After devouring one trilogy after another over the years, I've come to this climax in my YA reading career where I no longer feel driven to read and complete trilogies. No matter the story and how different it is from others I've read, I still experience a strong lull between 3 book series.

I feel like trilogies are a type of pizza: Hawaiian, barbecue chicken, cheese, pepperoni; and I've had them everyday for the past several years to the point where after downing the first slice I can't look at another.

I'm going to say it once:

I AM SO SICK OF TRILOGIES. 

I want to read more about a world I love but the number 3 is like the freaking 666 of the YA literature.

RUN SAM! IT'S ANOTHER TRILOGY!

Remember last year when all the New Adult books consisted of the same plot aka: girl and boy with rough past meet and lick each others wounds but don't want attachments? I read one, then another and by the third I couldn't even get past the synopsis. Same story.

TRIL-YAWN-OGY

Why are we subjecting ourselves to the same formula? What about YA readers is so standard that publishers and authors feel the best type of stories for us come in 3 parts?

It's such a boring:

1. Beginning 
2. Middle 
3. End 

that it's killing me. Seriously.

I'm saying all this as a person who's read mainly trilogies, but how many of them have I finished? So how effective is the ploy besides leaching money off readers? The formula gets old. It's time to break the mold, show us some great big standalones and some nice duologies. The number 3 shouldn't be our standard. There should be no standard. Each story is unique and its size should be too.

MERCI!

-MARI

A discussion between P.E. and Mari.

P.E.: I believe that the idea of needing diverse books is accepted by now. I read a comment somewhere that now, readers should start reading them. So, Mari, do you read diverse books?

MARI: Fascinating subject. I am super pro-diversity and I'm very happy to see diversity as a growing member of the community. I want diverse authors, diverse readers and diverse stories and characters. To answer your question yes and no. I read Outlander which is set in Scotland and features Scottish, English, Spanish and French people. I read I Hunt Killers which features a fantastic black character.

No, I don't or have not read books that are solely "diverse" which I think is slowly catching the meaning "about minorities". Diversity to me means not pushing aside the traditional white character, Caucasian people and characters are awesome and must be in book but what needs to change is the surroundings. Books need to realized that the main character can be of a "diverse" background and still associate with Caucasians. Or we can have Caucasian characters who have a diverse group of friends. It's the representation that is important. I want to read a book and be able to envision someone of my background there as well.

Lastly, I will read what catches my eye and if I should start reading diverse books, then those diverse books better start working for my attention.

P.E.: I'm curious: have you encountered books where white characters are pushed aside? I think it's valid to have books where there are not many white characters just because that is just as realistic as when there are mostly white characters, except much less represented in YA.

I guess what I'm thinking is that a book's marketing is often based on how much money the publisher will spend on sending out review copies and promotional material. Publishers will only promote books if they believe there is a market for them, and I think readers must be active in deliberately seeking out diverse books. What do you think?

MARI: I think readers have shown that they are indeed interested in reading diverse books which is the only responsibility they have in this process. The rest is business, a process of supply and demand. Readers demand it and now the onus is on the publishing companies to find the book, market it, and make it available for readers. If readers don't pick it up then it's a failure in the publishers side. They provided a good that customers didn't enjoy or want. This has nothing to do with the general topic more the specific venture. I think more effort needs to be put into it. And readers should be respected as the consumers they are who should have the highest expectations from the businesses that are supposed to cater to them.

As for books that have pushed whites aside, there are many (Before You by Amber Hart) where white people were pictured as Christian, racist and rich. I think the concept of diversity also owes all races a chance to be different from the stereotype.

P.E.: Yeah, but diversity doesn't mean the stereotypes don't exist. It means they aren't all that there is, which is why racist, Christian, rich white people isn't too unbelievable to me.

And what I'm thinking is that we've all said we want diverse books, but I disagree that we've clearly shown it. I'm thinking of what Natalia Sylvester said in this post about how end of the year book lists show a lack of diversity. Diversity is one of those things that everyone agrees must exist, but it's not like we're going from zero diverse books whatsoever to representative YA. Diverse books have always existed, and we're trying to say we need more of them, but are people actually reading more diverse books?

