Top Ten Tuesday: Ten things I want to see way more of in young adult books

top ten tuesday                loves

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And an example book for each!      

c.j.'s selections                         ten ten ten
one		Hate-to-love  I already mentioned this in my Tropes I Love post, BUT I LOVE IT AND I WANT ALL OF IT THANKS.
two		High functioning mental illness  Not everyone with depression has attempted suicide. Not everyone with anxiety washes their hands raw. Not everyone...well, MOST people with MI don't have Bipolar Disorder (THE BASE RATES ARE SO LOW IN THE REAL WORLD). Books about severe cases are SO important, but so are books about the less severe cases that so often go unnoticed by parents, teachers, and friends. Or even the sufferers themselves, who think they're not "bad enough" to need/deserve help.
three		Non-Western fairy tales and folklore  I mean, I love Western fairy tales, but THERE ARE SO MANY MORE CULTURES WITH REALLY AMAZING MYTHS.
four		Non-Western-based fantasy worlds  See above. We can and should have ALL KINDS. Unique fantasy comes from everywhere!
five		Unreliable narrators  I love being lied to.  When the person lying is the narrator of a book.  And they f*ck with my head.  Because I'm a masochist or something?
six		Medication not being a bad thing  It helps a LOT of people! Yeah, therapy is ideal for most conditions in the long term, but some people REALLY benefit from meds and maybe we should stop shaming people about it?
seven		Tongue-in-cheek fantasy  I love the snarky, playful tone of books like Royal Bastards. Like they'd make an amazing Princess Bride-esque movie.
eight		Serial killers and psychopaths  I realize I already mentioned this as a trope too, but I just love my dark gruesome mindf*ck books okay!?
nine		Classic wizardly fantasy  Like Diana Wynne Jones grown up, with prissy sorcerers and British people (British people not required) and a lighter, more whimsical take on fantasy.
ten		Mash-ups  Victorian zombie adventure. Fantasy horror. Han dynasty era historical romance. Sci-fi crime thrillers. Give me your most creative new multi-genres! Yes, I KNOW they're hard to sell.
honorable mentions		Mash-ups  Bizarre plays on form and novel meta-structure.  Teens who don't have sex because they're not ready, not into it, not given an opportunity, whatever.  Teens who are close with their parents.  Jerky assholes who turn out to be jerky assholes.  Jerky assholes who turn out to be morally ambiguous antiheroes.  Cats.

Your turn!  What would you kill for more of in YA? Or sell your soul, if you're less on the violent side.