New Adult is officially my new favorite genre of book. Don’t get me wrong I love my YA books but every now and again I just need something more. With New Adult you are getting that same angst, the same heart stopping romance, but it’s rated R instead of PG-13. What I like about New Adult is that it’s this wholly new genre that has characters that are still trying to figure it out, they don’t have all the answers, they are in college or in their early 20s, but they are mature enough that they are making real world decisions. Have you ever read a YA book and thought there is no way this character is 16? Well with New Adult the characters actually act their age.
I first stumbled upon this genre when I picked up the book Easy by Tammara Webber. I was looking for something different after having spent months upon months reading my favorite genre of book, YA paranormal romance. I just wanted a palate cleanser so to speak. The book completely hooked me and I read it in less than a day. The characters in Easy were in their 20’s and in college. The book still had the requisite bad boy and two main characters who had to overcome many obstacles to be together there just wasn’t anything paranormal going on (well unless you count out of this world chemistry). After reading that book I was hooked and since then I have gone on to seek out as many books as I can, although it’s not easy as this is a fairly new genre. In fact, Entangled Publishing, having picked up on the increasing interest in this new sub genre, has just announced that they will be launching their New Adult imprint the summer of 2013. If you are looking for something a little more mature than YA but with all the requisite romance, heartache and complications then pick up a New Adult book today.
Here is my list of the best New Adult books I’ve come across so far. Let me know in the comments if you have any recommendations!
Easy by Tammara Webber
Synopses Goodreads
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A girl who believes trust can be misplaced, promises are made to be broken, and loyalty is an illusion. A boy who believes truth is relative, lies can mask unbearable pain, and guilt is eternal. Will what they find in each other validate their conclusions, or disprove them all?
When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup two months into sophomore year. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she’s single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, and failing a class for the first time in her life.
Leaving a party alone, Jacqueline is assaulted by her ex’s frat brother. Rescued by a stranger who seems to be in the right place at the right time, she wants nothing more than to forget the attack and that night–but her savior, Lucas, sits on the back row of her econ class, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. Her friends nominate him to be the perfect rebound.
When her attacker turns stalker, Jacqueline has a choice: crumple in defeat or learn to fight back. Lucas remains protective, but he’s hiding secrets of his own. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.
Losing It by Cora Carmack
Synopses Goodreads
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Bliss Edwards is about to graduate from college and still has hers. Sick of being the only virgin among her friends, she decides the best way to deal with the problem is to lose it as quickly and simply as possible– a one-night stand. But her plan turns out to be anything but simple when she freaks out and leaves a gorgeous guy alone and naked in her bed with an excuse that no one with half-a-brain would ever believe. And as if if that weren’t embarrassing enough, when she arrives for her first class of her last college semester, she recognizes her new theatre professor. She’d left him naked in her bed about 8 hours earlier.
On Dublin Street by Samantha Young
Synopses Goodreads
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Jocelyn Butler has been hiding from her past for years. But all her secrets are about to be laid bare…
Four years ago, Jocelyn left her tragic past behind in the States and started over in Scotland, burying her grief, ignoring her demons, and forging ahead without attachments. Her solitary life is working well—until she moves into a new apartment on Dublin Street where she meets a man who shakes her carefully guarded world to its core.
Braden Carmichael is used to getting what he wants, and he’s determined to get Jocelyn into his bed. Knowing how skittish she is about entering a relationship, Braden proposes an arrangement that will satisfy their intense attraction without any strings attached.
But after an intrigued Jocelyn accepts, she realizes that Braden won’t be satisfied with just mind-blowing passion. The stubborn Scotsman is intent on truly knowing her… down to the very soul.
The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.
Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs—and wants—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.
Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry
Synopses Goodreads
Purchase here
No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with “freaky” scars on her arms. Even Echo can’t remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo’s world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.
Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she’ll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.
Great list! Can’t wait to read some of these!!
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