On My Mind (2)

On My Mind is a new feature here at To Each Their Own Reviews. Every other Thursday, I'm blogging my opinion about something book-related.

This Week: New Adult books.

In the last few months I've really embraced the New Adult genre.

With the focus on young twenty-somethings, these books tend to emphasize identity formation, romance, the start of new careers or completion of post-secondary education and all the hope and optimism that comes with this phase of life - or all the pain when something goes horribly wrong at the start of a character's journey into adulthood.

Now we're beyond first loves and the tentative reaching out to romantic partners; now we're developing lasting bonds. There's more emotional baggage to navigate, some lessons have already been learned and habits formed in terms of how people relate and react to potential lovers. 

What I'd like to read now is a new adult book with a heroine trying to figure out who she is, dealing with a love interest and also coping with some kind of paranormal component or a fantasy quest or interactions with aliens or something from another genre.

Give me one of these urban fantasy private investigators right at the start of their careers - or an epic fantasy  witch who has just left her parents' home or graduated from the wizarding school, just trying to establish herself on her own. 

I'm sure this stuff is already out there - and realistically, a lot of genre fiction has characters in this age group already. I just want a little more emphasis on some of the themes I've come to know and love from New Adult - and perhaps a little more snark.

On My Mind (1)

On My Mind is a new feature here at To Each Their Own Reviews. Every other Thursday, I'm blogging my opinion about something book-related.

This week: Re-releases!

I'm sure this has been going on for ages, but I've become particularly conscious in the last year of the habit of re-releasing an author's early work with updated covers.

Now, I can understand if you move to a new publisher - or if you've self-published and are picked up by a publisher and the situation is such that you can put out your book with more marketing and support behind it. Then, it makes sense to re-release something. And I have no problems at all if it's something released recently - say in the last decade or so - and especially if it's clear that this isn't the first time in print.