The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han is a realistic fiction. Isabel (Belly) Conklin has spent every summer of her life at Cousins Beach with her mom’s best friend and her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. Every summer, she has been in love with Conrad Fisher. But this summer, she’s grown up and this is the summer where everything changes.
Before Laura Jean’s mother passed away, she gave her an empty hatbox to put all her secrets in. Laura Jean chose to put letters to the 5 boys she has loved. She never meant for these to be sent, but then all of the sudden the boys she wrote to are showing her the letters. Laura Jean has too much to deal with, with her sister Margot moving away, helping at home, and now sorting out her love life! The question is, what will the boys she wrote to think about the letters? Maybe there will be some relationships starting for the wrong reasons.
Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter is a romantic comedy featuring Liz Buxbaum. Liz is obsessed with having a kind of love found in her favorite movies. When her childhood crush, Michael, returns to her hometown, she can’t help but wonder if it is fate. Liz decides that she must get him to ask her to prom. But in order for Liz to accomplish this, she will have to work alongside Wes, her lifelong neighbor and nemesis.
Matched by Ally Condie takes place in the Society, where everything is chosen for all of the citizens. Cassia believes in every decision they make, from occupation to who she will marry one day. When she gets her best friend, Xander, as her match, Cassia is overjoyed. However, when she looks at information about Xander, another name pops up: Ky. Cassia then has to choose between the two, while questioning if the Society really has the best intentions for its citizens.
Love in English is written by Maria E. Andreu. It’s a young adult romance. The main character is Ana, a girl from Argentina in South America who loves writing poetry. Her family moved to the United States and Ana and her mother are struggling to adapt to the new place. Back home, she had plenty of true, laugh-until-you-cry friends but in her new school, finding friends is going to be a special kind of struggle. On top of that, Ana speaks Spanish and learning second languages doesn’t come easily.
Super Fake Love Song was quite a raw story of how a boy (Sunny Dae) changes himself in order to impress a girl. The moment I read about how Sunny was going to act like he was this really cool rock star to impress his new (and attractive) neighbor, Cirrus Soh, I had a feeling it would be quite a chaotic book. So basically, Sunny makes himself like his cool brother when his brother was in high school.
The Henna Wars is a LGBTQ+ romance novel by Adiba Jaigirdar. Nishat is surprised by the lack of response that she receives when she comes out as a lesbian to her parents. She soon realizes, however, that her parents think that it's a phase which will pass if they simply don't mention it. Nishat tries to go along with the plan, with hopes of proving to her parents that being a lesbian is okay, when a childhood friend, Flávia, walks back into her life.
Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating, by Adiba Jaigirdar, is a LGBTQ+ romance novel.When Hani comes out as bisexual to her school friends, they tell her that she can't be bi if she's only ever dated guys. To defend herself, Hani lies that she's actually dating a girl at school - Ishu. Ishu and Hani are opposites, but make a pact to pretend to date each other because it benefits them.
This book took me a total of 2 days to complete. I was delightfully surprised when I learned that this was the first published book of Madeline Miller, as I’ve read some of her other astonishing and addicting works. This story revolves around the famous Greek hero Achilles and his companion he held for most of his life- Patroclus. Rather than retelling the classic and widespread stories of Achilles’s heel, Miller took an alternative approach to the myths and lifted from the dusty covers the factor of love and friendship, in addition to the hardships and glory the hero faces.
Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating is written by Adiba Jaigirdar. It’s a contemporary romance with lots of humor. The main characters are Humaira Khan and Ishita Dey, or Hani and Ishu. Hani is a Bangladeshi Irish, popular, easy-going person and has 2 popular best friends, Aisling and Dee. Ishu’s the complete opposite, an academic overachiever who seems to have no social life other than studying.
