RTW: Can I get a comp comp!

Each week, YA Highway hosts Road Trip Wednesday, a blog carnival in which contributors discuss a topic on their blogs and invite readers to do the same. This week's RTW topic is:

Who are your comp titles/authors? (click for Nathan Bransford's explanation).

For me, one of the most difficult YA Highway topics ever broached. I don't like comps. When I query, I won't be including comp titles/authors unless an agent requires them.

It's hard for me to pick a comp title because:

1.) I'm afraid naming a comp title or author will do more to give an agent false expectations than get them in the "right frame of mind."

2.) I'm not as well-read in YA as I'd like to be. Until 2 years ago, I only knew YA as a reading level instead of the genre full of sub-genres with a growing market and fanbase. I've spent the last 2 years playing catch-up, but reading simply takes time.

At a writer's conference in February, an agent said my query of PRODIGAL MAGGIE reminded her of Holly Black's TITHE and O.R. Melling's THE HUNTER'S MOON.

I don't think TITHE is much like my book except that it deals with a female teen's interactions with fantastical creatures, especially since its dark, gritty tone is very unlike MAGGIE's story.

THE HUNTER'S MOON, I'm not sure. I bought it months ago but have yet to read it, although I plan to before I query. From the description of the book, it sounds the most similar so far, in that Irish folklore is at the core of the story and mythical creatures act as the main character's guide in a dangerous trek across Ireland, though my novel deals not with fairies but a less common (in literature, anyway) fantastical creature.

From Amazon:

The Hunter’s Moon follows two cousins, Gwen and Findabhair, as they backpack around Ireland in search of the country’s magical past. But the girls go too far when they dare to spend the night in a known fairy mound. Finn is stolen away by the dark king of Faerie to become his bride sacrifice to the Great Worm, or Hunter. It is up to timid Gwen to rescue her intrepid cousin, and she wonders if the task will be too much the first time she catches a glimpse of the Little People at play. "Gwen quaked inside. This wild abandon…was beyond anything she could imagine…Exquisite chaos." But with the help of a fairy doctress and her handsome grandson, Gwen assembles a rag tag team of heroes determined to bring Finn back -- even if it means the destruction of Faerie itself.

Just as a side note, my inspiration for PRODIGAL is the HARRY POTTER series, though I wouldn't dare compare it to that, since it's, ya know... the most popular series on the planet, and the only real similarity is in the world-building.

What titles or authors are comparable to your WIPs?