Book picks similar to
This Way to Paradise by Cathy Hopkins
young-adult
romance
chick-lit
teen
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Jenny Han - 2009
Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer—they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.
What Would Emma Do?
Eileen Cook - 2008
There is no greater sin than kissing your best friend’s boyfriend. So when Emma breaks that golden rule, she knows she’s messed up big-time...especially since she lives in the smallest town ever, where everyone knows everything about everyone else...and especially since she maybe kinda wants to do it again. Now her best friend isn’t speaking to her, her best guy friend is making things totally weird, and Emma is running full speed toward certain social disaster. This is so not the way senior year was supposed to go. Time to pray for a minor miracle. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s time for Emma to stop trying to please everyone around her, and figure out what she wants for herself.
Why We Broke Up
Daniel Handler - 2011
I'm writing it in this letter, the whole truth of why it happened.Min Green and Ed Slaterton are breaking up, so Min is writing Ed a letter and giving him a box. Inside the box is why they broke up. Two bottle caps, a movie ticket, a folded note, a box of matches, a protractor, books, a toy truck, a pair of ugly earrings, a comb from a motel room, and every other item collected over the course of a giddy, intimate, heartbreaking relationship. Item after item is illustrated and accounted for, and then the box, like a girlfriend, will be dumped.
Girl, 15, Charming but Insane
Sue Limb - 2004
With a distinct lack of boobage and an arse so big that birds of prey could nest within its shadows, Jess Jordan is saddled with the Goddess Flora for a best friend, a Britney Spears look-alike so gorgeous that one grain of her divine dandruff could make the blind see again. Jess knows that her soul mate is Ben Jones, a divine mixture of Leonardo diCaprio, Prince William, and Brad Pitt who oozes mystery and charisma. But the campaign to get Ben to notice her brings on a cavalcade of mortification and disaster, including, but not limited to, a minestrone soup explosion that takes place in her bra and a schoolwide viewing of a videotape that features a topless Jess referring to her breasts as “Bonnie” and “Clyde.”Meanwhile, Jess’s death-obsessed Granny moves into her bedroom, along with her grandfather’s remains; her hypochondriac dad, who sends her daily “horrorscopes” like “You will fall asleep with your mouth open, and a family of earwigs will move in,” acts strange about Jess staying with him this summer; and her longtime friend Fred, a television violence addict and closet thumbsucker, has decided that he can’t stand being around her. Jess is determined to make things right . . . but with her offbeat sense of humor and her wildly active imagination, things get complicated along the way.
The Secrets of Boys
Hailey Abbott - 2006
Cassidy wishes her pal Joe were around to help her figure out the secrets of boys, but he's hundreds of miles away. Will she be able to ignore her feelings for Zach—or will temptation be too strong to resist?Ages 14+
Goodbye, Rebel Blue
Shelley Coriell - 2013
Rebel (as she’s known) decides to complete the dead girl’s bucket list to prove that choice, not chance, controls her fate. In doing so, she unexpectedly opens her mind and heart to a world she once dismissed—a world of friendships, family, and faith. With a shaken sense of self, she must reevaluate her loner philosophy—particularly when she falls for Nate, the golden boy do-gooder who never looks out for himself. Perfect for fans of Jay Asher’s blockbuster hit Thirteen Reasons Why, Coriell’s second novel features her sharp, engaging voice along with realistic drama and unforgettable characters.
Amazing Grace
Megan Shull - 2005
But what happens when America's "It" girl doesn't want "It" anymore? With the paparazzi stalking her every move, Grace quietly slips out of a TEEN PEOPLE photo shoot, ducks the press, and calls her mom from the boiler room of the fabled USTA National Tennis Center. And right there, in her custom-made Nike warm-ups, tears streaming down her face, Grace says the three magic words that her mom told her she could say anytime, anytime this whole crazy life wasn't fun anymore. Three simple words—and her new life begins. For the hottest girl on the planet, life's about to change. Grace gets a make-under, a new identity, and a new life in a rugged little town on the edge of nowhere, population 813 (including one cute boy: one very cute boy). Megan Shull's AMAZING GRACE will grab you from the first paragraph (go ahead,read it!) and keep you reading till its satisfying,transporting--shhhh--happy ending. A sparkling new voice in teen fiction.
The Start of Me and You
Emery Lord - 2015
After shutting out the world for two years, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school . . . and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her—the perfect way to convince everyone she’s back to normal. Next: Join a club—simple, it’s high school after all. But when Ryan’s sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!) her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?
