Nicole Williams on New Adult.

Last but not least Nicole Williams shares her thoughts on New Adult!

 

What does “New Adult” mean to you?

To me, it means a new sub-category that’s been created to bridge the YA and Adult markets. Sweet and simple!

What first drew you to New Adult?

I love reading and writing about college-aged characters and there were so few books actually about that age-range when I was in my late teens/early twenties. I love that the characters are figuring out who they are in life, making a bunch of mistakes, and not afraid to pick up the pieces along the way. I love the drama, angst, and intensity of the category.

Why did you want to write a New Adult book?

My very first books were New Adult, before the term had been coined. They were about college-aged students and even though there wasn’t a lot of sexual content, or heavy language, there were still mature concepts these characters dealt with that separated them from typical YA books. It was less about wanting to write a New Adult book, and just what I wrote at the time and someone put a label on it later. 

What would you love to see next in New Adult?

I’d love to see some paranormal and dystopian New Adult. The trend is contemporary right now, and I love it, but I think it would be great to see this New Adult category branch out some more. 

 

I’m the New York Times and USATODAY bestselling author of the Lost & Found series, the Crash series, and a handful of others. Basically, I get to do what I love. Every single day. I write romance because I’m a sucker for a good love story, and I write happy endings because there are too few of them in real life.





Thank you so much to Nicole for very kindly taking the time to feature on my blog!

I think Nicole put it perfectly, New Adult definitely bridges the gap between Young Adult and Adult!

 

What do you think?

Much Love!

Lettie

Xxx

Jolene Perry on New Adult.

Today Jolene Perry is sharing her opinions on and experience with New Adult! Jolene is another of my favourites and has collaborated with both Nyrae Dawn and Steph Campbell.

 

Jolene's Thoughts. 

What's funny is that my first published book was a New Adult book, even though there wasn't a name for that genre yet. I wrote the story of a girl whose first year of college was delayed because she got cancer. When she's finally able to go, she's forced to live next door to her brother and she maybe...might...end up being close friends with a guy who she may or may not fall for ;-) .....That was The Next Door Boys.

 

Steph Campbell and I did the same thing with My Heart for Yours. We wrote it as an upper YA, but once NA came out, we both knew our book fit into that category better.

When the NA category came out for real, I realized that a LOT of what I'd written fell under the age guidelines, so I cleaned them up and published - Falling, Left to Love, My Forever, 10 Weeks, 3 Sides to a Circle... 

I know that nearly all of the NA titles out right now are romance, and most of my novels focus on that, but I LOVE college stories. I love friendship stories. I love the idea that for the first time in a person's life, they're accountable for their own actions but they maybe haven't had enough experience to choose well ;-) I'm excited to watch NA branch out into all kinds of stories, exploring the time in our lives when we really come into our own and learn who we are.

 

 

Jolene grew up in South-central Alaska. She’s lived in Anchorage, near the Alyeska ski resort, on a cabin on an island on a lake, and then in a boring old house.

Jolene cannot express how many times she wished she could write a whole novel. And now she has. Several times. Life is good.

http://www.jolenesbeenwriting.blogspot.co.uk/

 

 

 

Thank you so much to Jolene for very kindly taking the time to feature on my blog even with her recent release Out of Play!

 

I love that Jolene mentioned that New Adult style books have been around but now it has it's own genre it can branch out and diversify. I also love college/university stories, it's such an unique environment!

 

Do you agree with Jolene?

Can you think of any 'Upper YA' books that would be New Adult now?

Much Love!

Lettie

Xxx

New Adult Week Mini Reviews Part 2!

Mini reviews~ Sometimes I love a book but I just can't do a full review or I just back log reviews!

This edition is books I should of reviewed ages ago!
 
  The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden.