This is definitely a false equivalent, but maybe it will help clarify my argument: are readers actually seeking out diverse books, or are we those people constantly on diets saying we need to eat healthier, but reverting back to fast food because it's accessible and everywhere? I think it's too simple to blame publishers for the lack of diversity in books. Readers should be reading more diverse books, and if we're not buying it, it ain't happening. Consumers often demand something vocally but put their money towards nothing else. Look at the Toronto Maple Leafs. They are a perennial loser team, and their fans are always angry, but they still make the most money in the NHL and their revenues increase every year.

Personally, I can't say I'm doing all I can to support diverse books. I believe I have read more diverse books than in the past, but that was such a shoddy amount to begin with that I don't feel like it's worth any pride.

Mari: Reflecting on my own end of the year book list, I agree, I could've read more diverse books. But how many have you seen that you are very interested in reading and that are readily available for you to read? Accessibility and interest are important. A perfect diverse book society for me would be seamlessly integrated into all books and not require us to take note of how diverse our reading list is. Diversity is life and just like we don't take note of how many "diverse" friends we have, I would like to do the same with books.

I guess what I'm trying to say is it's a three way road. Publishers, readers and authors have to work together for this transition. Great stories with representative characters have to be written, published and marketed with the help, interest and reviews of the audience. I will try to be more aware but I don't read to change the world. I read to enjoy myself and if a book with no evident diversity offers that for me then that's where my ship sails.

P.E.: I agree in some ways just because I'm not a huge contemporary reader and that's where the majority of diverse books are. I'm looking for more sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal diverse reads. It's hard to find them, but as We Need Diverse Books is growing, the visibility and amount of these titles is also increasing. For example, how good does Song of Blood & Stone look? I think the visibility is where we, as bloggers and members of the book community can come in by supporting the really good diverse books by giving them lots of press.

Books like Pointe, How It Went Down, Otherbound, and even undertones in The Walls Around Us give me hope because these are all books with phenomenal characterization, and diversity is a part of that. I'm looking forward to reading even more diverse books in 2015. Ideally, equal representation is seamless, but right now it isn't, so we need to work to make sure it is.

One idea I've always had is having more books from authors of different countries translated to English so we can read them. It feels like so many books are by Americans or take place in America and the American point of view is incredibly prominent in my reading. Now I want to explore the Chinese point of view, or a Middle Eastern perspective.

What do you think?

I don't know why but for some reason at some point in my life something has led me to think that talking about YA in an academic environment will make people look down on me. Thing is, there are people who have done just that but not everyone is the same. Also, what's so bad about YA in the first place, that anyone should be ashamed of reading it?

I think the root of the problem is Hollywood and the over-sensationalization of YA and anything teen oriented, may it be Bieber, Twilight or even The Hunger Games. Anything related to today's youth just explodes until it's in everyone's face, whether you want it or not. 

BOOM!

With widespread recognition comes widespread hate and haters. And no matter how secluded and introverted you are, you're bound to come upon one person that thinks reading YA is stupid. Some indicators might be things like, "Novels are a waste of time", "Why don't you read things that matter?" , "That stuff doesn't count as literature" , "Is that book about vampires?" 

When thinking back to it, I've always been quite protective of the fact that I read YA books. "I like to read." That is my introductory sentence but I seldom offer up what it is I like to read, any further than stating fiction as my preferred genre. Only those in my close circle get recommendations and book talks from me. In fact P.E. had no idea I read books until the mutual friend that introduced us also spilled the beans. 

I'm an incognito nerd :P

This all really came up when I was sitting in my very first Philosophy lecture beside a girl to whom I finally introduced myself after multiple minutes of contemplation. We exchanged the formal degree introductions, her an English Major and I the Business Major. She then went on to ask me what my hobby was and I slowly said..." um reading...fiction" Thinking she might be interested in the classics and such I felt quite overwhelmed. Long story short, she declared her love for YA and we then had a great conversation about Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. 

P.E. and I when we book fangirl

Now, while it's easy to blame Hollywood and embarrassing pre-teens for going wild over everything, it's also important to remember that people will be judgemental if they want to be and it's our choice to let them or stand up for what we enjoy. I like YA, I won't mention it to people like I do my name because it's a private interest but I'm not going to be ashamed of it either. Most of my close friends are actually a direct result of our shared interest in YA lit. How can something that brings people together in a friendly, innocent way be bad?

