Reasons I Love YA *and* Adult Fiction
Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review.
I thought I would take this one in two directions, since I’m terrible at coming up with 10 of anything like this for a list. Since I read both YA and adult fiction, I’ll share the top 5 reasons I love both age ranges for reading.
Reasons I Love YA
1. They remind me of being a teen
This is the biggest one probably. I made a lot of dumb mistakes as a teenager and these books make me feel less bad about it, to be honest. I love reading about flawed teens learning from their mistakes because that definitely was me back in the day. It can be fun to reminisce on a different time of life.
2. They often allow me to escape normal life
I have to get out of my 28-year-old brain while reading YA most of the time, but that’s kind of the point for me. I love being able to think of the times I spent in high school or early college, when life seemed super hard but was often a lot easier. Bills, man – I’m sick of them.
3. They’re just as complex and interesting as “adult” books
People who put YA down as “easier” to read clearly haven’t read any powerful YA books and think of Twilight and love triangles only. Even so, all types of YA books are valuable and valid to me. I like the escapist reads, as discussed, but I also like ones that make me think. THE HATE U GIVE is one of the most powerful books I’ve *ever* read across any genre or age target.
4. There are a lot of accessible genres in YA
I am very very unlikely to pick up an adult fiction fantasy book or science fiction. I often struggle with the language or writing style in these ones. I just talked about how YA can easily be as complex and interesting as adult fiction, but I do think that YA has some great accessible reads in more complex genres. I like world-building in fantasy but can’t imagine reading Robert Jordan books like my dad enjoys. I need something a bit shorter and (FOR ME) easier to read.
5. I can keep up with some of my favorite nostalgic authors
Sarah Dessen is still writing books, y’all. I cannot think of a day where I won’t pick up her newest release!
Reasons I Love Adult Fiction
1. I can think about where my life may go
I’m pushing 30 years old now and I’m constantly wondering what the future holds. It can be interesting to read books with characters older than me or around the same age. They go through similar things I’m experiencing now, but there’s a lot of things that could happen from here. I love reading about people finding themselves or finding love (I’m all set on the second one of course but there’s always room for self-improvement).
2. There are some wonderful steamy romance books
Yep, I mostly read adult contemporary romance books. They’re the best. As I said above, I’m unlikely to read a lot of adult fantasy, historical fiction, sci-fi, etc. – I kind of keep those within my YA bubble. It’s a lot of fun reading romance books because they always give me a happy ever after that I’m looking for.
3. They sometimes offer less frustration
Look, I know I’m not the target market for YA books anymore, which is why I have to suspend my thoughts sometimes when I get annoyed. Of course I’m mature enough to make different decisions than the MC in those books, but they aren’t, and that’s the point. Anyways, it’s often “easier” to read contemporary romance with older main characters because sometimes the black moment in the romance is fully necessary and not based on miscommunication. These are super blanket statements here but hopefully you get what I’m saying!
4. Mystery/thrillers are on another level
I’ve said I typically only read contemporary romance in the adult age target, but the suspense, mystery, and/or thriller books have been so fun for me lately! I sometimes struggle with this genre for YA (just judging from my average rating for a lot of these books compared to other genres), but the adult versions have been really successful and complex.
5. I can still reflect on where I’ve been
I love Chris and my relationship – it’s nice to be in a happy (engaged) place right now! I still love reading romance though and seeing other people go through it for the first time. There’s a lot to relate to. Like with YA books about teenagers, I can still reflect on the things I’ve already been through.
Great reasons! I am agree with almost all of them. 🙂