GUEST BLOGPOST: JENNIFER LOISKE
Okay, I’m going to poke on the beehive and write about sex in the...
GUEST BLOGPOST: JENNIFER LOISKE
Okay, I’m going to poke on the beehive and write about sex in the YA books…
The line between young adult and new adult genres is quite vague. I’ve written stories for teen, young adult and mature young adult readers and yet my biggest fans on my YA series are adults and on mature YA series are from age 14 and up. People read what they want to and that’s exactly as it should be (with certain limits of course ;)). I, for example, am a huge fan of Paranormal Romance YA stories. I rarely read adult stories for fun and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
So as an author how do you define on what genre your books belong to? If your protagonist is minor should your book automatically fall under YA category? If you are writing for YA readers should you keep the language clean or is some harsh words allowed? If your characters are hot, mouthwatering guys with lickable abs are you expected to add couple of hot scenes in your story and if you do, how much is too much? Some say that if it goes further than kissing it’s too much for YA books, some that few hot scenes are allowed. Hmm…not an easy job for an author…
Here are some examples from my books:
BLACK DIAMOND (age 12 and up readers)
He raised his hands and a storm arose in the room. The flames in the fireplace seemed to explode and reached the ceiling. The wind tore the curtains from the windows and rattled the giant chandelier. Strands of darkness started to whirl around them. They were like thin veils or gossamers that reached towards them, wrapping them in their deathly embrace. Robert spoke in a language that was very old and strange and it sounded like he was making a curse or something.
Shannon’s long, dark hair spun around her and she felt the cold creep into her bones. She wanted to scream and run. They had been stupid. She had been stupid! How had she even thought of winning against him? His magic was so much stronger than hers. And yes, he was way more talented than she was. He’s a demon, her mind screamed. What did you expect, you idiot! They wouldn’t have a chance against him. She stared at his hands. There were no keys or locks. There was something more horrifying. Black skulls spun in his palms and their mouths seemed to open as if they were going to devour them both. Shannon raised her hand to protect her face and Ian put his arm around her. They leaned on each other and prepared for the worst. Shannon gulped. No stone was going to save them from this. This was true black magic and only the most powerful witches could fight against it.
“Goodbye, Ian,” she whispered almost soundlessly. “I love you.”
Robert raised his hands and held them high. Lightning flashed and he laughed. It was an insane laugh. His eyes gleamed and his mouth was wet with drool. Shannon started to pray. She hoped that someone would hear her and save them.
*So no sex, no cussing (well, to be honest I think there are like two-ish ‘bad’ words in the story), only mild violence if even that, but a lot of suspense…
SEDUCTION, part two of The Shape Shifter Series, for young adult readers (age 16 and up)
He grabbed her hands and locked them against the wall. She turned her head from him, but he managed to turn her head back easily and kissed her by force. She tasted blood in her mouth as he scarfed down her lips. She tried to force her lips shut, but she couldn’t help the little exclaim of pleasure that escaped from her. He continued to kiss her, but his brutality slowly started to change into tenderness and she couldn’t do anything but answer his kisses.
No one had ever kissed her like that. She literally felt the earth quake under her feet. She melted as one with him and her head was empty of any thoughts. He kissed her slowly, savoring every bit of her taste. When he let go of her hands, they found their way to his black hair and grabbed it. He pressed himself closer to her and she purred with pleasure, offering her body to him. His hands were everywhere. They searched her body and intruded their way under her shirt. They groped her soft skin and she gasped and moaned desperately. His hands found their way to the button on her jeans and slowly started to undo it. She screamed his name and he whispered gently into her ears forcing her to slow down. And suddenly she could almost see their souls entwining together. Their cells merging and she could see into his soul as clearly as he could see into hers.
*Hot, but not too hot as this is about as hot as it gets in this series… or what do you think?
