There’s something that's worse than Chinese water torture in my mind. And that is the day that my sweet little girl—the one who used to play in my high heels and whose hair I styled in a thousand different styles of ponytail—picked up my copy of A Hunger So Wild by Sylvia Day, or flipped through my Kindle and said, “Wow, Mom. Fifty Shades of Grey? I heard this was an awesome book!”
As you may have guessed, she’s no longer allowing me to put ponytails in her hair. Nor is she reading Harry Potter or Twilight. True, she’s not yet ready for, ahem, my collection, but I can’t exactly pawn her with a set of The Vampires Assistant novels from Darren Shan and expect them to hold her interest.
But now there's a new, upcoming genre: New Adult. One that will keep her interested and will also keep me from freaking out at what she's reading.
New Adult, or NA, as it's called, is aimed at the 18—30 year old demographic. The storylines for most of the NA books that I’ve read are captivating and, might I add, pretty doggone good even if I’m slightly older than their target audience. For instance, David in Lynn Rush's Wasteland suffers torture for years due to his failure to fulfill one of his assignments as a demon and meets the very smexy Rebeka who is a guardian for the very human that he must capture in order to save his immortal soul. Sounds like a regular adult PNR—the only difference is that it doesn't go as far in its description of the sexytimes. And there is sex—not searing-hot, white-knuckled, romantica sex, but some sexual situations.
I did ask myself whether I feel wholly comfortable with everything that my child may be experiencing in this new age group and time in her life. And the answer was, “Not always.” But I do feel better that she doesn’t have to read my books any longer.
Have you run across this genre? If you do, I would prompt you to try one, even if you’re over three times six.
Aliza Mann, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Paraplayground.com
