Book picks similar to
Even the Moon Has Scars by Steph Campbell
young-adult
favorites
romance
contemporary
Freshmen
Tom Ellen - 2017
Getting in is just the beginning. Phoebe can't wait to get to college. On her own, discovering new things, no curfew . . . she'll be free. And she'll be totally different: cooler, prettier, smarter . . . the perfect potential girlfriend. Convenient: the only person from her high school also going to York is her longtime crush, Luke. Luke didn't set out to redefine himself, but as soon as he arrives on campus, he finds himself dumping his long-term long-distance girlfriend. And the changes don't stop there. In fact, being on a soccer team is the only thing that stays the same. Just when things start looking up (and Phoebe and Luke start hooking up), drama looms on the horizon. Rumors swirl about the Wall of Shame, a secret text chain run by Luke's soccer team, filled with compromising photos of girls. As the women on campus determine to expose the team and shut down the account, Luke and Phoebe find themselves grappling with confusing feelings and wondering how they'll ever make it through freshman year.
Praise for Tom and Lucy's
A Totally Awkward Love Story
:
"Broad City meets Judy Blume." --YABooksCentral.com"Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison are embracing the awkward." --RT Book Reviews"Filled with madcap, hilarious moments and deep romance." --Hypable.com"A fun, edgy read." --Children's Book Council"Funny and genuine, this one deserves a thumbs-up." --Hazel, StayBookish.com"Raunchy, irreverent slapstick." --Booklist"You do not want to miss it . . . such a cute summer kickoff story." --Tales of the Ravenous Reader
The Way We Fall
Cassia Leo - 2015
Maybe we shouldn’t have fallen so fast and so willingly.Maybe we shouldn’t have moved in together before we went on our first date.Maybe we should have given our wounds time to heal before we tore each other to shreds.Maybe we should have never been together.Houston has kept a devastating secret from Rory since the day he took her into his home. But the tragic circumstances that brought them together left wounds too deep to heal.Five years after the breakup, Houston and Rory are thrust together by forces beyond their control. And all the resentments and passion return with more intensity than ever.Once again, Houston is left with a choice between the truth and the only girl he’s ever loved.The Way We Fall is the first book in The Story of Us series, which follows the tumultuous love story of Rory and Houston. The sequel, The Way We Break, will be released Spring 2015.
Wake Up Call
Victoria Ashley - 2013
Broken from a lifetime of hatred and pain, she grew up realizing that trust and love just didn't exist. Not in her world at least. After turning the age of eighteen, she packed up and moved far away, determined to escape her painful past and start a new life for herself. Once on her own, she comes to the conclusion that the emptiness still exists. In order to survive, she found herself mixed up in exotic dancing and meaningless sexual relationships, numb to any emotion, for anyone. She was sure that her life was worthless and there was nothing left for her, this was the best it would get. After meeting a beautiful stranger, her life suddenly is turned upside down. Everything she believed suddenly gets questioned. She is left to figure out if there is really more to her than she could ever have imagined. Jace, having some secrets of his own, puts the pain of his own past behind to do what he can to help Avery. Can the love of another broken person be enough to help Avery, or is she already too far gone? Avery's life is pulled in many directions as she tries to find herself, and not everyone and thing is what they seem to be in this story of love, trust and opening up. Finding herself and learning to love herself might just be the hardest thing she's ever had to do.
Love Surfaced
Michelle Lynn - 2015
We stayed on our designated sides of the relationship circle. Ignoring swarming butterflies.Brushing off skipped heartbeats.Settling on lingering stares.Here’s the secret … a hand extended over that invisible line once, exponentially changing the equation. I was convinced we could make our relationship work until Tanner broke the trust he embedded in me from the age of seven. One deceit of mega proportions and the relationship we built for that short month vanished. I swore never to speak to him again and it’s worked. Until now—two years later, when my brother’s wedding places me face-to-face with the best man—Tanner McCain. Leaving one equation to be solved. Can love surface twice?
