I love my YA, don't get me wrong. I think I always will. But lately I've been thinking that maybe I should read some stories that are centred around the stage that I'm in in my life right now as I start thinking about my last year of university and what lies beyond. This is where you guys come in.
I have a couple of NA experts in my life, so a lot of the recommendations I've gotten so far have come from them. I'm really excited about the titles they've put forward but I also wanted to put the call out generally to see if there are any fantastic NA that have slipped by my experts.
I really want to read NA that has substance. I know a lot of them seem to focus significantly around dark, troubled relationships and sex. I want NA with more than that. Obviously I have no issue with reading sex in my books if I'm taking this leap, but I don't want that to be the only thing carrying the book. Also, I really don't want abuse romanticized, which I've heard can be an issue in some NA, so please don't steer me towards those. You will have a very unpleasant Jess on your hands if you do that to me.
So far, I have a few lined up for me. One that I've been meaning to read for AGES is Cora Carmack's Losing It (and I hope I love it because she's got lots more to dive into afterwards). At the insistence of rec-ing ball Dahlia, I picked up Unteachable by Leah Raeder (and I have a good feeling I'll be reading more of what Leah puts out because I've heard nothing but great things about Black Iris as well) and I also recently bought Dahlia's own NA debut, Last Will and Testament. The Ottawa bloggers each got a copy of Ann Aguirre's I Want It That Way (hello earworm!) at our meetup -- thanks Harlequin! And from my NA Expert #1, Emilie, I borrowed Karina Halle's Where Sea Meets Sky, which I can't wait to dig into mostly because it's set in New Zealand. Two others on my radar are Boomerang by Noelle August (I see you, Veronica Rossi) and Swimming to Tokyo by Brenda St. John Brown.
All of these are NA books that I'm planning to read soon as part of my efforts to read a little more in my age zone (even though I don't really like the way that sounds... YA forever!!!)
Have you read and loved any of these? Do you have any other NA faves that you can recommend? Lay 'em on me!
I’m kinda in the same boat as you are. I just finished my first year of university, and was thinking that maybe I should *try* reading NA. The only problem is that a lot of it seems to be centered around (as you mentioned) relationships, and quite a bit of those relationships are quite abusive. That’s pretty much the main problem – you’re right, there is a need for substance! Right now, I think I’m gonna stick with YA but who knows, maybe in the future... :P The ones you’ve picked though: I’ve heard a ton of good things about them so hope you enjoy them! Happy Reading :D
ReplyDeleteI loved Last Will and Testament! It had depth and was hard to put down, plus it avoided NA tropes that has given new adult a bad name. The first NA I read was Easy. Have you read that? It's incredible and I totally recommend it! Unteachable and Swimming to Tokyo are also on my TBR so I'd be interested to hear your thoughts!
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