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Move over YA, there’s a hot, new genre in town. It’s called New Adult. Readers and writers may shake their heads and wonder, “What’s the difference?”

I could say, not much, but it’s more complicated than that. The main difference is the age group. To put it simply: Young Adult focuses on adolescents, i.e., teenagers in high school. New Adult focuses on older teens and young twenty-somethings making the transition to adulthood.

Both genres explore themes around young people dealing with new experiences. For example, a YA book could start with the protagonist’s first day at a new high school. A NA book could start with the protagonist’s first day moving into a college dorm or their first apartment.

Both genres appeal to a similar audience. Like many hot genres, YA is beginning to feel over-saturated. NA captures the same market with fresh situations and stories. But don’t mistake New Adult for a YA subgenre. It is its own animal and has a growing fan base. The sexual situations can be more explicit and books may come with a 17+ age group warning. A great website to check out is NA Alley.

For more information, I suggest reading these two articles: New Adult Fiction and Beyond Wizards and Vampires, to Sex. Also, the website, Goodreads, has a list of New Adult fiction.

It will be interesting to see how this genre evolves. Right now, there seems to be a focus on the female protagonist in a contemporary fiction or romance setting. The HBO series, “Girls” appears to be an influence on the genre. Will subgenres evolve, i.e., NA mysteries, science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc.? Time will tell, but given the evolution of YA, it seems very likely.

I’m currently reading a NA novel, “The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden.” It caught my eye because it’s an independently published novel that has remained in the Amazon Kindle top ten bestsellers for a number of weeks. It’s a good read that deals with some hard subject matters, including rape, physical and emotional abuse. It only costs $0.99, so if you’re interested in the genre, this is a good place to start.

I’ve also included a free-for-now novel, which I haven’t yet read.

If you are an author with a novel that fits this genre, you’re in luck! As I posted last week, Random House is starting a new digital imprint called Flirt, which is open to unsolicited manuscripts. Go here for more information.

  The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen
Cost $0.99
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.

  No Way Back (Mia’s Way, #1) by Chloe Adams
Free-for-now
The wealthy daughter of a high-ranking politician, seventeen year old Mia Abbott-Renou has everything: designer clothes, wealth, spring breaks in Monte Carlo. She lives blissfully unaware of her family’s secrets, until the night she is raped by the son of her father’s greatest political ally. Her father forbids her from going to the police and threatens to throw her out if she does. It’s a critical election year, one that his party might lose, if the public sours on his doting father image when they realize his daughter is an underage lush and party girl. He can’t risk splintering the party in a nasty court battle that’s certain to draw way too much press, even if that means sacrificing his daughter. Mia’s world is shattered twice, once by the men who hurt her, and once by the betrayal of her family. She does what her father says. But the rapists strike again and beat their next victim near death. With the help of her best friend and a couple of unlikely allies, Mia must decide: does she risk losing everything to do what’s right? Or does she turn her back on the truth and preserve the family name?

Descriptions provided by Amazon

Disclaimers and Disclosures

I found these books via Amazon’s Kindle eBooks store. Resources for free Kindle and other format eBooks are listed in my sidebar.

The free book is a limited time offer and there is no guarantee it will still be free when you click on the link. Grab it sooner rather than later.