September 2024
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    So there was a genre of YA books that was popular in the 2000s which I don't know the name of and never read more than a couple of because my mother absolutely did not want me reading them despite being aimed at teenage girls. Now that I'm an adult I realise why, because staples of this genre included:

    • The protagonist being depressed or having an eating disorder
    • The protagonist having a substance abuse problem
    • The protagonist talking candidly about sex and being boy crazy (often torn between two different boys)
    • The protagonist either having zero or just one strong female friendships (they would have a few female friends they didn't really like very much though)
    • The protagonist going to parties where shady things happen
    • The protagonist just generally acting like a 21 year old at a party college rather than a 15 year old who just returned to school after the summer ended
    • Shopping was also a staple of this genre

    Just generally things you wouldn't want your young teenage daughter reading about even though the books would be aimed at teenage girls and the main characters would usually be in high school (although I'm sure there were some about college kids or recent graduates starting their fashion mag internship in New York or whatnot).

    Chocolates for Breakfast by Pamela Moore is the closest book in this genre I can come up with, although it was published in the 1950s and I'm thinking more of books published from the late 90s through the early 2010s. Just books I would have seen in bookstores when I was young and been interested in, but weren't really talked about and would not have been allowed by a strict mother.

    The writing quality was probably middle of the road, main girl was probably a bit insufferable even if you were supposed to like her, and the only places you'd really see them recommended were in girly magazines alongside regular chick lit.

    by PrincessOfViolins

    1 Comment

    1. tanahellstrom on

      Laurie Halse Anderson!! speak, wintergirls, and twisted are some of my favs of hers and sound exactly like what you’re talking about. I also used to enjoy dreamland and the truth about forever by Sarah Dessen

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