I was on Publishers Marketplace the other day, a place I
probably need to stop going as sometimes it drives me crazy, when I saw several
deals involving New Adult books. All of them featuring… Bad Boys.
Bad Boys are the new chic. And I dig it. I read Kristen
Ashley’s Own the Wind and I was completely down with the idea that a girl’s
boyfriend would beat up her boss just because he was giving her a hard time at
work. I mean really what’s a little assault and battery when a man’s woman is
being hassled?
But here is the thing about bad boys… in fiction they are
not really “bad”. In fiction there is a core of goodness that runs through them
usually driven by the powerful love they feel for the heroine. I mean what girl
doesn’t want the biggest, baddest, strongest man standing between her and the
rest of the world.
(I will also add that I do think there is a link between
women getting stronger, professionally and financially etc… and wanting the bad
boy fantasy even more. If we in the US elect Hillary Clinton as president oh my
goodness we’re going to see some bad bad boys. Just sayin’)
But I’m not worried… or I can’t be worried… about young
teenage girls devouring these New Adult stories riddled with angst and bad boys
and fearing that they are going to only want for themselves in real life bad
boys. Because despite what people say to the contrary women and girls can
separate fantasy from reality. I was fourteen reading Kathleen Woodiwiss. I
didn’t think Roark was going to ride up on his horse and carry me away.
But one of the things that does worry me a little is that we
seem to be losing balance. Yes I read bad boy stories back in the day.
Elizabeth Lowell alphaholes - I could not get enough of them. But there were
other heroes too. Jayne Ann Krentz’s heroes were always strong steady reliable
family men. Nora Roberts heroes were often similar.
I get New Adult is the spawn of Twilight and all that entails
but I also hope there is room in there for the good guy. I wrote about Pitch
Perfect as a New Adult movie and that is a perfect example. The hero in that
story was a great guy. He was funny and personable. He won the girl over not by
grabbing her by the neck, sticking her on the back of his bike and saying you’re
mine. Instead he was just nice and friendly and he sang. Also he was really
nice to his geeky roommate.
Let’s not forget them… The good guys. Because at the end of
the day… in life those are the guys you want to spend your time with. They
should be represented well in fiction too. 
