Meeting the Movie Star

For some reason I seem to be on a YA (young adult) roll these days--and honestly loving it.  I'm still perplexed as to why these books are categorized as YA.  Seems to me that if they had male protagonists and didn't have romance at their core, they would be called "coming of age" novels and shelved in the adult reading section.  But look at life from the viewpoint of a woman in her early to mid-20s and have that look include romance, and suddenly the book isn't about coming of age, but is assigned a YA label.

Today my review of E.M. Tippetts' Somebody Else's Fairy Tale goes live at AAR.  It's the marvelous story of a dedicated college senior who's had a difficult past, but has pulled herself up out of her navel gazing and gotten on with life.  When she accidentally meets a superstar as she's standing in a group of extras on his movie set, she blows off his interest.  She doesn't have time for superstars in her life plan. 

What Tippetts is doing is debunking one of those fairytales so many men and women have about meeting
someone famous who will cart them off to a much better life.  This is an important lesson for everyone, not just young adults.  Too many people go to their graves thinking they could have had a better life if only..., so it's sad this book is being buried.

Why do I think this is sad?  Labeling these books YA immediately cuts their audience exposure.  It takes work for an adult who is reading adult fiction to find YA books to read.  A lot of culling has to take place.  I read my first one because Amazon said because I read X I would enjoy Y.  Having never heard of Y, I bit.  But how did Amazon know I enjoyed X?  I don't usually post reviews or reactions.  Very odd.