YA Romance
BE DAZZLED by Ryan La Sala
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Raffy practically drags May from the car to the convention center. He can’t risk being photographed before he finishes gluing moss onto May’s face. All the other cosplayers got dressed at home, but they didn’t havr famous artists for moms–artists who for some ridiculous reason don’t consider crafting an art and don’t want their sons to go to art school. But Evie is not going to stop Raffy from entering–not entering, winning–the biggest cosplay competition in Boston. And once he does win, he won’t need Evie’s support for art school. He’ll have sponsors. Fame. He’ll finally be out of Evie’s shadow and surging into his future as a crafter.
But Raffy never thought about the one other person who could throw him off his game: his ex-boyfriend Luca. And when Luca doesn’t only show up but shows up in a costume Raffy designed, it’s impossible for him to keep his cool. Is it possible that Raffy’s hopes for the future could self-destruct as violently as their relationship?
This rom com is adorable and uplifting. By alternating between past and present, La Sala threads the suspense of the competition through the build-up and collapse of Raffy and Luca’s relationship. It’s definitely a page turner! I loved the evolution of Raffy’s relationship with his mom (and Luca’s!) and the depth given to the secondary characters (May and Inaya especially). A well-written, engaging, funny book for fans of YA realistic fiction and/or romances.
THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA by TJ Klune
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Linus takes his job as a case worker investigating orphanages for magical youth very seriously. He does his work thoroughly, accurately, and impersonally. And it’s precisely his thorough, accurate, and impersonal track record that prompts Extremely Upper Management to offer him a temporary, top secret assignment: to spend a month evaluating an exclusive seaside orphanage for extraordinary magical youth (including, among others, the Antichrist). Although initially overwhelmed by the unusual assignment, Linus finds that the magical youth–and their exceptional caretaker, Arthur–are working their way into his heart and threatening his objectivity as a caseworker. And as his impersonal lens cracks, he must question the truths he’s been taught, the morality of his own work, and how far he is personally willing to go for love.
A well-deserved award-winner, THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA is a quirky, funny, sweet, thought-provoking social-commentary with equal parts humor and heart. Highly recommend for adults and older teens–anyone who likes stories that are a little weird and a little magical with a healthy dose of undermined social norms and queer romance.
TWEET CUTE by Emma Lord
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When Jack sees that the burger franchise Big League Burgers had ripped off his family cafe’s signature sandwich (complete with secret ingredient) he can’t contain his anger. So he let’s it out. On the company’s Twitter.
When Girl Cheesing’s tweet goes viral, Pepper’s mom demands that she take over the BLB corporate Twitter and let loose some of her signature snark on the small sandwich shop. Pepper feels icky about it, but how can she say no to her mom?
When Jack and Pepper realize that they’re the ones behind the avatars of their parents business feud, they decide to turn the Twitter war into a friendly competition: no holding back, nothing off limits. What they don’t realize is that they’ve been chatting for months under assumed names on a school social media account. And between their anonymous hostility on Twitter, their anonymous honesty on Weazel, and the inconvenient blossoming of a friendship–and something more–IRL, things are about to get complicated.
I LOVED this rom com. Read the whole thing in one sitting. It’s fun and escapist, but also has deeper threads that make you think about family, loyalty vs. personal integrity, and the different ways we interact with one another when we have the freedom (and sometimes constraint) of anonymity online. Highly recommend to readers of YA realistic fiction who are looking for something deep but not heavy.
ELEANOR AND PARK by Rainbow Rowell
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When the new girl with the weird clothes sits next to him on the bus, Park does his best to ignore her and hopes it is a one time thing. If she wants to draw attention to herself by dressing oddly, that’s her business, but the last thing he needs is for Steve and the other kids at the back of the bus to start picking on him, too. He’s done a good job of keeping his head down so far. When Eleanor gets on the bus for the first time, she knows the school year is going to suck. Everyone makes it clear that they don’t want her to sit with them, so she takes an open seat next to an Asian kid and does her best not to bother him. This is what she has come back to after her year of sleeping on a friend’s couch: a creepy stepfather who still hates her guts and a bus full of hateful high schoolers.
But as the year progresses, Eleanor and Park start to lower their barriers. They begin to acknowledge one another, to read comics together, to exchange music. And as their friendship grows into romance, they hesitantly allow one another to catch a glimpse into their deeper struggles, especially in their home lives.
It is hard to describe the brilliance of this book in a summary. My mother (also a librarian) recommended it to me with no summary saying, “Just read it. It’s wonderful.” And it is. It is one of those books where the words themselves are engaging. The imagery is fresh and interesting. Every word is deliberate. Every character is nuanced and realistic. The plot lines range from sappy and heartwarming to disgusting and horrifying. Realistic fiction love stories are not usually my genre (I usually require some sort of thriller/sci-fi subplot to cut through the sap), but this book is incredibly well-written–and gets some bonus points for the very subtle Romeo and Juliet parallels (starting with the title). I recommend it to teens and adults who like love stories and literary fiction.
If you liked Eleanor and Park, you might like Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler.
THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green
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Hazel does not particularly enjoy support group. It consists of sitting in a church with a bunch of other teenagers with cancer of various kinds at various stages, all in the process of dying–even those in remission. All humans are in the process of dying, after all. But it is at support group that she first meets Augustus Waters, an incredibly attractive guy with an unrelenting wit and an affinity for metaphorical cigarettes. Their friendship forms quickly around conversations about nuances of language, action movies, video games, and in particular a somewhat philosophical novel by a reclusive author. Peter Van Houten’s novel has had a profound influence on Hazel and her worldview, but there is one problem. It ends mid-sentence with the main character’s death. Not a very satisfying conclusion. As Hazel tries to balance her feelings for Augustus with her reluctance to begin a relationship that must inevitably soon end with her death, Augustus tries to track down Van Houten to find out how the novel ends.
The Fault in Our Stars is at once hilarious and heartbreaking. Through an exploration of love, family, hope, disappointment, and loss, John Green captures the infinite beauty, tragedy, and potential of finite human life. Hazel and Augustus are witty, intelligent, imperfect, and so utterly human that I could not help but fall in love with them. Although it is heart-wrenching, I would not call this book depressing. In fact, I would describe it as uplifting, a reminder that the transience of human life does not diminish its beauty or its meaningfulness. Thank you for this book, John Green. It is truly a masterpiece.
If you liked The Fault in Our Stars, you might like The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
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