Book Expectations

NOTE: This may or may not be a rant, the intern hasn't decided yet. But there are slight spoilers. ** I am not suggesting that every book has a formula. I'm just saying that I want a happy ending.

So picture this:

You read the back/inside flap of a book, and you either intentionally or unintentionally develop this idea of how the book should go.

When you read a romance, the main girl ends up with the guy that either makes the most sense or the guy that makes the least sense in the best way.

Or when you read a mystery, the murderer/criminal gets caught and the detective/cop gets the satisfaction of catching him/her.

Then there are those books that don't do that. And it's just like:

I respect an author's decision to do what they want but at the same time there is a formula (or a similar word) that you must follow.

For example, don't have a huge cliffhanger at the end of a book if you're not planning a sequel. And, yes this is a fictional reference but Augustus Waters will understand, but An Imperial Affliction. Anyone who has read The Fault in Our Stars gets that reference.

And this is probably just one of those "things that only I think are a thing" but I really hate it when, in some of the YA lit that I've read, the main girl decides to "find herself and learn to love herself as a person yadda yadda" instead of being in a relationship with the boy.

This is totally fine in real life. In fact, I highly suggest it. But I'm talking about enjoyable, light fiction. I did not read your romantic teen lit for you to go on a journey of self-discovery. If I did, I would've read a different book that told me this up front. And I definitely don't appreciate it when a book gives me this whole idea about how it's supposed to go and then it doesn't go that way and goes in a totally bad way.

And I'm not talking about plot twists. I'm talking about when books just completely veer off the point. Maybe I interpreted the first 30 pages differently or incorrectly, but I thought this was a teen book not a philosophical pondering.

One of my popular examples of this are two books by Robin Palmer: Geek Charming and Wicked Jealous. In Geek Charming, the geek boy and the popular girl do not get together. She dates a random college guy and he dates some girl from his childhood. I found that really disappointing because I really liked the idea of Dylan and Josh being a couple but then NO.

But in Wicked Jealous, the main girl Simone spends the book pining for this popular jock who's a Belieber but she ends up getting close to this adorkable, shy puppeteer and then SHE GOES OUT WITH THE PUPPETEER, I WAS FILLED WITH SO MUCH ENJOYMENT.

My point with this (all the way down here) is that there's a certain agreement writers have with readers. They want to see the couple get together. They want to see the bad guy get caught. They want to see the hero go on a huge adventure and live. Give us that please.

Leave your opinions down in the comments! I'd love to read them!

Sincerely,

Owyn the BBS Page