Book picks similar to
Side Effects by Jennifer M. Barry


young-adult
romance
contemporary
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Dear Love, I Hate You


Eliah Greenwood - 2021
    And he definitely wasn’t supposed to answer it. We end up talking through letters and sticky notes in a book. One sticky note. Two sticky notes. Ten sticky notes. All baring our darkest, deepest secrets. It’s all fun and games until I find out who my pen pal is... Xavier Emery. King of my basketball-obsessed town, my childhood bully, and the guy I am in grave danger of falling in love with. But the rules were clear: we can never know who we’re talking to, and the confessions can never, ever get out. Seriously. It would destroy lives.  Fine by me. Even if Mr. Popular does find out his confidant is little old me, it’s not like he’d ever love me back…Right?

Ink


Holly Hood - 2011
    Her heart tells her she can adjust, while her head begs for her old life back. Suddenly she's a misfit in a town of rich snobs and cruel teens. After almost being killed at a rock concert, she's dying to find out more about the guy who saved her...is he trouble? Is Hope in over her head?Slade Andrews, the tattooed bad boy and lead singer of the Evil Kings of Ink, is haunted by his past. When Hope moves to town, Slade is strangely drawn to her and determined to prove he is not the guy the town paints him to be. In a town full of lies, one secret could change everything.Not suitable for eighteen and under.

Treacherous


Alex Grayson - 2019
    It was supposed to be an amazing year—the perfect year. And it started out that way… until my mom remarried, and I found myself in a new town, at a new school, and living with quite possibly the most conniving person I had ever met. But my horrible stepbrother wasn’t even the worst part. It was his best friend. Zayden Michaels. Gorgeous. Unpredictable. Treacherous. The kind of guy who sends most sane people running in the opposite direction. He hated me from the first moment he saw me. He made it his mission to make sure I knew it too. I became the target—the bullied. Until suddenly I wasn’t anymore. But in a world of rumors, games, and deceit, you never really know who you can trust. Sometimes the best deceptions are the ones you never see coming.

Wicked Fate


Tabatha Vargo - 2012
    Those around me want to see me burn—make me explode underneath their accusing glares—but I won't. There's only one person that gets me hot, and we've never spoken to each other. He's clueless to my fascination, but knows too much about secrets I've never whispered. He's different from the rest. The black sheep... Adam. I want him in my future, but my past threatens everything I've longed for. I won't run, I'll fight. I don't know what destiny has planned. I only know love can be cruel, and fate is truly wicked **16+ Some strong language and sexual situations**

Eleanor & Park


Rainbow Rowell - 2012
    “Bono met his wife in high school,” Park says.“So did Jerry Lee Lewis,” Eleanor answers.“I’m not kidding,” he says.“You should be,” she says, “we’re 16.”“What about Romeo and Juliet?”“Shallow, confused, then dead.”“I love you,” Park says.“Wherefore art thou,” Eleanor answers.“I’m not kidding,” he says.“You should be.”Set over one school year in 1986, Eleanor & Park is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

Hated You Then


M. Robinson - 2019
    Robinson. A coming of age, enemies to lovers, contemporary romance filled with angst and all the feels. I couldn’t remember a time before her... Harley Jameson. Before she owned me.Hated Me.Needed me.Before I hated her…Things were simple. We had an understanding. Bully. Fight. Hate. It’s what we did.Mind. Body. Soul. It’s how we loved.I thought nothing would ever change that, until everything did. She was mine. Always had been. Always would be. Nothing altered that.Not how much I hated her.Not how much she hated me. Especially, not how much I hated… That I LOVED her.

I'll Give You the Sun


Jandy Nelson - 2014
    Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude wears red-red lipstick, cliff-dives, and does all the talking for both of them. Years later, they are barely speaking. Something has happened to change the twins in different yet equally devastating ways... but then Jude meets an intriguing, irresistible boy and a mysterious new mentor. The early years are Noah's to tell; the later years are Jude's. But they each have only half the story, and if they can only find their way back to one another, they'll have a chance to remake their world. This radiant, award-winning novel from the acclaimed author of The Sky Is Everywhere will leave you breathless and teary and laughing—often all at once.Printz Award Winner Stonewall Honor Book.

Fat Girl on a Plane


Kelly deVos - 2018
    But in the world of fashion, being fat is a cardinal sin. It doesn’t help that she’s constantly compared to her supermodel mother—and named after a dessert. Thanks to her job at a fashion blog, Cookie scores a trip to New York to pitch her portfolio and appeal for a scholarship, but her plans are put on standby when she’s declared too fat to fly. Forced to turn to her BFF for cash, Cookie buys a second seat on the plane. She arrives in the city to find that she’s been replaced by the boss’s daughter, a girl who’s everything she’s not—ultrathin and superrich. Bowing to society’s pressure, she vows to lose weight, get out of the friend zone with her crush, and put her life on track. Skinny. Cookie expected sunshine and rainbows, but nothing about her new life is turning out like she planned. When the fashion designer of the moment offers her what she’s always wanted—an opportunity to live and study in New York—she finds herself in a world full of people more interested in putting women down than dressing them up. Her designs make waves, but her real dream of creating great clothes for people of all sizes seems to grow more distant by the day. Will she realize that she’s always had the power to make her own dreams come true?

