YA Tropes I Hate

Admittedly, one of the reasons I stopped reading an abundance of YA books is due to the surplus of insanely ridiculous and overused cliches that seem to appear in every other novel.  I think we are all a little sick of them.  

1. Lack of communication as a plot device

This is one cliche that I hate in particular. I find a lot of tension, mystery, and plots are framed around a simple lack of communication between characters, whether it's because of a lack of trust or plain mischance. Either way, it is a convenient and over used plot device that is more of an excuse for failing to craft a substantial reason to cause drama than a legitimate story line. 

2. Love triangles and forbidden love

Have you ever actually known someone in real life who is somehow inexplicably in love with more than one person? I mean, honestly, this never happens. Or, at least it occurs very rarely. And yet a love triangle/square/pentagon appears in nearly every single YA series ever to exist. Love triangles and forbidden love may be exciting the first time around, but after the hundredth story plotted around them, one tends to get bored and exasperated. Is it so hard to just choose one person?  

3. Teens not behaving like actual teenagers

I understand teenagers in fantasy and dystopian novels behaving differently than the average teen (who isn't typically off saving the world). But in contemporary novels, I expect teenagers to have worries about school, grades, friendships, and where they're applying to college. Instead, teenagers are busy partying and solving revenge mysteries, and while that is all very entertaining, I have never met a person my age who is more concerned with the latest crime or ghost story instead of the chemistry homework due the next day.

4. Abusive, ultra-masculine love interests

It has been a long-held stereotype that "bad boys" are attractive. Maybe that's where so many authors get their inspiration for their leather jacket wearing, sardonic male heroes. However, these "heroes" should come with a warning that they're more often just plain abusive and over-protective, rather than cool in a Danny Zuko sort of way. How many novels are we supposed to read where the love interest is an abusive, rude person disguised as the hot hero.

5. Apparent lack of parents 

(yes, that is a bad pun)

I know that the convenient lack of parents (due to death, divorce, or neglect) allows teenagers and young adults to run off on their wild adventures without unnecessary consequences. But as teens, our whole lives revolve around our family and our parents. In most households, parents are an ever-present force who are involved--even the slightest bit--in the day-to-day lives of their kids. No one I know would be able to disappear for a week on a quest to save the world without their parents noticing. While the disappearance of parents enables the crazy adventures we readers love to read about, it's distinctly unrealistic.