Who’s ready for a blog post that will probably just be me going on a rant? *raises own hand* I am, I am, I am! Okay, I like to think that I read a wide variety of books for all ages. But let’s be honest, I have been reading a ton of YA/Teen books for the past couple of years. Lately, I’ve been thinking about just how many teen books have taken over my bookshelf and how I’m almost getting sick of them. For a while I was just thinking that I might not be liking reading as much as I used to (a thought which horrified me), but I’ve come to realize that I’m not irritated with books in general, just teen books. And I’m not mad at all teen books - I still come across a real winner now and again - I’m mainly mad at some of the aspects of these books that pop up in a lot of other novels. Sometimes it seems like I’m just reading the same book over and over again, even if they have vastly different plots. Do you ever feel that way? Like some of the traits of one book just keep showing up again and again and kind of take away from your enjoyment? Well, who cares if you do or don’t? I run this blog and I’m going to write about what I want. So na-na-na-na-boo-boo! I’ve made a list of a lot of things that annoy me or are starting to annoy me about teen books. Maybe you won’t agree, maybe you’ll be nodding along so much that you get a neck ache. Either way, I feel like ranting so here we go: 1. Love Triangles Okay, this one is pretty common, and originally I was going to have a whole post dedicated to just how perturbed I am with love triangles, but this will have to do instead. It’s not that I’m totally against having romance in a book. If it’s done right I don’t mind at all. However, when there is a love triangle thrown in for the sake of a love triangle - or worse, for the sake of making the MC look attractive - I just can’t stand it. Writers, I thought you would have learned from Twilight, love triangles are not your friend. On top of that, they are hardly realistic. How many girls (because it’s usually a girl) do you know of that have two handsome hunks fighting over her? Cuz, I don’t know of any outside of books. And why can’t the guys in the book just be reasonable? Like, dude, it’s just a girl, chill out! Having her fall in love with you isn’t a life or death problem - unless it is, because for some odd reason that does happen in books. Just calm down and all three of you sit down and talk it out. If the girl can’t make up her mind between the two of you maybe you both ought to move on. And it’s not like there aren’t other girls. Usually the author makes none of the other girls very nice or available, but there are other girls besides them too! Just be single for a while and - whoa, whoa, I just realized how long of a pep talk I’ve been giving imaginary people. Ahem, moving on. 2. The Chosen One Oh my gosh there is a huge problem in the fabricated world of our teen hero/heroine! Who could stop this ginormous problem from occurring? Surely not our main character, she/he’s far too average to be of any help, or she/he just want to keep their head down and provide for their family by thievery and/or being the best hunter in town, or she/he just doesn’t care. But what’s this? Goodness gracious! They have a special power/ability/skill/family trait/just happened to be at the right place/have been the one everyone’s been looking for for years? Well that’s helpful! Okay, okay, I realize that the novel has to have a plot and the plot needs a person to move it along. And yeah, the main character may just be the one who this plot surrounds, but do they have to be immensely special to do this? I mean, can’t our mild mannered MC just up and decide that they don’t like what’s going on and try to change it? It gets on my nerves when to save the day the person has to be different from everyone else and can only get the job done with powers that only they or a very limited amount of people possess *cough* I’m looking at you Mare Barrow from Red Queen *cough, cough*. What annoys me more is when the reader is all set up to believe that this special character is the only one of their kind and no one else is qualified to save the day, but then we get introduced to a whole bunch of other people who are exactly the same. Because by that point I’m attached to the character and I don’t want them to have to share the spotlight. I know, I’m fickle, aren’t I? 3. The Dark and Brooding Man You know what they say: girls can’t resist a bad boy. But do they seriously all have to have a troubled past? All of the leading men in teen novels have to have suffered something that made them a “bad boy”? Or they just happen to be tough for the sake of being tough and we never get an explanation as to why they all are wearing leather and have tattoos or a mysterious scar. For example, in An Uncertain Choice we have our main gal, Rose, and three handsome fellas. Two of these dudes are super sweet and kind. One of them is mysterious, brooding, doesn’t play well with others, and of course that makes him super duper attractive to Rose. But why? What is with the obsession with these moody men? Is it because they punch people? Is it because, like Padme with Anakin, the MC sees good in him? I don’t know, but I want some sciency person to please conduct a study on the mysterious appeal of wayward gentlemen. 4. Brown Hair No, I don’t have anything against brown hair - heck, I’ve always had brown hair. And I don’t dislike characters with brown hair. I’m just being irrational and pointing out that there are quite a few female MC’s that are always described as having brown hair - and occasionally being sickly skinny because they are poor and don’t have food, or because they mysteriously can’t put on weight no matter how hard they try. Off the top of my head here are some books with brown haired protagonists:
