Book picks similar to
An Acquaintance by Saba Syed


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Love & Gelato


Jenna Evans Welch - 2016
    She’s only there because it was her mother’s dying wish that she get to know her father. But what kind of father isn’t around for sixteen years? All Lina wants to do is go back home.But then she is given a journal that her mom had kept when she lived in Italy. Suddenly Lina’s uncovering a magical world of secret romances, art, and hidden bakeries. A world that inspires her, along with the ever-so-charming Ren, to follow in her mother’s footsteps and unearth a secret that has been kept for far too long. It’s a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, her father—and even herself.People come to Italy for love and gelato, someone tells her, but sometimes they discover much more.

The Truth About Thongs [aka Putting Boys on the Ledge]


Stephanie Rowe - 2004
    And that's pretty much Blueberry Waller's life. Freshman year might have started off as zero for Blue, but when she gets a part in the school musical as her crush's mother, it's her chance to get noticed by him. Yes, Heath is much cooler than she is. Yes, he's a senior, and she's a freshman. And yes, he has to kiss another girl in the play. But when he runs into Blue at a cast party, suddenly, she's on his radar. Things are moving fast, faster than Blue is prepared for. It takes her three best friends, and a very hot senior named Colin, to help her figure things out….until things suddenly become a lot more complicated than she ever intended…including a first kiss that's all wrong. Or is it? Books in the Once Upon an Ending Series: The Fake Boyfriend Experiment Ice Cream, Jealousy & Other Dating Tips The Truth About Thongs How to Date a Bad Boy (Oct. 2016) Pedicures Don't Like Dirt (Nov. 2016) Geeks Can Be Hot (Dec. 2016) ABOUT THE AUTHOR: New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Stephanie Rowe is the author of more than forty novels. She has received starred reviews from Booklist and high praise from Publisher's Weekly, and has been nominated as a YALSA Quick Pick For Reluctant Readers. For more information on Stephanie, visit www.stephanierowe.com. Author's Note: This novel was originally published in paperback in 2004 by Dorchester Publishing with the title Putting Boys on the Ledge under the author's pen name of Stephie Davis. This edition has been substantially revised and expanded.

The Boy I Grew Up With


Tijan - 2018
    In first grade, he asked for my Trapper Keeper. I hit him in the head with it. Third grade, we were best friends. We kissed in seventh grade. Eighth grade, he turned into a bad boy and the rest was a tumultuous storm. Growing up, the problem was never love for us. Bad times. Good times. There were times when I felt our love in every inch of my body, vibrating, making me feel like it could bring me back to life. The problem was us. The problem is that we’re living in two different worlds now. Fallen Crest and its millionaires for me. Roussou and their criminals for him. I was thriving in mine and he was running his. But…But there were nights I felt we couldn’t be further apart than we were, and there were nights I felt we shared the same heartbeat. When was it time? When was it time to either sacrifice, make a change, or walk away from the boy I grew up with?

The Boyfriend Plan


Shilo "Nightdrives"
     Dory laughed, “That’s ridiculous.” Bernadette shook her head, her face lighting up. “No! You’re onto something, Evie! This is the 21st century, after all. No more boys throwing girls over their shoulders and wooing them! We can do it too. Let’s go kidnap some boys.” ❞

Isn't She Lovely


Lauren Layne - 2013
    Lauren Layne puts a New Adult spin on Pygmalion, also the inspiration for Pretty Woman, and gives the classic love story its edgiest twist yet."Who knew that pretending you're not falling for someone would be so much more difficult than pretending that you are?"Stephanie Kendrick gave up her whole summer to ace her NYU film school screenwriting course, so she's pissed to be stuck with a preppy, spoiled frat boy as her writing partner. Then again, with her piercings, black-rimmed eyes, and Goth wardrobe, Stephanie isn't exactly Ethan Price's type, either. He's probably got his eye on some leggy blonde with a trust fund... or does he?As the summer scene kicks off in the Hamptons, Ethan is desperate to make his snobbish mother forget the pedigreed girl who broke his heart. While Stephanie's a stretch as a decoy, the right makeover and a pastel cardigan just might do the trick. She may not love the idea of playing Ethan's brainless Barbie girlfriend, but the free rent and luxurious digs make a tempting offer. So does the promise of a ready-made screenplay idea inspired by their charade.But when Stephanie steps into Ethan's privileged world, the "acting" begins to feel all too real. The kissing and touching that were intended to fool the Hamptons crowd wind up manipulating "them." And Stephanie faces a question she's too afraid to ask: Is Ethan falling for the real her or for the dolled-up princess he wants to see?

Drowning in Stars


Debra Anastasia - 2020
    She blew bubbles through my window. I shot my Nerf gun through hers. We both had secrets, but one of us was fated to get hurt. I wanted it to be me.Pixie: When I was afraid of the dark, he would shine a light in my window. We shared our popsicles and I taught him how to get a good swing on the playground. I never imagined I’d have to decide who got to live and who didn’t. I chose him --and he could never know.She walked a tightrope five stories up just to save my life…★☆★ Drowning in Stars is a full 100k standalone. ★☆★

Teach Me


Amy Lynn Steele - 2012
    Nearly ten years later she is focused on her last year of high school and which colleges to apply to, not the attractive surfer who keeps showing up at the little corner of beach where she reads. She has no interest in a romantic relationship, especially one that starts in the summer and would be long distance. Ali tries to ignore him, but finds the boy on the beach much more distracting than the words in her books. Cooper Perez has never surfed the same beach this many days in a row. He just can’t seem to change spots until he has the courage to talk to the girl who is always reading her books in the shade. When he finally approaches her he is overwhelmed with the instant attraction he feels for this beautiful and intelligent girl, even though she is three years younger. Cooper and Allison spend the rest of the summer together discovering their love of many things, including each other. Summer eventually comes to an end, but their love does not. Allison heads home to start her senior year, but an opportunity brings Cooper closer to Allison than either of them would have expected. Mr. Perez is the new English teacher at Allison’s high school.

