Book picks similar to
This Summer by Katlyn Duncan
romance
contemporary
young-adult
new-adult
Chasing Lucky
Jenn Bennett - 2020
When they return to her historical New England hometown years later to run the family bookstore, Josie knows it’s not forever. Her dreams are on the opposite coast, and she has a plan to get there. What she doesn’t plan for is a run-in with the town bad boy, Lucky Karras. Outsider, rebel…and her former childhood best friend. Lucky makes it clear he wants nothing to do with the newly returned Josie. But everything changes after a disastrous pool party, and a poorly executed act of revenge lands Josie in some big-time trouble—with Lucky unexpectedly taking the blame. Determined to understand why Lucky was so quick to cover for her, Josie discovers that both of them have changed, and that the good boy she once knew now has a dark sense of humor and a smile that makes her heart race. And maybe, just maybe, he’s not quite the brooding bad boy everyone thinks he is…
The F-It List
Julie Halpern - 2013
Alex’s father recently died in a car accident. And on the night of his funeral, her best friend Becca slept with Alex’s boyfriend. So things aren’t great. Alex steps away from her friendship with Becca and focuses on her family. But when Alex finally decides to forgive Becca, she finds out something that will change her world again—Becca has cancer. So what do you do when your best friend has cancer? You help her shave her head. And then you take her bucket list and try to fulfill it on her behalf. Because if that’s all you can do to help your ailing friend—you do it.
Addicted to You
Colina Brennan - 2013
Leah insists she isn't a sex addict; she just doesn't do relationships. After all, sooner or later, everyone lets you down. At first, the group sessions are little more than an education on how to be promiscuous. Until she meets the newest addict-blue eyes, killer body, and a smile that tempts relapse. Psychology student Will McLean is posing as a fellow addict while researching a case study on unusual addictions. But the more he learns about Leah, the more certain he is that his desire to break through her walls and unearth her secrets has nothing to do with his assignment. As the uncertainties spike alongside the sexual tension, the only thing Leah knows for sure is that falling in love would be disastrous. Too bad love might be one addiction she can't kick.
Beneath Beautiful
Allison Rushby - 2014
It doesn't take long to find out. A whispered name from a passerby shocks her into the realisation that it's Cameron Callahan, high-profile modern artist, who she's busy showing around the cemetery.Mortified, Cassie runs, but Cameron soon tracks her down. He's intent on having Cassie sit for him, but Cassie isn't sure. His provocative sculptures are often in the media, which isn't somewhere that Cassie, the daughter of a politician, should be.But there's no denying the attraction between the pair, and Cassie soon finds herself in a strange whirlwind of a relationship. Between Paris, London and New York, Cassie finds sitting for an artist isn't as simple as it seems. There's much to contend with—including Cameron's ex-girlfriend, Plum, her own father, and her new love interest, James.With the clock ticking down to the opening of Cameron's new exhibition, Cassie must struggle to decide just how much of herself she can give over to Cameron and his sculpture while still remaining whole.
Melt
Selene Castrovilla - 2011
MELT will hit you like a punch in the face, and also seep through the cracks in your soul.MELT is a brutal love story set against the metaphorical backdrop of The Wizard of Oz (not a retelling). When sixteen year old Dorothy moves to the small town of Highland Park, she meets, and falls for Joey – a “bad boy” who tells no one about the catastrophic domestic violence he witnesses at home. Can these two lovers survive peer pressure, Joey’s reputation, and his alcoholism? Told in dual first person, Joey’s words are scattered on the page – reflecting his broken state. Dorothy is the voice of reason – until something so shattering happens that she, too, may lose her grip. Can their love endure, or will it melt away?
Before I Fall
Jessica Scott - 2015
Get a job. Save her father’s life. Beth Lamont knows far too much about the harsh realities of life her gilded classmates have only read about in class. She’ll do whatever it takes to take care of her father, even if that means tutoring a guy like Noah – a guy who represents everything she hates about the war, soldiers and what the Army has done to her family. Noah Warren doesn’t know how to be a student. All he knows is war. But he’s going to college now to fulfill a promise and he doesn’t break his promises. Except he doesn’t count on his tutor being drop dead gorgeous and distracting as hell. One look at Beth threatens to unravel the careful lies Noah has constructed around him. A simple arrangement turns into something neither of them can deny. And a war that neither of them can forget could destroy them both.
You Before Anyone Else
Julie Cross - 2016
He's shallow, predictable…and just as lost as Finley feels. Deep down, Finley is drawn to Eddie's bravado, his intensity. Except Eddie is hiding something. A big something. And when it surfaces, both loving and leaving Finley will become so much harder.
Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe
Shelley Coriell - 2012
Chloe is forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass, and so she joins her school’s struggling radio station, where the other students don’t find her too queenly. Ostracized by her former BFs and struggling with her beloved Grams’s mental deterioration, lonely Chloe ends up hosting a call-in show that gets the station much-needed publicity and, in the end, trouble. She also befriends radio techie and loner Duncan Moore, a quiet soul with a romantic heart. On and off the air, Chloe faces her loneliness and helps others find the fun and joy in everyday life. Readers will fall in love with Chloe as she falls in love with the radio station and the misfits who call it home.
