Breakfast with the Bookie: Readers – Marketed Romance in YA – Love it or Hate it?

Breakfast with the Bookie is an irregular feature on the blog. It used to be on every Wednesday for then my creative juice ran out so now it’s on every Wednesday I have an idea :P It’s a discussion post you can read along with your morning cup of coffee!

This week’s topic: Readers – Marketed Romance in YA – Love it or Hate it?

Marketed Romance in YA, love it or hate it? The eternal love, the star-crossed lovers, the Romeo and Juliet effect, the love triangle what do all of them have in common? They are all clichéd love stories that appear in YA fiction. Its marketed romance, it been around forever and yet are you sick of it? Are you sick of novels coming with a guaranteed happy ending? Are you sick of love triangles? Are you looking for a change? Marketed Romance in YA fiction, Love it or Hate it?

The reason we have marketed romance in the first place is because it sells. The clichéd love triangles turn into international bestsellers, the clichéd star-crossed lovers leave readers craving for more and the clichéd handsome, popular boy falls in love with the not-so-pretty, socially awkward girl is a classic that’s never going to come with a loss. Marketed romance sells but are we getting sick of fiction, of happy endings?

As a romance junkie, I’m still kind of sitting on the fence about this one. I like Marketed Romance and yet at the same time, I’m getting sick of it. Keep the happy endings but come up with a different storyline. No more love triangles (although I love the drama that comes with it, just not the part where not everyone gets a happy ending), no more along-the-lines-of-Twilight romances, no more safety-net romance.

I love romance, it’s what makes a book a good book but sooner or later the Marketed Romance is going to get real old and real fast. I recently heard a reader refer to YA paranormal romance as recycled trash and while I love Paranormal Romance, I get where she is coming from. We’re getting the same romance, substitute the vampire for something and name each characters differently and there you have a brand new shiny book.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, keep the happy endings but try something new. Write a romance that’s going to be different. I wouldn’t mind reading the same old marketed romance but it would be nice to get something new into the YA genre :P What about you? Love it or Hate it? Or a you a fence-sitter like me?

Badass Bookie xx