Discussion: Insta-Love in YA

If you are at all familiar with the Young Adult genre, then you know have heard of this. Insta-love. I don’t know if that’s what everyone calls it but it seems to describe it pretty well for me. While I haven’t read many books out of the YA genre, I know that insta-love is a lot less present in adult fiction/literary fiction, etc. I’d just like to say that even with this discussion, YA remains my favorite genre of books. But what’s up with insta-love?!

Just last week, my friend Allie, who sometimes posts on this blog, and I were browsing the shelves at her local Barnes and Noble. We were discussing what books she’s read and I want to read and so on. There were several times that I saw books that I would recommend, but I know Allie shares my dislike of insta-love, and there were so many books that had it! Even she told me I might not like some because of that. And then we got into a conversation about the irritating goblin that is insta-love, and how it sneaks its way into books that would otherwise be four or five star-worthy.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think insta-love is somehow becoming more apparent. These past few weeks, I have been careful to evaluate books before I read them to see if they have it in them, it irritates me so. What I don’t understand is why the author can’t just take their time and let a relationship grow gradually? Especially if the book is a series. As a writer myself, I can kind of understand the urgency to write down the love you know your characters will have. I always tell myself that the story will turn out amazingly better if I let the relationship between two characters grow slowly.

Insta-love, when I see it in books, always costs the book one or sometimes even two stars in the rating. I hate to do that because, in some cases, the book would be wonderful in every other way than that. I feel like in reviews, I should warn readers with big and bold text, saying “BEWARE THE INSTA-LOVE”.

The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it sounds that two people can fall in love so quickly. Sometimes I’m even taken aback by it. I was, definitely, when I finished reading Romeo and Juliet, and I found myself thinking  “Why do people think this is the best love story in history?”. It was terrible! How could they die for each other after only knowing themselves for a week or so?! How could they call that even a remotely good love story? The worst case of insta-love I’ve read so far and I hope I don’t come across anything worse.

While I know we all love reading about blossoming love in YA, why does insta-love have to happen so much?

What are your thoughts on insta-love? I would love to hear them in the comments!