Til Death
Kate Evangelista - 2014
Not a day-dreamer, but an I-see-the-future kind of dreamer. Normally this is not a problem as she has gotten pretty good at keeping her weird card hidden from everyone in her small town. Except from her best friend Kyle and her grandparents, of course. But when Selena dreams of her own rather bloody death, things get a little too freaky even for her.Enter Dillan Sloan. Selena has seen the new guy in a different dream, and he is even more droolworthy in person. Beyond the piercing blue eyes and tousled dark hair, there is something else that draws her to him. Something…electric. Unfortunately, Dillan makes it more than clear that he does not feel the same. They just met, so why would he act like he hates her?When Dillan and Selena are forced together one weekend to work on a school project, Selena prepares to be ignored as usual. But when she stumbles across a few undead in the backyard, Dillan comes to her rescue and reveals a whole lot more. Not only is he part of a society that hunts otherworldly creatures…she is too. And she is being targeted by a force bigger and darker than anything she ever imagined. Despite her death dream, Selena is not going to give up easy, especially when she discovers that Dillan might not actually hate her after all.
The Leaving Season
Cat Jordan - 2016
Nate, who’s so perfect that she can barely believe it. Nate, who makes her better than she is on her own. Nate, who’s promised to come back once he’s finished his gap year volunteering in Central America.And when he does, it’ll be time for Middie to leave, too. With him.But when tragedy strikes, Middie’s whole world is set spinning. No one seems to understand just how lost she is… except for Nate’s best friend Lee.Middie and Lee have never gotten along. She’s always known that she was destined for great things, and Lee acts like he’s never cared about anything a day in his life. But with the ground ripped out from under her, Middie is finding that up is down—and that Lee Ryan might be just what she needs to find her footing once more.
Don't Call Me Baby
Gwendolyn Heasley - 2014
Hundreds of thousands of perfect strangers knew when Imogene had her first period. Imogene's crush saw her "before and after" orthodontia photos. But Imogene is fifteen now, and her mother is still blogging about her, in gruesome detail, against her will.When a mandatory school project compels Imogene to start her own blog, Imogene is reluctant to expose even more of her life online...until she realizes that the project is the opportunity she's been waiting for to tell the truth about her life under the virtual microscope and to define herself for the first time.Don't Call Me Baby is a sharply observed and irrepressibly charming story about mothers and daughters, best friends and first crushes, and the surface-level identities we show the world online and the truth you can see only in real life.
No Attachments
Tiffany King - 2013
She knows she left behind a trail of pain, but in the long run, her betrayal will hurt less than the truth. She now has one goal: Live life to the fullest with no regrets and no attachments. She has high hopes that a move to new surroundings will provide the escape she desires, but what Ashton doesn't count on is how fate always seems to find a way to screw up any good plan. Sometimes, when love comes knocking, the pull is too strong not to answer. Suddenly, what she thought she wanted to escape from is what Ashton now wants more than anything.Nathan Lockton has one mission: find his target and complete the task he was hired to do—no attachments and no emotion necessary. He's done it over and over again. What he thought was a typical lost-and-found job has turned into a life examining moment as Nathan is forced to deal with something he has always ignored--his feelings. Now faced with a decision, Nathan must choose to either follow his heart or complete the job.Love can come when you least expect it. The question is: If the odds are stacked against you, how far are you willing to go for the one you love?Recommended for ages 17+ due to sexual situations, language and mature subject matter.
Joni, Underway
Kelly Oram - 2015
Best of all: after finishing her first year at ASU, she will never again be called a freshman.But when her brother is suddenly killed in a car accident, Joni’s adult life is turned upside down. Struggling to cope with loss, guilt, and anger—not to mention the meddling of friends and family trying to “fix” her—Joni is relieved to be presented with an escape in the form of a sailing trip her brother had been planning for months before he died.With her first step onto the sailing vessel Lady Marguerite, Joni plunges into an adventure that will mark the beginning of her real adult life—a journey across the ominous dark blue of the Atlantic Ocean with a small, eccentric crew, and the young Captain Reid, whose gorgeous looks are only outmatched by his talent for care and kindness. Unfolding through the ups and downs of life at sea is an unforgettable story reminding us that love will always be a work-in-progress and coming of age never gets old.
No Way Back
Chloe Adams - 2012
She lives blissfully unaware of her family’s secrets, until the night she is raped by the son of her father’s greatest political ally.Her father forbids her from going to the police and threatens to throw her out if she does. It’s a critical election year, one that his party might lose, if the public sours on his doting father image when they realize his daughter is an underage lush and party girl. He can’t risk splintering the party in a nasty court battle that’s certain to draw way too much press, even if that means sacrificing his daughter.Mia’s world is shattered twice, once by the men who hurt her, and once by the betrayal of her family. She does what her father says. But the rapists strike again and beat their next victim near death.With the help of her best friend and a couple of unlikely allies, Mia must decide: does she risk losing everything to do what’s right? Or does she turn her back on the truth and preserve the family name?What’s privileged girl to do, when her perfect little world isn't so perfect anymore?
The Secret Diamond Sisters
Michelle Madow - 2014
One billionaire father. What could go wrong?Savannah. Courtney. Peyton.The three sisters grew up not knowing their father and not quite catching a break. But it looks like their luck is about to change when they find out the secret identity of their long-lost dad -- a billionaire Las Vegas hotel owner who wants them to come live in a gorgeous penthouse hotel suite.Suddenly the Strip's most exclusive clubs are all-access, and with an unlimited credit card each, it should be easier than ever to fit right in. But in a town full of secrets and illusion, fitting in is nothing compared to finding out the truth about their past."This quick and entertaining read is filled with glitz and glamour... Get ready for one crazy and fabulous ride." -RT Book Reviews"Sexy and often electrifying... Gossip Girl meets The Princess Diaries in a city that never sleeps."-Booklist