SOURCE

-MARI

P.S. NOTE: True story; I have a "I read YA" pin on my bag, and every single day I've waited for someone to say, "OMG ME TOO!" so I can fangirl about it. And not one goddamn person. So enjoy your friendship. :( -P.E.

So there are still many upcoming YA movies. Some of them we've read and enjoyed the books of and some not so much. Others we just haven't read yet. With the ever growing YA movie scene, sometimes we forget some movies and it's nice to round them all up sometimes and discuss them. See if we're into them or not.

The Giver 

Release Date: Aug 15, 2014

Trailer

I did read this one. It was required reading. I don't like required reading and no matter how much people talk about this being one of the original dystopias I can't appreciate it because all I can remember is doing reading comprehension questions, which I despise. Nevertheless, I am open minded about the movie. I like the trailer and the cast. It seems that it is very well done and the movie makers stuck to the original storyline.

Will I Watch It: Maybe, one day.

The Maze Runner

Release Date: 19 Sept/2-14

Trailer

What to say... I read this one a couple of years ago and found myself really enjoying it. Then it started to stretch out. The plot slowed and my interest waned. In the end, I found that I enjoyed it but the story didn't stay with me. As for the movie, the trailer once again looks really good. I love seeing the maze come alive and some of the details from the book also seem present like the boys' way of talking.

Will I Watch It: Maybe, one day.

The Book Thief

Release Date: 27 Nov./2013

Trailer

This one I haven't read and I'm not sure if I will. I don't usually go into a sobfest intentionally. I did see the trailer to this one and I'm very curious as to seeing the movie. I think this one I'm going to watch before reading the book to see if it will inspire me to do so.

Will I Watch it: Most probably


In The Works:

Paper Towns

I loved The Fault in our Stars movie soo much! Soo much. Paper Town is set to be produced by the same people and wow am I excited. I haven't read this one but I own a copy and will jump on it once I get some incentive.. a trailer might do.

Looking For Alaska

This is probably the next most popular John Green book after The Fault In Our Stars and the one I'm most excited for. I don't know what it's about except for a girl named Alaska that apparently needs to be looked for... The movie is being worked on by a Canadian lady so.. yay! I don't know much.. I'm excited.

Fantastic Beast and Where To Find Them

Holy Freaking YES PLEASE! J.K. Rowling is writing the screenplay and I'm going to jump for joy once I see this beast come to life. I love Harry Potter as any sane person should (looking at all you insane people!) and I'll take anything J.K. Rowling will give me.

A discussion with P.E. and Mari.

YA is awesome. But it can get even more awesome. I was inspired for this post by this tweet that was asking for a YA romance set in the Olympics. I don't really need the romance part (but I wouldn't mind) and this got me thinking about all the types of stories that aren't found in YA. So, I'll start with saying there aren't enough stories about athletes, especially professional athletes. You get drafted in the NHL at 17/18. There's a 15 year old Russian skater killing it at the Olympics. Teens are a huge part of the Olympics and sports, and I know that it's a stereotype that bookish people don't care about sports because I know we're both fans. So, I would love to read a YA about that. What do you think?

Google and I have a long standing relationship and it knows how much I wish there was more to YA with my relentless searches: "YA book that features sports", "YA book set in Korea", "BOOK IN THE OLYMPICS"!!! I completely disagree with stereotyping in general. Bookish people aren't a type of people, they are a diverse community of people spread over different ages, countries and languages. We don't all read the same books, we definitely don't all like the same books, so who says that we all don't like the same things as well; especially sports. Hating sports is a lot like hating music; it's something that is supposed to be fun. I don't play sports because I suck at them but I sure would love to read about them and act like I don't suck. 

Well, we all know about my illustrious career as a defence in touch football. Or how about the one time in fifth grade where my coach said I was the most improved player after I did like six straight volleyball serves that managed to GET OVER THE NET. I'm a rockstar. 

Okay, I get your point. You also touched on some other thing I wanted to mention: diversity. Everyone agrees on the need for more diversity. I personally want diversity in books, but not books about diversity. Well, I'm not saying those shouldn't exist either, but I personally am not interested in social issue books. I'd love if there was diversity in a book, but it was completely natural. Like, I think R.J. Anderson had a Korean character in Quicksilver and it was awesome. I want diverse characters in paranormals where their diversity is not their defining character point, but just another part of them. YA is pretty white-washed as it is, and ideally, I think YA needs more of a variety of characters from different cultures. 

