Love in the Stacks: Age has nothing to do with love of YA

You read Young Adult fiction … go on, admit it. There's nothing wrong with it and in fact you should be proud to admit that you do. YA fiction is not just for teenagers with angst but for everybody who enjoys a good story that happens to follow a teen hero or heroine. Many bestsellers are YA novels and in fact the current No. 1-selling book on Amazon is John Green's The Fault in Our Stars. (Go Nerdfighters!)

Worldwide bestsellers like Stephenie Meyer's The Twilight Saga and Veronica Roth's Divergent series have swept millions of fans into their grasps, and age has absolutely nothing to do with it. As a librarian I have seen grown men and women ask where they could find any one of the many books that their kids have been talking about. Likewise, elementary school kids have inquired as to why they had to be put on a wait list for Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. Publishers are even well aware of the influence that the YA market holds, and if you need any proof, just take a look at some of the box office hits in recent years.

So, what is the appeal of the YA genre then?

Author Colleen Oakes, winner of the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Award for Young Adult Fiction, says, "Just because a book is YA does not mean that it deals with youthful issues. In The Giver we see themes of genocide, memory, and the importance of the individual. These are very adult themes that are dealt with in very adult ways."

I agree with Colleen in recognizing the maturity of the genre and the fact that it does not shy away from the truthfulness of how harsh the world may actually be. Countless The Fault in Our Stars fans have bawled their eyes and souls out while reading about extremely unapologetic themes like terminal illness and loss.

Take the wildly popular novel If I Stay by Gayle Forman, which deals with a 17-year-old girl in a coma who must decide if she should wake up to a world she can hardly bear, or allow herself to drift away into the clutches of death. There is nothing childish about this book.

Many, if not most, of these novels deal with first love and dare I say that there are similarities that adult romance readers may enjoy? Who doesn't remember the raw and irrational emotions that one's first love brought out? Being all-consumed and reckless by the primal forces of one's awakening heart is almost a rite of passage; the saying that "it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all" describes the necessity of love and for many, the important lesson that it teaches us. The YA genre creates honest themes and relationships, and this is one reason that I respect it so much. Emily Hainsworth, author of the romantic sci-fi thriller Through to You, seems to agree: "The characters seemed more complex, more dynamic. The pacing never beat around the bush. They were stories about people often going through major life events for the very first time, sometimes in unbelievable situations, but love them or hate them, they were characters I could identify with and respect."

Like the adult romance genre, readers will find more than one similarity between heroines. Strength, independence, acceptance and vulnerability are qualities that consistently define young females as they venture into adulthood. Likewise, the YA genre does not shy away from depicting men with both good and bad intentions. YA novels can very bluntly convey the message that some men, or women, may not have someone's best interest at heart.

Furthermore, YA novels get into the gritty parts of a teenager's life and a world that some of us very clearly remember. Bullying, stress, peer pressure, and discovery of sexual identity are just a handful of experiences that are reflected within the pages of YA novels. I remember reading authors like Caroline B. Cooney, Lois Duncan, and Chris Crutcher growing up and identifying with the struggles and emotions that undoubtedly mirrored mine. This is also why some of those books are still favorites to this day.

Now that we have established that there is no shame in reading YA novels, here are some romantic titles that I think everybody should pick up. The list is short, but it is a fairly diverse collection filled with romance and high emotions. One thing to keep in mind is that these novels will deal with a wide variety of romantic experiences and a happy ending is not always guaranteed. Teenage love is anything but typical, and one great thing about YA romance, in my opinion, is it can be found in the strangest of places. Feel free to leave a comment with additional titles and your thoughts on these reads. I would love to hear feedback and get some of your suggestions.

• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

• Delirium by Lauren Oliver

• Matched by Ally Condie

• Every Day by David Levithan

• Looking for Alaska by John Green

• The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

• Across the Universe by Beth Revis

• Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

• This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

• Ash by Malinda Lo

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Sean Gilmartin (@author_sean) has always been in a world of fantasy and superheroes. It was his fascination with good vs. evil that kindled his love of reading. When he is not working as an award-winning librarian, Sean blogs more often than he likes to admit. Follow Sean's blog and his work as paranormal romance author Sean Thomas at www.seanthomasauthor.com.