There are those who don’t get luck handed to them on a shiny platter, who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, who don’t get saved.
Luck was not on Callie’s side the day of her twelfth birthday when everything was stolen from her. After it’s all over, she locks up her feelings and vows never to tell anyone what happened. Six years later her painful past consumes her life and most days it’s a struggle just to breathe.
For as long as Kayden can remember, suffering in silence was the only way to survive life. As long as he did what he was told, everything was okay. One night, after making a terrible mistake, it seems like his life might be over. Luck was on his side, though, when Callie coincidentally is in the right place at the right time and saves him.
Now he can’t stop thinking about the girl he saw at school, but never really knew. When he ends up at the same college as Callie, he does everything he can to try to get to know her. But Callie is reserved and closed off. The more he tries to be part of her life, the more he realizes Callie might need to be saved.
After Ella and Micha I was excited to read more of Jessica Sorensen-

Thoughts

The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden has such a unique plot, I liked that they were trying to save each other. Callie and Kayden were two very broken people although Kayden seemed to have hidden it better than Callie. I couldn't believe their families! Kayden's family must have been aware of how volatile the Dad was, his Mum seemed quite pathetic and his brothers didn't seem to think twice about leaving Kayden behind. Callie's brother seemed to lack any empathy and was apparently aware of how horrible Caleb was. No wonder Kayden and Callie ended up as two very broken people!
I loved Seth and Luke. Luke really intrigued me, he was such a good support to Kayden but definitely had his own background which is why he's getting his own story! I loved Seth! I guessed he would be gay as it explained how he got so close to Callie. I really liked how he dealt with Callie so gently but still pushed her out of her shell! I think Luke and Seth made an amazing team for Callie and Kayden.

I loved the uniqueness of the plot and the strength of the characters but I did not enjoy the cliff hanger end!
 
Just For Now

 
Set in the steamy coastal Alabama town of Sea Breeze, an interconnected group of older teens hook up, break up . . . and much, much more.
Preston is one bad boy. And Amanda has harboured a crush on him for forever. When she finally makes her move on him, it does not end well. But still, she can't resist him. Especially now that he seems to be pursuing her, too.
No one wants them to be together. Not Amanda's brother, Marcus, who is on the verge of his marriage to Low, and definitely not any of Preston's buddies. They know way too much about Preston's dark side. Yet the dangerous attraction is there ... and neither Preston nor Amanda are going to deny it.
 

I love the Sea Breeze series so I downloaded and read it straight off the bat way back in November.
 
What I Loved:
Preston- I really liked Preston! I liked him in the other books so I was excited to read his story. He had such a good heart and good intentions! I admired how he dealt with his family situation and how he treated Amanda so well. I don't want to spoil his secret so I will leave it at that!
Jason- When I first heard the next Sea Breeze book would be about Jason I wasn't too interested as I hadn't read Breathe so Jason was an unknown! However I really enjoyed him in Just for Now, I loved how sweet he was and I am so intrigued by his shadow life!
Bromances- Preston was lucky to have such  a good group of friends but the bromances between him and Marcus and him and Rock were so good to read. Although Marcus didn't support Preston and Amanda to begin with he did remain loyal to Preston and knew him well enough to grow to trust him. Rock and Preston was an unexpected bromance, I think even Preston was surprised at how well Rock knew him and his apparent secrets! I loved how Rock went out of the way to help Preston in so many ways, he really helped Preston turn his life around. Both Marcus and Rock were such big parts of Preston's life, he was lucky to have them!
 Marcus and Low- I was so pleased to see more of them and hear how they were getting on!

What I Didn't Love as Much:
Amanda- I think she's the reason I didn't love this one as much as the rest of the series. I just didn't connect with her like I did with Low and Eva. She was just a bit bland to me!
Parents-Preston's mother was obviously just a very mean person! Amanda's Mum was highly judgemental for someone in her situation.

I loved the side cast and Preston just not an Amanda fan!

 
Have read either of these? Or the rest of the series?
Much Love!
Lettie.
Xxx

Nyrae Dawn on New Adult.

Second author of the week to give her opinion on the New Adult genre is Nyrae Dawn!

 

What does “New Adult” mean to you?

