Your Fault

Your Fault is a key example of the New Adult (NA) romance genre, a literary category that gained prominence in the publishing world around 2012 and features protagonists aged 18 to 25. These novels, exemplified by foundational texts like Colleen Hoover’s Slammed, focus on characters navigating the transition to adulthood, often involving university life and intense, emotionally charged relationships. Mercedes Ron positions her characters squarely in this demographic: Noah is 18 and preparing for college, while Nick is 22 and finishing his law degree.

Their story utilizes the genre’s conventions by centering on a tumultuous romance fraught with drama and psychological conflict. The narrative is driven by the “forbidden love” trope, a classic literary device used to raise the stakes for a couple. Specifically, the novel employs the popular stepsibling variant, a trope that gained a significant following on online platforms like Wattpad, where Ron first published the Culpables series. This dynamic creates immediate conflict, as their parents openly disapprove of the relationship, insisting that “to the outside world, we would go on being stepsiblings and nothing more” (16). This external pressure forces Nick and Noah’s romance into secrecy, amplifying the narrative tension and exploring social judgment and familial loyalty, hallmarks of the NA genre.