Book picks similar to
Summer Alone by Amy Sparling


young-adult
romance
contemporary
fiction

Chasing Forever Down


Nikki Chartier - 2013
    Instead, she finds a mysterious stranger who plays by his own rules and chases his own dreams, and he's definitely cute enough to disappear with for the night. Convinced that he can help her escape the perfectly corporate future that's been planned for her, Haley agrees to meet him the next day. However, Mr. Mysterious is a no show.Determined to track him down, Haley enlists her best friend Linzi to help, but according to the local newspapers, the guy she met has been dead for years. Knowing he's very much alive, Haley and Linzi follow clues on a scavenger-hunt-style road trip that ultimately lands them in the surf town of Crescent Cove, California, where her mystery guy is no mystery at all. He's living as Colby Taylor, the west coast's biggest professional surfer.But talking to the surf star again is nearly impossible when he's guarded by a hierarchy of beach bums who are determined to send Haley back to the east coast. Haley is up for the challenge of submerging herself in their world, from wild summer nights and beach parties to ocean air and secret kisses in the dark, but when the lines blur between the ocean and the shore, she isn't so sure she's here for Colby anymore. Sure, being thrown off a jet ski sucks, but falling in love with one of these California boys might just be worse.(This is book #1 of the Drenaline Surf series but can be read as a stand-alone novel.)​​

After Tuesday


Renee Ericson - 2013
    For the last two years, high school senior Ruby has been her own rock and solace. She has learned to depend only on herself and hides her family's issues by keeping herself somewhat unnoticeable. Despite her isolation, Ruby has intrigued the affections of someone unexpected. Finding herself loving life once again as his persistence sparks a romance awakening a well-protected heart. While Ruby’s relationship with her father is constantly teetering, her new-found affection continues to blossom into something more than she ever thought possible. Soon, Ruby comes to realize that opening up your heart means being susceptible to love and disappointment.YA-M: This book contains mature content including profanity, drug/alcohol use, and sexual situations/language.

A Little Bit Haunted


Melody Summers - 2017
    Summer. Ever. My best friend moved away at the end of the school year. Now my family has moved into a house that looks a thousand years old and could pass for the Addams Family's summer home. I'm pretty sure it's haunted, and I'm about to be the star of my own paranormal reality show whether I like it or not. But the worst part is that Walker Dean is my new next door neighbor.Walker Dean is heartbreak just looking for a victim. The boy tears through girls' hearts like a tornado through a trailer park. Sure, he's one of the hottest guys in school, but he's also a player who lives for hookups and doesn't know the meaning of the word relationship. A girl would have to be crazy to even think about getting mixed up with him.Wouldn't she?

A Longtime -and at one point illegal- Crush


Janette Rallison - 2013
    When she was eight, she secretly blew kisses to him. When she was twelve, she sat on the stairs unnoticed and watched him escort another girl to prom. When she was a senior in high school, she walked into math class and found out he was her new math teacher.With that much emotion fueling her, things were bound to go wrong. And they did. Elsie not only spent the last two weeks of school avoiding him, she turned avoiding-Kye-at-all-costs into her life-long philosophy.Now three years have passed and Elsie has come home for her brother’s wedding. She’s got to face Kye-–hopefully without getting crushed again.

Untouched


Melody Grace - 2013
    Juliet knows it the minute she lays eyes on Beachwood Bay's resident bad boy. Forced to spend her summer before college in the sleepy beach town, she never expected to crash into the most devastating guy she’s ever met—or for Emerson’s blue eyes to strip through her dark secrets, and make her feel a desire she’s never known. Their connection is undeniable, but Juliet is torn. She knows, once she gives him everything, there’ll be no turning back.Juliet McKenzie is dangerous. Emerson can tell from the way she blows through all his defences, laying bare the demons he’s carried alone all his life. He’s left a trail of broken hearts and empty beds in his wake, but Juliet is different. Her innocence is intoxicating—and the passion she keeps hidden, just below the surface. He wants to be the only one to set it free, but with every kiss, he’s closer to losing control and doing the one thing he swore he never would: fall in love.One summer. Two damaged hearts. Their story is only just beginning…UNTOUCHED is a prequel novella to the USA Today Bestselling UNBROKEN. It also can be read as a stand-alone story.