It’s so hard to say exactly because I think the lines can be blurry. New adult to me is just what is sounds like. It’s when you’re a “new” adult. I consider it over 18. There is safety in being under 18. Regardless of your situation, there are more laws in place to help you and parents can still be held responsible for you. That’s not the case afterward. For me, it doesn’t go over the age of 23, maybe 24. I think you should have quite a bit of practice by then.

Age isn’t everything though. It’s the experiences the characters are going through and HOW they deal with the situations.

 

What first drew you to New Adult?

I think it’s a fascinating time. I remember what it was like to be on my own for the first time. Learning how to handle my bills and all the new experiences that come with being on your own. I wanted to capture that in my writing.

 

Why did you want to write a New Adult book?

Pretty much the same as above. I love the freedom in the age and thought it would be exciting to write about.

 

What would you love to see next in New Adult?

I would love some lighter stories to go along with the heavier. I also would love to see more LGBT stories.

 

I am a compulsive reader and writer who loves YA fiction.
I love nothing more than writing about young adults. There is something so fresh and fun about it. You can pretty much always find me with a book in my hand or open document in front of me.
I live in Southern California with my husband and two children. http://www.nyraedawn.com/

 

 

 

Thank you so much to Nyrae for very kindly taking the time to feature on my blog even with the recent release Out of Play!

I think the upper age limit could go up as high as 25 but apart from that I fully agree with Nyrae especially about lighter stories like Falling by Jolene Perry.

 

What do you think?

Much Love!

Lettie.

Xxx

Top Ten Tuesday: New Adult Books!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by: The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic:Top Ten Favourite Books in the New Adult Genre!

 

I kind of changed this week's topic a little to fit with New Adult Week! These are my absolute favourite New Adult books in no particular order. They are all books which are labelled and published as New Adult!

 

Charade by Nyrae Dawn.

 I really love Charade- I reread it so often! I love Colt and Cheyenne's personalities and relationship and I really enjoyed the storyline!

Jet by Jay Crownover.

 Another one I enjoy rereading! Jet and Ayden were such an obvious couple and I enjoyed reading their story!

The Edge of Never by J.A.Redmerski

 I loved the plot evolution through the road trip and Andrew's attitude to life!

Faster We Burn by Chelsea M. Cameron.

 I thought I loved Deeper We Fall but I adored Faster We Burn! Katie is one of my favourite female characters I've read all year, and Stryker was exactly what she needed.

Lost and Found by Nicole Williams.



I just really enjoy Lost and Found, the setting is so unique, the side cast are all so well written and Jesse and Rowan are just great to read!

 

Because of Low by Abbi Glines.

 I love Abbi Glines' Sea Breeze series and Because of Low started my New Adult love affair! It is such a sweet book and based around family drama which I loved.



The Secret of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen.

 I loved the shared backstory Ella and Micha had and the relationship they shared! I also adored Lila and Ethan's side story- cannot wait for their own story!



Lengths by Steph Campbell and Liz Reinhardt.

 

I have picked this one back up time and time again- it is such an engaging story and the characters are so full of life! Lengths has led me to so many other books I've loved! Such an unexpected great read. 

Easy by Tammara Webber.

I have a lot of love for this book- I've even brought it as a hard copy! It has a good message and great relationships between well written characters!

Fall Guy by Liz Reinhardt

I loved the premise, the characters in Fall Guy. Evan and Winch were beautifully flawed and the Youngblood family was full of intriguing well written characters.

 

What are your favourite New Adult books?

Much Love!

Lettie

Xxx



What is New Adult?

 
New Adult's really found it's niche over the past year! But everyone seems to have a slightly different interpretation of what does and doesn't qualify as New Adult so I thought I would post my thoughts!

Why is New Adult necessary?
I love the Young Adult or Teen genre but it definitely focuses on young characters still in school and sometimes I do get tired of the teenage drama or parent filled lives. However I find the fiction section full of stories involving married women with children or at least people high up on the career ladder which I can never relate to!

