Woman tells MIL that her 16yo daughter is reading 'explicit' books. AITA?

"AITA for causing my mother-in-law to take away some of my sister-in-law books?"

We’re visiting my in-laws and my sister-in-law was telling me about all of the books she’s recently read and bought as we both like reading. I’ve read some of these books and I wasn’t sure if she should be reading them as she’s 16 and some of them are pretty explicit and don’t exactly have the healthiest romances.

I told my husband about the books and he told his parents. My mother-in-law ended up asking me to point out which ones I knew were too mature for her and she confiscated them. My sister-in-law is mad at me as she isn’t going to get the books back as my mother-in-law is planning to donate them and she’s no longer allowed to buy whatever books she wants. AITA?

Info from OP:

I don't think she should be reading 50 shades of gray. Those are exactly the type of books my post is about. Not 50 shades but they're pretty similar.

Examples: Tales of Olympus series, Monster in His Eyes, Captive in the Dark, Credence, etc. I never told her she shouldn't be reading them but we did talk about the books and how I thought the content wasn't something she should be romanticising.

My mother-in-law looked through the books and didn't only take my word for it. I described some of the scenes in the books to my husband and he didn't think she should be reading those things or romanticising them either so he told his parents.

Here's what people had to say:

borderlinewhining writes:

YTA, but in a rather sad way. You could've used your fear of her developing an unhealthy image of romance as an opportunity to talk to her about that exact issue.

If you wanted her to be safe you should've used your relationship with her in order to educate her on why these books might portray an unhealthy image and advise her to read with caution. You won't be able to control what she consumes ever, not with the internet and social media present, but you threw away the opportunity to be her guide.

Now you've taken away not only her books, but managed to teach her that she can't trust you instead.

kouturecrochet writes:

YTA. You robbed her of her privacy, trust from her parents and possibly love of reading. And for what? Why not just have a conversation about what a healthy romance is? This was meddling busybody behavior and I would be mad at you too.

eleanorlikesvodka writes:

And at 16, an age in which she's most likely starting to navigate dating and romantic relationships. Teens are so vulnerable and it makes me angry that OP had a great opportunity to have an open discussion with a teenager about sex and romance and she actively chose to be the morality police. What an a**hole.

NoxEstVeritas writes:

I can see that you had good intentions, but YTA. Let the girl read whatever books she likes. She’s old enough to handle the mature content, and definitely old enough to know the difference between reality and fiction