Informative YA Romances

 As we approach the end of the school year, I like to recommend summer beach reads.  I really enjoy teen romances that are also informative about an unfamiliar topic.  This month I learned about a rescue the whales initiative, cooking show politics, robotics competitions and the world of K-pop. The Edge of Summer by Erica George focuses on a grieving teen who takes a marine biology internship on Cape Cod in order to fulfill a wish list she created with her deceased best friend.  Love from Scratch by Kaitlyn Hill takes place in Seattle at the offices of an online cooking channel, where teen interns Reese and Benny vie for a job and each others' hearts. My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth finds a reluctant physics student joining her school's robotics team, where she struggles with gender prejudice, as well as her attraction to the team's captain.  Once Upon a K-Prom by Kat Cho introduces Elena Soo and Robbie Cho, childhood friends who had promised to be each other's prom dates. Then he moved to Korea and ghosted her when he became a K-Pop star.  Much to her surprise, he returns to America with an elaborate prom-posal which she rejects.

In The Edge of Summer Coriander (Cor) Cabot and her best friend Ella had been obsessed with saving the whales since they were kids.  When Ella drowns after they have a falling out, Cor is determined to complete a "to do" list they wanted to accomplish before college.  Cor accepts a marine biology internship on Cape Cod for the summer and meets and falls for Mannix, a local lifeguard whose father is a struggling fisherman.  Her focus on rescuing humpback whales from entanglement conflicts with the fishing industry.  She is particularly interested in a whale known as "Fraction" for her mangled tail that Cor and Ella had noticed as kids. Knowing that her romance with Mannix could end with the summer, she tries to focus on her goals but cannot resist his charms. The detailed information about the "Save the Whales" effort is interwoven with the story, making this a fascinating, as well as romantic read.

Love from Scratch finds Southern belle Reese Camden working as a summer marketing intern for "Friends of Flavor," an online food-lovers channel. She is hoping for a job with the company when the internship ends.  Her main competition for the job is Benny Beneventi, the culinary intern. When their bosses pair Benny and Reese for a spot on "Piece of Cake: Amateur Hour,"  their episode goes viral.  Benny, whose family owns a restaurant, is the better chef, but Reese's antics as his sidekick charm viewers who beg for more episodes. The company gives them their own show and sparks fly.  Benny falls for Reese, but she resists his flirting, knowing they are competitors and she is unlucky in love. The "will they or won't they" romance is paired with Reese's feminist commentary on the sexism in the food world for a fun informative read.

The world of competitive high school robotics is explored in My Mechanical Romance. Filipino transfer student Isabel (Bel) Maier enters Essex Academy for Art and Science Technology, having no plans for her future. When she unwittingly captures the attention of Mateo Luna, captain of the robotics and soccer teams, by creating an ingenious egg drop design, she reluctantly switches to AP Physics and joins the robotics team.  Even though she has Mateo's support, her male teammates dismiss her ideas, and even Neelam Dasari, the only other girl on the team, shuns her.  Her engineering prowess and her knack for building things keep her engaged, even as she clashes with Mateo and her teammates over her unorthodox ideas.  As her relationship with Mateo becomes romantic, they struggle to navigate new love amidst the cutthroat world of the robotics competition.  Even as Bel shows there is a place for women in the STEM world, she realizes that she needs to be more of a team player.  This is an upbeat romantic comedy with great chemistry between Bel and Mateo and a sympathetic supporting cast. 

Once Upon a K-Prom is an entertaining rom-com that sheds light on the K-Pop world and the pressure put on its stars.  Elena Soo and Robbie Choi were childhood best friends, who agreed to go to their high school prom together when they were ten. Then Robbie moved to Korea and ghosted Elena when he became a famous K-pop star.  Seven years later, Elena is running an unpopular "alterna-prom" initiative, campaigning for students to spend their prom money to help a local community center. When Robbie reappears with an elaborate prom-posal, Elena is understandably embarrassed and flees. Robbie continues to pursue her, hoping to rekindle their friendship, but she wonders if it is just a PR gimmick to promote his K-pop career.  Told in alternating perspectives, the story unfolds with Elena warming towards Robbie, as he volunteers with her at the community center and aids her fundraising efforts.  There are several recent YA titles that focus on the K-pop and K-drama world, revealing the pressure that the stars are under and how controlled their world really is.  Elena and Robbie are believable characters that give the reader a window onto the complications arising from K-pop stars trying to have a relationship "offline."