It's great that we both agree on that. Team diversity over here. Something else that I've been thinking about a lot lately is the awesome literature other counties have that we don't necessarily know about. I mean english can't be the only language with great books. Les Miserables and Le Petit Prince are French, Anna Karenina is Russian. Those can't be the only jewels of their language, there must be more and so I would love if we could read books written by a foreign author just as easily as we can watch a movie by one.

I absolutely agree. The Ruby Red series was by a German author, if I'm not mistaken, and I think that's something I would love to see- books FROM other cultures. Stories resonate with people, and I am so open to reading a YA book written for, say, Indian teens. Some of the stuff Western culture takes for granted would be discovered, and it would be awesome. Right now, it seems like so many Western books are being published in other languages and I would like to see the same happen. This can only help my book selection, because then I can have books from all the YA authors on Earth! (I am way too excited about that!)

Haha, same here. It would be fantastic imagine the variety we can find. One for every mood and mindset.

You know what else YA desperately needs? Canada. No, seriously. In dystopias, it's usually some enormous government running North America, and the government seems to be emulating American styles (with Presidents and no French) so I've always wondered what happened to us. I know Canada would not want to merge with the US, so maybe this is weird, but I always feel like the history of these dystopias is lacking. 

History and politics as well. As far as I know Canada and the US are tight allies so one turning on the other is hard to imagine, at least in my mind. I think more Canada and more accurate history/politics wouldn't hurt. Come to think of it, I was roaming Chapters a few hours ago (because that's what I do on my Sundays) especially the adult section and I was thinking about how much more detailed adult literature is. I wouldn't mind some of that leaking over to YA!

What do you think?

A discussion with P.E. and Mari

As teenagers we swear, a lot sometimes. However, in teenage literature swearing is quite uncommon. How do you feel about swearing?

I fucking love it. Some people may be surprised because I honestly don't swear that much in person (outside of any competitive activity, often sports) but I'm not deaf and I know a lot of people do. I know some people are bothered by swearing, but for me it's about intent. If you intend to say something harmful and harsh and filter yourself to saying something more euphemistic than an f-bomb, that doesn't change anything. The intent was still to curse, so I think if you want that there, go ahead and say it. What do you think?

The best way to capture/explain swearing is probably Hank Green's video. Swear words are more than words, they're words that convey expression and emotions without us going into deep self study in order to find the exact term. When I'm frustrated, scared or angry, I will swear. No I'm not thinking about the original meaning of the word. I don't think any of us do when we say "Fuck you!" Instead it conveys quite clearly, that we wish for the opposing person to zip it and get out. Seeing as swearing seems to be quite inherent and common in life, why do you think it's so uncommon in YA?

Maybe because there's still this misguided idea that teens need to be sheltered? Or authors generally are more creative in their methods of communication, so they don't write f-bombs when they can think of something more clever. I honestly don't know. If something surprising happens, I know that I'll swear, maybe even under my breath. It's a part of reality (maybe I'm just around pottymouths?) but it doesn't translate to books. There's also the annoying people who will censor books based on language. Why do you think it's uncommon?

I would relate it also to censorship. It's a lot like how many people are banning some very powerful dark YA novels because they feel that "teens shouldn't be exposed to them". Similarly curse words are frowned upon. We have a friend who actively ignores them and tends to call out people (usually me) who are saying them. I think it all comes down to society and what we teach our children. We are told from the get go that swearing is bad; don't do it. So that ends up translating to our everyday lives. I don't swear in front of people I don't know or people of authority. Similarly authors might contain themselves while writing because they know that publishers and readers will be reading what they are writing. There is also the idea of "fine/proper language" which doesn't include vulgar curse words. I also found it interesting that you mentioned authors making their own creative methods to convey messages. How do you feel about fake swearing or substitute swear words?

I hate it, especially if the story is paranormal. If an author wants to have that sentiment expressed by the characters who exist in the modern world, do it. I know Paranormalcy by Kiersten White had Evie saying "bleep" a lot which I didn't like. On the other hand, I applaud authors who create their own swear terms in fantasies. The origins of swear words are really cool. English ones tend to be about sex, but I know in Quebec all their swear words seem to revolve around church items. So, if done reasonably, I think it's another way to immerse a reader into the story. That being said, I do sympathize with authors a little. Even I feel uncomfortable swearing on the blog. I think it's because when I swear, it's usually in a fit of intense emotion that doesn't last very long. It's all about the moment, and so later when I look back, it doesn't fit anymore. It just looks weird. Does that make sense at all?

