Are Book Genres fixed?
A good friend and blog reader asked me to write a post defining some of the genres I write about in my book reviews. With particular reference to the differences between New Adult, Young Adult and Teen fiction. There are, as you can probably imagine, many differing views when you start researching a subject like this, so I’ve put together some general definitions which I find fit with the books I’ve read, and then I thought I’ll open it up for some discussion.
Teen Fiction: Generally this can be put into the age brackets of 10-15 years.
Young Adult: This is often targeting the 16-25 years age bracket, but with the emergence of the New Adult genre, I would personally lower this to 16-19. For me it covers the transformation from adolescence to young adults, first loves, leaving home, college, learning to drive, drinking, parties.
New Adult: This crosses the Young Adult age bracket and is generally for 18-25 years. For me these books will contain characters who use strong language, first sexual relationships, first jobs, university students. They are more experienced with life and the storylines will reflect that.
I find the edges really blur between Young adult and New adult and with the explosion of books about vampires, wizards and the supernatural. There are varying levels of horror and violence that these contain.
I enjoy reading books from both the Young adult and New adult genres when mixed in with my other reading material. I’m not one who enjoys alot of horror, violence or erotica, so they often suit my mood.
Over to you…
So what about you? How would you define the genres?
Is New adult just a new marketing scam?
Do you enjoy reading from these genres?
A high percentage of adults read from these genres, do you think this is because they follow a trend for shorter books?
Fifteen-year-old Therese watches her parents die. While in a coma, she meets the twin sons of Hades—Hypnos, the god of sleep, and Thanatos, the god of death. She thinks she’s manipulating a dream, not kissing the god of death and totally rocking his world. Than makes a deal with Hades and goes as a mortal to the Upperworld to try and win Therese’s heart, but not all the gods are happy. Some give her gifts. Others try to kill her. The deal requires Therese to avenge the death of her parents. With the help of Than’s fierce and exotic sisters, the Furies, she finds herself in an arena face to face with the murderer, and only one will survive. 
The Jack prophesied: If the king loses his head, then the Queen with a Bleeding Heart would rule the Red Court until Time ceased to move forward. When a second carried on for infinity, every creature in Wonderland would tip their Hat to the misfit girl with a Boy’s name (or was it a boy with a Girl’s name?) who’d end the Reign of Terror. However, it all hinged on the One-Eyed Hare being able to convince an uninspirable Heir that the impossible was indeed possible—like stopping time—and that Love was worth a Beheading. Heads would Roll,Hearts would Break…In the end, would it matter who Reigned? 
For Kaeden Parish, life in Solace has always followed certain rules—everything makes sense, everything can be planned for, and everything is as it seems. Unfortunately, the secret harbored by his gorgeous, albeit guarded girlfriend is about to shatter all of that. After a successful attack on his life opens his eyes to a world of war, shadows, and supernatural creatures—a world he didn’t plan for—Kaeden finds himself resembling the sort of monster he has always feared. As he desperately struggles to resist a new temptation, danger draws ever nearer, threatening the ones he loves most. A prophecy tells of a final battle and great destruction, and Kaeden must decide which side he is on, a choice that could mean the end of the world. In Book 1 of the Solace Series, P.K. Gallagher pulls readers into a realm where good and evil are at war, and the outcome of it all rests on one young man’s decision to either go and live…or stay and die. This is where Parish begins. 
Sixteen-year-old Michelle is a product of the Institute’s eugenics program, where people are bred like livestock. One doctor decides which kids get to grow up, and which disappear. Only Culls walk into the slum outside Institute walls, and they never come back. Michelle has survived every purge, and she’s about to win a luxurious life as a breeder. Then the doctor banishes her brother Seth and her boyfriend Brian, and she risks everything to find them in the cutthroat slum. She’s in trouble until handsome Dillon stakes a claim to her. Michelle is mortified, because Norms are practically animals. But the doctor is using the missing boys in a twisted plan and she needs Dillon’s help to stop him. Michelle and her friends must find Seth and Brian, but a plague is spreading, the doctor is after her and Dillon isn’t thrilled to help her find her lost boyfriend. 
Leah Vindral is suffocating–trapped in her own skin. In a land where magic is feared, magic saved her from death … but it came with a terrible price. Marked forever, she is shunned and isolated by those she loves most. Brimming with bitter rage at those who abandoned her, Leah flees from her childhood home only to be swept into an impending war: Mora, a wicked witch, has been imprisoned for years, waiting like a spider in the folds of her web for the chance to regain the powers once stripped from her. It is there, while she waits, that she learns of a strange young girl … a girl who can speak to unicorns. Now Leah must save the country that shuns her, for if Mora returns to power, all will be lost. But can Leah, who is so frightened and confused herself, find the strength to save them all?
One September evening, around twilight, Francesca Shaunessy calls out for her dog to come to heel – however instead of a black Labrador, a dragon like beast emerges from the mists surrounding the twelfth century church and graveyard, followed closely by his rider. Frankie is astounded to discover she has an unexpected gift: She is a “Griffin Cryer”. Balkind is the sweetest most loveable griffin ever. Unfortunately his rider is the rudest man in this world or any other. Despite problems at school, and a complicated home life, Frankie feels compelled to help the Rider and his griffin return home to Ella-Earth. In doing so, Frankie escapes her own emotional prison, and becomes aware that there’s a chance that she can help her comatose twin brother back into this world. 
When fifteen-year-old Jacob Lau is pulled from the crumpled remains of his mother’s car, no one can explain why he was driving or why the police can’t find his mother’s body. A beautiful and mysterious neighbour offers to use her unique abilities to help him find his mom. But in exchange she requires Jacob to train as a Soulkeeper, a protector of human souls. He agrees to her demands, desperate for any clue to the mystery of his mother’s disappearance. But soon Jacob finds himself trapped in a web of half-truths, and questions her motives for helping him. 
Ever since her sixteenth birthday, strange things keep happening to Seraphina Parrish. The Lady in Black… burns Sera’s memories. Unexplainable premonitions… catapult her to other cities. The Grungy Gang… wants to kill her. And a beautiful, mysterious boy… stalks her. But when Sera moves to Chicago, and her aunt reveals their family connection to a centuries old, secret society, she is immediately thrust into an unbelievable fantasy world, leading her on a quest to unravel the mysteries that plague her. In the end, their meanings crash into an epic struggle of loyalty and betrayal, and she’ll be forced to choose between the boy who has stolen her heart and the thing she desires most. Wander Dust is the breath-taking fantasy that will catapult you through a story of time, adventure, and love. 
Rosie Amber 