Friday, February 18, 2011

Guest Post: The trouble with loving YA boys

Today, we have a very special guest blogger - Laura from Sister Spooky: Book Fangirl! She's quite a new blogger, so once you're finished reading this post, be very sure to head over to her blog and subscribe! Over to you, Laura...

I love reading and one of my favourite things is the chance of a good romance and namely the YA lads that are often the object of my affection. They are just so easy to love because they are so wonderfully created by the authors. Really, I should be blaming them for creating these too hard to resist boys but, in all honesty, I can only blame myself. I lack the will power to say ‘NO! I will not fall in love with you no matter how sensitive/funny/charming/heroic/geeky/perfect you are’. So I am here to share my tale of woe.

My name is Laura and I’m in love with a YA boy and I’m cheating on him with every other YA boy I encounter.

As with many YA addicts, my first real encounter with love in a fictional climate was probably one Mr Edward Cullen. He was poetic, thoughtful and loved for eternity. I was hooked! In a way this first love ended in tears as the world of Twilight exploded on the big screen and he shared his love around. I had been cheated on by my YA boy! He felt like mine and mine alone and now the whole world has him. I’m not the best at sharing but in some cases I will allow it. Twilight also opened me up to a world of books that I hadn’t really taken seriously before and thus my YA hunger was born. I needed more YA boys that were more gripping and tugged at my heart.

There are so many YA lads that hold my heart and I couldn’t stop finding a new one to steal my affection between those pages. I even have a group of twitter and blogger buddies that have started up our own little game of “Fictional Husbands”. It’s a battle a speed typing to the death to claim your fictional hubby before the other and thus I reign as the champion at the biggest collection I think for one day. Finally, my fast typing skills and quick memory developed at university doing a dissertation paid off. I claimed many but was fair at the same time and now have a time share love affair with Linger’s Cole. I’m such a grown up that I’ve learnt to share; I call that personal growth!

One of the biggest issues for me is age. Now, I have no problem with people that are not quite “young adults” reading YA books. Good books should be read no matter what the genre or supposed age ranges. However it makes my life so hard when I am 25 going on 26 and keep falling in love with (fictional) teenage boys. YA boys tend to act beyond their years and when faced with the horrors of the supernatural or drama-ridden tales, they leap to hero status and therein lays the biggest problem:

YA BOYS ARE FICTIONAL!

I feel betrayed and lost. Why are none of my YA boys real? I want a Simon [The Mortal Instruments] of my own to geek out over comics and fight the evil in the world with snarky comebacks. I need an Alan [The Demon’s Lexicon] or a Peeta [The Hunger Games] to be the quiet but courageous hero that protects the ones he loves. Where is my Dimitri to stand around and be a Russian God like action hero with a heart and sexy soulful wounds? GAH! I think I need a lie down from the swooning.

Another issue is the cross over between reality and the fictional world. How do you even begin to explain to family and friends when they hear you talk about this amazing guy all the time? How he does all these wonderful things and says things that stay with you days later and so when they ask ‘So when can we meet this man of your dreams?’ you look sheepish and point to the battered books on your bookshelf. You learn to live with “The Look”. It’s a mix of pity, gentle mocking and disbelief.

All in all I think I’ve come to one conclusion from all this falling in love and swooning. It’s totally and utterly OK. These YA men are created as the idea of perfection and as the other half to the hero/heroine with which our story is told. Until I find my non-fictional romantic lead in life I will continue to curl up with my copy of my favourite YA books and think contently to myself

‘At least I KNOW he’s fictional. It would be quite a different matter if I believed this romance was real’

..

Except of course for Dimitri and me. That’s true love and you’re all invited to the wedding!


Oh fantastic! Thank you again, Laura. I'm glad you've come to a place of acceptance :) See other great posts and reviews as well more about her fictional husbands at Laura's blog, Sister Spooky: Book Fangirl!

9 comments:

  1. This made me laugh out loud. Did you sneak into my house and steal my thoughts?

    My fictional crush is Alex from Simone Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry. Boy oh boy, I go weak at the knees. What I love the most about Alex the character is that he develops so well within the context of the story. There is growth and change and there are consequences and he mans up to them. Loved this book with a passion.

    Another crush, another Alex is in Lee Weatherly's book Angel. Now THAT is a boy I'd like on my side in a fight. Tough, intelligent, uncompromising, thoughtful, conflicted. Oh dear - also, he knows how to handle himself in a gunfight. He is like my ultimate hero. :-D

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  2. What a superb post. It really made me laugh. I love your sense of humour.

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  3. Tee hee, love this. Fictional boyfriends are definitely the best kind :D

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  4. Great post!! ...Except for that final part. Because Dimitri is mine and you are just wishing otherwise.

    My newest fictional crush is Tucker from Unearthly. He's so sweet, and strong, and...just very very hot!! No one can take him from me either. I'm not good at sharing :P

    Also 'those looks' yeah, I've learnt to live with them too :D

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  5. lol great post and I look forward to meeting you at your wedding. x

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  6. This is a brilliant post - I loved it!

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  7. I'm so glad everyone has enjoyed this post because I had a great time writing it! I got to swoon over alot of YA boys and daydream about them for research. HA HA!

    ~Laura

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  8. Fab post Laura :) I thought it was hilarious, and SO true. Dimitri, hmm? Will have to read Vampire Academy sooner rather than later.

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  9. Brilliant post, I seem to swap my fictional husband each time I pick up a new YA book. I often feel bad about this 'cos they're all much younger than I am, but then I remember my granny was 12 years older than my grandad so an age gap can't be all bad :)

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