I'm Reading...New Adult?

If you read this blog with any regularity then you’d know that new adult novels don’t really appear (with the exception of Cora Carmack) in my reviews, hauls or discussions. In fact, I don’t really read them at all. I have problems with the general quality of writing and editing, the way the female characters are portrayed as being controlled by their partners and are often lesser and a serious issue with lots of the harmful relationships in the forefront of these novels.

So how come I’ve managed to read 11 new adult novels so far in 2015?!

I actually think it’s because of those things I just mentioned. They’re a palate cleanser for me. When I read something amazing and can’t connect with the next book on my TBR or I’m just in a slump, reading a NA novel or two (or three) gets my head back in the game. They’re easy, fun and involving, but I don’t take them too seriously. And, this is probably a significant one, I don’t have to review them. I don’t have think about them critically or evaluate why I did or didn’t enjoy it (even though that’s totally what I’m doing right now…) – it feels like a break when I pick up the new Cora Carmack or the next book in the Marked Men series.

I actually think that the quality is really improving as well. As more and more new adult novels are being picked up by traditional publishing houses, they are being copyedited and polished and it makes such a huge difference to me as a reader to not be distracted by the syntax or the grammar or the typos. I now have a few new adult authors who I keep an eye out for and books that they recommend I buy with confidence of better quality.

 

Just a quick FYI, these are properly graphic - there was much blushing.

And yet even when they’re not that good, I still devour them at a breakneck pace and I invariably read the next book in the series. The ease of them is actually quite addictive. And they’re full of hot boys and they’re super sexy (and sometimes uncomfortably graphic, but that’s a whole other story…).

 

Another super graphic series. Actually this publisher, Samhain, is all pretty blush-inducing.

Even though I’m really starting to enjoy new adult novels and they’re becoming a vital part in my slump breaking routines, I still actually feel a little embarrassed about reading them – why should I be embarrassed about something I enjoy? Why do I have to excuse them as a guilty pleasure? I don’t quite understand to be honest!

Do you read NA? Why? Do you feel embarrassed about it at all? What’s your feelings on guilty pleasures? Any recommendations?

Sophie