Let Love In
Melissa Collins - 2013
Ripped from her home and everything that she has ever loved, she is forced to start all over again. The only way for her to move on is to build walls around her heart and keep everyone at a safe distance. Her logic: she can't get hurt if she doesn't fall in love. That theory is blown to pieces when she meets Reid Connely during her freshman year at college. He is gorgeous and darkly mysterious. He understands Maddy's pain all too well, but sharing his pain would mean breaking down the walls he put up around his own heart. Conflicted between loving Maddy and hiding his dark past, Reid starts to reevaluate his world. Maddy's inner strength, snarky personality and breath taking beauty help Reid to make peace with his past. Together they find out what happens when they let love in.
Pulled
Amy Lichtenhan - 2011
In an attempt to escape the pain of her past, Melanie finds herself trapped in a loveless marriage, while Daniel loses himself in a career that means nothing without Melanie by his side. Now, when their lives intersect, neither can deny the connection they felt so long ago. But will the power that drew them together be enough to heal the wounds from their past, and do they have the courage to overcome the insecurities and fears that threaten to keep them apart? Pulled is a story of attraction and separation, of destiny and duty, of a love so strong it refuses to give up even when all others have.
Where the Stars Still Shine
Trish Doller - 2013
She's never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she’d like to forget completely. But when Callie’s mom is finally arrested for kidnapping her, and Callie’s real dad whisks her back to what would have been her life, in a small town in Florida, Callie must find a way to leave the past behind. She must learn to be part of a family. And she must believe that love--even with someone who seems an improbable choice--is more than just a possibility.Trish Doller writes incredibly real teens, and this searing story of love, betrayal, and how not to lose your mind will resonate with readers who want their stories gritty and utterly true.
Stripped
Brooklyn Skye - 2013
I look away, down the rutted parking lot.“Don’t... waste those words on me.”He touches my cheek. “You just need someone to show you.”“No.” I ease back again. “I don’t. So please, Torrin, stop trying to swoop in and save me. I don’t need saving.” College freshman, Quinn Montgomery, will do anything to avoid the mistake her sister made — killing herself over a boy. But when she is forced into nude modeling at a local college to support her family after a bankruptcy, she begins to crack, just enough to let Torrin, the university’s top varsity oarsman, see that the real Quinn is not as feisty and unapproachable as she wants everyone to think. But letting someone in comes at a steep cost and, it turns out, Torrin is connected to Quinn’s family in more ways than she could ever imagine.
All the Little Lights
Jamie McGuire - 2018
Both Elliott and Catherine feel like outcasts, yet they find an easy friendship with each other. But when Catherine needs him most, Elliott is forced to leave town.Elliott finally returns, but he and Catherine are now different people. He’s a star high school athlete, and she spends all her free time working at her mother’s mysterious bed-and-breakfast. Catherine hasn’t forgiven Elliott for abandoning her, but he’s determined to win back her friendship…and her heart.Just when Catherine is ready to fully trust Elliott, he becomes the prime suspect in a local tragedy. Despite the town’s growing suspicions, Catherine clings to her love for Elliott. But a devastating secret that Catherine has buried could destroy whatever chance of happiness they have left.
180 Seconds
Jessica Park - 2017
For Allison Dennis, all it takes is 180 seconds…After a life spent bouncing from one foster home to the next, Allison is determined to keep others at arm’s length. Adopted at sixteen, she knows better than to believe in the permanence of anything. But as she begins her third year in college, she finds it increasingly difficult to disappear into the white noise pouring from her earbuds.One unsuspecting afternoon, Allison is roped into a social experiment just off campus. Suddenly, she finds herself in front of a crowd, forced to interact with a complete stranger for 180 seconds. Neither she, nor Esben Baylor, the dreamy social media star seated opposite her, is prepared for the outcome.When time is called, the intensity of the experience overwhelms Allison and Esben in a way that unnerves and electrifies them both. With a push from her oldest friend, Allison embarks on a journey to find out if what she and Esben shared is the real thing—and if she can finally trust in herself, in others, and in love.
