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[Cover Source: Goodreads]

Well, well, one should think that it would be easy to find novels one would like to see as a movie or TV series. However, there are so many YA novels which are already in different stages of production that it was rather difficult to find favourites that aren’t already opted for an adaptation. Unsurprisingly, some of the following novels weren’t originally English or don’t even have an English translation and therefore don’t have an adaptation yet. If I’d live in a world in which book-to-movie adaptations were super faithful to the source material, these would be the ten novels I’d love to see on the big or the small screen:

1. Das Geheimnis der Spinnenhexe by Henny Fortuin
   [LT: The Secret of the Spider Witch]

   A fantastic high-fantasy novel told by a dwarf, the Spider Witch, the Mist Witch, and a traitor. It’s the story of princess Mirda, the child of prophecy, who swore on the day of her birth never to speak until her father, who wanted a son instead, would be screaming for her. It’s also the story of her struggle to fight for her rightful kingdom, of her two sisters Fianna and Maev, and the power-hungry wizard Croch. It’s a tale of family, of magic, of power and helplessness, of trust and betrayal, and love and death.

2. Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori, #1) by Lian Hearn

   Although I’ve only read the first two novels of this five volumes series so far, I’d love to see them turned into movies. The atmosphere of these novels is breathtaking. It brings to live a beautiful Japan, its foreign culture and traditions. I love the Clan politics, the feuds, the magic, the mysteries and betrayals. There’s love and death and the ongoing struggle to find one’s place in this world. It’s the story of Takeo, who was saved and adopted by an Otori lord and has a dangerous legacy, and Kaede, a political hostage tossed around by men but learning to find her strength and use her beauty as a weapon to get back what was taken from her.

3. Twilight Horses (Twilight Horses, #1) by Emma Raven

   One of my all-time favourite horse novels. It was perfect: an atmospheric setting in form of an old contorted hostel and a stable full of stunt horses, great characters with personalities, a wild and unbridled black stallion, and so many secrets present and past, dark and mysterious. It was incredibly thrilling and really really creepy. Salma and her family move into an old spooky hostel they want to turn into a bakery. Soon she befriends the wild black stallion Luce and through him the trio at the stunt stable. But the hostel has a dark and dangerous past and soon inexplicable and scary things start to happen which become more and more dangerous. Now Salma and her new friends have to figure out what’s going on before the past will destroys the present.

4. Hoofbeats in the Dark by Pamela Kavanagh

   Another one of my favourite horse mysteries. There are some similarities to the one above: an old farm turned into a therapy centre for horses, a couple of dark mysteries from the past that influence the present, and some secrets that have to be solved. Here, the protagonist Emma is repeatedly thrown into the past, where she has to face some of her fears, finds answers to the farms current problems and befriends her past counterpart Emma. But past-Emma and her betrothed are in great danger and it becomes present-Emma’s task to save the past of Gleggs Hall in order to save its future.

5. The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

   This stands in place of all Kate Morton novels. There’s just something about family or generation dramas, all the treasure hunts in the present and the flashbacks to the past, that has completely enthralled me. When present and past mingles, when secrets that were long forgotten come back to light, when old wounds are opened and memories are woken to give their testimony, when forgotten mansions and gardens are revisited, and when long lost letters appear, I can’t get enough of those stories. These novels would make awesome TV series. Oh, how I wish I could watch them come to life.

6. Der Kuss des Kjer by Lynn Raven
   [LT: The Kiss of the Kjer]

   Also in place of all Lynn Raven novels. I just love her writing style, her characters, her ideas, and her amazing fantasy worlds. This one’s my favourite so far, probably because it has one of my beloved dark, brooding, mysterious, and more or less evil male characters. Said ruthless and feared warrior and his companions kidnap the healer Lijanas who is to be sacrificed. Fortunately, this sacrificial altar is far away and along the roads many dangers, twists, and turns await both the characters and the reader. There’s magic, mysteries, secrets, countless dangers, some romance, love, and death. It’s just so good!

7. Arcadia Awakens (Arcadia Trilogy, #1) by Kai Meyer

   Yet another placeholder for all of Kai Meyer’s novels. He’s my favourite author and his ideas are always just so brilliant and original. And although I’d love to travel to the centre of the earth and beyond with Merle, walk the oceans with Jolly, fight the Aether with Niccolo and Co., or the Ice Queen with Maus, or the Djinn with Tarik, or try to solve the mystery of immortality with Aura, or … well he’s written quite a lot of books. However, Arcadia Awakens is my favourite so I’d love to start there. I’d love to watch headstrong Rosa solving the mysteries of her past, discovering her legacy, and falling in love with dashing Alessandro. Gosh, I’d love to meet cheeky little Iole, dangerous Tano, Zoe and Livia, Pantaleone, and all those other characters that made this novel feel so very much alive. I’d love to see Gaia’s house on the Isola Luna, the Sicilian landscape, the fights and mafia mysteries, while in the background Scott Walker sings his My Death, creating an atmosphere “with an aftertaste of chilled martinis.”

8. The Long Ride Home by Diana Pullein-Thompson

   Yet another one of my favourite horse novels. This one’s a road trip on the back of a pony, an adventurous journey through Great Britain. The protagonist has some kind of illness which causes her to black out if she doesn’t take her pills. She is supposed to spend her holidays on an island with her pony and a half-sister she’s never met. But things get out of hands when Carey discovers that her sister is involved in a smuggler ring. Together with her pony and her dog, she flees the island chased by the smugglers. On the way to her grandma’s, she is confronted with many difficulties and adventures living always in fear of being found.

9. Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1) by Marissa Meyer

   I’m not quite sure but I think it’s not opted for an adaptation (yet). I loved Cinder; the blending of the fairy tale elements into this wonderful sci-fi world, the interesting characters and their fates, and the Sailor Moon elements just made for an interesting, exciting and funny read. I don’t have to say much about the plot; it’s a witty also predictable retelling of Cinderella. Nevertheless, I would love to see this world on screen.

10. Lycidas (Uralte Metropole, #1) by Christoph Marzi
    [LT: Lycidas (Ancient Metropolis, #1)]

    Oh my, this would make a fantastic TV series! It’s huge, so I really don’t know how to summarise it. There are so many different elements, ideas and allusions to other novels. It’s the story of an orphan girl, her best friend, an old alchemist and an elf, the secret underground metropolis of London, two old and rivalled dynasties, Jack the Ripper, uncountable mythical and fantastical and dangerous creatures, Rowan Atkinson lookalikes, speaking rats, fallen angels, deceiving heartthrobs, novels and poems and stories, destiny, not existing coincidences, endless dangers, dark and lethal secrets, dreams and fears, love and death, heaven and hell, and it is the story of the mysterious Lycidas, ruler of the Ancient Metropolis.