Why I Love YA...

So....Beth Revis is hosting a MASSIVE giveaway! She's giving away 50 (count them....50) SIGNED books! WHAT? Who's heard of such a thing? Here are the books she's giving away...

And....here is where you go to enter! The giveaway runs for the month of November, but there will only be one winner!

So...I've got to attempt to explain why I love YA now.

You know, I've seen several people do a post about why they love YA in the past, and I've just never stopped to take the time to put it into words for myself. But here goes.

1) The YA genre deals with a time period that is so...awkward for most of us. Teenage years are years of change. Your body does all kinds of weird things, your emotions (especially for females) are on high alert. You feel like no one else in the world gets you, sometimes even your friends. The grass always seems greener on the other side and you're usually so unsure of yourself. Or at least...that's a bit of how my experience was. There were several things I felt confident in myself about, but I also lacked self-esteem in other areas. I've said all of that to say that the YA genre can go in so many directions and deal with so many topics. And since we've all been through those teen years (or might be still going through them for some YA readers), we can all relate.

2) Most teens develope intense crushes and even fall in love for the first time and so the YA genre gets to cover first loves and crushes that aren't quite love as well. I'm a huge girly-girl when it comes to love. I love love. :) And reading about it. And the YA genre allows me to relive falling in love for the first time over and over and over again. And even though most of us have several Mr. Wrongs under our belt before we meet Mr. Right, the fresh feeling of new love is something I want to experience often...and so I do.

3) Studies (and I'm too lazy to research them right now) have shown that the cloud nine feelings you feel at the beginning of a new relationship wear off over time. I think I've seen about 2 years to be a mark for that (don't quote me on that) in a lot of cases. So reading about other people falling in love allows me to continue to experience that feeling even when my own relationship with my husband has progressed past that stage.

4) Add to the almost unlimited options of storyline for this age group and the feelings of falling in love all over again, when you throw in a paranormal, supernatural, dystopian, or post-apocalyptic twist, you've got for real unlimited amounts of possible storylines.

The YA genre is not without it's faults and I've struggled with it at times, but with any true love, you work past the faults of what (who) you love knowing that you have faults of your own.

And maybe as a PS, I'd say that like any book that takes you on a journey to new places and new ways of thinking, YA allows me to relive my own teenage years time and time again but with a completely different outcome each time. Sometimes I'm the cool, hot girl. Sometimes I'm the nerd. Sometimes I'm the outcast. Sometimes I date the gorgeous football player. Sometimes I don't date at all. Sometimes I move to live with my dad and fall in love with a sparkly vampire who originally wanted to drain my body of it's life source. Sometimes I get to fight demons. Sometimes I run from zombies. Sometimes I find out that my parents have lied to me my entire life. Sometimes I get to be a dude too--what! Sometimes I get to be a witch/wizard and go to awesome boarding schools. Sometimes a loved one dies. Sometimes the guy I fall in love with, who also happens to be my teacher, gets carried of and turned into an evil vampire and I have to hunt him down to kill him. Sometimes my best friend becomes a queen. And sometimes I'm the queen. The possibilties are endless (I could seriously keep going here) and I get to journey to each one.

So yeah...as unorganized as this post may be...that's why I love YA!