Top Ten Tuesday: Things On My Reading Wishlist

So this week's topic for Top Ten Tuesday by the Broke and the Bookish is: Top Ten Things On My Reading Wishlist (if you could make authors write about these things you would. Could be a specific type of character, an issue tackled, a time period, a certain plot, etc.) So, basically this post is going to be a run down of aspects I want to see more in the books that I read.

So without further I do, these are the top ten things I want to see in my books:

1. A main character that is not involved in a romantic relationship

I know, I know, most of the people who love YA, love the romantic elements in the plot. However, these days a great deal of the YA books that I have been reading have been treating the romance as the be all and end all. A plot that focuses almost solely on the blossoming romance between the protagonists really irritates me. That is a serious no-no for me.

2. A more realistic romance

So we have to have a romance in the story? Ok then, lets make it a realistic romance then. This means no insta-love...oh wow, my pet peeve of YA Fiction, I hate it sooo much! I want relationships like they really are: going out with different people (not falling in love with the first person they meet), unfulfilled crushes where the main character falls for a guy that either does not feel the same or simply turns out to be a complete douchebag. Or, if falling those options, simply a slow-building romance that happens naturally.

3. More diverse characters

Is it just me, or is anyone else sick of the same white, straight, skinny beautiful characters? I want something new and something different. That means including more characters who are LGBTQ, overweight, different ethnicities and characters with mental and physical disabilities. 

4. More diverse settings

By diverse setting I simply mean a different setting to America and England. I would love a story to be set in places much more exotic like the Amazon or the Arctic etc. Of course I also love stories set in made up places, the more exotic the better.

5. Platonic relationships

YA Fiction seems so focused on romantic entanglements that they forget to give the characters strong friendships, people they can trust wholeheartedly. Now this may be female/female, male/male or female/male friendships, a story that focuses on one of these more so then on a romance would be a book I want to read.

6. More fairytale re-tellings

Ever since I was introduced to Angela Carter's fairytale re-tellings I have been extremely interested in this genre. I have quite a few on my tbr shelf at the moment: Cinder, Alice in Zombieland and Splintered.

7. More normal parents and familial relationships

In nearly every YA book I read the parents are somehow not around, whether they are dead, simply abandoned their children, etc. either way they are always absent. A story with a strong adult role model, whether it be a guardian, parent, teacher, etc. would be a nice change.

8. Stories set in medieval setting

My favourite setting, if I were to pick a specific book, would be the world of the Lord of the Rings. A medieval style setting with people on horseback, fighting using bows and swords is my ultimate world. While urban medieval towns are interesting I am much more interested in the rural landscape, travelling through forests, etc.

9. Male witches (warlocks) and female werewolves

Confused by that title? Ya, I couldn't think of any other way to word it. Basically I want books to not be so gender specific when it comes to certain supernatural beings. I find that most books about witches have female protagonists while werewolf protagonists are mainly male. A book with a female protagonist who is female sounds great to me.

10. More assassins

I read Throne of Glass not too long ago thinking that it would involve a kick ass, deadly assassin, and at the beginning that appeared to be the case. However, Caelena was in fact, not all that kick ass, incredibly shallow, obsession with clothes and hated killing people, yes an assassin that doesn't like to kill and instead of killing their targets, helps them disappear. No, no no no no! I want a deadly assassin who kills for the thrill of it. Call me twisted but that's what an assassin is meant to do right?

So those were the top ten things I want to see in my books, what were yours? If you know any books that fit into any of those categories let me know in the comments below :)