Can I pick myself? Hmmm…. lol, probably not. Here goes

1) Kelley Armstrong- I talk about her all the time, but seriously, I love her young adult series, The Darkest Powers, it’s amazing. My favorite thing about it is that her protagonists are smart. They react in intelligent, realistic ways to crazy situations. I aim for that with Persephone.
2) Scott Westerfeld- I love the Uglies Series. Midnighters was good as well. Ah, all his books are good. They’re so exciting and fast paced.
3) L.J Smith (her older stuff)- I read her all the time growing up. She’s possibly the biggest influence on me as a writer.
4) Peter Beagle- He wrote the Last Unicorn, Tamsin, and a million other books. I actually met him once, and he’s super nice. His work taught me that YA could be literary as well as interesting.
5) Suzanne Collins- Who doesn’t love The Hunger Games?
6) Rick Riordin- Ijust want to say for the record, that while I was aware of The Percy Jackson Series, I did not read it until Persephone was written, and the other two books were drafted to avoid any accidental influence.
7) Karen Hesse- She writes these amazing free verse poetry books like “Out of the Dust.”
8) Richelle Mead- She wrote The Vampire Academy, and that series put me through the wringer emotionally.
9) Cassandra Claire- I love the Immortal Instruments series
10) Susan Beth Pfeiffer- She wrote Life as We Knew It. Everyone should read that book, it’s chilling.