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Companion Novels

January 09, 2012
There are a ton of teen series and sequels and trilogies all over the place today. It seems like every time I turn around there's a new book that's being turned into a series or at least a trilogy. With all these other options, sometimes the companion novels get overlooked.

Don't get me wrong, I like series and whatnot a LOT, especially if everything turns out in the end just the way I wanted it to. :) However, sometimes I like to read a standalone novel. Something that I know will never be continued and that the story is what it is and won't be tampered with. Even more than standalone novels though, I LOVE companion books.

Companion books usually show you another perspective on the same story or the delve deeper into a character or they have drop ins from characters you loved in the first book. The definition for companion novels isn't necessarily cut and dry, but 9 times out of 10, heck 99 out of 100, I love companion books. I love learning something else about the characters from some other perspective. So here's a list of companion books that you may or may not have realized were companionable.

Graceling/Fire by Kristin Cashore
Anna and the French Kiss/Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Saving Francesca/The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta
Life As We Knew It/The Dead and The Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Huntress/Ash by Melinda Lo
The Uglies Series/Extras by Scott Westerfeld
Year of Secret Assignments/The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarity
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series/Three Willows by Ann Brashares
Twilight series/Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
Speak/Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson