Crushing on the Mother's BF in YA Lit.

  

          Many people wonder why adults read YA books. Every new YA movie brings out more articles arguing for or against this topic. In my personal opinion it’s because they are more interesting and better written than most of the adult books that I’ve tried. I’m 25 and the YA world didn’t even start getting interesting until after I graduated high school, which is really disappointing especially when you consider some of the swoon worthy male characters. Where were Peeta Mellark and Percy Jackson when I was that age?

            Though I am not that old now I’m starting to notice that, for some stories at least, I am not crushing over the main love interesting and congratulating the main character on such a catch. No, I’m doing something that I would have cringed over a few years ago. I’m crushing over the MOTHER’S love interest! (Or at least the adult mentor of one of the main characters.)

            Cassandra Clare has given us many dreamy male characters to swoon over but only Luke Garraway really catches my eye. He’s gorgeous, loyal, he can kick butt, and he owns a bookstore! What more can a girl want! He keeps making my “Most Crush Worthy” list while no other Cassandra Clare character comes close.

  (Picture is from City of Bones. I don't own it.)

            Joe Solomon (Gallagher Girls), Beck (Shiver; although I’ve only read the first book), and Remus Lupin (Harry Potter) also have made the list at one point or another. These men can be dreamy, sexy, and great role models for the teen characters in their novels. They are also mysterious and bad-ass. What’s not to love?

            Because New Adult novels are still so new, and seem to be dominated by more sex and swooning than I care to read, I am stuck in the weird position, at 25, to be either dreaming about the mother’s love interest or wishing I was 17 again. But, let it not be said that YA has nothing for older readers!

[Though I can’t end this post without acknowledging that there are a few characters now that are in their 20’s like Dimitri and Adrian (Vampire Academy/Bloodlines), Captain Carswell Thorne (Cress), and I’m just going to assume Jack (Blood Red Road) is in his 20’s because I just always assumed that.]