Young Adult Fiction for the Not So Young Adult

There is a phenomenon stretching across the literary world. I think it really started with Harry Potter but that is a phenomenon all in itself so I am going to give the credit to Twilight.  Stephanie Meyers' book about the love triangle between human, vampire and werewolf resonated with not only teenage girls but also their moms and other women well into their twenties, thirties and beyond. I can remember being at a Christmas party with several other women in a Team Edward vs. Team Jacob debate. There was not a woman under thirty in sight. There is even a website dedicated to the “grown up fans of Twilight” called TwilightMoms. Novels written for teens have seen their fan base expand to women of all ages in the recent years and I am not ashamed to admit that I am one of these women. What is the attraction? One of my co-workers, a fellow Young Adult (YA) Fiction fan, says, “It’s the cute boys and all the passionate kissing.” Yes, I must agree that is part of it but there are many other things that attract all ages to YA Fiction. With YA fiction you get all the suspense and action without all the tedious details. It doesn’t take 150 pages to build up to the main story. Some YA novels are not even 150 pages in total so the story gets going right away. There is all the angst and awkwardness of our teenage years that we remember too well but thrown in the mix are witches, fairies, zombies, angels and anything else you can imagine. And the characters! Goodbye Nancy Drew, hello Catniss Everdeen. The new YA heroines are scrappy females that are more spice than sugar. So if you haven’t tried a YA novel yet I urge you to do so. And I promise no one will look at you funny. If they are staring it is only because they are trying to see the title of the book you have in your hand.

Don’t know where to start? Here are just some of my recent favorites. I’d love to hear yours.

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins- The rulers of Panem, the capital of a futuristic North America, controls an annual televised death match between young people from each of the twelve districts.

The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare- Clary finds out she is a descendant of a race of demon hunters. Full of cute boys, passionate kissing and lots of fighting evil.

Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception and Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie by Maggie Steifvater- Beautifully written with lots of Celtic faerie lore. Steifvater also writes a series entitled The Wolves of Mercy Falls.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth Novels by Carrie Ryan- Three different titles with strong female protagonists that manage to find love and heartache while managing to survive a zombie apocalypse.

Impossible by Nancy Werlin- a family curse based on the ballad “Scarborough Fair”, a very original tale of faerie

Tithe, Valiant and Ironside by Holly Black- These three novels are “modern tales of faerie” and full of characters with issues. Black is writing a new series called The Curse Workers that is high on my list of what to read next.