YA Novels about Passion for Words: One Great Lie, Words Composed of Sea and Sky and Love in English

 Although I love novels-in-verse, it was refreshing to read three new novels where the poetic language is incorporated in a more traditional structure.  In all three books the female protagonist has a passion for writing, but that talent is integrated into a story with a further reaching conflict.  One Great Lie by Printz Honoree Deb Caletti (A Heart in a Body in a World) is set in Venice and explores the misogyny experienced by female writers over the ages.  Words Composed of Sea and Sky by Erica George finds an aspiring Cape Cod teen poet investigating the life of a nineteenth century female author whose poetry is attributed to the town's fabled sea captain. Love in English by Maria Andreu incorporates the struggles of a teen poet who has just emigrated from Argentina to New Jersey. All of these young women experience road blocks to their dreams of becoming writers. 

In One Great Lie budding writer Charlotte Hodges wins a scholarship to a summer writing program in Venice, run by her favorite author Luca Bruni.  She aspires to "write something that says something" and is sure she can succeed with his help.  She also wants to investigate her Venetian ancestor, Isabella di Angelo, a Renaissance writer whose book of poetry includes a poem which had been published by her lover, a world famous writer, as his own. When Charlotte arrives at Bruni's villa on La Calamita, a private island that once housed plague victims, she is at once charmed by Luca's brilliance, but disturbed by his over-familiarity with his female students. Even though Charlotte meets and falls in love with Dante, a young art conservation student, who helps her research Isabella, she can't shake her desire to impress Luca Bruni, but it comes with a price.  Reflecting on the sexual harassment Isabella and other young women experienced as they were put in convents, yet were abused by well-to-do men in power, Charlotte begins to think that things haven't changed that much for women.  Isabella and Charlotte's intertwined stories are filled with suspense as Charlotte struggles to vindicate her relative and stand up to the sexual harassment she herself experiences.  Each chapter begins with information about a female poet from the Italian Renaissance who despite her accomplishments, has been forgotten or is only remembered for her connection to a man.

In alternating chapters Words Composed of Sea and Sky tells the story of a modern day teen poet and her nineteenth century inspiration.  Michaela Dunn hopes to attend Winslow College where her deceased father had been an English professor.  She is determined to attend a poetry workshop weekend at the college, but her stepfather balks at the price.  When a poetry competition, which awards the winner full tuition to the workshop, is announced, she is sure it is the answer to her prayers. The poem must focus on the town's fabled whaler poet, Captain Benjamin Churchill, and will be engraved on a statue which is being unveiled in the town square. In researching the captain's life, Michaela discovers the journal of Leta Townsend, his would-be lover, which inspires her to write her poem from Leta's point of view.  The story moves to Leta and Michaela's alternating voices with each segment being narrated from present-tense first-person points of view.  Each woman is balancing her creative aspirations with a love triangle.  Leta has been publishing under the name Ben Churchill, a whaler who was presumed dead at sea.  When he reappears, complications ensue, especially with Elijah Pearce, her best friend who has proposed.  Michaela's situation mirrors Leta's in that she is struggling with her feelings for Caleb, a callous poet who is competing against her in the competition, and Finn Pearce, her school's star baseball pitcher. This two-for-one romance is peppered with poems both women have written, as well as lyrical descriptions of the Cape Cod setting.  The dual narratives blend beautifully as the reader roots for the women to succeed with their writing, as well as their love lives.

Love in English introduces Ana, a poet and lover of words who emigrates with her mother from Argentina to New Jersey to join her father. She struggles with his edict that they speak only English at home, as well as missing her friends and homeland.  As she begins to settle in and make friends, including Gracie, a Spanish speaking lesbian "influencer," Harrison, a cute All-American boy she helps with math, and Neo, a Greek Cypriot in her ESL class, she becomes more optimistic about the future. She writes quirky poems about learning the ins and out of the English language, especially the multiple pronunciations and meanings for words, as well as idioms like "the elephant in the room," which add humor throughout the novel. The story explores Ana's experiences as a documented immigrant and effectively puts the reader in her shoes as she navigates the complexities of American culture and, of course, the love triangle between herself, Harrison and Neo.  The author is basing Ana's experiences on her own as an immigrant teen, giving the narrative a feeling of authenticity and charm.