I’m currently listening to a book that has me thinking about where the line is for YA content. So I’m curious to hear all of your opinions.

Is it solely age of the characters that makes a book YA? At what point is it New Adult instead?

[edit 2: for the sake of it all, I’m not saying it has to be labeled New Adult. I mainly want to know when you think it’s no longer YA. Whether it’s labeled NA or simply adult makes no difference to me :) ]

My reading was never censored growing up and I do believe in education through reading so having diverse and difficult topics in books is very important, but I know not everyone agrees. Especially parents.

The book I’m listening to now includes cussing, post-alcoholism, marriage and quite a few make out sessions that while never becoming sex certainly don’t hide the arousal. The age of the characters is never explicitly said but it seems the FMC is 18 and MMC is 20. Generally, imo, it reads more like a new adult book than ya too. [edit: literally just reached a sex scene after writing this…]

All this to say I want your opinions. I’m sure they are diverse and across the board, but I still want to know. Where is the line between YA and New Adult/Adult fiction?