Rock


Anyta Sunday - 2014
    There’s Lila, too: The other woman, the one who stole the rock-solid foundation of his life. And then . . . There’s Jace. Lila’s son. Lila’s smug, regurgitated-fish-scale-blue eyed son. All Cooper wants is to have his family back the way it once was, but there’s something about this boy that promises things will never be the same again. Sedimentary. Resisting the realities of his new life, Cooper and Jace get off to a rocky start. But rocky start or not, after hundreds of shared memories together, they forge something new. A close . . . friendship. Because friendship is all they can have. Although it’s not like they are real brothers. Technically, they’re not even stepbrothers . . . Metamorphic. But how does that friendship evolve under the pressures of life? Under pressures of the heart?

Everywhere, Always


Jennifer Ann Shore - 2021
    When Avery Miller wakes up in her hospital room, it’s to a life she didn’t expect, want, or ever imagine for herself.She’s barely given time to mourn the death of her mother as she’s introduced to her new family—a father she never knew existed, a stepmother she didn’t want, and a brother who gave himself the job of being her enthusiastic best friend and overbearing protector before they even met.All it takes is one car accident to change the trajectory of seventeen-year-old Avery's life forever, ripping her from the brink of poverty in Pennsylvania and tossing her into a new life in a penthouse apartment in the middle of New York City.The visible marks on her skin are a tangible reminder of the pain she’s gone through, but it’s Ethan, the guy who lives one floor below and has a Shakespeare quote for every occasion, who helps her overcome loss, find herself again, and fall in love.

Pretty When She Cries


A. Zavarelli - 2020
    Ours was baptized in fire.I was the new girl trying to find her place.Landon was the brooding neighbor I tutored over the summer.I didn’t know he was a legend at Black Mountain Academy.I didn’t know they worshipped him like a religion.But I fell for him before I knew those things.To me, he was just the tortured soul who drew me in like a magnet.And then he did something so unspeakable, so unforgivable, it shattered me.I ran away then because I was weak, but I’ve shed my tears.He stole my heart and my dignity, and I’m here to take it back.The only problem is… he’s not giving it up without a fight.

Every Ugly Word


Aimee L. Salter - 2013
    She can’t go a day without fighting with her mother. And no matter how hard she tries, she can’t make her best friend, Matt, fall in love with her. But Ashley also has something no one else does: a literal glimpse into the future. When Ashley looks into the mirror, she can see her twenty-three-year-old self.Her older self has been through it all already—she endured the bullying, survived the heartbreak, and heard every ugly word her classmates threw at her. But her older self is also keeping a dark secret: Something terrible is about to happen to Ashley. Something that will change her life forever. Something even her older self is powerless to stop.

A Thousand Fires


Shannon Price - 2019
    3 Gangs. 1 Girl’s Epic Quest… Valerie Simons knows the city's gang wars are dangerous—her own brother was killed by the Boars two years ago. But nothing will sway her from joining the elite and beautiful Herons to avenge his death—a death she feels responsible for.But when Valerie is recruited by the mysterious Stags, their charismatic and volatile leader Jax promises to help her get revenge. Torn between old love and new loyalty, Valerie fights to stay alive as she races across the streets of San Francisco to finish the mission that got her into the gangs.---"Modern, unflinching and filled with haunting, lingering imagery, A Thousand Fires gives the story of the Iliad the bare-knuckled update it deserves." --Colleen Oakes, author of The Black Coats"A Thousand Fires pulls you in close and shows you the essence of what it means to keep fighting. Shannon Price is one to watch." --Gwenda Bond, New York Times bestselling author of Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds"Brutal and beautiful, A THOUSAND FIRES broke my heart. A fast-paced tragedy of love, betrayal, and vengeance." --Heidi Heilig, author of FOR A MUSE OF FIRE"Fast-paced... Vivid descriptions and intricate details bring San Francisco to life ... A promising debut." --Kirkus

Lovely, Dark and Deep


Amy McNamara - 2012
    Though she lived through the accident that killed her boyfriend Patrick, the girl she used to be didn’t survive. Instead of heading off to college as planned, Wren retreats to her father’s studio in the far-north woods of Maine. Somewhere she can be alone.Then she meets Cal Owen. Dealing with his own troubles, Cal’s hiding out too. When the chemistry between them threatens to pull Wren from her hard-won isolation, Wren has to choose: risk opening her broken heart to the world again, or join the ghosts who haunt her.

Snitch


Allison van Diepen - 2007
    We knew who our friends were, and were careful what we said. If people thought we were haters, it would only be a matter of time....Lines are clearly marked at South Bay High School. It's mixed territory for the Crips and the Bloods, which means the drama never stops. Julia DiVino wants none of it. No colors, no C-Walks -- it's just not her thing. But when Eric Valiente jumps into her life, everything changes. Lines are redrawn. And then they're crossed.