Geek Girl


Cindy C. Bennett - 2010
    Instead, the goth girl finds herself sucked into his world of sci-fi movies, charity work, and even -ugh!- bowling. To truly belong with him -and with her new foster family- she must first come to terms with her violent past.

Waiting for You


Shey Stahl - 2013
    Everything about her life has been organized and lived out to the expectations set of her parents. She is the class valedictorian, has perfect grades, the perfect friends, a perfect boyfriend, basically perfect life...or so everyone thought. That's when she realizes the path planned isn't always the path chosen. On graduation day she makes a decision. One that changes everything she thought she knew about her intended future.On a whim, she runs away with the town rebel, Dylan Wade, in search of the unknown.Dylan Wade isn't looking to run away from anything.He knows what he wants as he's been waiting on it for years.On a journey to find the unknown, they discover a friendship they once knew along the open highway and have not a care in the world. Between the yellow and white lines of the heated summer asphalt, a spark draws them together as Dylan's past and Bailey future try to rip them apart.Could it be that Dylan and his GTO are exactly what her perfectly planned life needs?

Falling


Doug Wilhelm - 2007
    But Matt never went out for the team. He won't even touch a ball anymore, and he hardly talks to anyone. No one understands why he's changed, but Matt knows that it's his "golden child" older brother who's really been doing all the changing. Matt can't imagine what would happen to his family if word got out about Neal's drug habit and the strung-out strangers he's seen coming and going from the house when their parents aren't home. Matt can't tell anyone what he knows - not his parents, not the police detective who refuses to leave him alone, not even Katie, the one girl he's ever really had feelings for. But even Matt has to wonder eventually if he's holding on to someone he may already have lost. With his unparalleled ear for teen dialogue and emotions, Doug Wilhelm's new novel is a captivating look at falling apart, falling in love, and all the falling in between.

Sunset Ranch


A. Destiny - 2014
    The summer only gets better when she meets Stephen. He’s funny, friendly, and hardworking—a welcome antidote to Chloe’s daily doses of Zach, the cocky, self-satisfied fellow ranch hand. When a trailer full of new colts arrives for training, Chloe is given the job of caring for them. She’s looking forward to seeing Stephen all the time, but then Zach is assigned to help with the training and Chloe’s plans for moonlight rides and watching sunsets are squashed. But as the summer continues and Chloe starts to see a different side of Zach as he works with the horses, she starts to wonder if maybe she judged him too harshly at first. Could there be something between them after all?

Taipei, Love Boat Quotes: Perfectly Capture the Asian American Experience


Abigail Hing Wen - 2020
    Gone is Chien Tan, the strict educational program in Taiwan that Ever was expecting. In its place, she finds Loveboat: a summer-long free-for-all where hookups abound, adults turn a blind eye, snake-blood sake flows abundantly, and the nightlife runs nonstop. But not every student is quite what they seem: Ever is working toward becoming a doctor but nurses a secret passion for dance. Rick Woo is the Yale-bound child prodigy bane of Ever’s existence whose perfection hides a secret. Boy-crazy, fashion-obsessed Sophie Ha turns out to have more to her than meets the eye. And under sexy Xavier Yeh’s shell is buried a shameful truth he’ll never admit. When these students’ lives collide, it’s guaranteed to be a summer Ever will never forget.

Lost Summer


Alex McAulay - 2006
    It's Laguna Beach meets Cape Fear when a rich girl from California confronts murder and isolation on North Carolina's stormy Outer Banks. When Caitlin Ross's mother takes her and her brother to an island in the remote Outer Banks for the summer, Caitlin is furious. She was planning on spending the summer hanging out by the pool, partying, shopping, and singing backup in her boyfriend's band, Box of Flowers. North Carolina isn't anything like California, and Caitlin doesn't fit in. But her troubled mother is too busy popping pills and trying to win back her creepy ex-boyfriend to care. At first, the only friend Caitlin makes on the desolate island is a local misfit named Danielle. But things start to improve when she meets a bunch of visiting prep school boys and gets swept up in their exciting world. Then, one dark night, she witnesses a murder and begins to suspect that her new friends aren't really her friends at all. With a powerful hurricane approaching, and the island cut off from the outside world, Caitlin has no one to turn to but herself . . . and whether she'll live to see another summer is the biggest mystery of all.

Prom & Prejudice


Elizabeth Eulberg - 2011
    Lizzie Bennet, who attends Longbourn on a scholarship, isn't interested in designer dresses and expensive shoes, but her best friend, Jane, might be - especially now that Charles Bingley is back from a semester in London.Lizzie is happy about her friend's burgeoning romance but less than impressed by Charles's friend, Will Darcy, who's snobby and pretentious. Darcy doesn't seem to like Lizzie either, but she assumes it's because her family doesn't have money. Clearly, Will Darcy is a pompous jerk - so why does Lizzie find herself drawn to him anyway?

My Double Life


Janette Rallison - 2010
    This would seem like the opportunity of a lifetime, but Alexia's mother has always warned her against celebrities. Rebelliously, Alexia flies off to L.A. and gets immersed in a celebrity life. Not only does she have to get used to getting anything she wants, she romances the hottest lead singer on the charts, and finds out that her own father is a singing legend. Through it all, Alexia must stay true to herself, which is hard to do when you are pretending to be somebody else!