5. Girls Hating Girls This is true of, not just teen books, but kids books, adult books, and tons of movies and it makes me furious. Now, I don’t really consider myself a feminist, but I don’t think women should tear each other down (I don’t think you should tear anyone down, really). It makes me really sad, to be honest. Especially when they hate each other over a boy. No! You stop that this instant! He’s not worth it! Anyway, I just can’t stand when the main girl has maybe one gal pal but then all the rest of the girls in the world are hideously mean creatures who, because they behave differently or want different things than the protagonist must be evil or empty-headed. Say our MC is tough and she fights and and is really passionate about her cause, but then she comes across another girl who conforms to that world’s image of a typical woman. She wears a dress (goodness gracious), maybe she follows the rules of society (oh my!), and has no problem with the corrupt government/evil sorcerer/going with the crowd. Then the MC thinks of this other girl as being foolish or too compliant or an idiot. No, no, no, no, no! Maybe all of that is true, maybe this girl is an idiot (in which case, author’s please stop writing every woman who is not the protagonist as an idiot), but she has a right to behave however she wants even if that behavior is doing something the MC doesn’t agree with. I’m not saying all the girl characters have to be besties and braid each other’s hair, I’m just saying: stop making all the girls hate each other for no apparent reason. Please. 6. So Much Smooching As I’ve already said in this post, I’m not opposed to romance in books. But does every single YA/Teen novel seriously have to have romance in it? Can you think of one single solitary teen book without romance in it? Just one. Go ahead, tell me all about it in the comments below. Please, I will read that book in a heartbeat. The only teen book I can think of without romance in it is The Outsiders by S.E.Hinton. You know what book I really like? (Well, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton is one.) I really like Howl’s Moving Castle. It could just be because I recently watched the movie and I’m thinking about it right now, but I really, really like this book. You wanna know one of the reasons why I really like this book? The romance. Okay, calm down, I know what I was just writing about. But seriously, if there has to be romance in every teen book why can’t it be done like it is in Howl’s Moving Castle? Granted, not every protagonist can turn into an old lady and become the cleaning lady of a wizard and slowly fall in love with said wizard. But how come we can’t have more romances where the couple starts out as friends and then they just kinda slowly realize that they love each other, but then - plot twist - the moment they realize this they DON’T have an existential crisis and then go smooch each other so long that I begin to worry about their oxygen intake. Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but I don’t like it when the couple just decides to be in love and then immediately they kiss and become so infatuated with each other that suddenly the plot to save the world doesn’t matter anymore. I want a couple that behaves like a normal pair of human beings. No tussling with the doubt of “oh my goodness, should I tell him I love him, what if he doesn’t love me back?” and then both of them are suddenly inseparable. Give me a couple that wants to take some time to get to know each other and maybe they decide that in the middle of a revolution isn’t the best place to start a romance so they wait until after the corrupt government has been dealt with to become a thing. And when they solve all of their problems they don’t fling themselves into each other’s arms they go get coffee or something. I could write a whole post about this topic, perhaps a whole book, but I’ll stop. Okay, I’m done with my rant… for now. I have a lot of other nitpicky things that I could talk about, but this post is way too long as it is. What did you think? Do you agree with my complaints or do you think I’m being silly? What complaints about books do you have? Anything I missed? If I can think of enough things that bother me and if you suggest some things then I might make another one of these. Or maybe I’ll do one about things that annoy me in Middle Grade/Children’s books. I don’t think I’ve read enough adult targeted literature to do one of those, but maybe someday. Thanks so much for reading!
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