The Rise of Book Adaptations and Lack of Diversity in Depictions of Modern Teen Drama
For years, young adult women have been fawning over television dramas like Gilmore Girls, The Vampire Diaries, and Gossip Girl, to name but a few. In the last half-decade, though, the television romance show genre has picked up a resurgence in the form of book adaptations. The ingredients for a successful adaptation are usually: a love triangle, a friendship that everyone wants, and a great pop soundtrack that almost always includes Taylor Swift songs. Three main examples of this rise in the adaptation genre come from novels that were popular on BookTok: Off Campus, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and potentially the biggest of all, Heated Rivalry.
Off Campus is a hockey romance based on the book series by Elle Kennedy. The first season, premiering in May, follows Hannah, a quiet singer-songwriter, and Garret, the star of the Briar U hockey team. It has an ensemble of their friends and chronicles their love story and the highs and lows of their relationship. While it is semi-accurate to the books, certain scenes were changed, but the main story stayed the same. One notable thing in this adaptation is that the only character who is LGBTQ+ is a side character who rarely speaks and exists primarily for comic relief.
This is a common theme within book romances, creating a lack of diversity in these types of shows. While they are there, diverse characters are usually relegated to the background, making it seem like they are only adding them in to get diversity points. While Off Campus does have POC main characters who are people of colour, they are not heavily featured in the first season and are in supporting roles, demonstrating diversity, but not outspokenly. While I noticed these flaws, I did enjoy the series as a whole and liked the romance. I am interested to see where the series goes in the following seasons, and hope that there will be more diverse relationships included.
Heated Rivalry was probably the biggest show release of 2026, making waves in the book community and beyond. It follows two closeted hockey players and their secret relationship throughout a many-year span. Whilst I enjoyed the show, I think the fandom that it has produced has ruined it. They are obsessed with the actors to the point of stalking them, and whenever another actor is mentioned in any context, they always bring it back to the Heated Rivalry actors. While the show is important representation in the LGBTQ+ community, it also is catered towards a specific group of people: straight white women.
This is not inherently a bad thing, but it can also make the portrayal feel inauthentic and sometimes gratuitous. The show has received criticism for unnecessary nudity and graphic sex, which in itself is not a problem, but again, it is in the context of the viewer. On my social media, I often see people freaking out over the show, and more often than not, it is a white, straight woman who is obsessing over it. I think it is important to have shows with more queer representation, especially in spaces like hockey, where it is lacking, but it is important to understand who the show is made for and who is consuming and talking about it.
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han is a Young Adult romance show based on the trilogy of books of the same name. It follows Belly Conklin, who has ‘turned pretty’, and her love triangle with two brothers, both family friends. The show spans three seasons, and has a movie which is coming out next year. This show is also extremely popular and entertaining, but it also does not feature much LGBTQ+ or Black representation. In the first season, one of the main brothers was canonically bisexual, but then his sexuality was never mentioned again, making it seem like that plot point was added as an afterthought to win diversity points. In the second season, a new, non-binary character was introduced, but their character was not fleshed out at all, had a random, straight-presenting relationship, and then was not seen again in the next season. It was quite obvious that this character was introduced for diversity points, which begs the question: is it important to have BIPOC and LGBTQ+ representation in media if it is done simply to get diversity points?
Whilst these shows have become popular, it is not hard to understand why. They all present relationships that, whilst they have struggles, show happy endings, and romantic love stories that make people want the relationships that they portray. They are marketed towards a certain audience, and it works. It worked on me. The thing these adaptations lack, and the books they are inspired by, is true diversity, not motivated by viewer perception. If there is going to be any development in representation in media, it needs to be done because the people creating these shows care, not because the shows are trying to gain points for surface-level representation. This does not mean that the shows are not enjoyable or fun to watch, just that the book and film world still has a ways to go before they are properly able to represent everyone who watches the media they produce.
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