Check & Mate, by Ali Hazelwood, is a witty and sweet read about rival chess players. Mallory Greenleaf has quit chess, and instead works as a mechanic to care for her mother and sisters. However, when given an opportunity to return to chess, Mallory finds herself matched up against world champion Nolan Sawyer in a charity chess tournament. When Mallory beats Nolan, she finds herself roped back into chess and has to deal with the complicated emotions she has for the game and her growing feelings for Nolan.
We’ll Always Have Summer is the third book of The Summer I Turned Pretty series and takes place two years after the second book and follows Belly Conklin, a freshman in college. Belly has been happily dating Jeremiah for two years, but that all falls apart when she learns that Jeremiah slept with another girl after they fought, and Belly broke up with him.
Mothers Laurel and Sussanah have been best friends since they were young. So, it became a tradition for them to bring their families together every summer to the summer house at Cousins. Laurel’s kids Belly and Steven come together with Sussanah’s kids, Conrad and Jeremiah. As the kids settle into the home, it becomes apparent that something has changed this summer. Belly has grown up into a young woman. Not only are there physical differences but Conrad is acting differently. The book goes through the summer as the kids change, and romantic feelings develop. I loved this book so much.
Summary: Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil is a young adult novel that revolves around the life of Sam Kinnison, a high school student with a passion for filmmaking and a love for science fiction. Set in a typical Australian high school, the story explores themes of friendship, love, and self-discovery. Sam and his group of friends navigate the challenges of adolescence, dealing with the complexities of relationships and the pursuit of personal goals.
Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter is a rom com about Liz Buxbaum who is certain the guy she’s going to end up with is Michael, who was the person she’s had a crush on since she was a little girl. Michael never noticed Liz before he moved away. Now that he’s back Liz will do anything to get his attention. Even becoming friends with Wes, her annoying next-door neighbor who bugs her every time he sees her since they were kids.
The Elite is an engaging novel that has so many plot twists! This book is about America, a seventeen year old lady competing for Prince Maxon’s hand. She is part of the Elite (the last ten girls left in the competition) but she doesn’t know if she really wants Maxon after the royal family mistreats her friend and turns away her ideas. After all, she could always turn away from Maxon and marry her first love, Aspen. My favorite part of this book was Maxon’s character development.
Miles Halter, a fairly normal teenager that memorizes last words, is living a fairly normal life at his high school in Florida. However, after reading François Rabelais' last words "I go to seek a great perhaps", Miles decides it's time for him to seek his own great perhaps outside of Florida. At a private school in Alabama he meets a new friend called The Colonel and a gorgeous girl named Alaska, and finds his great perhaps. After a few months though, Alaska doesn't seem to be who Miles thought she was.
In Where She Went by Gayle Forman we follow Adam after the events of If I Stay. Now a wildly popular lead singer of a famous band Adam feels empty. He hasn’t been with Mia since she went to Juliard but he still has trouble coping without her. When Adam has a free night in New York he sees a poster showing that Mia is playing at Carnigie Hall. After she was brought up in an interview earlier he decides to go see her.
Eleanor and Park is a book all about the romantic relationship between Park Sheridan and Eleanor Douglas. These two are portrayed as polar opposites inside of the books. Park being a half- Korean male and Eleanor the new shy red head from a bad background. They both met on the bus and started to bond over comic books and music and from there their relationship had a lot of ups and downs. There were a lot of emotions, and we see both characters grow as people because of the events that take place.
Romeo and Juliet is a book that starts in the City of Verona where we see a conflict between two families: the Capulets and the Montagues. These families have hated each other since the beginning of time. One day at the Capulet household there was a masquerade ball and Romeo Montague decided to go to this ball with his friends as a joke and to try and disrupt the ball. This is where Romeo and Juliet meet, and they fall in love.