That's exactly what swearing is. It's a random outburst of emotion and I think it gets the message across quite well. However, it seems as though it's much easier to hear swearing than read it. As for fake swearing... I have one word: 

BULLPOOPIE. 
(House of Night by P.C. and Kristin Cast)

Oh my goodness that one has bugged me for years. I've noticed that fake swear words tend to leave the realm of realism. But I have to give the authors props for even trying to come up with their own swear words since it's quite hard to keep from making them sound silly. Most of the accepted swear words are quite silly themselves but due to the widespread use they don't seem so. So if I were to choose, I would much prefer real swearing to fake swearing. Also, swear words tend to go with the trend of the day. So the words we say now may not be the words the next generation uses to express the same feelings. Do you think that may be another deterrent in using them?

That could definitely be a part of it, but maybe it's just me but I don't think there are that many new swear words. Also, I feel like a book will never be dated if the storyline is universal, you know? 


That's true. Keep it real and honest and your story will live forever. 

What do you think? 

If you’ve been around the blog for a while, then you know I tend to sneak in some random gifs, from Lee Min Ho to Disney and back. To me these out of place funny little animations add a hint of a smile and a slice of life. 

I live in and go to school in a very diverse city. There are kids from all over the world. You name it, we probably have it. This means that I’ve grown very accustomed to seeing different cultures and different appearances. They are my normal. 

This might actually be one of the reasons as to why I’m so fascinated by the aspect of traveling. I see these people, they have completely different backgrounds than me but they are still just like me in many ways. It makes me crave to see how they were raised. I want to visit their countries of origin. But as usual, the age of poverty strikes and I’m left to read about them instead. So I search for books set in China/Russia/France…. Do I find them? Yes, but rarely.

This is a growing trend I’ve noticed with YA. There is a wide variety of books set in North America and by that I mean America. There aren’t as many set in Canada at all. I would love to read about a paranormal romance set in Toronto, or a summer read set in Nova Scotia. Still there are a few. There are also some books set in Paris, Tokyo, Russia, London and Germany if you like historical fiction. But how about the rest of the world?

Even authors who aren’t from the US, somehow tend to write about the US. The US is obviously a fantastic country with so many scenic and interesting places for authors to set their books. But as the world becomes more open for me to explore, I start to wish that the books I read would also. 

Going back to my diverse surroundings, diversity isn’t that common in YA. There definitely is the occasional person of colour or asian ethnicity but most of the time these things are mentioned in passing. For example, I had no idea that Tobias/Four from Divergent wasn't white. Apparently he has an “olive skin tone” which doesn’t say much and was probably why I didn’t register it.

Then there are characters like Rose Hathaway (Vampire Academy) who knows her origins and flaunts it. She is proud of her mother's Scottish and father's Turkish descent. Good for her. I want more Rose Hathaway's.

I also know that Park from Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell is Korean, which makes me very happy. This may be partly influenced by the fact that I’m in the midst of a Korean obsession... Anywho... I found it interesting that Ms. Rowell was asked by fans why Park was Korean. It goes back to the lack of characters like Park, so when they appear people are shocked. Here is Rainbow Rowell’s reply.

Diversity is great. It promotes acceptance and love and is an important factor in achieving world peace, since the root of conflict is prejudice and miseducation. Books are powerful tools; they introduce us to opinions, places and people. Maybe you’ve never heard of a certain person, place or thing. I know I’m not the most educated person out there, but we can learn.  

Lets put aside learning for a bit, it’s the holidays after all. Happy Holidays! 

We made that phrase to accommodate for all the different celebrations occurring at this time of year. Why? Because the Earth is filled with people who have some different but equally amazing cultures. So if not for world peace and k-pop lovers then why not in the spirit of the holidays, bring some diversity to YA?

-MARI

Covers and cover art. As humans we are really into beauty, the definition of which is blurry. But it is beautiful. We like beauty in everything; our homes, our clothes, our partners and ourselves. Then why not our books. They are filled with beautiful characters and places so why can’t they have beautiful covers?

YA readers and bloggers are very lucky in the sense that YA literature tends to have beautiful covers. They are bright, decorative, artsy, fashionable and plain stunning at times. They call to you. 

