Sunday, March 10, 2013

COLLEGE CRACK: Exploring New Adult Campus Romances


I'm really starting to love the New Adult genre. 
What does a book need to have in order to qualify as a New Adult genre? 

Here's the definition by New Adult Alley 
(which is the top blog spot I get all my NA recommendations):

Typically, a novel is considered NA if it encompasses the transition between adolescence—a life stage often depicted in Young Adult (YA) fiction—and true adulthood. 

Protagonists typically fall between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six, though exceptions may apply. NA characters are often portrayed experiencing: college, living away from home for the first time, military deployment, apprenticeships, a first steady job, a first serious relationship, etc. 

Other terms for NA include: Upper YA, Crossover Fiction, and Mature YA.

(Definition copied from the NA Alley website)



So on my journey through New Adult I've created some fun little categories for myself. Each month I'll discuss one of my categories and giveaway a book that I believe falls in it. 

For today, I want to present my NA category I labeled College Crack. I'm giving away Broken at Love to one winner who can choose print or eBook.  I just read it this weekend and believe it truly embodies my category.



Book Blurb: When a knee injury ends twenty-year-old Quinn Rowland’s pro tennis career, he’s not only dumped by his hot Russian girlfriend but ordered to attend college by his disinterested billionaire father. A rich kid who’s not used to being disappointed by life, Quinn and his sociopathic half-brother Sebastian create a frat house game intended to treat girls how they see them—as simple game pieces to be manipulated for their pleasure.

College sophomore Emilie Swanson knows Quinn’s reputation—after all, he did send one of her sorority sisters into therapy earlier in the semester—but the game and his charm bring them closer together and soon she starts to believe there’s more to Quinn than people think.


But what if the more is something darker than a game of toying with emotions and breaking hearts?



COLLEGE CRACK
  • Set on a college campus 
  • The characters tend to possess some serious emotional scars
  • The courting and/or relationship is rocky and drenched in angst.
  • One character usually has some money whether because they're from a rich family or the money was left to them.
  • Alpha Male. I won't lie. On the alpha spectrum these books lean closer to the psychotic verging on creep side. Yet, there are also some really sweet non-creepy guys too.

Here's My Top College Crack books!

High drama, intense raw emotion, and alpha verging on creepy
Sex: Hot


Mysterious, empowering women, & sweet alpha with a huge heart
Sex: Sweet
Emotionally scarred students fall in love.
Sex: warmer than sweet, but not scorching hot


Tear jerker, sweet romance
Sex: None (at least I don't remember any)




Virgin and professor
Sex: Sweet


College Nerd - Rich CEO.
Sex: Wow! Lots! (in the later volumes)





Hot Rocker- College Chick, full of drama, love triangle.
Sex: Hot




Release Date: March 12, 2013
Hot rich alpha is tamed (or is he?) by a no-nonsense sorority girl.

Sex: Scorching Hot




FYI, three on this list I had problems with.

Losing It ended up being too sweet for my taste even though I enjoyed it.

Beautiful Disaster's alpha guy freaked me out. At times he was just too intense and dependent on the heroine.

Thoughtless There's some cheating involved in the plotline. I hated it the whole time, even though the bok made me lose lots of sleep.

However, all the books as well as the ones on this list had me up all night unable to go to sleep and put it down. 

What are some of your top College Crack novels?

Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

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10 comments:

  1. I would say Beautiful Disaster would be my fave. I think I enjoyed it so much because they were a hot mess throughout the entire thing. Least favorite... Fallen Too Far. The guy irritated me and was a total douche bag.

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    1. Beautiful Disaster definitely kept me up all night with its craziness. I haven't read Fallen Too Far yet. I'm going to add that to my TBR right tnow! lol.

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  2. Flat-Out Love is my favorite, but geez, I need to read some more of these to find a not favorite. Great reading suggestions. I loved this post. Thank you.

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  3. I didn't enjoy BD by Jamie McGuire as much as i liked Easy, Slammed or the Coincidence of Callie & Kayden. I found the heroine annoying as everyone was "real" except her. She was too busy not trying to get someone like her dad that she was pretending to be something she wasn't and mental F'ing everyone up.

    I also enjoyed the Sea of Tranquility & the Edge of Never.

    I haven't tried Losing It or the Arrangement--but I will add them to my Must read next month Pile.

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    1. Good ones! I loved the Sea of Tranquility. I couldn't finish The Edge of Never and then someone freakin spoiled it for me so I may never read it.

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    2. On Dublin Street also straddles this line. Did you read it?

      I plan on doing a challenge next month that I will call "Angsty April" where i will try to read these sort of books. Books that I have gotten to this end: The Opportunist by Tarryn Fisher; Avoiding Commitment by KA Linde; Thoughtless & Effortless by SC Stephens; SEducing Cinderella by Gina Maxwell; Losing It (as you recommended above) and maybe the Mighty Storm by Samantha Towle.
      I am looking to have my stomach in knots all month long!

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    3. I did read On Dublin Street. She didn't really go to college though did she? I remember her being a bartender. hmmm. I definitely would put it in the New Adult line though.

      Wow. I may join you on this challenge. I love Angsty books. You want to do some buddy reads on them? I haven't ready any of them but Thoughtless and Losing It.

      Let's do some of these together.

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  4. I loved On Dublin Street and am currently reading Beautiful Disaster right now... not sure what to think of it. It's not particularly well-written and the characters don't really have chemistry. Meh. We'll see.

    ♥ Karielle Stephanie @ Books à la Mode

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  5. Don't have a favorite either way yet, but I'm working on it.

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