American Royals is teen romance set in a reimagined America - one where there is a monarchy descended from Washington instead of a democracy. The story switches between several girls: Beatrice, the serious and restrained future ruler and first-ever queen; Samantha, the wild party-girl princess; Nina, Samantha’s best friend who’s fallen for her twin brother; and Daphne, a conniving social climber who wants to be a princess as well - and who sees Samantha’s twin, Jeff, as her best route.
Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, by Becky Albertalli, is a realistic fiction novel. The book is about Simon Spier, a sophomore in high school, who is gay but not out. He hasn't told anyone except Blue, his secret pen pal. Neither Simon nor Blue know each other's real identities and correspond through emails. However, Simon forgets to log out of his email account on a school computer and his secret is threatened.
Heartstopper (Volume 1), by Alice Oseman, is a young adult, LGBTQ+ graphic novel. It is the story of two boys, Nick and Charlie, who meet at school and become friends. Soon, Charlie starts to fall for Nick despite thinking that he would never get what he wants. However, Nick is questioning things about himself that he had previously been sure about.
Me Before You is the first novel in a series of the same name by Jojo Moyes. Louisa Clark is desperate for a job, so she becomes the companion of a wealthy disabled man, Will, even though he despises her presence. Louisa and Will soon learn to get along, but Louisa is shocked when she learns of Will's plans for his life. Although she wants to leave Will before she gets hurt, Louisa makes it her mission to show Will that life is worth living.
Adam Stillwater is a boy who’s attached to what’s left of his father and is willing to defend it with his life. He is determined to keep his old time-y pinball arcade even if gaming cafés are all the rage right now. It doesn’t help that the daughter of the founder of said café is his childhood best friend that he became enemies with. But one day a snowstorm hits. The two of them find that when they don’t care as much about the business and just see each other for who they are, there’s something there. But what about when the snowstorm is over?
The Hawthorne Legacy is an interesting and suspenseful mystery novel by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This book is about a girl named Avery and she inherits billions of dollars from the late Tobias Hawthorne. The story takes off where the first book left off, The Inheritance Games, where Avery and the four Hawthorne brothers found a secret passageway that led to a box with letters for all of them.
Blackout has a very unique style with contributions from six different authors that each write a romantic fictional short story that all take place during a blackout in New York City. This blackout sparks romantic conflict and tension, and it changes many relationships for the better or worse.
Giving a very grumpy/sunshine type of trope, the story follows Hazel Bradford and Josh Im, who have known each other since they were in college. Hazel’s outgoing, fun, loud, and an elementary school teacher if that sums it up. Josh is a do it by the book, go through life sort of unnoticed, minding his own business type of guy. Their paths cross years after college and it simply follows their relationship/friendship. I’m a sucker for quick, romance, cute reads and this was exactly that, which I was happy with.
Carry On, by Rainbow Rowell, is a fantasy novel and the first in the Simon Snow trilogy. It's Simon Snow's last year at Watford School of Magicks and time is running out for him to defeat the Insidious Humdrum, whose goal is to destroy all magic in the United Kingdom. When Simon searches for his evil roommate, Baz Pitch, who fails to show up at school at the beginning of term, Simon discovers secrets that he was not meant to find out and that may threaten everything he knows about the World of Mages.
