On May 2 of this year, the final book in this phase of Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses, more commonly known as ACOTAR, was released and was yet again met with animosity. While being a best selling series for young adults, many parents feel that this series is not appropriate for children due to the sexual content in the books. The series has themes of rape, prostitution, and abusive relationships, but it also shows what a healthy relationship should look like. So the trade off is, should teens just not read the books because they are inappropriate for younger audiences, or should they read it for the educational aspects of the novels?

The solution is a compromise. If the parent and their teen freely discuss similar topics, then the child is probably just fine to read it, however if the teen cannot discuss that sort of topic, the books would probably be too much for them. The point of discussion is to help make clear to the child why the abusive relationships are wrong, and how to identify such relationships. Besides sexual content in the ACOTAR series, they can be educational in other ways such as recovering from abuse and coping with depression.

Overall, the benefits definitely outweigh the cons when it comes to whether or not anyone reads the books. After all, they are best sellers for a reason. The point is to be careful who you recommend ACOTAR to, and to be sure that they can handle these sorts of topics and learn from them.