Breaking Rules


Tracie Puckett - 2014
    For Mandy, that meant finishing her last year of high school, going to college, and then returning to small-town Sugar Creek to live a solitary life as a writer. That was the plan, and her main rule for avoiding complications and staying on track was to never, ever, EVER let someone get too close. That was before she met Gabe. And when Gabe starts to awaken emotions she’s never experienced, Mandy suddenly begins to question every belief she’s ever had. She can’t be falling in love, can she? That would be the biggest mistake of her life, wouldn’t it? Could she break one of her most important rules—for Gabe?

One Night


Monica Murphy - 2016
    Including... Olivia: Who's leaving for her dad's house in Oregon tomorrow. So she plans on having the time of her life tonight with her best friends. Dustin: Who wishes Livvy could see just how much she means to him. Emily: Who's trying her to best to get with someone. Anyone. Cannon: Who has an encounter with Em he won't be able to forget. Amanda: Who's finally ready to go all the way with her boyfriend. Tuttle: Who discovers the girl he's always secretly liked just might like him back. Warning: This story contains mature sexual situations and is suited for a 17+ audience. (ONE NIGHT is also published on Wattled)

Rumors


Erica Kiefer - 2013
    As a star athlete grieving in the shadows, she hopes to find normalcy in boys and basketball. When her best friend sets her up with the popular Shane Moretti, Allie drags her feet, reluctant for added complications. Then she decides that dating Shane would be the perfect shield from last summer’s tragedy. However, what starts as a mere distraction proves much more complex. As Shane leads Allie into questionable situations, gossip continues to swirl.Battling for her own identity while barricading painful emotions, Allie won’t escape her senior year without new wounds. After all, tragedy is no stranger to her. The events that unfold will draw readers deep into a well of emotion in Rumors, a Lingering Echoes Prequel.

Young Annabelle


Sarah Tork - 2013
    Someone should have told me sooner…that falling for a guy like that…was not a good idea. At all. Just past the halfway mark on her summer from hell weightloss journey, seventeen year old Annabelle Simms has lost a grand total of nine pounds. Which should have been great, but not where her mother was concerned. According to her, nine pounds wasn’t good enough and ridiculously slow considering she counted every calorie Annabelle ate and burned. Already a star on the Royal Heights High School Baseball team, James Lawson wasn’t your average transfer student. Even with his ‘new guy’ status, he quickly becomes one of the ‘Kings of the Hallway’ and that alone should have been the red flag Annabelle needed to stay away from him. He’s arrogant, intense, rude and worst of all he seems like the kind of guy that usually gets what he wants. But the more time they spend together, it becomes difficult to stray away from those beautiful green eyes, especially with all the stress her mother is causing her. Will Annabelle wake up and see James for what her ‘common sense’ declares him to be or will she ignore everything and open her heart, allowing James to capture her…care for her…..body, mind and soul? Warning Contains Mature Scenes Recommend for ages 17+ This is not a standalone novel. Book 1 in Y.A Series

The Boys of Summer


C.J. Duggan - 2012
    She wants nothing more than to forget the past haunts of high school and have fun with her best friends before the dreaded Year Twelve begins.To Tess, summer is when everything happens: riding bikes down to the lake, watching the fireworks at the Onslow Show and water bomb fights at the sweltering Sunday markets.How did she let her friends talk her into working?After first-shift disasters, rude, wealthy tourists and a taunting ex-boyfriend, Tess is convinced nothing good can come of working her summer away. However, Tess finds unlikely allies in a group of locals dubbed ‘The Onslow Boys’, who are old enough to drive cars, drink beer and not worry about curfews. Tess’s summer of working expands her world with a series of first times with new friends, forbidden love and heartbreaking chaos.All with the one boy she has never been able to forget.It will be a summer she will always remember.

