This month, I’ll be talking about some of my favorite young adult romance books. Spring has just recently sprung, and one of my favorite times to read romance novels is when the weather warms up. There is something so relaxing about reading a great romance outside in the sun and nice weather.
Summer crushes, wedding flings, and academic rivals are some of my favorite romance tropes, and these are the main themes for the books featured here: "The Summer I Turned Pretty" by Jenny Han, "The Summer of Broken Rules" by K.L Walther, and "I Hope This Doesn’t Find You" by Ann Liang.
"The Summer I Turned Pretty"
This book is about a girl named Belly, who goes to Cousins Beach in Massachusetts every summer. Her mother’s best friend lives there along with her two sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. Belly has had a crush on Conrad for as long as she can remember, and this summer she has matured and hit a growth spurt, hence the title of the book.
When Belly arrives at Cousins Beach with her brother, she falls head over heels for Conrad all over again. She settles into her room, and says hello to her mother's best friend, Susana. The first night of her stay, she decided to go to her first ever bonfire. The party isn’t as she imagined. Everyone is drinking, and Jeremiah and Conrad both abandon her to spend time with their friends. While at the bonfire, she meets a boy named Cameron who isn’t like everyone else at the party. He’s smart, sober, and matches her personality. For once in her life, Belly starts to develop a crush on someone other than Conrad, and her feelings are very much reciprocated.
After the bonfire, Belly and Cameron grow closer, until they share their first kiss. Belly becomes so preoccupied with Cameron and training to be in her very first debutante ball that before she knows it it’s time for her best friend, Taylor, to come visit her. Taylor and Belly are beyond excited to see each other once again, but during the visit, they start to butt heads a bit. Jealousy starts to brew, and by the end of Taylor’s visit, the girls aren’t as close as they used to be. Belly starts to feel lost. She is losing feelings for Cameron, feels like she lost her best friend, and is now noticing Conrad seems more moody than normal. Belly now has to make difficult decisions on how to move forward and attempt to salvage her plummeting idea of the perfect summer.
"I Hope This Doesn’t Find You"
The protagonist in this book, Sadie Wen, seems like she has everything. The perfect grades, school captain, and never without a smile on her face. There is only one person who can seemingly bring down her walls of composure: her academic rival, Julius Gong. For every one of Sadie’s successes, Julius has been right on her tail for as long as she can remember. They compete for virtually everything, and she despises him more than anyone else. Unable to put him in his place without losing her perfectly crafted calm persona, she writes emails. Every time Julius threatens to break her composure, she pulls out her computer and writes the nastiest email possible. Once she has vented enough to cool herself down, she hits the drafts button.
Nobody has seen these emails but her, until one nauseating day when every nasty email she has ever crafted is sent out to the entire school. Ones not just about Julian, but about everyone in the school that has ever made her want to tear her hair out. Once people at school see what Sadie wrote about them, she is ostracized by everyone except Julius, the one she hates the most. For whatever reason Julius doesn’t seem to be as angry as everyone else, and after a series of required community service acts push them together, she starts to feel as if she doesn’t despise him as much as she thought. She even starts to feel a few butterflies in her stomach when she thinks about him. She attempts to deny her feelings, but they continue to grow until she has a full-fledged crush. Oh, no!
"The Summer of Broken Rules"
Meredith and her family always took a yearly summer vacation to Martha's Vineyard, and have finally returned to attend a wedding after the tragic death of Meridith’s sister, Claire. When they reach the Vineyard, they are greeted with open arms by their extended family, who have a surprise for everyone. Before the wedding, all of the guests will be playing a game of assassin. Each player is given a target, everyone's target is different, and the goal is to be the last one standing. The weapon of choice? Water guns.
Claire had been the champion of this annual game year after year, and Meridith feels it’s up to her to win the first year without Claire, and she is determined not to let any distractions get in her way. Until she meets Wit, a groomsman visiting the Vineyard for the first time.
Meredith notices Wit’s skill and strategy as an assassin, and offers an alliance. He accepts, on the condition that they keep their alliance secret. As the days go on, Meredith finds herself slowly falling for Wit, and she can see him falling for her twice as fast. They agree to make their short time together as good as they can, and that's not the only promise they make: They confidently promise each other that one of them will win.
I hope you enjoy these romances and fall in love with Belly, Meredith, and Sadie just as I have.
If you have any book recommendations for this column, my email, [email protected], is always open. Happy reading!