Random Acts of Crazy Tour Stop!
Guest Post by author Julia Kent
Today I'm hosting a guest post by new adult author, Julia Kent. The new adult genre has been growing and growing over the past few months so this is an interesting look at why this genre has rapidly gained popularity. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I do!
Title: Random Acts of Crazy
Author: Julia Kent
Genre: New Adult, Erotic Romance
Publication Date: May 21st 2013
Summary: I never intended to pick up a naked hitchhiker wearing nothing but a guitar. A guitar. Really. I don't collect guys like that (don't ask what kind of guys I do collect), but when you spot a blonde, tanned, sculpted man with a gorgeous smile and his thumb poking up and practically begging you to stop - you stop. And I definitely never thought I'd be staring into the bright blue eyes of Trevor Connor, the lead singer for Random Acts of Crazy, an indie rock star I followed like the slobbering fileshare fangirl I am. How he came to be nude and lost six hundred miles from home is quite the tale, but how we fell in love is even more unreal. Because someone like Trevor Connor, headed to Harvard Law next year, isn't supposed to want someone like me, a rural Ohio chick majoring in Boredom at Convenience Store University who is all curves and frizzy blonde hair and manners so unpolished they have sharp edges that make you bleed. But he did. When his best friend, Joe Ross, the bass player for Random Acts of Crazy and a man who makes Calvin Klein models look like Shrek, drove eleven hours through the night to rescue him, though, it got real complicated. It's one thing to like two different guys and be torn. What do you do, though, when maybe - just maybe - you don't have to choose? As my Aunt Josie says sometimes, "It's always complicated." *
Random Acts of Crazy is a standalone, full-length novel featuring Darla Jo(sephine) Jennings, the 22-year-old niece of Josie Mendham from the Her Two Billionaires series. It has, like many New Adult novels, an exploration of sexuality for the three main characters, doesn't shy away from mature content, and Darla has a sailor's mouth.
Purchase: Amazon Goodreads
The Rise of New Adult (Erotic) Romance
by Julia Kent
When trying to define what “New Adult”
means, the most common comment I've read or heard is: “It's Young Adult with
lots of sex.” I'd argue it's something far, far more – and is a direct result
of the Harry Potter craze combined with Fifty Shades of Grey.
Huh? you're
wondering. What do books like Damaged by H.M. Ward, Falling into You by Jasinda
Wilder, my own NA book, Random Acts of Crazy, and so many more have to do with
a boy wizard and Christian and Ana?
Most agents, editors, and authors of New
Adult agree that the main characters fall into the 18-25 age range – as do
plenty of (though not all) readers. People in this age range are the original
Harry Potter kids – kids who were brought to bookstores for midnight parties
with each new release, eager to read J.K. Rowling's detailed inner journey of
the Boy Who Lived.
As the series matured (as well as the
readers), paranormal romance took off – aided by the Twilight books. Harry
Potter grew up – and so did his fans. They wanted richer stories about
interpersonal relationships, sexuality, love and respect. Fumbling through
those layers of life, finding a deep connection with another, being loyal to
friends and standing with them through trials – all of those issues found a
readership in urban fantasy and paranormal stories.
And then came Fifty Shades of Grey. Some
people argue that the three-book trilogy by E.L. James is a New Adult book (Ana
meets the criteria). Readers clamored for more, more, more – and New Adult
books have now filled those gaps (without – mostly – the BDSM element).
Rich stories focusing on coming of age, on
new adults experiencing their first major independent decision (or shaking off
hover parents so they can make those decisions), and exploring sexuality within
the framework of that new-found freedom – those are the hallmarks of the New
Adult romance book. Not all NA fits into this definition, and that's okay –
it's a fluid concept that has fuzzy boundaries.
Meanwhile, this summer readers are rabidly
gobbling up NA books, New Adult dominates the top romance spots on all the
major retailers, and plenty of NA books are hitting the USA Today Bestseller
list (like mine) and the New York Times Bestseller list (not mine!).
Is NA here to stay? No one knows. Readers
seem to love it, authors are branching out from erotica into New Adult (Jasinda
Wilder, Mimi Strong and I all first published in erotica), and the level of
awareness and infusion of eroticism into the books is a feature fans love. On
the road to independence, people need role models, allegories, and worlds to
sink into – and that's precisely where New Adult fits in for so many readers.
{ About the Author }
Julia Kent turned to writing romance novels after learning that she could not work as a fighter pilot because her fear of flying disqualified her. Turning to her second love, she became a dog groomer, but had to abandon that job after adopting too many strays. Writing about very real, very flawed people is a natural extension of her life and, well, her. She lives on the east coast with her partner, two small children, seventeen dogs that weigh less than fifteen pounds each, and a monthly consumption of Nutella, brie and french bread that makes cardiologists cringe.
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Nice guest post!
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