Freebie Friday 31: YA Trends I'm Ready To Break Up With

I love the New Year. There's a sense of newness and possibility! I'm always the eternal optimist, sure that something great is right around the corner.

The New Year is also a time to figure out what's not working -- in your life, and in your reading. It's a time to let go ... of books. So yes, there will be a Freebie Friday giveaway.

But first, I'm starting the new year with a list of...

Some of these are trends I never liked from the get-go and some are trends I'm growing weary of.

1. Mean Cheerleaders

I was never a cheerleader and never tried out to be one, so I'm not personally offended, just kind of tired of this trend. And, yes, I get that cheerleaders tend to be popular and that popular kids sometimes use their powers for evil. But I'm getting to the point where, when I see a cheerleader character coming, I'm like, "Oh, here we go again."

2. Dead Parents

Again, I understand that kids in books need to get into interesting scrapes and adventures, and parents tend to be total sticks-in-the-mud. So killing off the parents is an easy way to get around the problem. But could we please have a few parents who are present, competent and ... alive?

3. Weird Reasons Not To Have Sex

At first, this amused me. You know, the two hot-for-each other teenagers who can't get it on because a) there's a curse OR b) one of them will die if their lips touch OR c) they're about to but then there's an apocalyptic disaster.  I'm ready for new reasons, like: "I don't know you well enough"or "I'm not really ready for that" or just "Hey, no thanks."

4. Smart Kids vs. Dumb Grown-Ups 

Sorry, but this set-up feels VERY juvenile to me. Young kids -- and I mean the 10 and under set -- find this a hilarious idea, but beyond that it's kind of like a cartoon. Can we have a little subtlety of character and plot, please?

5. Makeover Sequences

Yes, a lot of YA readers are girls, and many girls do love beauty and fashion. I'm one of them. But I'm getting a little tired of having to take a break from the story to beautify the plain Jane heroine. Can we have a break from this, please? Then I'm sure I'll be begging to have it back again one day.

To enter Freebie Friday, just leave me a comment that describes any bookish trend that you're ready to break up with. PLEASE keep it general--  no bashing of specific books or authors!

Open internationally.** Leave email address in Google Doc if the account you comment under is not linked to an email -- how do you find out? Just leave the comment and then click on your name. If there is no link to a blog or an email address, I might not be able to find you.

What do you win? The winner can choose from a stack of 4 YA finished copies (including Defiance and Shatter Me) and 4 December 2012/January 2013 ARCs -- sorry, my phone is charging so no photo.

Accepting entries until Monday January 14 at 9:00 AM EST.

**If winner, as picked by Random.org, is international and it will cost more than $10 in postage to ship the prize, then that winner will receive a book of their choice that's $10 or under from The Book Depository. US winner can choose this option as well.