What is New Adult?

This subject has been on my mind lately. Of course I know about the New Adult genre, but I have also noticed that so many books about new adults are not classified as "New Adult books."

An example I always think of is Fangirl. This is about a girl who goes to college and finds herself. When you simplify it that much, it honestly sounds like your typical New Adult. But it's classified as YA. A couple others that I've read and wondered about are the Just One Day books. The characters are college-aged, but they're "Young Adult books."

I realize that there's a real blurry line between these two genres, especially because they're newer than others - and especially because the term genre is used so loosely to describe them. I have also heard that YA supposedly includes characters up to twenty years of age - although personally, I haven't read about main characters past eighteen that I have considered to be part of a young adult novel.

There's also the fact that these are basically just what I call "age group genres," and they are definitely a big part in the marketing of a book. Also, the two authors whose books I mentioned had previously written young adult - so perhaps it was thought hat their books would do better in that market, where they were already known.

Still, I have heard so many readers complain that New Adult shows the same stories again and again. It's like there's a formula to writing it, and nothing that's too different counts. I'm thinking that more people would enjoy the New Adult genre if it were a bit broader and included all new adult characters, rather than the ones who fit a certain frame.

What do you think about the New Adult genre? Are you a fan? Do you wish it had more variety? What are your favorite New Adult books (whether they're technically classified as NA or not)?