A Beautiful Struggle


Lilliana Anderson - 2012
    She has a very full life attending university to study a law degree, training for triathlons and now she is working part time as well. She couldn't possibly find time for a relationship, especially after her last one ended so catastrophically.Right now she is content focusing on work, study and training while hanging out with her best friend David Taylor, a womanizer with a heart of gold that would do anything for Katrina – except watch her get hurt again.That is, until the dashing Elliot Roberts, a junior solicitor from her work, shows an interest in her despite their office’s ‘No Dating’ policy. Katrina struggles with following her heart or following her mind and has trouble seeing where her heart truly lies in this gripping romantic drama.

The Year I Became Isabella Anders


Jessica Sorensen - 2015
    Most days she feels invisible, especially when she’s around her older sister, Hannah, who catches the eye of everyone, including Kai and Kyler, the boys who live next door. Isabella has had a crush on Kyler for years, but knows he’ll never see her as anything more than Hannah’s little sister, unless she finds a way to standout. When Isabella gets an offer from her grandmother to travel overseas for the summer, she seizes the opportunity, hoping she’ll discover more about herself. And she does, but not in the way that she expected. Three months later, Isabella returns home an entirely new person. The change is enough to catch both Kyler and Kai’s attention. But Isabella is still struggling with what she discovered over the summer and until she deals with the truth, she’ll never truly be herself.

Notes to Self


Avery Sawyer - 2011
    Two fell down. One woke up.Robin Saunders is a high school sophomore with an awesome best friend, a hard-working single mom, and a complicated relationship with a sweet guy named Reno. She's coasting along, trying to get through yet another tedious year of high school, when Em suggests something daring. They live in Florida-- tourist central--and Emily wants to sneak into a theme park after midnight and see what they're made of.When things get out of control, Robin wakes up in a hospital bed and Emily doesn't wake up at all. Just getting dressed becomes an ordeal as Robin tries to heal and piece together the details of that terrible night. Racing to remember everything in the hopes of saving Emily, Robin writes a series of notes to herself to discover the truth.

Love Notes


Heather Gunter - 2013
    And when you are left to face your demons alone, will you learn that only you have the power to overcome them?Charlie has never had it easy. Between the constant moving and the incessant fat comments and jokes from her father, her self-worth is nonexistent. Her reflection in the mirror shows her nothing but a plain Jane. Music is the only thing that keeps her sanity in check.Charlie catches the eye of the town star quarterback, Maverick. With her curves, her brunette hair, and the voice of an angel, Maverick has never met anyone like her. Everything that is different about Charlie just makes Maverick like her more. Unfortunately, Charlie doesn’t see it herself.Proving it to her may deem harder than he thinks, especially when tragedy strikes and tears them apart.Now standing on her own two feet she may finally learn exactly who she is, what’s she’s capable of and how very un plain Jane she really is.

Love at First Fight


Maggie Dallen - 2019
    That's how my senior year goes from predictable to absurd in a heartbeat. This year is supposed to be easy. I've finally scored first chair in band, my college applications are done, and all my friends and I have to do is survive one more year of high school before our real lives can begin. Instead, I find myself in trouble with the principal, humiliated in front of the entire school, and fighting with my neighbor—AKA star quarterback, Prince Charming, and nicest guy on the planet. And that's just on the first day back at school. Trust me, it only gets worse from there. As #GeeksGoneWild trends on social media, my friends and I are the targets of an online witch hunt. But they've picked on the wrong people and retaliation is severe. As the tension escalates, it soon becomes clear that someone needs to step up and put an end to this nonsense. If that means playing nice with the quarterback, I guess that's what I have to do. Now if someone could please tell my heart that this new friendship is just for show. And the kisses...oh, the kisses. Someone please remind me that they don't mean a thing.