestures and shows that love is always a little bit goofy.

7. Bella & Edward, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

When I say Twilight, I mean the first book, not the series. In Twilight, the reader is privy to the first sight, discovery and then the full weight of forbidden romance. I think the dark, forbidden romance is particularly appealing to teens. And who doesn’t need a vampire around when you’re about to be crushed by a truck?

6. Ron & Hermione, The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

What makes Ron and Hermione a fun couple is all the time they spent not a couple—the bickering and the jealousy. Don’t we all see some of ourselves in them? As a couple, they are far more compelling to me than Harry and Ginny.

5. Zane & Danica, Hawksong by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Forced to marry in order to buy peace after years of war, Zane and Danica’s romance is not just a story about learning to trust another person, but also about throwing off all preconceived prejudices about another culture. Hawksong is my favorite of Atwater-Rhodes’s books, and she wrote it at the ripe old age of 19. (BTW, Atwater-Rhodes’s vampire novels are the reason I bought Twilight way back in 2006, before it was a cult classic.)

4. Benedick & Beatrice, Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare

They aren’t the stars of the show, but Benedick and Beatrice are two of my favorite characters, always hurling insults at each other, both swearing they will never fall in love. And of course they end up in love. With each other. Makes you think twice about that guy you always swore you hated, doesn’t it?

3. Mary Shelley & Stephen, In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

Don’t hold out for a “happily ever after” in a story that takes place in the middle of World War I and the Spanish Influenza outbreak. However, Mary Shelley and Stephen’s romance is fresh, touching and bitter-sweet. A true paranormal romance that gives an entirely different spin to the ghost story.

2. Macy & Wes, The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Of all the Dessen novels I’ve read (and I’ve read most of them) Macy and Wes are my favorite couple. I’m not sure why I like them better than Remy and Dexter or Annabel and Owen, but I do. Theirs is the realistic and contemporary romance that shows how love and help you find your way in a world littered with heartache and trouble.

1. Lizzy and Darcy, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

You might argue that this isn’t YA, but I’d disagree. It’s a story about young men and young women finding each other and their place in society—and that is what a lot of YA is about. What makes Lizzy and Darcy’s story so enticing is that they have to overcome not only their own arrogance and jaded opinions, but a slew of unfortunate circumstances out of their control. The fact that he lives in a mansion doesn’t hurt, either.

Before They Find Us by Michelle A. Hansen

I’m going to make you wish you were dead.

Just a text. Seventeen-year-old Rebecca Hales tries not to worry. Probably a wrong number. Not really meant for her, and definitely not related to the crime she witnessed six years ago. Right?

Then two states away, a bomb goes off in her best friend's locker. Soon Ryan is labeled a terrorist and runs to the safest place he knows—Rebecca’s house in small-town Wyoming. It doesn’t take long for the FBI to show up asking questions. Rebecca lies, of course, and says she hasn’t seen him.

Now she's neck-deep in it with him, whatever "it" is. The only way out is to return to Vegas, where Ryan is a wanted man. The city of lies and illusion tests Rebecca’s wits as she struggles to find the person who framed Ryan and why.

Is Rebecca’s text linked to the bombing? And what does it have to do with a six year old murder? Rebecca needs to find out before she loses Ryan—and her own life.

Release Date: November 2013
Genre: Romantic Thriller, Young Adult
Add to Goodreads.

Thank you Michelle for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Michelle A. Hansen and her books, please visit her website or follow the other stops on her tour.

***Before They Find Us Giveaway***

Enter for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card, a signed paperback copy of Before They Find Us, Before They Find Us charm necklace, bookmarks and signed postcard, and ebook copies of Before They Find Us and Painted Blind!

To enter, please use the easy peasy Rafflecopter form below.  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  This is a tour giveaway, therefore winners will be drawn by the author or publisher.

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Good luck!

Who are your favorite YA couples?