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I never got into vampires and wizardry—give me some urban fantasy books and I’m good. Take me to an apocalypse world and let me go along for the ride with the protagonist as she navigates the trifles created by society. Maybe it’s because I’m a Pearl, or because my world is post apocalyptic. Or maybe it’s just because I relate to their situation, even if takes place in a world that’s completely unfamiliar to me.

Clearly, I’m not the only one. The days of Twilight are over—it’s all about dystopian and post apocalyptic books like Save the Pearls right now. Yes, I couldn’t wait to see The Hunger Games after I devoured the trilogy. It was so cool to watch Katniss, obviously because I could relate to her plight living in that horrific totalitarian state, but it was more than that—I could see how she handled her situation and apply some of what she did towards dealing with my own life. I could identify with what she was going through and see how she handled it, knowingly and, at times, unknowingly.

While young adult books are super popular right now, especially those set in a dystopian or apocalypse world, I recently found out that this subgenre has a history that goes back forever. In the past month, I read George Orwell’s 1984, Aldous Huxley’s A Brave New World and Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. I told myself I was doing this as research for the Save the Pearls project, but I think I was looking for something else—maybe answers for why the world is the way it is or ways to deal with my current situation. Tick, tick, tock… it’s only a matter of months before my personal romantic apocalypse hits.

I think that even if I lived in the Old World, I’d still love post apocalyptic books. I feel like the chaos and harsh rules are similar to what it feels like being a teenager. You have to grow up so fast in my world, so I feel like I’m already middle-aged at 18 (technically, I almost am). But I remember feeling like I didn’t need rules and was smart enough to do whatever I wanted.

When it comes to urban fantasy novels, it’s the same thing. I like that not everything is made up or imaginary—it’s the perfect mix of some fantastic parts but some based in reality. They kind of give me hope… at least when there’s a hopeful ending.

Most of all, I think I love these books because they’re exciting.  Just like in most young adult books, we get to watch the character’s journey, as they become a different better version of themselves.