What is New Adult to Me?
To me the New Adult genre bridges that gap in between being a teenager worried about all the dramatics that brings and being a full fledged adult with adult responsibilities.
It encompasses the 18-25 age range when people are starting to venture out of their parent's homes into the adult world whether they attend University, start full time work, or just decide where their life is heading.
New Adult covers this period of firsts and uncertainties and appeals to people who are themselves in that age range or who just enjoy reading about it!
 
What isn't New Adult?
I don't think any stories in which the main characters are under 18 or still attending Secondary/High School can be considered New Adult as those characters are still just teenagers and not usually part of the adult world.
Obviously there are exceptions but I would automatically put a book with a high school setting in the Young Age genre. However I now think of the book (dependant on subject matter) as New Adult even if the book starts just before or after High School graduation.

Is the New Adult genre just about contemporary books?
No, I think now the genre is established it will begin to branch out into different sub-genres.
I do think it's easier to write contemporary New Adult  purely because contemporary fiction had more of a gap in the market for books based on the 18-24 age range whereas other genres like fantasy are less focussed on the characters and more so on the plot. For example,  I think there are probably a lot of fantasy or sci-fi books, in particular, that would fall into the New Adult genre but are fantasy or sci-fi first so that's what they get labelled as if that makes sense!

I think I confused myself at one point writing this post so let me know what you think New Adult is?
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx

Steph Campbell on New Adult.

Steph Campbell is the first of my New Adult authors to give their perspective on the genre

What first drew you to New Adult?
The infinite number of amazing stories to read and tell from the NA age range. To me, NA is typically college age (18-24-ish) (even if the characters don’t attend college.)

Those are the years of so many firsts. First time away from home, first real relationships, first time living along, first major responsibilities and first real time to face hurdles on your own—with no parachute. It’s an incredible time to read and write about.

 

Why did you want to write a New Adult book?
Previously, I’d written what I’d call Mature/Older YA. There wasn’t really a whole lot of (what is now referred to as) New Adult out there.

The first NA book I wrote was LENGTHS (with Liz Reinhardt). At that time, Liz and I set out to write a book that we wanted to read, but couldn’t find. A Smart, sexy, college-aged romance with a lot of heart. I hope we accomplished that with the Lengths series! J

 

What does “New Adult” mean to you?

To me, New Adult is less about sexual content (though, the age does allow for more graphic content) and more about finding yourself. I think new adult is essentially coming of age. Books about self-discovery now that you’re on your own, and turning into the person you are going to be.

 

What would you love to see next in New Adult?

More character driven books, and less reliance heavy sexual content and huge plot twists.  

 

 

Stephanie Campbell lives in Southwest Louisiana and is a happily married mother to four evil geniuses, is a nail polish addict and YA Junkie. When she isn't reading, writing or wiping someone's nose, you can usually find her baking something. She blogs at: http://stephcampbell.blogspot.com/

 

Thank you so much to Steph for very kindly taking the time to feature on my blog even as she's moving!

I definitely agree that New Adult encompasses a time of so many firsts and creates a very diverse genre!

 

What do you think?

Much Love!

Lettie.

Xxx

New Adult Week Mini Reviews Part 1!

Temporary. That one single word best describes my life these last few years. I’m working at a temporary job until I can finally break free. I’m my little brother’s temporary mother since our mom doesn’t give a crap about either of us. And I’m that temporary girl all the guys want to get with because I give it up so easily. According to the rumours, at least.
But now I’m the temporary girlfriend of Drew Callahan, college football legend and all around golden guy. He’s beautiful, sweet—and he’s hiding way more secrets than I am. He’s brought me into this fake life where everyone seems to hate me. And everyone seems to want something from him. The only thing he seems to want though is…
Me.
I don’t know what to believe anymore. All I know is, I think Drew needs me. And I want to be there for him.
Forever. 

 

Thoughts.

One Week Girlfriend is fast-paced and filled with surprising twists and turns.