"Mari! Pick me, pick me” 

This is great. Books should be beautiful, it’s called marketing. And literature doesn’t need to be plain, especially when the words inside are so colourful.

Covers like these make me facepalm. That poor author worked so hard and he is probably very proud to be published. But somewhere in the peripheral of his mind he's probably wondering why the cover artist chose that cover.

Why Me!?

Of course this isn’t always the case. I mean if simplicity was a cover instead of a word, Stephen Chbosky’s Perks of Being a Wallflower would've taken the medal. Yet, due to the fact that the insides are beautiful, and that Chbosky has created a wonderful story, with dynamic characters. As well as some luck and a dedicated fan following, the book is an all time favourite for many and not to a mention Hollywood movie with Emma Watson!!!

Speaking of Emma Watson, would Harry Potter be what it is today if the cover artists didn’t feel like adding the lighting bolt to the end of the P in Potter? That lightning bolt might have been the reason that little 11 years old boy/girl picked up the book and that lightning bolt might've been the catalyst that started the revolution that is Harry Potter!

The YA section in my library houses one shelf, albeit a large shelf but it's still one shelf. So how is the library so full? What are all the other books? I don’t know.

When I walk down the adult fantasy isle, my favourite genre being fantasy. I can’t find much that I want to pick up, despite the fact that fantasy tends to have more of the interesting covers, may it be YA or adult. Walk down the non fiction aisle and I just might fall asleep, unless there is a book on volcanos; then I might blink a few times.

Point of the story being, JUDGE THE BOOKS BY THEIR COVERS! Do it. I know you do it anyway.

One has every right to judge a book because the book is interesting looking therefore it might be good. I think this gives publishers more of a push in making their books more pleasing to the eyes. If you're going to do it, then do it right. Do justice to those books because that author has worked hard and deserves a book cover that he or she can readily boast about. 

-MARI

I have a love affair with my cell phone. I'm exaggerating when I say this, but only barely. My cell phone accompanies me everywhere I go, from room to room. I will never forget my phone while I may forget money or ID or house keys. Heck, I'll even forget my glasses before my cell phone.

I'm not obsessed with it, but it's my link to the world. To the internet, to social media, to friends and family. I spend a lot of time with my phone and online. My phone is where I organize my life. It's my camera, my diary, and the most important device I own.

My dependence on technology could be considered unhealthy, but I'm not alone. Technology has always been a part of my life, and I use it even more in my teenage years.

Technology has made life much easier. People can contact me instantly. In class, I will Google what I don't know and take pictures of homework questions or work. I had Facebook, and I left Facebook. I use my instagram often and I spend an embarrassing amount of time on Twitter.

The internet is a source of inspiration and creative expression. It improves my writing and introduced me to new concepts and ideas. That's not to say everything in internet land is perfect.

There are problems with social media. Not even the obvious problems like cyber bullying, but what happens when everything you do is there to be seen by everyone? Or randomly being attacked by some troll when you tweeted something negative about their favourite hockey team? There are so many times that I love the Internet and technology but it hurts to. Even small things like being addicted to Candy Crush and the compulsion to keep playing matter.

What I'm getting at is that social media and technology is a part of day to day life. It's something I don't see enough of in YA. You could argue it's the YA I read, but there are so many little things that come with this dependence in technology that deserve some more light.

Technology almost never gets name dropped in YA beyond those books that namedrop everything because they're about rich people. I think that's unrealistic to teenage life, and so I'd like to see books use technology better. One amazing example was in Boy Nobody. The main character had this badass iPhone that was wired to do incredible and special things because he's a solider.

Technology can make books so much more realistic, and it should definitely be used more often.

-P.E.

Relationship are a basis of life. We all have them. We are born into them; some we make, others we destroy. Either way, life isn't really life without them. But just as there are different ways of making relationships, there are also different types of relationships. Romantic, friendly, family, sibling, acquaintance etc. 

A rising pattern in YA when it comes to relationships, is romance as we have come to know through P.E.'s awesome The Rule of Romance in YA experiment. The post got me thinking about how there are probably more and more readers out there who feel as P.E. does; that there should be books that focus on other relationships too. I know I, myself, am starting to crave something more from my books.

