Thoughts on how New Adult is labeled.

So, I realize I never really post about stuff pertaining to life outside of reviews, but today something caught my attention on Facebook.  If you follow Colleen Hoover on there, you'll know what I'm talking about.  If you don't then please read this before continuing on.  Ok, sorry, but here goes my rant.

First off, Slammed is in no way, shape, or form smut.  There's no sex in the book.  Period.  None.  So why label it smut abc?  This is what really makes me frustrated, New Adult is not a genre that was created by Twilight to fulfill the fantasies and desires of horny women.   If you take a step back and look at the genre as a whole, you see a multitude of stories about individuals in transformative years and situations that are not suitable for young adult readers.

The term "New Adult" is really addressing the age group where life changing events are happening.  It happened for Lakyn, (Colleen Hoover's protagonist in Slammed) it happens for Bliss in Losing it by Cora Carmack.  What really happens in New Adult novels are life events that happen for people just coming into the adult world, but still making decisions that will effect the remainder of their lifespan.

My point is, the reason New Adult has exploded in popularity is not because of the sex, and granted I will give you that a fair amount of these books have sex in them, but because every individual at every stage of life can relate to what it's like to go something utterly terrifying and life altering.  I think what this article, and many people miss out on the fact that the characters in these books are dealing with huge issues: death, betrayal, home life, assault.  Instead the focus is drawn to the tawdry, and sex becomes this hot button issue.  Seriously people, sex happens.  But, it doesn't happen all the time in New Adult books.

Anyway, the point of this rant is the injustice of this article.  How ridiculous is it if someone who had never read Slammed, which I might point out is a FANTASTIC and POWERFUL novel, and they based an opinion of that book of abc's article.  It's ludicrous to have an entire genre (albeit a new one) labeled as something that it really isn't.  So many people could be missing out on some awesome books that will melt even the iciest of hearts, because the genre is labeled "fan fiction Twilight smut."  It legitimately pisses me off people.

Ok, that's my rant.  If you have thoughts on this, discuss please.  I'm curious to hear if I am alone in this opinion or not.

-Jess