FNC True Life: My Mom Reads YA

My bookshelves are brimming with awesome YA novels, and there are a good number that I still haven't read... but my mom has. She's over 50, and I've converted her to young adult books. Currently, she's addicted to the Pretty Little Liars series, and we've started watching the TV show together. And then we come on this blog and read Frankie's recaps. I love it.

But here's the thing: my mom's a picky reader. She's a hardcore realist, so there goes all the incredible paranormal and dystopian novels. At my urging, she tried three chapters of The Hunger Games and couldn't get into it because she "knew it wasn't possible." (I considered disowning her, but decided against it.) And she doesn't like literary novels, which isn't a problem with YA because even literary YA is much less self-important than the literary adult books.

Recent favorites of hers?
Sarah Ockler's Twenty Boy Summer.
Gayle Forman's If I Stay.
Lara Zeises' The Sweet Life of Stella Madison.
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
She LOVES everything by Laurie Halse Anderson, enjoys Sarah Dessen and John Green, and got a good laugh out of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Good taste, right?

I love that I can ask her advice on what book's most worthy of reading next, and that she's worried she'll run out of new books of mine to read before I buy more.

Of course, she reads her contemporary "adult" books -- Jennifer Weiner, Jodi Picoult, Nicholas Sparks, the basics -- but she's having fun with YA, and she keeps coming back for more. I'm supremely proud of this, that she understands the value of the genre and supports my dreams of being a published YA author. Because there are plenty of people who acting condescendingly toward YA writers/books.

And to answer the question that some of you may have:
Yes, my mom has read my novel. Even the hot 'n heavy bits. I handed it to her like, "Mom, just remember this is FICTION. I didn't necessarily do ANY of this in high school." Awkward... My older sister read it, which was funny because she totally picked out the snippets that were based on truth. My super sweet dad even offered to read it, in support of my dream, and I was like, "No... that's ok... it's the thought that counts. You can read it if it's published."

Ahem, yeah. Sometimes it makes me wish I wrote middle grade instead of upper YA.

But enough of the digression! Do any of your moms or other family or friend "adults" read YA too? What are their favorites? Leave it in the comments!