So You Want to Write NA Contemporary Romance?

Photo credit: svacher on Flickr

What is it? 

College-age protagonists in everyday settings, falling in love. NA Contemporary Romance is quirky, funny, awkward, dark, gritty, real and everything in between. Every topic under the sun is up for grabs: military matters, drinking, pregnancy, marriage, drug abuse, sexual assault, first jobs, first time away from home, etc.

Pros/Cons of Writing NA Contemporary Romance: 

Pros: 

• It’s crazy popular (right now). NA Contemporary Romance is huge right now, which is great because there’s plenty of reference and interest in the genre. But it also has a downside, mentioned below. 


• YA energy with more mature NA themes. This is something I love about NA in general (not just Contemporary Romance)—the energy and raw quality often seen in YA novels is still present in NA, but now there are more mature themes and characters. As they say, “old enough to know better, but too young to care.” And it’s awesome. 


• It’s fun. NA Contemporary Romance is a really fun space for writers. There’s tons of room for experimentation and so much potential for some really great variety. 

Cons: 

• It’s crazy popular right now. As great as it is, this also makes life a little more difficult for a writer trying to get published, both because your book has to be awesome to stand out among the crowd and because, as it is with trends, this is a trend. I don’t know what will be next for New Adult, no one does, but every bubble eventually bursts. 


• Certain areas are over-saturated. This is pretty inevitable considering how popular NA Contemporary Romance has gotten. There’s definitely overlap with many of the plots, but to me, this is just a challenge to push the boundaries. There have been a lot of stories told, true, but there’s so much room for stories that haven’t been told and twists that haven’t been explored. 


• Stigma. Unfortunately, there are still people out there who believe NA is just sexed-up YA. I’ve already written about why this isn’t true, but the stigma, while not as bad as it used to be, is still there. 

Recommended Reading: 

As I’ve said before and will say again: you must read what you’re writing. So if you’re writing (or thinking about writing) NA Contemporary Romance, here are some great recs, all of which I’ve read and enjoyed:

• Only the Good Die Young by K.K. Hendin
• The Sound of Us (Radio Hearts series) by Ashley Poston
• Easy (Contours of the Heart series) by Tammara Webber
• Faking It (Losing It series) by Cora Carmack 
• Best Kind of Broken (Finding Fate series) by Chelsea Fine

Helpful Links: 

• What is New Adult? by the awesome people at NA Alley
• Young Adult vs. New Adult: What’s the Difference? by me. :)
• YA Common Clichés series: YA Romance by S.E. Sinkhorn on Maybe Genius. (Yes, this is for YA, but the clichés are definitely present in NA romance too). 

Do you enjoy reading or writing NA Contemporary Romance? Share your experience! 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Thinking about writing NA Contemporary Romance? Writer @Ava_Jae shares some tips, recommendations and more. (Click to tweet)   

Do you write NA Contemporary Romance? Share your experience at @Ava_Jae’s So You Want to Write series. (Click to tweet) 

Book Review: ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG by K.K. Hendin

Photo credit: Goodreads

So I’ve been breaking out of my default genre choices for pleasure reading and picked up this wonderful book on release day, March 11. And promptly finished it in 24 hours. 

This book, you guys. I loved it so much.

But before I start blabbering on about how wonderful it is, here’s the Goodreads summary for Only The Good Die Young by K.K. Hendin:

“The first year of college is supposed to be about parties, parties, and getting the hell out of Texas. Instead, Milcah Daniels is spending her eighteenth year in and out of Houston's hospitals. Her hair is falling out, they’ve cut off her boobs, and if she makes it to nineteen, she’ll consider it a personal miracle. 

Breast cancer really has a way of messing with a girl’s social calendar. 

When Milcah’s temporarily discharged from the hospital, she’s determined to get a tattoo for every medical procedure she’s had. Her quest leads her to Skin Stories, a new tattoo parlor a block from her apartment. And to it’s infuriatingly sexy artist, Callum Scott. 

Callum is everything Milcah wants, and everything she shouldn’t have now. A new relationship when the official prognosis is one to five years is a terrible idea. But Callum doesn’t know about the breast cancer, and Milcah’s not running to tell him. 

But when the doctor says things are actually looking positive, her entire life turns upside down. How is she supposed to start living again when she’s finally learned to accept her death?”

So as I indicated at the top of the post, I don’t usually read a whole lot of contemporary romance, but it didn’t matter, because Only The Good Die Young kept my interest from first page to last.

Basically, this book was adorable.

Milcah’s voice is fantastic. It’s absolutely perfect for NA—full of snark that made me snicker on more than one occasion, and yet completely honest and real. Her thoughts and attitudes aren’t always pretty, and she isn’t even always a perfectly likable character (in fact, she was kind of infuriating several times), but I honestly didn’t mind because her worldview was so interesting and her voice made everything super fun to read.

Then there’s Callum.

Callum has jumped onto my list of favorite book boyfriends. He’s sexy as hell (I mean, hello gorgeous tattoo artist), and also adorable, and also thoughtful and basically I loved him from the start and didn’t stop loving him ever.

Overall, Only The Good Die Young is a fantastic example of NA fiction and one that I’ll be recommending basically forever to anyone curious about the category. So go read it.

I want more NA recommendations. Throw them my way, people! 

Twitter-sized bites: 

.@Ava_Jae gives 5/5 stars to ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG by @kkhendin. (Click to tweet)  

Looking for a great NA read without a college setting? Check out ONLY THE GOOD DIE YOUNG by @kkendin. (Click to tweet)