CLUB NUMBER FIVE, part 1 of Immortal Blood Series, for mature YA readers (age 18 and up)
He looked as if I’d slapped him and I almost felt sorry for him, but there was no way I’d stay home. “Move,” I breathed quietly.
“No.”
I put my freshly manicured screaming-red nail on his chest. “Move.”
He drooled! Oh, this could’ve been so fun, but I really wanted to go and he was the only obstacle between me and my freedom. I clenched my teeth and hissed at him, but nothing I did made him move. So technically what happened wasn’t my fault. You could actually say he drove me to do it.
I leaned even closer and kissed him. A huge mistake. If I’d been able to resist him before, I wasn’t anymore. His eyes narrowed like a hunting animal and he growled dangerously. Before I could blink I found myself under his body and on my bed. His lips were hungry and all I could think of was yes. Yes, yes, yes. I twined my body around his and kissed him like crazy. His tongue was hot when it slid into my mouth and met mine. His talented hands searched me and made me scream with pleasure. I ripped his tee shirt into thousands of pieces and was about to rip my dress off when he grabbed my wrists and pulled my hands over my head. He started to slow his kisses and it felt so unbelievable good I found myself begging him to go on. He whispered softly in my ear and I moaned quietly. I had absolutely no idea what he had said. My brain had stopped working. But I didn’t care. Not if he kept doing whatever magic he was doing to me. So I softly whispered, “Yes.”
He lifted his head immediately and grinned. “What did you say?”
“Yes.” I arched my body and hoped he would go on.
I couldn’t get my eyes off his washboard abs and his narrow hips and I wished he would free my hands so I could rip the rest of his clothes off, but that was not his plan. Oh no, that wasn’t his plan at all.
“That’s right,” he said softly and dragged his finger slowly from my neck to my belly. “I’m glad we have an agreement.”
“What?” My eyes flew open.
*A bit hotter than my YA series but not too hot for eighteen-ish year reader (in my opinion). Sure, one sixteen year old girl read this book with flaming cheeks but I don’t think she was traumatized afterwards J. So why not put this series under YA? Simply because it gets way hotter as the series continues!
As a mother of two teenage girls I’m quite strict of what I want them to read and yet I feel torn as I know I can’t shelter them from the world forever. The content of YA stories vary enormously. In some I’ve read they give explicit instruction of how to give a guy a proper blow job, put a condom on, kill someone or even torture another human being days before killing and yes, those examples were all from books published by big companies. So are we being hypocrite if we want to shelter our kids from reading about sex and yet we allow them to read about murders? Maybe. But as an Indie Author I feel that it’s my responsibility to put my books in a correct category. If a minor still chooses to read a book meant for mature YA readers (age 18 and up) it’s her/his choice and hopefully their parents know if they are ready to read an adult stuff or not.
So if you want to dive into my world there are three different series available.
McLean Twins Series for Teens (age 12 and up readers). The first book, Black Diamond, is free on 14-16th of October.
The Shape Shifter Series for Young Adults (age 16 and up readers)
Imminence (the second edition will be released in November 2013)
Seduction (the second edition will be released in November 2013)
Change
Immortal Blood Series for mature YA readers (age 18 and up)
Club Number Five
Lucas
Cheers!
Jen
ABOUT JENNIFER LOISKE
Jennifer Loiske lives in Finland in Naantali, which is a small sunny town on the southwest coast. She has written six books, which can be found on Amazon worldwide, Barnes & Noble and Waterstones (among tens of other places). She has three different series, Shape Shifter series for YA readers, Immortal Blood series for Mature YA readers and McLean Twins series for Teen/YA readers. Jennifer is a workaholic author who is always writing. If she’s not writing blog posts to her own blog, guest post to other blogs, articles to the magazines or her novels she can be found in the forest with her two dogs or surprise, surprise…reading PNR stories.
Jennifer is very keen on charity work and a big part of her royalties go to the charity. She’s also a part of the team that makes Epilepsy Finland Magazine and international charity alliance Authors For Charity.
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