Cassandra Giovanni is currently on tour for new book Flawed Perfection. She’s here today with a guest post about why she wrote a new adult book instead of YA or adult.
I never consciously made a decision to write New Adult over anything else. My first novels were labeled as YA, and I did find that I felt like I was holding back. I was trying to keep the writing within the age range I was writing for, but suddenly I felt like I was trapped back in high school again. I hated high school, and I have no want to really relive that ever again.
When I went to write my third novel I didn’t label it; I didn’t think what category it was. I just wrote the novel I wanted to write, and the characters I wanted to write. I felt stuck, though, because it wasn’t made for Young Adults and it wasn’t really an Adult novel. Luckily, I discovered the genre label New Adult.
This was a bit difficult at first, and sometimes still is. I do not write erotica, but my novels do have sex in them. I ended up giving myself my own label to describe the sex level in my novels, because people kept asking what it was before they read it. I call it ‘clean steam’, because it’s obvious there is sex, but the descriptions stop at wandering hands and kissing and then concentrate on the emotions of the actions.
I wasn’t and wouldn’t be comfortable writing that level of content in a Young Adult novel. It’s a Catch 22, though because New Adult has already gotten a reputation for being smut. I have had people tell me my novels aren’t 50 Shades enough for them, and I know the reason it was picked up in the first place was for the label New Adult.
I hope that as the New Adult category morphs and becomes better understood that this clean style writing will become more accepted. It’s amazing to be a part of a community of writers that have the ability to shape an entire genre, and I hope that I am one of those innovators.
New Adult opens up a new world of writing that fits a niche market that was never tackled previously. I personally resided in the New Adult age range, so I understand the need for this genre. I’m not really interested in Young Adult anymore, and I’m not interested in Adult literature at all. That meant there really wasn’t much out there for me to read and New Adult can fill that need for readers in my age range.
I do hope that there is cleaner New Adult that begins to arrive on the scene because just as I don’t write smut, I don’t read it. I’m still struggling to find clean New Adult, but have been lucky to meet other authors writing it. These authors and I continue to help pioneer New Adult by writing novels that aren’t just about sex, and also by expanding beyond just Contemporary Romance. Sonya Loveday and Candace Knoebel both write New Adult Paranormal Romances, Sarah Ashley Jones will be releasing a New Adult Paranormal series shortly, and I will launch mine in 2015.
Flawed Perfection (Beautifully Flawed #1) by Cassandra Giovanni
Published by Show N'ot Tell Publishing on Mar 7, 2014
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Find the book: Amazon, Goodreads
Bobby Beckerson was the American All-Star hockey player--he was the spitting image of perfection to his family. Goofy, sweet and undeniably gorgeous, he had everything but the one girl he wanted: River Ahlers.
River Ahlers is successful in everything but love. She's been in love with Adam Beckerson since they were kids. Worst of all she's stuck right in the middle of the brother's dueling over everything and anything, and she doesn't even know she's the ultimate prize.
Adam Beckerson was a boy with a guitar, a smile that sunk girl's hearts and a stone wall around his own. He was anything but perfect, and no matter how hard he tried he was nothing compared to Bobby. Sweet, damaged, with boyish good-looks, nobody thought Adam loved anyone but himself.
Bobby loved River, River loved Adam and Adam only loved himself--or so everyone thought. Then one night everything changes, and as it threatens to destroy everyone involved a tragedy strikes that will break them all...
About Cassandra Giovanni
Cassandra doesn't remember a time when she wasn't writing. In fact, the first time she was published was when she was seven years old and won a contest to be published in an American Girl Doll novel. Since then Cassandra has written more novels than she can count and put just as many in the circular bin. Her personal goal with her writing is to show the reader the character's stories through their dialogue and actions instead of just telling the reader what is happening. In 2012 she became a published Young Adult author, releasing In Between Seasons (The Fall, #1) and the Amazon bestselling thriller, Walking in the Shadows. In 2013 she branched out by using her artistic illustrating talents to publish her first Children's novel, The Adventures of Skippy Von Flippy: Tales of Friendship (Skippy Tales, #1). Cassandra released her first New Adult novel, Love Exactly, which became an Amazon Bestseller overnight in June of 2013. She's currently working on her new New Adult Contemporary Romance, Beautifully Flawed. The first novel in the series, Flawed Perfection is scheduled to be published on March 7, 2014.
Besides being a writer, Cassandra is a professional photographer known for her automotive, nature and architectural shots. She is the owner of Gio Design Studios Photography and Gio Design Studios Publication Marketing. She is currently studying to receive a degree in Marketing. Cassandra is happily married to the man of her dreams and they live in the rolling hills of New England with the other loves of her life their dogs, Bubski and Kanga.
Tour Giveaway
Enter the tour wide giveaway using the Rafflecopter form below to win copies of the book. There are paperback copies for US addresses, and ebook copies for International entrants.