Into the Light
L.B. Simmons - 2014
Trust me when I say, it's a breathtaking sight to see. You burn as bright as the sun."When Aubrey Miller begins her education at Titan University, she is no longer the beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl of her youth. In fact, she's no longer even Aubrey Miller. Overcome with guilt and unable to cope with the loss of her beloved family, she has long since buried eight-year old Aubrey along with them and transformed herself into Raven Miller. Now with jet-black hair, multiple sets of eccentric contact lenses, and several facial piercings, she's veiled herself in complete darkness as a form of protection for herself, as well as others. As she enters her first year of college, her goal is simple: Earn a degree with the least amount of social interaction as possible. What she never anticipates is the formation of very unlikely relationships with two people who will change her life in ways she never believed possible: Quinn Matthews, the overtly cheerful pageant queen, and Kaeleb McMadden, a childhood friend who never really let her go. Over the years, as their connections intertwine and strengthen, a seemingly indestructible bond is formed between the three. And eventually, the ties of friendship and discovery of first love begin to coax her from her darkened path as they slowly bring Aubrey back to life. But when faced with the possibility of yet another death, one from which she may never recover, Aubrey finds herself lost again, burying herself deeper than ever before beneath the familiar abyss of her fears. Spanning the course of four years, this is the story of a young woman's plight to finally reemerge, finding strength within unbreakable bonds as she delivers herself from her own manufactured darkness and safely back . . . Into the Light. ****WARNING - Due to the graphic nature of some scenes, this book is not recommended for those who are particularly sensitive to the death of a child and/or suicide and is intended for mature audiences only. Contains adult language and themes.****
Midnight Sun
Trish Cook - 2017
Confined to her house during the day, her company is limited to her widowed father and her best (okay, only) friend. It isn't until after nightfall that Katie's world opens up, when she takes her guitar to the local train station and plays for the people coming and going.Charlie Reed is a former all-star athlete at a crossroads in his life - and the boy Katie has secretly admired from afar for years. When he happens upon her playing guitar one night, fate intervenes and the two embark on a star-crossed romance.As they challenge each other to chase their dreams and fall for each other under the summer night sky, Katie and Charlie form a bond strong enough to change them - and everyone around them - forever.
Forever Innocent
Deanna Roy - 2013
On what should have been one of the happiest nights of her life, she and her boyfriend Gavin watched a nurse disconnect the ventilator from their seven-day-old baby. During the funeral two days later, Gavin walked out and never returned.Since then, her life has been a spiral of disasters. The only thing that has helped is her ability to black out whenever the pain gets too hard to bear, a habit that has become an addiction.When Gavin shows up in her astronomy class four years later, he is hell-bent on getting her back, insisting she forgive him. Corabelle knows she can’t resist the touch that fills the empty ache that has haunted her since he left. But if he learns what she has done, if he follows the trail back through her past, her secrets will destroy their love completely. And once again, she’ll lose the only person who always believed she was innocent.New Adult Contemporary Romance
3:AM Kisses
Addison Moore - 2013
Love is the last thing on the list, but when Baya meets her brother’s roommate she begins to have thoughts and feelings that make even her blush.Bryson Edwards has a secret he prefers buried in the past and long forgotten. He prefers loose girls, fast cars, and long nights working at the string of bars his family owns. When his roommate’s sister shows up on the scene, she’s far too innocent and sweet for him but he can’t shake Baya out of his mind and worse, it looks like she’s seeping into his heart as well.Baya seems determined to show her brother she’s not a little kid and equally determined to use Bryson’s body to prove her point. It’s been made pretty clear that Baya is off limits to Bryson but their undeniable sparks explode into a whole lot more than just a few 3:AM kisses.
Reclaiming the Sand
A. Meredith Walters - 2014
Tormenter and tormented. Villain and hero. Ellie McCallum was a bully. No connection to anyone or anything. A sad and lonely existence for a young woman who had come to expect nothing more for herself. Her only happiness coming from making others miserable. Particularly Freaky Flynn. Flynn Hendrick lived a life completely disconnected even as he struggled to become something more than that boy with Asperger's. He was taunted and teased, bearing the brunt of systematic and calculated cruelty, ultimately culminating in a catastrophic turn of events that brought Ellie and Flynn’s worlds crashing down.But then Flynn and Ellie grew up. And moved on.Until years later when their paths unexpectedly cross again and the bully and the freak are face to face once more.When labels come to define you, finding yourself feels impossible. Particularly for two people disconnected from the world who inexplicably find a connection in each other. And out of the wreckage of their tragic beginnings, an unlikely love story unfolds.But a painful past doesn’t always want to let go. And old wounds are never truly healed…and sometimes the further you try to run from yourself the closer you come to who you really are.