Book trends are changing all the damn time. With new ones cropping up so frequently that are so popular, everyone wants a bit of the action. But, in the literary world, there will always be certain elements which are not explored enough in books. Similarly, there will also be elements and themes which are explored all to often — although this is mostly down to the fact that they are usually so popular. As book lovers, we don’t all have to love the same genres and themes, it would be hella boring if we did. Some trends work for us and some don’t and today I want to talk about a few trends which I’d like to see more or less of in the book world right now and it is not my intention to offend anyone in this post!
Trends I would like to see less of
Food & cafés: Sorry, but I had to say it. I’ve not been a huge fan of the ‘cake lit’ trend anyway. There are so many that I’ve been selective about the ones I did read. If it’s done well, they can be fantastic (Game of Scones by Samantha Tonge for example, which I absolutely adored). But this trend can be so easy to over-lap and for me, the cakes and the cute little cafes novelty wore off quick.
Missing children: Okay, enough’s enough now. The amount of books I’ve read about a missing child and the amount of books I still have left on my shelf to read which are about… missing children really is getting a bit silly now. Similarly with what I said above, if done well and done originally then they can be extremely gripping and tense reads. But if not, it’s just the same as the last missing child book you’ve read.
Vampires: Is this even still a trend? I don’t actually know but what I do know is that the vampire craze got old, old, old. Mainly after Twilight, when everyone wanted to replicate it. Don’t get me wrong, I actually loved Twilight but what’s the point in trying to re-create an already insanely popular concept, with your own concept which is pretty much the same. It’s not going to work. And anyway, enough of vampires. Where are all the mermaids and mermen?
Cutesy titles and/or covers: I don’t know about anyone else but over the last year or so, I’ve found that so many covers look so freaking similar. They’re all trying to portray the same thing to the point where you can’t differentiate one from the other. Please, be original. The same with titles, sometimes less is more.
Trends I would like to see more of
Realistic dystopian: I don’t even know if this is a “thing” (probably not) but if you’re a reader of mine, you will know that The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson-Walker is one of my all-time faves. It portrays a world where the Earth’s rotation is starting to slow down, affecting every living thing on it as night and day gradually become out of sync with what humans know. It’s such an incredible book and I love it because in theory, this could happen. It’s scary and that’s what I love about it. More of this type of “end of the world / civilisation as we know it” please.
Female romance in YA: I don’t know if I’m just not looking in the right place or what but I don’t think I’ve ever come across a YA novel with a homosexual female protagonist (or not even protagonist, just character in general). I feel that gay couples are becoming quite popular amongst YA, for example in Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan and Every Day by David Levithan. And that’s great but I would like to see more female relationships too.