But the thing is, these book are out and about, waiting to be picked up and appreciated. You just have to branch out and try new things (cough P.E. and contemporary). Therefore, this is a response to P.E,'s original post shining light on some books that feature more than just a romance and bring forth some of the more beautiful and special relationships in life. Because believe it or not, LOVE is more common and strong when it isn't just the romantic kind.

If I Lie - Corrine Jackon

This one features little to no romance but it still had my eyes glued on to its pages because of its suspenseful plot but also because of the intricate relationships the author wove into the story.

This book features one of my favourite relationships; it is between the main character and an old army veteran at the retirement home she volunteers at. The relationship was pure friendship at its core. It was honest and beautiful and you could really tell that despite the age difference, these two characters have come to care and understand each other.

A Great and Terrible Beauty - Libba Bray

This series is incredible for many reasons and one of them is the relationship between the MC and her three best friends. This one is so hard to explain, a band of girl who start of disliking each other eventually come to find comfort and friendship in each other. But it's not all roses and sunshine in their relationship.  This book really explores the ups and down of friendship, jealousy, love and hate. Girls are really complicated, everything from out feelings to our relationships are complicated and that is really hard to capture with words but Ms.Bray does it magnificently.

Wither - Lauren DeStefano

This one is an unconventional one, also not very common especially in YA. It is a relationship between sister wives. Yes, weird, but DeStefano knows how to spin a story and her character's relationships. One of the prominent things that stood out to me from this series was the relationship between Rhine, Cecily, Jenna and even Rose. It was so different but at the heart of it all, they were a group of young girls placed in a unimaginable situation and they connected and learned to care about each other, deeply.

Second Chance Summer - Morgan Matson

This book contains one of my favourite and most memorable relationships; one between a daughter and her father. It's one that we don't see much of in YA with all the "busy parents", but you get a full dose of it in this book. My relationship with my dad is quite different from Taylor's but that didn't keep me from relating to her, it felt like it was my dad. Like it was my life. It's a heart wrenching read but the relationships in it are unmatched. It was beautiful and heart breaking as life is.

Here is a review I read that really pulled at my heartstrings and shows the magnificence of this book. Beware it does contain some spoilers.

So there you have it, some fantastic relationships that are non-romantic. Just as the saying goes, "all great things come to those who wait" (or looks!) these great relationships are hard to find but look hard enough and you will find these hidden gems!

-MARI

I'm a little different from most readers because I don't actively seek out romance books anymore. I don't know why but I'm so sick of reading about romance. It's not that it's awful- I can enjoy it. I hate however that it's beyond a norm, almost like a rule in YA. It's almost impossible to find a book without the main character having some sort of love interest. I thought I would do an "experiment".

Procedures 

Look at the last 10 YA books I read and discern whether the main character had any type of romance going on. I'll categorize what I find into four groups. All groups are chosen based on the "end state" of the novel. Everything here is subjective.

• Crush 
• Relationship
• Angst (they broke up, etc.)
• None

Hypothesis

I don't seek out romance so I'm expecting 70% of the books I read to have some sort of romance. 

Observations

Book	Romance Level
The Color of Rain	Relationship
Boy Nobody	Angst
Seizure	None
Black Heart	Relationship
The Madness Underneath	Angst
White Lines	Relationship
Sanctum	Relationship
The Piper's Son	Relationship
Prophecy	Relationship
Pretty Girl 13	Crush

Conclusions

90% of the books I read had some sort of romance in them. The only one that didn't, had a 14 year old main character. There's nothing wrong with romance; it's like sprinkles. Even if there's a lot of them, they can be enjoyable. However, I think 90% is a way too high figure. 

There's a lot more to teenage life than crushes and relationships. Sometimes I get so fed up with romance because it's unrealistic: why can't characters be single, and enjoy being single? Looking at this list, most YA books end off with the characters in a relationship. I can only speak from experience and looking around at my school, but 60% of the teens there don't have relationships. More like 10-20%. There's nothing wrong with being single and enjoying it.

The reason I did this was to say that not every book needs a romance. They're not necessary. Why not have a super strong parental bond? A sibling relation? How about a variety of friends? Epic Reads hosts an event called #TeaTime and they were talking a little along these lines yesterday, about womances (girls that are BFFs) or the lack of womances. It's obvious that most people would enjoy a focus on other relationships.

Would you? Do you think there's too much romance?

-P.E.