I am officially a fan of Maggie Stiefvater. Some YA fans who saw me rave about other books recommended her to me, so I started with The Raven Boys. YES. It starts with a teenaged daughter of psychics confessing that every time she has ever had her fortune told, it was that her true love will die once she kisses him. OKAY THEN. So she ends up mixed up with a group of boys from an elitist prep school nearby, assisting them in a quest one of the boys in particular is obsessed with. There are a couple twists and a great ending that will have you saying WHAT DID I JUST READ OMG READ IT AGAIN.
I dove right into book #2 The Dream Thieves, which is definitely darker -- but also more exciting. The bonds between the teens ebbs and flows in natural ways, even when all sorts of crazy stuff is happening to/around them. I truly enjoyed seeing their friendships tested, pliable yet concrete, throughout the book. Again, the ending was not one I saw coming.
The 3rd & 4th books in the series were consistently great, full of surprises and scares, gentleness and richness of humanity and world-building. A truly great series.