What I Like About You
Marisa Kanter - 2020
but in the real world, it's more complicated. In this debut novel Marisa Kanter explores what happens when internet friends turn into IRL crushes.There are a million things that Halle Levitt likes about her online best friend, Nash.He’s an incredibly talented graphic novelist. He loves books almost as much as she does. And she never has to deal with the awkwardness of seeing him in real life. They can talk about anything…Except who she really is.Because online, Halle isn’t Halle—she’s Kels, the enigmatically cool creator of One True Pastry, a YA book blog that pairs epic custom cupcakes with covers and reviews. Kels has everything Halle doesn’t: friends, a growing platform, tons of confidence, and Nash.That is, until Halle arrives to spend senior year in Gramps’s small town and finds herself face-to-face with real, human, not-behind-a-screen Nash. Nash, who is somehow everywhere she goes—in her classes, at the bakery, even at synagogue.Nash who has no idea she’s actually Kels.If Halle tells him who she is, it will ruin the non-awkward magic of their digital friendship. Not telling him though, means it can never be anything more. Because while she starts to fall for Nash as Halle…he’s in love with Kels.
The Boyfriend Plot
Stella Wilkinson - 2014
But I have a plan, and I'll do whatever it takes!
Jenny wants Scott, and ropes Nick into her plans to get Scott to really see her as a girl he could date. But Nick doesn’t have the greatest reputation with girls and may have an agenda of his own…Young Adult Romantic Comedy, from best selling author of The Flirting Games Series. Please be aware that this book contains some steamy kissing and mild swearing, advisable for 13+
Forever . . .
Judy Blume - 1975
They're attracted to each other, they grow to love each other. And once they've decided their love is forever, they make love.It's the beginning of an intense and exclusive relationship, with a future all planned. Until Katherine's parents insist that she and Michael put their love to the test with a summer apart...Forever is written for an older age group than Judy Blume's other novels for children. It caused a storm of controversy when it was first published because of its explicit sexual content.
Oh. My. Gods.
Tera Lynn Childs - 2008
When Phoebe's mom returns from Greece with a new husband and moves them to an island in the Aegean, Phoebe's plans for her senior year and track season are ancient history. Now she must attend the uber exclusive academy, where admission depends on pedigree, namely, ancestry from Zeus, Hera, and other Greek gods. That's right, they're real, not myth, and their teen descendants are like the classical heroes: supersmart and super beautiful with a few superpowers. And now they're on her track team! Armed only with her Nikes and the will to win, Phoebe races to find her place among the gods.
The List
Siobhan Vivian - 2012
A list is posted, and one girl from each grade is chosen as the prettiest, and another is chosen as the ugliest. Nobody knows who makes the list. It almost doesn't matter. The damage is done the minute it goes up.This is the story of eight girls, freshman to senior, "pretty" and "ugly." And it's also the story of how we see ourselves, and how other people see us, and the tangled connection of the two.
Crush du Jour (Simon Romantic Comedies)
Micol Ostow - 2007
Laine barely has enough time for herself, much less for romance. But she's always hungry for more projects -- so she signs up to teach a cooking class at her local community center. As it turns out, the guy co-teaching the class with her, Seth, is not just cute, but downright delicious! When Seth offers her a waitressing job at his family's restaurant, Hype, Laine can't resist. Just as Seth finally warms up to Laine, she finds out that Callie, another waitress at Hype, is cooking up a plan to steal Seth for herself. But tensions really reach their boiling point when Laine's restaurant critic mother writes a scathing review of Hype! Will Laine have to put love on the back burner again?
What to Say Next
Julie Buxbaum - 2017
It feels like no one here gets what I’m going through. How could they? I don’t even understand.DAVID: In the 622 days I’ve attended Mapleview High, Kit Lowell is the first person to sit at my lunch table. I mean, I’ve never once sat with someone until now. “So your dad is dead,” I say to Kit, because this is a fact I’ve recently learned about her. When an unlikely friendship is sparked between relatively popular Kit Lowell and socially isolated David Drucker, everyone is surprised, most of all Kit and David. Kit appreciates David’s blunt honesty—in fact, she finds it bizarrely refreshing. David welcomes Kit’s attention and her inquisitive nature. When she asks for his help figuring out the how and why of her dad’s tragic car accident, David is all in. But neither of them can predict what they’ll find. Can their friendship survive the truth?