The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Kisses only. Any sex is implied and fully off page.
Closed door. No anatomical or crude language.
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Blurb
Now a blockbuster, star-studded movie! "Everything you would expect from Collins is here: fraught teenage love; plenty of violence... the themes of friendship, betrayal, authority and oppression will please and thrill" The Guardian "It works beautifully... please don't make us wait another decade"The Times Ambition will fuel him. Competition will drive him. But power has its price. It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmanoeuvre his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute. The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined - every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favour or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes. Three books, four films and one worldwide phenomenon, the original Hunger Games trilogy changed the face of global YA. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was a global number one hit in hardback on release w/c 18 March 2020.
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Legendary
Another deadly game with rigged rules and a morally slippery love interest, but the danger is enchanted spectacle rather than televised war.
Caraval / Legendary / Finale / Spectacular
Same appeal of a lethal competition and a scheming charmer you can't trust, except romance drives the plot and endings are happy.
The Heir (The Selection #4)
Dystopian caste society plus a broadcast competition, though the stakes are courtship and heartbreak instead of children killing children.
Layla
Keeps the unreliable, morally-grey narrator and creeping dread, but swaps arena violence for an adult psychological haunting with more heat.
Anna and the French Kiss
For the tender, thwarted teenage longing minus the bloodshed; a much lighter, warmer read with no dystopia attached.
The Elite (The Selection #2)
Televised elimination contest in a stratified nation with rebels at the gates, but the tone is swoony rather than brutal.