Characteristics and Appeal to YA Readers

Light-hearted young adult novels that focus around finding love, or the chaos around being in love as a teen, have become increasingly popular amongst teenage readers for a variety of reasons. These include:

By reading these books, teens are able to laugh at things that happen to the characters that may not be as funny if they happen to you.
Love is funny, and relationships can have some embarrassing occurrences, but it helps us deal with our own trials and tribulations to see characters face some of the same issues.
These books tend to take place in modern day, and feature "average" teens. Thankfully, the publishing industry's definition has broadened through the years, and these books feature a variety of teens in common, relatable situations. The here-and-now helps readers really connect with these kinds of books.
The teen years is a time when you learn about love--many teens read these kinds of books to find out what relationships are about before they dive into one themselves.

So now you know you like reading funny teen romances--how do you find more? The following traits characterize a "funny teen romance" so you can identify more great books!

The main character is a teenager, the setting is often school, and some of the main events involve the "usual" teen benchmarks: prom, football games, parties, summer vacation, homeroom, etc.
Many times the main character is a girl, but there are a growing number of male (and some female) authors representing young men in funny teen fiction. Some authors include David Levithan, Melvin Burgess, Todd Strasser, David Lubar, and Chris Crutcher.
The tone of the book is conversational and not dense or very verbose. One tip off in particular is the use of e-mail, IM, and text message as communication in the book. There are even entire books written in e-mail!
First person style is used, usually more frequently than third person.
The books tend to be medium length. They're not quick romance series length, but not epic historical romance length--they're just right in the middle.
The covers of these books tend to be very colorful and attractive. The graphics are current and hip.
Also, most funny teen romance stories come in paperback form so they are easier to carry around.

These characteristics are not hard and fast rules--you may find a young adult book that features love and humor that looks nothing like the above description! Don't let that from stopping you read a great book, though. All of the books featured on this website give a voice to teens going through some crazy stuff in their lives, including falling in love. The best book is one that you connect with, that makes you feel like the author is telling YOUR story. So keep reading! There's a book out there for every reader.