But first…
Have you read Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor & Park and Fangirl yet? Please do. I’m going to nag you about this until you do. And if we were in person together, I would withhold this list until you proved to me that you did.
Thanks for your patience re: my New Adult book binge. I had to get it out of my system.
So. New Adult. New Adult is rising. New Adult has been building over the last three years or so, gaining a strong support base, but they’re saying 2014 is when its stomp will finally be felt everywhere. Which is why I decided to binge on it over the holidays. What is New Adult? Generally the characters are 18 – 25ish. And they have to be that age because they have sex. Which, according to some, explains its origin. Because Bella and Edward, etc, didn’t do enough explicit f-cking. Also, there’s usually the formula. New Adult is mega angst, bad boys with a tortured history, bad girls with a secret past, and, as you would expect, they crash together…hopefully in bed. Also, it’s always in the “I” voice which can get really, really cloying. Oh and the titles are really, really embarrassing. REALLY, REALLY EMBARRASSING. Oh and f-ck, there are always sequels, even though there’s not enough story to fit one book.
What? I never told you we were doing David Foster Wallace, did I?
Two years ago I read a book called Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, considered to be one of the most popular New Adult novels. In my opinion, it was ridiculous and disturbing and it scared me away for a long time. But New Adult continued to buzz, so I decided to try again. And, fortunately, even though much of the New Adult that’s out there is sh-t, there are several much better efforts. Besides, even in conventional “literature", there’s good and there’s not so good, right? As long as you keep in mind the New Adult Formula, and that these books satisfy a very specific urge/interest/flavour, you’re in for a few fun reads. Like at the beach in February and March, when many of you get to go away on holiday.
One suggestion though – a lot of these stories come with “companion” points of view. The original, for example, is in “Laurel’s” voice. Laurel’s love interest is “Tucker”. And the author will release a follow-up of the exact same f-cking story in “Tucker’s” voice. DO NOT READ THE TUCKER. It makes what’s already self-indulgent super, super, unbearably self-indulgent.
Start on:
Easy by Tammara Webber
Into The Deep by Samantha Young (I got a little obsessed over this one and then found out there’s a sequel and then I just got angry.)
Wait For You by J Lynn (This one has a good build but brace yourself for an obnoxiously eye-rolly fourth quarter)
Hopeless by Colleen Hoover (Hoover is also known for another series called Slammed which is really popular. I think Hopeless is way better. But Hopeless comes with one of those companion books and this was my mistake – I read the companion.)
Frigid by J Lynn (See what I mean about the titles? The story is terrible in this one. But it gets pretty horny in the middle which kinda makes the crazy plot somewhat tolerable.)
The Edge Of Never by J A Redmerski (Are you seeing a pattern now with the titles? I’m halfway through this so I can’t say for sure that it’s worth your two hours but at the halfway mark he goes down on her which is why I’ve decided to keep going.)
There. Let me know your thoughts.
