Book picks similar to
Magic City by Drew Lerman


contemporary
young-adult
teen-life
trt-gold-star-award-winner

Love, Anonymous


EverlarkCatoniss
    "Why what?" He asks. "Why you're being so nice to me," I say quietly, vulnerability seeping into my words. "How we even became friends." He sighs, "I want to know how."I scrunch my brow. "How what?"His response is soft, the opposite of his burly personality. "How you don't see it."*******Reagan Holt was about as average as a high school student could be. She didn't play any sports, didn't participate in the popular activities, and wasn't the girl all the boys chased after. All except one boy. He wrote her a letter every week. Each letter described something new for him to love about her. Whether it was how beautiful her laugh was or how his heart swelled with every smile she gave, he never failed to write how he felt. So the two should be together, right? That's the way Reagan wants it, but there's just one problem. He signs his letters"Love, Anonymous." Now add an obnoxious, conceited, sex god into the equation and you get a teenage girl confused on who really loves her. The sweet, tender written anonymous lover, or the cocky, ignorant asshole?

The Orpheus Obsession


Dakota Lane - 2005
    But she can't escape the realities. At home there's a depressed mother who often won't emerge from bed. And a dad who's not in the picture. There are two best friends but a stifling pack of aspiring glamour girls. Fortunately there's Zoetrope Zallulah Moon, modish older sister extraordinaire, living a bus ride away in New York City.Visiting Moon one summer weekend when the heat won't relent, Anooshka hears rock singer Orpheus's music. She's immediately entranced by his sound. His lyrics seem to echo her mood and light a spark in her core. After meeting the shy, approachable Orpheus by chance, Anooshka can't shake him from her head. And his Internet diaries keep signaling that they share a magnetic synchronicity. Soon Orpheus expresses an interest in her, and like the Greek mythological heroine Eurydice, Anooshka descends deep into a mesmerizing underworld -- until she reaches a place where fantasies topple and the unspoken finally makes itself heard.Dakota Lane's tantalizing, allegorical tale follows a teen's obsession as it transforms into empowering self-discovery.

The Madolescents


Chrissie Glazebrook - 2001
    Holed up with her mum in a Newcastle suburb and living on a steady diet of Bailey’s and chips, Rowena fantasizes about her absent dad and plans her own funeral music. But when she embarks on an energetic campaign to eliminate her mother’s new boyfriend, Bernard “Filthy” Luker, Rowena starts to lose her slippery grip on reality and is packed off to a teenage therapy group. Meet the Madolescents.

Don't Kiss Your Brother's Sworn Enemy (Don't Kiss! Series Book 1)


Elle Gonzales - 2020
    Well, according to her twin brother Cole, that is. Cole's resentment toward him has been there for as long as she can remember.So it goes without saying that she needs to stay away from Jake if she wants to keep the peace. That should be easy, right?Except there's one problem: Jake is assigned as her partner for a school paper. And as if that's not enough, she also needs his help to get back in her best friend's good graces.Callie knows that getting close to him is not a good idea. Too bad she's starting to like him...

Leap


Jane Breskin Zalben - 2007
    Real fast. Like overnight. Krista says: The real me—the one who knew I should treat Daniel the way I'd want to be treated—was angry at the other me. I just didn't want to lose Bobby by taking sides with Daniel.Daniel and Krista used to be inseparable. Now that they're older, they've drifted apart—but when an accident leaves Daniel temporarily paralyzed, he needs his old friend more than ever. And Krista wants to help him. Only it's not as easy as it seems, not when Krista's feelings for another boy, Bobby, keep getting in the way. And it doesn't help that Daniel and Bobby were both star swimmers—before Daniel's accident, that is. Growing up is hard on everyone, but it's up to Krista to prove how strong friendship can be.From the Hardcover edition.

My NFL Bad Boy and Me


Tayxwriter
    Sequel to The QB Bad Boy and Me.

Last Call


Laura Pedersen - 2003
    In fact, he now spends his days crashing funerals for the free food and insight into the Great Beyond. Then he meets Rosamond, a nun playing hooky from the Holy Orders. Hayden is smitten the instant her heavy silver cross smacks him in the face when she leaps up to do the wave at a ball game. Luckily, Rosamond has picked the right person to teach her how to live . . . and to love—because nobody does both better than Hayden MacBride.However, Rosamond’s years in the convent have not prepared her for the oddball characters of Hayden’s world. There’s his ever-fretful, vigilant daughter, Diana, the “Dutchess o’ the Sidelong Glance”; his sweet grandson Joey, struggling to break free of his mother’s overprotective embrace; Hayden’s bagpipe-blowing cronies; the Greyfriars Gang; neighbor Bobbie Anne, a “working girl” full of good advice and tender mercies; and Hank, the sexy architect contemplating the priesthood—a big mistake in Hayden’s book. For Hayden thinks that Hank should be married to his daughter and raising Joey. And he has an elaborate plan to make Hank see things his way. . . .In an uproariously funny novel of love, laughter, and one man’s final call at the riotous watering hole called life, Laura Pedersen proves that miracles are all around us—when we open our eyes and our hearts to embrace them.

