How ‘racy’ books took over young adult fiction: Teens are exposed to heavily sexual content thanks to #BookTok recommendations

Young adult (YA) fiction has become increasingly ‘mature’ following a trend towards ‘spicy’ reading on TikTok, which has replaced books like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games.

Books like A Court Of Thorns And Roses by Sarah J Maas, The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood (both based in the US) and The Spanish Love Deception by Spanish writer Elena Armas – all of which contain mature themes and explicit scenes – are popular recommendations . on the app.

Avid readers on the platform often rate their spicy literary finds with a red chili emoji based on how likely a reader is to discover sultry themes and dynamics.

YA fiction is aimed at readers between the ages of 12 and 18 and aims to bridge the gap between books for children and adults, but the young teen audience now seems to be exposed to an increasing amount of smut.

It is the fastest growing genre of literature, with a worldwide turnover of almost £9 billion by 2022.

And more than half of readers who read YA books are over 18, research shows Words Ratedwhich may be partly due to the content appealing to an older audience.

Previous classic examples of YA fiction include Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter, and books by John Green, all of which worked to bring “adult” concepts like politics, mortality, and self-discovery to a younger audience to bring. .

But now the genre consists mainly of what is known as ‘romance’ – romantic fantasy, and the predominance of spicy subplots has left little room for those with other interests.

Some of the content is also difficult to recognize, as books like The Love Hypothesis have nondescript and even cartoonish covers, meaning readers may not know what they are getting into.

“Tell me why this was in our school library in the science department,” one TikTok commenter said of the Love Hypothesis, which features a very explicit sex scene.

One of the tamer passages reads: “His palm pressed against her spine, and Olive arched a little more. A kind of sacrifice. “That’s probably an insult,” she exhaled with a smile, “considering that you only like wheatgrass and broccoli.”

Another from Germany, under the username @lunaalovegood, joked in one video that she started reading it because she thought it was just a “cute romance book.”

Meanwhile, Sarah J Maas’s works are now considered ‘New Adult’, for readers aged 18 to 29 – although they were first published in the YA category.

In A Court Of Mist And Fury, the second book in her romantic fantasy series ‘A Court Of’, the heroine Feyre says: ‘I could die from this… from the pleasure of being with him’, during a particularly raunchy scene . .

Ndah Tatani Mbawa, owner of book subscription service Happier Every Chapter, told FEMAIL that they have launched a new box specifically for 13 to 14 year olds due to the difficulty of finding content for young teens.

“The themes in books aimed at children aged 13 and over make me despair,” she said. “It’s clear where the themes are going for YA books and it’s far too adult in my opinion for something aimed at children.

“My daughters are prolific readers and some of the books they put on their reading lists have shocked me.

“When our eldest daughter turned thirteen and I noticed the books being marketed to her age group, I realized what a big problem there was.”

Ndah hopes to return to more traditional young adult fiction in her Book Wolves subscription box, exploring themes such as mental health awareness, dystopian books and other age-appropriate content.

She added: “Lately, the trends on Booktok have had a major impact on what authors publish there. Some authors will include adult-themed scenes that are not relevant or add value to the plot just to jump on the trend and generate sales.

“Because teens are on TikTok a lot, they grab their attention with these racy videos that don’t go into much detail about the book’s content, and kids buy and read these without presumptuousness.

‘It’s even worse in some cases where books have cartoonish character covers, such as Icebreaker (by Hannah Grace) with heavy adult themes, and this can be quite misleading.’

But author Charley Crocker said she doesn’t care what her kids read as long as they keep picking up a book.

She explained, “I had both of my teens reading YA and my 16-year-old has been reading Cassandra Clare since he was 13. Sometimes they read something more for younger teenagers, sometimes they read memoirs for adults. I have no problem with it at all.

‘I’m just glad they’re reading! My 16-year-old says it’s good to become aware of adult themes, as long as they’re part of the story and not just adding to shock or ticking boxes.’

Young adult writer Alexandra Christo told the story The guard: ‘There has been an increase in younger readers engaging with ‘new adult books’ or adult books as it is now easier to find them thanks to the success of social media marketing.

‘A bigger problem is that the definition of what is or is not an adult book has become blurred, as many books use marketing based on similar tropes for different audiences, confusing things for potential readers.

“When clips and content are often short and focus on fun tropes without going into real detail, it’s difficult to know who the intended audience is for a given book.”

British publisher Simon & Schuster said: ‘It’s important to us that our books find their way to the right readers, and we are mindful of age appropriateness as part of that.

“We include warnings for explicit content and make it clear when books are for adult readers.”

Books for young adults have been the fastest growing category over the past five years, with print sales increasing 48.2 percent since 2018. Words rated – peaking at more than a quarter during the pandemic.