The characters are well written, intriguing and very well developed, the switch between points of view is clean and flawless. 

Drew was a surprisingly complex character, not just an average rich player. He had hidden depths and a surprising background. I loved reading Fable realise how wrong she was and discovering the 'real' Drew. Fable was my absolute favourite character. I loved her personality, she was determined and driven yet compassionate. It was intriguing to get glimpses of her home life and I loved her relationship with her brother Owen. I liked how loyal she was to Drew instantly, seeing much more in him than his 'friends' or 'family' had. Fable and Drew were equally troubled and compassionate characters and complemented each other perfectly.

The premise sounded slightly cliché but the plot felt fresh with the usual New Adult 'formula' reversed and given plenty of twists. It's hard to explain how different this book is without completely ruining all the shocking turns! The fast pace and short timeframe make for an intriguing read which creates lots of questions and a cliff hanger ending! Luckily by the time I read One Week Girlfriend I only had to wait a couple of days for Second Chance Boyfriend!

Rating!

I really enjoyed all the twists and turns and I loved Drew and Fable!

For four years, Grace Sullivan wrote to a Marine she never met, and fell in love. But when his deployment ended, so did the letters. Ever since that day, Grace has been coasting, academically and emotionally. The one thing she’s decided? No way is Noah Jackson — or any man — ever going to break her heart again.
Noah has always known exactly what he wants out of life. Success. Stability. Control. That’s why he joined the Marines and that’s why he’s fighting his way — literally — through college. Now that he’s got the rest of his life on track, he has one last conquest: Grace Sullivan. But since he was the one who stopped writing, he knows that winning her back will be his biggest battle yet.

  

 

Thoughts.

Undeclared has a vibrant cast of characters and a clever premise.
I adored how Noah and Grace had gotten to know each other through witty letters while he was I in the marines,  it was an interesting different plot device that worked really well. I liked how Grace developed her interests in photography and grew as a person throughout the book.
I loved Noah and his determination in all areas of his life, he was determined to be a good fighter because he needed the money to fund his long term finance ambitions. It was refreshing for a character to be so focused on ambitions they had planned for themselves prior to the story.  I even liked his reasons for not contacting Grace for two years, while it seemed unfair to Grace he had spent the two years getting over his trauma and sorting out his life outside of the marines.
The whole side cast were given a lot of depth as well as a lot of questions and hints towards their future stories. The Woodlands boys were all so individual, different personalities with different motives and pursuits but they meddled so well together. Finn was definitely my favourite as we saw the most of him. I liked that he was out in the real world of real estate and how funny and witty he was with his nicknames. I think Grace was right and he did talk a lot of game with no evidence so I cannot wait to find out in his book. I loved Bo and his devotion to Noah. I'm intrigued with how being a Marine affected him and his background which I hope to find out about in the next book. Adam and Mal both have interesting back stories so I'm looking forward to seeing more of them as well!. I liked Amy, she didn't have a large role but she seemed a bit of a dark horse! Lana was another of my favourite characters. I found her very interesting with her family background, her devotion to Grace, her eating issues and her bad choices in boys. I thought she might end up with Bo but now I'm hoping for Finn so my two favourites could be together!
I did want more on Noah's financial ambitions but I feel like it will be explored throughout the series.

Rating!

I loved the premise, story background and the well developed characters.

Two very good New Adult books!
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxx


New Adult Week!

After the excitement of the New Adult Read-a-Thon and all the new releases I've decided to dedicated a blog week to New Adult books and authors!

 From tomorrow (Sunday) until next Saturday all posts will be devoted to the New Adult genre!
 
What's coming up!

• Authors on New Adult~ Steph Campbell, Nyrae Dawn, Jolene Perry and Nicole Williams.
• Reviews~ A lot of my Read-a-thon titles!
• Features~ What is New Adult? Favourite Authors.
• Discussions~ on Companion books!

Hope you enjoy it!
Much Love!
Lettie
Xxxx