DupliKate


Cherry Cheva - 2009
    Getting into Yale has been her dream for years and being generally overworked and totally under-rested is the price of admission. But when she opens her eyes the next day, she comes face-to-face with, well, her face which is attached to her body, which is standing across the room. Wait, what?Meet Kate's computer-generated twin. Kate doesn't know why she's here or how to put her back where she belongs, but she's real. And she's the last thing Kate has time to deal with right now. Unless . . . Could having a double be the answer to Kate's prayers? After all, two Kates can do more work than one. Or will keeping her twin a secret turn her dream future into a living nightmare?

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.

Me, Penelope


Lisa Jahn-Clough - 2007
    More than anything, Lopi wants to find someone to really connect with, someone to love—but short of that, she wants to have sex. She’s already figured out how to graduate a year early, but the rest isn’t so easy. For one thing, her mother, Vivian, isn’t just crazy: she’s young, vivacious, and beautiful. No one can resist Viv’s charms, but Lopi knows it’s all just an act. Viv is only pretending to be happy, trying to ignore Lopi and the horrible accident that changed everything between them. Lopi tries to pretend too, as she navigates the murky waters of sex and love and growing up, but she can’t fool herself—Lopi has a secret that sets her apart: the accident was her fault, she is evil . . .

Angie Thomas 2-Book Box Set: The Hate U Give and On the Come Up


Angie Thomas - 2019
    A great holiday or graduation gift!FIND YOUR VOICE. MAKE SOME NOISE.The Hate U GiveWilliam C. Morris Award Winner · National Book Award Longlist · Michael L. Printz Honor Book · Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book"Absolutely riveting!" —Jason Reynolds"Stunning." —John Green"This story is necessary. This story is important."—Kirkus (starred review)"Heartbreakingly topical."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer.On the Come UpSixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least win her first battle. As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri’s got massive shoes to fill. But it’s hard to get your come up when you’re labeled a hoodlum at school, and your fridge at home is empty after your mom loses her job. So Bri pours her anger and frustration into her first song, which goes viral…for all the wrong reasons.Want more of Garden Heights? Catch Maverick and Seven’s story in Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas's powerful prequel to The Hate U Give.

A Nicer Way To Die


Sam Mills - 2006
    And James knows the nightmare has only just begun. For Henry hates James, bullies him in secret and has promised to kill him one day.

Tallulah Falls


Christine Fletcher - 2006
    Nor does she guess that rescuing a dog will land her a job in the local veterinarian's office. But there, under the wary eye of ornery Dr. Poteet, Tallulah works harder than ever before, tending to animals of all shapes and sizes—and unexpectedly, to wounds long-buried in herself. Tallulah swears she'll leave the first chance she gets, yet when given the choice, it may prove harder to keep the promise to her friend than to say good-bye to the strangers who have become her new family.

Striking Out


Will Weaver - 1900
    Never been to a movie. Never played baseball with a real team. Never got over feeling guilty for the loss of his brother. But change is in the air. Billy discovers he has a natural talent for baseball, especially as a pitcher. Maybe, just maybe, there's more in store for him than life on the farm. But can Billy convince his father of that? Or is he destined to spend the rest of his life pitching nothing but hay?Teenager Billy Baggs is desperately needed on his family's struggling dairy farm, but he's also an extraordinarily gifted natural baseball player. How he struggles to reconcile his father's desire to keep him on the farm with his coach's interest in getting him on the field is at the heart of this ‘meaty story.… The complex characters grow and change in profoundly real ways.''K. ‘[With] flashes of humor, a wealth of lovingly recounted details evokes the difficult daily life on a small dairy farm.''Publishers Weekly. 1994 Best Books for Young Adults (ALA)1994 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)1993 "Pick of the Lists" (ABA)

Fabbity-Fab! A Big Box of Georgia


Louise Rennison - 2002
    Laugh your knickers off with the hilarious #1 national bestselling confessions of Georgia Nicolson!Includes paperback copies of:Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal SnoggingOn the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex GodKnocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas