Book picks similar to
Summer Alone by Amy Sparling


young-adult
romance
contemporary
fiction

Fall For Me


Melanie Marks - 2011
    Finn is so cocky and sure of their relationship that the arrangement seems perfect. He’s not worried Zoey will fall for another guy, and he’s itching to get rid of his feelings of guilt. But the thing is, Zoey knows exactly who she wants to kiss—longs to kiss— Finn’s best friend, Riley. But, she wants the kiss too much. She knows that. So, she resists the “Free Pass.” Still, she’s pushed into it when Finn loses a bet to Riley, and Riley wants his payment—a kiss from Zoey.Novella17,000-words

Say Anything


Madeleine Labitan - 2019
     "I heart Lincoln Evans." Riley Ellison has been writing those words in her journal for months, pouring her teenage daydreams within its pages. Because the cutest boy in school isn't aware of her feelings for him and it's going to stay that way. She wouldn't be able to live it down if he ever finds out and rejects her. That would be downright mortifying. So when Noah Pritchett—Lincoln's best friend and Riley's next-door neighbor—finds out the truth, Riley's world turns upside down. What will she do? Will he say anything? But instead of outing her, Noah is suddenly offering to help her get Lincoln. It seems to be working...until Noah starts acting like he doesn't want to play cupid anymore. Did he lose interest or is there something more going on?

First Kiss


Ann Marie Frohoff - 2013
    Sacrifices are made as everything changes as they know it.

A Chance at Love


Karolyn James - 2014
    The day billionaire businessman Sullivan Chasen receives a phone call that his father is dying is the day his world became turned upside down. The problem is that his father has been dead for ten years. The bigger problem is that the person who called keeps calling, insisting that Sullivan’s father is going to die soon. A shocking DNA test suddenly has Sullivan questioning everything he has ever known and has him packing up and driving to the small town of Ferry Creek, North Carolina. There, he confronts a past he never knew existed, including a half-brother who is living in a small apartment above the family diner, a local staple in Ferry Creek.What begins as a short trip to settle any necessary needs soon turns into a new life for Sullivan. The longer he stays in Ferry Creek, the more he falls in love with the small town… and a waitress named Jess who works at the diner.

Wrecked


Elle Casey - 2012
    When forced to work together, they discover they have more in common than they ever imagined ...

Love Like Crazy


Megan Squires - 2014
    She’s not waiting on the handsome prince with his white horse to come to her rescue. But even though she’s not waiting on it, that doesn’t stop nineteen-year-old Lincoln Ross from driving straight into her heart with his teal and white campervan and his too tall stature and perpetually goofy grin.It’s difficult to believe in a happily ever after when a happy now is quite hard to find. But Lincoln gives Eppie hope that despite the odds, a true and unconditional love might actually be out there. A revised fairytale. A new kind of love story.But then again, that might just be plain crazy.(Love Like Crazy is an upper YA novel.)

Reckless Heat


Lynn Raye Harris - 2016
    He's everything I ever wanted. And he doesn't know how I feel. I have three weeks left to tell him before he leaves this place forever… There’s only one way I know how to do that. I have to give him what I've never given anyone. I'm going to ask him to be my first… Matt Girard is the guy every girl wants. Rich, handsome, and popular, his future is brighter than the sun. Evie Baker comes from the wrong side of town. She loves Matt desperately, but he only sees her as his tomboy best friend instead of the young woman she's blossomed into. Until one fateful night when a reckless dare changes everything… This is the prequel story to Hot Pursuit, Book 1 in the Hostile Operations Team Series.

What I Didn't Say


Keary Taylor - 2012
    He's been in love with her for years and never had the guts to tell her. Now it's too late. Because after that night, Jake will never be able to talk again.When Jake returns to his small island home, population 5,000, he'll have to learn how to deal with being mute. He also finds that his family isn't limited to his six brothers and sisters, that sometimes an entire island is watching out for you. And when he gets the chance to spend more time with Samantha, she'll help him learn that not being able to talk isn’t the worst thing that could ever happen to you. Maybe, if she'll let him, Jake will finally tell her what he didn't say before, even if he can't actually say it.

The Only Exception


Magan Vernon - 2013
    But escape becomes almost impossible when she attracts the attention of her new and undeniably sexy neighbor: Trey Chapman, the governor’s son.Despite his vivid green eyes, adorable freckles, and athletic body, Trey is everything that Monica despises - haughty, conservative, bossy. And able to get under her skin in a way no other man ever could. A class project forces the unlikely pair together, their chemistry building with each heated debate. But when the ghosts of Monica’s past come back to haunt her, both their beliefs will be tested, and both will be forced to see the world in a new light. Their differences threaten to tear them apart, unless they can make one another their only exception.Due to sexual content and heavy subject matter, this book is recommended for ages 16+.

Now or Never


A.J. Bennett - 2013
    Her attraction to the sexy man in uniform quickly turns into an unhealthy relationship. They both try to resist the pull, but neither can stay away. When tragedy strikes, Grayson realizes it's now or never—walk away or make it work.

Confessions of a Queen B*


Crista McHugh - 2015
    After years of being the subject of ridicule, she revels in her ability to make the in-crowd cower via the exposés on her blog, The Eastline Spy. Now that she's carved out her place in the high school hierarchy, she uses her position to help the unpopular kids walking the hallways. Saving a freshman from bullies? Check. Swapping insults with the head cheerleader? Check. Falling for the star quarterback? So not a part of her plan. But when Brett offers to help her solve the mystery of who’s posting X-rated videos from the girls’ locker room, she’ll have to swallow her pride and learn to see past the high school stereotypes she’s never questioned—until now.

Relatively Famous


Jessica Park - 2010
    Now meet Mark Ocean: A self-serving actor with a floundering career who sees that a daughter is just what he needs to reinvent himself as a family man and get back on track. When the two decide to spend the summer together, they must not only wrangle their own love lives, but try to figure out who they really are to themselves and to each other.Now armed with credit cards, club memberships, and a new wardrobe, Dani learns that what Mark has in wealth, he sorely lacks in parenting skills. Trying to show Mark that parenting is about more than loading her up with Prada bags and taking her to movie premieres is challenging enough, but she's also got her hands full with her new friends. Oh, and the boys... Dani meets Jason, a gorgeous young personal trainer who is easy on the eyes and wildly flirtatious. But is this smug hottie the one for her? Or will she ignore her friends eye-rolling and go for the goofy but sweet surfer?While juggling her own complicated love life, Dani tries to set her father up with someone less likely to appear on a VH1 reality show, and someone more... well, normal. And age-appropriate. And dressed in anything but a thong bikini. But whether Mark is able to heal old wounds and move forward with anything more than a meaningless fling remains to be seen.Can Dani fit in with this new, fast-moving California crowd without losing herself? With the world at her fingertips and hot boys now after her, staying grounded gets tough. And can Mark drop his egocentric approach to life and learn to appreciate how truly wonderful his daughter is? As driven as he is to get that A-list acting role, he's willing to do whatever it takes to get there, even if it means using his daughter. Or is he...? Mark and Dani's relationship hits a few highs, but the question becomes whether the lows are too much.

Shelter


Tara Shuler - 2011
    Alice Wright is a young vampire going to high school for the first time at the age of seventeen at the behest of her eccentric mother. In many ways, she's more afraid of the human students than they would be of her. She feels lost and awkward in human society, but she soon develops a strong bond with the cousin of one of her human classmates, nineteen year old Kai. He is beautiful, but somewhat of an enigma. She discovers a dark secret in Kai's life, and she instantly wants to shelter him from the pain that has tormented him all his life. Then she meets Maksim Augustine, the incredibly gorgeous guy who seems more like he should be a model than a high school student. She is overwhelmingly attracted to him physically, but her love for Kai causes her to continually push him away. Eventually, she discovers a frightening secret about Max, too. But Max's secret threatens to destroy everything...

Saving Wishes


G.J. Walker-Smith - 2013
    Thankfully, it's temporary. Her lifelong dream of travelling the world is just months away from becoming reality. All she has to do is ride out the last few months of high school, which is easier said than done thanks to a trio of mean girls known as The Beautifuls.When Adam Décarie arrives in town, all the way from New York, life takes an unexpected turn. His arrival sets off a chain of events that alters her life forever, convincing her of one thing. Fate brought him to her.

Forever & Always


Jasinda Wilder - 2013
    Even if it’s just random stuff, nothing important, they’re important to me. Gramps is great, and I love working on the ranch.But…I’m lonely.I feel disconnected, like I’m no one, like I don’t belong anywhere. Like I’m just here until something else happens. I don’t even know what I want with my future. But your letters, they make me feel connected to something, to someone. I had a crush on you, when we first met. I thought you were beautiful. So beautiful. It was hard to think of anything else. Then camp ended and we never got together, and now all I have of you is these letters.S**t.I just told you I have a crush on you. HAD. Had a crush. Not sure what is anymore. A letter-crush? A literary love? That’s stupid. Sorry. I just have this rule with myself that I never throw away what I write and I always send it, so hopefully this doesn’t weird you out too much. I had a dream about you too. Same kind of thing. Us, in the darkness, together.Just us.And it was like you said, a memory turned into a dream, but a memory of something that’s never happened, but in the dream it felt so real, and it was more, I don’t even know, more RIGHT than anything I’ve ever felt, in life or in dreams. I wonder what it means that we both had the same dream about each other. Maybe nothing, maybe everything. You tell me.Cade----------------------------------------------------------------Cade,We’re pen pals. Maybe that’s all we’ll ever be. I don’t know. If we met IRL (in real life, in case you’re not familiar with the term) what would happen? And just FYI, the term you used, a literary love? It was beautiful. So beautiful. That term means something, between us now. We are literary loves. Lovers? I do love you, in some strange way. Knowing about you, in these letters, knowing your hurt and your joys, it means something so important to me, that I just can’t describe. I need your art, and your letters, and your literary love.If we never have anything else between us, I need this. I do. Maybe this letter will only complicate things, but like you I have a rule that I never erase or throw away what I’ve written and I always send it, no matter what I write in the letter. Your literary love,Ever