It, unfortunately, appears that common sense isn’t so common anymore in certain novels.
As a realist--and somewhat of a pessimist--I have realized that certain decisions made by YA heroines are eyebrow-raising at best. These books are quite good when first reading them; however, retrospection (where heart-pounding anticipation is replaced with logic) ruined some (at first glance) smart heroines.
Like honestly, when a guy attempted (premeditated) murder on her childhood best friend--the “sibling I never had” type--the logical explanation is to not hate him forever, but to risk her life by playing espionage for his safety and freedom. She can think of no better solution: she will not avenge her permanently-psychologically-scarred friend/sibling and will instead love him with all her heart. Would she commit treason for him? She did, got caught, was punished, and doesn’t regret it. And oh boy, how dare her best friend want to cut off all communications with her after [the friend] found out that she was fraternizing with [the friend’s] killer.
For a so-called smart strategist, she doesn’t seem all that smart. Or that guy is really hot…
Another example is a princess who was arranged to marry an enemy kingdom’s prince to form an alliance for the much needed benefits for her kingdom. However, she is not down with the idea of marrying someone who could possibly be an old man or a guy who blindly follows his daddy’s orders. So, she decides to run away the day before her marriage ceremony. For (another) smart heroine, she doesn’t know how to compare numbers--hell, computers can do that better than she can (and they only understand 0s and 1s). Let’s compare: thousands of people’s happiness or personal happiness? Let’s screw over the kingdom and run off to some nondescript village!
If her inability to do preschool math wasn’t bad enough, at this nondescript village where she is supposed to keep a low profile and work hard to survive, she decides to play that game. You know the game where the character struggles to choose between Hot-Guy #1 and Hot-(But-In-A-Different-Way)-Guy #2 whilst making both hot guys fall head over heels for her. She was amazing at that game: would’ve earned a gold medal if it was featured in the Olympics. At least The Olympics is entertaining. She ultimately forgets her previous plans and her priorities.
Would marrying an old man or a sissy for the benefit of one’s country be really that bad?
It’s not like both these heroines are complete dummies in their respective books; they actually do some really smart and praiseworthy things. It just so happens that some of their decisions are not so smart; theoretically, the good and bad decisions cancel each other out, making both of them “average” instead of “smart”.
Clearly, Hormones + Boy(s) = Temporary(?) Idiocy.
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